A late shot at the buzzer allowed the Washington Huskies to cover the spread, but it didn't matter, because Michigan basketball did what it set out to do.
The Wolverines used their size inside to overcome a poor shooting night to get a key road win over Washington, 82-72 to bounce back after the loss on Saturday to Wisconsin.
Washington didn't make it easy. The Huskies hung around for much of the second half, before the Wolverines were finally able to pull away in the final minutes.
Morez Johnson had a double-double with 16 and 16 rebounds. Aday Mara scored 20 points, and Yaxel Lendeborg tacked on 14. Here are the gut reactions from Michigan's 15th win.
Michigan won the game inside
It would have been easy to go away from the three-big lineup. However, Washington didn't have the shooting bigs to make Michigan basketball pay for having Aday Mara on the floor, plus Dusty May came up with some half-court pressure to help solve that issue, too.
It worked. Washington shot 27 percent from 3-point range. The Huskies did get 15 offensive rebounds, but the Wolverines had 12. Washington shot 41 percent on 2-point attempts. Michigan shot 58 percent.
Michigan basketball is usually more efficient on 2-point attempts. Yet, after Wisconsin made 56 percent of its 2-point attempts on Saturday, the Wolverines got back to basics on defense.
Teams have to defend Michgan basketball, too
Having Mara on the court can cause some problems for Michigan basketball on defense.
At the same time, his offensive ability can be a nightmare. The 7-foot-3 center, who will be an NBA draft pick someday, made 10-of-11 shots from the field. He added three blocks and two rebounds in just 23 minutes of work. Mara also finished as plus five in plus/minus.
Teams can make him a liability; however, that's a two-way street.
Definition of gritty
Michigan basketball missed its first 10 3-point attempts before Trey McKenny finally got one to go. Lendeborg was the only Wolverine to make more than one 3-pointer in a 5-of-23 effort (22 percent).
This team is beatable when the 3-point shots aren't falling. That was certainly the case on Wednesday night in Seattle. Yet, defense, the three-big lineup, and Morez Johnson led U-M to victory.
Gritty, not pretty.