Article on biggest moments in the MSU rivalry
This article focuses on some of the biggest moments in the rivalry. I agree that Burke's steal and intercepted pass in the last minute in 2013 were incredible and I don't recall Crisler ever being louder, but in some ways the Douglass shot stands out. We were on a 6 game losing streak (and having missed the tournament the year before folks were starting to question Beilein), and that game turned the season around. There weren't many great memories from the Amaker era, but the Smith to Petway 3/4 court alley opp in a game we won at home stands out:
That game at Breslin was a program changing moment for Michigan basketball. Beilein was on a warm seat and questions arose if he was the guy. One of the greatest wins I’ve ever watched albeit not a very good team.
You can say “not a great team,” but it was still a good enough team to bludgeon Tennessee in the 8/9 game and take Kylie Irving and Duke to within a whisker of OT in the second round of the tournament. So we should give them a little more credit than calling them “not a good team.” That said, you’re absolutely right that it was a program-changing win, as were the wins over UCLA and Duke two years earlier after Michigan was coming off a 10-win season in Beilein’s first year. Those wins showed that Beilein could do the job, and the Breslin win was the springboard the next year to the tournament run and the subsequent regular season championship the following year.
Novak and Douglass (especially Novak) are, in my mind, the godfathers of the Beilein era. His first recruits, gave the program its first NCAA appearance in forever, and went out as Big Ten champions in their senior year. Amazing careers for two unheralded recruits.
The picture of Stu Douglass dunking the ball with GRIII (I think) screaming behind him is my lasting memory of the Tennessee game. That game told me that Beilein could coach Michigan on the national stage.
Hardaway. GR3 and Douglas didn't overlap.
I would add the two times we beat the Magic Johnson teams, the time Jalen Rose wiped his butt on the "S", the time Moe Wagner made Nick Ward fall on his ass and the 30 point thumping we gave them in 2017.
The Darius Morris get the hell off my court game
"The Spartans’ dominance was unmistakable. In the 2000s, the Wolverines managed just three wins total in the series, failing to make the NCAA Tournament in any of those years,their lone achievement a runner-up spot in the 2006 National Invitation Tournament"
Yo put some respect on the 2004 NIT Champions!
I would also throw the Staus-kiss game up there- winning on the road @#3 was pretty sweet and I remember not expecting to win that game at all.
Thanks for posting this - great pregame reading for the game today, and it's always nice to re-live some of the highlights in the rivalry.
Go Blue!
Aneurysm of Leadership is, in my mind, the biggest moment in the rivalry (for Michigan) in the last 20-25 years.
That started Michigan down the road to become the program that it is today. Before that, Michigan was floundering, everyone wanted Beilein out, and the program just looked rudderless. That moment completely turned that all around. Sure, there have been plenty of games played where there was far more in the line. But that moment was the most important moment for Michigan in a long, long time.
Michigan Basketball is not where it is today without Zack Novak.
The car crash on M-14 was the biggest moment in the rivalry.
That trey burke play was #1.