Men’s Basketball

Jonathan Epstein

      Help! Help! I can’t hang on much longer. Pull me up, hurry! That’s the Michigan Wolverine Basketball team crying out for a helping hand. They may need it on selection Sunday, or they may not. For now, they’re just hanging on the ledge by their fingernails. A loss to instate rivals Michigan State put the Wolverines in a position where they had to win four of their last six games to go .500 in the conference, the mark in conference that most believe would get the Wolverines into the big dance given their stellar out of conference resume. Included in those six would be home games against Minnesota and Purdue, two teams currently in the top six of the conference, and four games away from Crisler Arena.

No easy task…

Hurry!

      The first game of the ‘big six’ came last Sunday, when the Wolverines played against the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston. The Wolverines never really got it going in the first half, with Manny Harris and Deshawn Sims combining for a meager three points.

Hurry!

      Second half. Harris put the Wolverines on his shoulders. He had Big Ten analyst Dave Revsine in awe as “Manny Fresh” scored in every way possible. The Wolverines had a 3 point lead and the ball with 38 seconds left in the second half before a pair of don’t do turnovers gave the ball back to Northwestern twice, and sharpshooter Kevin Coble made sure he got his team into overtime with an akward, though maybe not by Coble’s means, leaning three pointer.

      In overtime Harris continued to dominate the game. He scored six of Michigan’s first eight in overtime. His two free throws with 2:03 remaining gave the Wolverines a comfortable six point lead. Koble then hit a beautiful jumper, putting the Cats within four. Michigan then gave the ball back to Northwestern with a sloppy possession. That’s when one of the worst calls of the year in the Big Ten gave Kerry Coble three free throws. Coble pump-faked, and Deshawn Sims bit on it. As Coble was about to go into his shooting position, with Sims still in the air, a sneaky hand, that of Stu Douglas, cleanly swiped the ball away from Coble before he even got into his full shooting motion. Sims then landed next to Coble, barely grazing his jersey, and the whistle blew. Not only fouling out arguably Michigan’s best player, but also giving the Wildcats a free three points when it should’ve been game over. Manny Harris wouldn’t quit. He gave the Wolverines two more free throws, poised as always, and the maize and blue managed to hold on for a 70-67 win.  

      Five more to go. The Wolverines must keep hanging on. If they take care of business at home tomorrow night against Minnesota, I have faith that someone will eventually give them a hand and pull them up.