The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/111015
ence race, but backed themselves into a must-win corner the rest of the way. ���We have the opportunity to play Michigan State and Indiana again at the end of the year,��� sophomore guard Trey Burke pointed out. ���Those will determine whether we���ll be able to win the Big Ten or not. But I definitely think we���ll be in that talk, come two or three weeks from now.��� Here���s a look at how Michigan���s roughest stretch unfolded, bringing U-M to this point. Michigan put four players in double figures (led by Burke���s 19), shot 52.5 percent on the road, and limited the free-firing Illini to a miserable 23.1 percent (6 of 26) on three-point shots. ���We finished the season last year strong on the road,��� Beilein said afterward. ���Any time you hang in games, you don���t turn it over, you don���t let the crowd get into it, you���ve got a chance.��� Plus, when asked about the Wolverines finding another gear in the second halves of games, he stressed that his players are ready for a Chance For No. 1 40-minute battle every time out. The Wolverines faced a huge op���We pride ourselves about being portunity in late January, above and in good shape,��� Beilein said. ���We beyond securing a precious road vic- pride ourselves in really having a totory at Illinois. No. 1 Duke had got- getherness, that we���re trying to take ten destroyed really quality at Miami shots and de��� Freshman Nik Stauskas earlier in the fend.��� after U-M���s 79-71 win over week, leaving One day Penn State Feb. 17 the door wide later, his team open for the ���We feel we can win every game, found itself top spot when from here on out. We���ve just got to defending a U-M traveled No. 1 rankto C h a m - keep working and we���ll be fine.��� ing in the Aspaign, Ill. sociated Press U-M head coach John Beilein poll. No Michigan basketball team expressed as much interest in be- had soared into that stratosphere ing No.�� 1 as he did in running for since the preseason poll of 1992-93, governor of Michigan in the days at the height of the Fab Five era. leading up to that one. He remained Since then, Michigan basketball determined to keep the Wolverines went through the Mojave Desert and focused on the task at hand. back ��� scandal, NCAA sanctions, From all appearances, they were. reconstruction, failed coaching hires The Wolverines tore apart the Illini and 10 years worth of NCAA Tourin Champaign, 74-60, leading by as nament exclusion. many as 18 points and never facing When the Wolverines hit No.�� 1, a serious threat down the stretch. some fans unleashed the primal