For the second time this week the maize and blue needed five extra minutes to decide a seesaw affair with an inferior opponent. Northwestern brought the fight to Ann Arbor in a battle that had constant lead changes. It will be marred by a controversial call for the Cats that ejected their guard Jalen Leach who was playing his tail off. He inadvertently kicked Vlad Goldin where the sun doesn't shine and the refs booted him. Northwestern was up at that very moment too.
Here's some of the takeaways from the difficult win for Michigan basketball.
1. Vlad Goldin was enlivened by his play
The Russian took over the game again just like he did when the bright lights were on him in Los Angeles. He pitched in a game-high in field goals, free throws, blocks, and 3-pointers. Who would have guessed that last one? He only made one mistake on Sunday and that was fouling a Northwestern player who was attempting to shoot a three in overtime.
The technical foul that he got called for on a rebound later in overtime was not malicious. He did not intend to elbow the Wildcat player, but the officials thought differently. Thankfully it didn't change the outcome of the game. Goldin has broken the double-figure mark for the 12th straight contest. Remarkably he's never done that in his career before.
Raphael Davis of the Big Ten Network said in the postgame scrum that Goldin is playing like the player of the year in the conference. He's not wrong either. Goldin has come a long way since the two points he accounted for in the Cleveland State opener.