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Gut reactions from Michigan Basketball’s critical win over Northwestern

By Chris Peterson

Syndication: Detroit Free Press
Syndication: Detroit Free Press /
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It took everything Michigan basketball had on Wednesday night to avoid the upset at the hands of Northwestern and the Wolverines scored a key win. 

There were multiple times late in the second half against Northwestern that Michigan basketball seemed poised to lose a game it had no business losing.

Turnovers were rampant in the second half and with both Hunter Dickinson and Moussa Diabate being lost to foul trouble, the Wolverines could have easily folded.

But they didn’t.

Juwan Howard turned to Jaron Faulds down the stretch. And all he did was deliver a key assist on a go-ahead 3-pointer by Caleb Houstan, which was one of two huge makes from 3-point range late with Terrance Williams delivering the other.

Then, Juwan turned to DeVane Jones to close out the game and he did it with four huge free throws when Michigan basketball needed them the most.

Jones also hit an important trey in the last two minutes as the Wolverines rallied from down seven to tie the game. When Dickinson picked up his fourth foul, Howard put him on the bench, and when he returned the Wolverines were ignited.

However, he and Diabate fouled out, which led Juwan to Faulds. With the score tied, he kicked the ball out to Caleb Houstan for a trey. Then, he got a stop near the bucket and collected a key defensive rebound.

Jones made some free throws and despite a game-winning attempt by the Wildcats just missing cause of Boo Buie, Michigan survived.

Gut Reactions from Michigan’s win over Northwestern

  • Michigan needed to learn how to close people out still and this was a start.
  • DeVante Jones delivered a big-time performance down the stretch.
  • Hunter Dickinson put the game in jeopardy with silly fouls but was the lynchpin of the offense.
  • Caleb Houstan hit the biggest shot of his Michigan career.
  • The Eli Brooks slump is over.
  • This wasn’t an impressive win, but it keeps the momentum going forward.
  • Win on Saturday and Michigan is back in the Big Ten title mix.
  • Go Blue!
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