Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from a scrappy win over Northwestern

In a back-and-forth affair, Michigan basketball kept Northwestern from winning at Michigan and Michigan State in the same season for the first time ever.

With Jalen Rose in attendance, the Wolverines came out smoking. They were up 11 until Northwestern heard the battle cry of their coach, Chris Collins.

The maize and blue went on a lengthy turnover spree and the Cats eventually took over on the scoreboard. Michigan basketball put it into full gear midway through the second though and took command by putting the Cats to bed 85-78.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. Jett Howard continues to stroke it

Four more triples for the freshman son of the coach after swishing seven in the heartbreaking Iowa loss. That makes a total of 15 in the last four outings. He’s now broken the double-figure line in four straight as well. He also got knocked down a couple of times, but promptly bounced back up to remain in the contest, showing his toughness.

Dug McDaniel canned three from beyond the arc too. He played his best game to date, just one week from being in the hospital. McDaniel totaled 17 in the win for a group that needed every bit of it. He’s got 29 points in his last two and could be hitting his stride since being hospitalized before the Michigan State loss.

Michigan’s bench showed up on Sunday with solid performances from Taris Reed Jr. and Joey Baker. The two were in at crunch time when Terrance Williams was on the bench. Williams struggled again and coach Howard let him know about it by sitting him for almost the entire second half of play.