The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1490206
42 THE WOLVERINE FEBRUARY 2023 BY CHRIS BALAS I f Michigan makes a run to the NCAA Tournament this year — and make no mistake, that's going to take some work — ironically, it might be one of the worst losses in program history that helped get the team there. Following an embarrassing 63-61 home loss to a bad Central Michigan team, it was time to do some soul search- ing, from the top down. The Wolverines had been playing with fire to that point, taken to the wire by bad teams like East- ern Michigan and Ohio (overtime) before finally getting bitten by the Chippewas Dec. 29. CMU entered the game with a 3-8 re- cord but took the fight to the Wolverines from the outset and earned the stunning upset, nothing flukish about it. To say it was an eye-opener for the program would be an understatement. "Central Michigan, let me give them credit for coming out here and playing the game harder than us," head coach Juwan Howard said in his postgame press conference. "They were more physical than us and more prepared than our team. It starts with me as a coach. "The last two practices, I thought we had two good practices where we prac- ticed how to be prepared and how to compete. [But] Central Michigan was the team that was the grittiest, toughest and nastiest." The Quad 4 loss put the Wolverines di- rectly behind the eight ball in their quest to make the tournament and prompted a players-only meeting. It was clear this squad had the talent to be much bet- ter than its record — they played several great teams tough before losing (North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky) — but something was missing. They were playing to the level of their competition, sometimes not showing up (as in a blow- out loss to Arizona State in December), and just not clicking. The airing of grievances turned out to be a positive. "We had different types of meetings amongst the team, amongst just the players … just talks about how we need to go through the rest of the season," junior center Hunter Dickinson said. "There was like a heart-to-heart. Obviously, we have the talent. We've shown that in the games. If you really want to look at it, 10 or so points go different ways, we could honestly be 12-1 right now, just if a cou- ple points went different ways. "We're not as bad as the 8-5 record shows. We've had games where we've just folded at the end. For us, we've got to keep that in mind when we're going into these games … We're a very talented team. It's just a matter of, are we going to come out and bring it offensively? Are we going to bring it defensively? Are we going to play as a team? Are we going to do our assignments?" The Wolverines responded with a blowout win over Maryland Jan. 1 in which they led 17-0 and dominated in every facet. They followed that up with a 10-point home victory over a solid Penn State team, improving to 3-0 in confer- ence play. The effort was much better, espe- cially defensively, and they seemed to be playing with a purpose, as Howard demanded. "Consistency is hard, but it's no ex- cuse," he said after the CMU loss. "We have to develop it if we want to be one of the better teams now that we get ready to start conference play. "The Big Ten is a very competitive and tough league where teams come out and compete, especially when you go on the road. But that doesn't mean that you MICHIGAN BASKETBALL Wolverines Off To A 4-2 Start In Big Ten, But It's Been An Uphill Climb Through Jan. 16, Dickinson leads Michigan in scoring (17.8 points per game), rebounding (8.9 per game), shooting percentage (.572) and blocked shots (29). PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL