INDIANAPOLIS — The chant erupted with 68 seconds remaining. It echoed from all corners of Gainbridge Fieldhouse — “Go Blue! Go Blue!” — as smatterings of maize and blue supporters banded together in appreciation of the turnaround Michigan basketball authored.
Seven days ago, the Wolverines took the floor in the same building for another lunchtime matinee in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. They controlled that game for 30 minutes before capitulating in a very public, very jaw-dropping collapse that threatened their NCAA tournament chances.
But coach Juwan Howard and his team were given a second chance, the opportunity to return to Indianapolis as an 11-seed in the South Region against sixth-seeded Colorado State. They had one more game to prove five months of turbulence during the 2021-22 season — which began with Michigan ranked in the top 10 and included a five-game suspension for Howard — wouldn’t be defined by abject underachievement.
The Wolverines rewrote the script from last week’s collapse against Indiana to erase a 15-point deficit to Colorado State with a smothering, come-from-behind 75-63 win that propelled Michigan to the Round of 32, where it will face the winner of Tennessee and Longwood. Howard’s team forced six turnovers after the break and held the Rams to 29% shooting in the second half to extend its season.
Hunter Dickinson (21 points, six rebounds) headlined four players in double figures for U-M, which shot 60% from the field over the final 20 minutes and made 12 of 14 free throws to secure the victory.
A rough start
For so long, though, things appeared bleak for Michigan. A slew of turnovers ravaged the half-court offense and fueled a CSU squad that opened white-hot from beyond the arc.
By the time Michigan notched its eighth turnover — after Brooks lobbed a sloppy entry pass and Dickinson rifled a high-low attempt into Colorado State’s pep band and Kobe Bufkin let the ball slip through his hands seconds after entering the game — all Howard could do was laugh. A disbelieving grin spread across his face as small forward Terrance Williams II threw the ball directly into the leaping arms of a defender at the top of the key, and Chandler Jacobs raced the other way for a two-handed slam.
Those kinds of lapses were part of a larger offensive malaise for the Wolverines, who played without starting point guard DeVante’ Jones after he suffered a concussion in Monday’s practice. The coaches entrusted true freshman Frankie Collins to replace Jones, but his inability to create his own shot and trust his jumper contributed to Michigan’s offense stalling. Too many possessions ended with Dickinson or Brooks asked to bail out U-M with the shot clock nearing expiry.
The entirety of Michigan’s offense was housed in the paint as the Wolverines turned in another putrid display of 3-point shooting. Howard’s team missed all seven attempts in the first half while the Rams, who entered shooting 35.8% from beyond the arc as a team, connected on eight of their first 18 for a plus-24 advantage at the break. Forward Dischon Thomas tormented Dickinson on pick-and-pop opportunities by hitting four 3s in the opening 20 minutes.
So often this season U-M unraveled with second-half defensive implosions in which opponents shot ludicrous percentages from the floor to pull away on the scoreboard. But a pair of deflections by Collins ignited his team in the waning seconds of the first half and foreshadowed the defensive pressure cooker Michigan would eventually unleash.
A new half, a new team
The Wolverines returned from the locker room with a level of intensity unseen since an 82-58 throttling of Purdue in early February. They hounded the Rams by challenging every catch to push the Colorado State offense deeper and deeper beyond the 3-point line. Dickinson harassed Thomas into a turnover at the top of the key that triggered a fast-break layup for Collins to embody the relentlessness Michigan summoned.
Colorado State coach Niko Medved stood dumbfounded in front of his bench as the Rams turned the ball over four times in the opening nine minutes after committing just five turnovers in the entire first half.
Such rabidness on the defensive end of the floor finally unlocked U-M’s offense, just as Howard told reporters it would all season. Collins, who shoots 13.3% from beyond the arc, rattled in the team’s first 3-pointer from the left corner — in front of an increasingly animated Michigan cheering section — to pull the Wolverines within one possession of Colorado State. Then Houstan buried three more 3s in the span of four minutes, including two in 40 seconds that finally pushed Michigan in front, 53-49.
Joy poured from the Wolverines bench, where assistant coach Saddi Washington — the team’s defensive coordinator — did jumping jacks on the sideline to encourage his players to challenge passes with active hands.
And when it ended, after Michigan bellowed and roared its way into the Round of 32, Howard walked across the court for a radio interview in front of the U-M fans. They chanted his name, and he stuck out his tongue before grinning with glee.
Contact Michael Cohen at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism