Coming into Sunday’s matchup against Northwestern, the No. 20 Michigan men’s basketball team was on the mend from possibly the worst loss it could suffer in Big Ten play. The Wolverines fell Thursday night to Minnesota, a team tied for dead last in the conference standings, in an overtime thriller.
Just four days later, Michigan had to return home and take on another tough task, the Wildcats who are one of the most challenging and unique teams in the Big Ten. With a two-headed monster in guard Brooks Barnhizer and forward Nick Martinelli who combine to average over 38 points per game, Northwestern stuck tight with the Wolverines for an entire 40 minutes — again sending Michigan into a tough overtime contest.
But this time it was a different result, just days after the heartbreaking buzzer beater from the Golden Gophers, the Wolverines handled business in extra time.
“I think experience, I think evidence is great for confidence,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “(With) this group who’s still learning how to win, learning how to play together, learning roles … this experience and evidence will help us going forward.”
The Wolverines’ experience was an overtime battle from Thursday night, but the evidence is what they still sought out on the court Sunday. After suffering a hard loss, it’s almost certain that doubt loomed in the huddle before overtime began, it was up to Michigan to dispel that distraught feeling over the course of the extra five minutes.
It started with junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who got the Wolverines into overtime to begin with after a slow game to that point. With 30 seconds remaining, Gayle burst to the rim for just his third bucket of the game, Michigan’s final score before the overtime period.
“Roddy, thank goodness, stayed ready and determined,” May said. “That’s the type of team we’re going to have to be, (graduate guard Nimari Burnett) one night, Roddy one night, (graduate guard Rubin Jones) the next.”
Continuing to surge off of his jolt of energy, Gayle flashed to the rim again for the opening bucket of the overtime period to get into double figures, starting the run that helped secure the Wolverines’ win.
Gayle’s tenacious play is exactly what the experience May spoke of entails. After fouling out with just two points against Minnesota, Gayle stayed ready against the Wildcats and made a splash when his team needed it most.
“Yeah, it was definitely like, ‘oh man, this again,’ ” Burnett said when asked about going back into overtime. “We learned from the last one, learned what we need to do in order to pull off a win.”
After Gayle’s initiative to get on top of Northwestern in overtime, Michigan never trailed in the final period. It scored with consistency and adjusted to the Wildcats’ physical demeanor that was present through the entire 45-minute contest. Learning from the mistakes of Thursday night, the Wolverines didn’t allow the Wildcats a shot at a buzzer beater, and survived another grueling conference duel.
While it may not have been Michigan’s wish to jump right back into an overtime game just four days after losing to the Gophers, the Wolverines used their experience to create the evidence that they can win in overtime, and shut their losing streak off at one to stay near the top of the Big Ten.
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