Michigan moves to .500 in league with vital win over Minnesota

Just before the 10-minute mark of the first half in Thursday night's game against Minnesota, the Michigan Wolverines and their fans had to be wondering if they'd ever find an offensive spark and rediscover the hot three-point shooting that has proven to be so elusive this season.
 
Down 14-12, the Maize and Blue were on pace for another low-40s performance such as the one that killed them nine days earlier against Michigan State. One day after Illinois failed to crack 37 points for the second time in 2009, the Wolverines had to stare down the frightening possibility of failing to hit the 45-point plateau for the second time in conference play. Something had to change if John Beilein's bunch wanted to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes in reasonably stable condition.

Enter Zack Novak, who offered the very tonic his team so desperately required.
 
The 6-5 freshman from Chesterton, Ind., who had already nailed two threes (providing half of UM's 12 points at the time), managed to shake loose from Golden Gopher defenders and throw down two more long-distance shots. The quick burst of offense, and the psychological power that comes from the presence of a hot shooting hand, profoundly changed the emotional dynamics of this Big Ten battle. Once Novak hit his third and fourth threes--on his way to six of them, good for a game-high 18 points--the white-shirted Wolverines fed off an energized crowd in Crisler Arena. By the time the first half was done, the home team hit eight 3-pointers on the way to a 40-25 bulge at the break.

The transformation in Michigan's demeanor (and results) was profound: After being so sluggish in the first 10 minutes of the first half, the Wolverines exploded in those second 10 minutes of the half. An offense-challenged Minnesota team, which needs to generate points off its pressure defense, was never able to make inroads against a revived Maize and Blue roster, so much so that the Wolverines never trailed by single digits throughout the second half of play. It really was true that the first half, not the second, determined the outcome of this particular contest. That's a rarity in basketball; so was Michigan's prolific and high-percentage 3-point display (a sterling 12-of-26, which will win UM a lot of games in any time or season).
 
There's a lot of work left to do for Michigan, with three road games coming up in the next two and a half weeks. If the Wolverines can shoot the rock the way they did against the shellshocked Golden Gophers, however, they won't have to do a whole lot of worrying.

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