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Michigan overcame a dreadful half of basketball from both teams to surge to a surprisingly comfortable 68-51 win over Northwestern in Evanston to get back in the winning column. Kobe Bufkin threatened for a triple double with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists as Michigan assisted on 21 of 24 made baskets. Hunter Dickinson scored 19 and Joey Baker chipped in 14 off the bench as the Maize & Blue got their 6th win in B1G play to get back over .500 in the conference. 

The first half was a terrible display of offensive basketball from both teams, missing open shots and lacking any semblance of offensive rhythm. The score sat at 1-0 Northwestern for the first 2.5 minutes of the contest and it proved to be an ominous marker for what would follow. Michigan shot 9/31 from the field and Northwestern was only a tiny bit better at 9/26. Each team made three threes and neither shot over 75% from the free throw line. Turnovers were low for both sides, but that couldn't rectify the parade of missed shots. Hunter Dickinson had a small groove with a dreamshake-like bucket, but otherwise finished 3/8. Kobe Bufkin hit a three and a long two and led the team with 10 rebounds, but overall shot 2/6 from the floor.

Juwan Howard dabbled in strange lineups, running out a Tarris Reed/Youssef Khayat/Jace Howard/Joey Baker/Kobe Bufkin look for an extended period of time. Khayat played for the first time since New Year's Day and the first time in meaningful minutes since mid-December, but he finished with no points in the first half (missed two threes). It wasn't much better for Northwestern, who got 11 points from Boo Buie but no one else scored more than 4 points, and Buie accounted for all the made threes for the Wildcat side. Most distressing for the home faithful was Chase Audige's grim 0/9 shooting performance. It was brutal from a watchability standpoint, but Michigan led 26-25. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The second half proved to be more of the same for Northwestern, while Michigan emerged from its funk to ignite on the offensive end. At first it seemed promising for Northwestern, with Audige quickly snapping his disaster factory first half, knocking down a pull up on the first possession of the second half and swiping the ball to set up Ty Berry for a layup that gave Northwestern a four point lead a minute in. After that, it was all Wolverines. They stitched together a 12-0 run, Hunter Dickinson kicking it off with a pair of free throws and a jumper, followed by fast-break points from Kobe Bufkin and then an acrobatic three pointer by Joey Baker that drew a foul. Baker hit the free throw and then drilled a jumper on the next possession to make it 38-29 Wolverines. 

That represented the first sizable lead by either team in the game and Michigan's offense was only in the process of opening up. When points started to come from other sources, like a Terrance Williams II three, or laser-precise passing between Dug McDaniel and Kobe Bufkin to set up a Hunter Dickinson and-one, you knew the machine was humming. The Williams trey made it 44-31, but despite a quick 'Cats score, Michigan kept building on the lead. Kobe Bufkin sliced to the lane for a layup and Michigan led 48-33 with 11:24 remaining. 

Northwestern had no answer. After that four point surge in the opening minute, it took them eleven minutes to score eight points. Michigan provided largely effective defense, yes, but Northwestern's shooting display was abysmal. Shots glanced off the back board, the front iron, just about every way you could miss. Michigan, to their credit, kept pushing on offense and put the game away early, never giving Northwestern the opportunity to claw back. Joey Baker pump faked into a made three to put Michigan up 16 and then Kobe Bufkin stripped Buie and threw it down at the other end. Then, with 5:20 left, Jett Howard, who was having an off-night, swished a three. 60-41 Michigan. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The remaining minutes were performative, Michigan doing well to break down the trap and Northwestern doing nothing to turn it on offensively. The final seconds ran out and the ultimate score was 68-51 in favor of the visittors. After two disappointing losses last week to Penn State and Purdue, Michigan was back in the winning column. 

Despite my apocalyptic summary of the first half box score, the final box score was much cleaner... for one team. Northwestern  shot 37.5% from the floor (21/56) and 15.8% from three (3/19), getting 23 from Buie and no one else above 10 points. Yeah, ugly. But Michigan? A much prettier picture. Bufkin and Dickinson led the team in scoring, Kobe excellent all around while Hunter scored 19 on a rather inefficient 7/16 from the floor. For me the highlight was Joey Baker, who might have played his best game as a Wolverine, scoring 14 on 5/6 from the field and 3/4 from three, helping stomach a dismal outing from Jett Howard. 

Michigan is now 12-10 on the season overall and 6-5 in the B1G, tied with Northwestern, Indiana, Maryland, Iowa, and Michigan State in a pile up in the middle of the league. They now have an opportunity to string some wins together with a favorable home schedule upcoming, starting with the struggling Ohio State Buckeyes at Crisler on Sunday. That game is scheduled for 1:00 PM EST and will be broadcast on CBS. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

THE ESSENTIALS

THE OVERVIEW

There are three Big Ten games today, two of which will have an impact on the teams directly behind Michigan in standings (Iowa just beat Rutgers, Illinois-Purdue at 6) and one with delightfully little relevance to the conference title picture (MSU-Nebraska). No matter how those play out, Michigan can maintain first place in the conference by holding serve at home on Sunday against the surprise of the season thus far, Northwestern, which is in the four-team pack one game behind M in the loss column.

This game marks the first time in 175 meetings between Michigan and Northwestern that both programs enter the game ranked in the polls.

THE US

Seth's graphic [click to embiggen]:

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Austin Davis remains out with a plantar fascia injury. Juwan Howard tightened the rotation to seven players against Maryland, playing Brandon Johns for eight minutes at center and two alongside Hunter Dickinson at power forward while Terrance Williams didn't get off the bench.

THE LINEUP CARD

Seth's graphic [click for big]:

So, yeah, we added a Disaster Factory tag.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the preview plus an updated WBB preview for tomorrow's Northwestern game.]