The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JANUARY 2021 THE WOLVERINE 43 admitted. "It's a very interesting year. You're fortunate enough to play five non-conference games because of what we're dealing with as a coun- try during these pandemic times, very challenging times. Non- conference opponents, you also don't see that much film on them. They also have a lot of guys you're unaware of, that you don't know. You've got to learn between a two-day span or a one-day span, depending on scheduling. "When you face your oppo- nents in conference play, there are some guys that are returning that you're familiar with from last season. Yes, there are some guys that have transferred in that you may not have film on, and obviously, you don't know as much as you know about the other guys that are returning, but you have some type of familiarity as far as their style of play." Penn State, for example, was very similar to its squad last year, so the Wolverines scouted them well and took away the three-point line in a four-point win. The Nittany Lions had a hard time getting good looks, making only 7 of 19 from distance and shooting 30.8 percent from the floor overall. "Penn State was a very tough and competitive group that had good shooting from last season. All they did this year was add more shooting, and they're still very tough and competitive," How- ard said. "They are one of the better teams in the Big Ten." That might be a stretch, but they're talented and posted one of the better wins from the league's non-conference action with a 75-55 road win over a ranked Virginia Tech team Dec. 8. "It was a very good game for us, also was a good win," Howard con- cluded. But the biggest victory to date, Howard on his team "All they want to do is do the right thing, keep feeding more and more positive energy to the team. … We've had situa- tions where we were down, and we had to fight to get back in games. You're go- ing to have those throughout the year."