The recent fortunes of the Michigan basketball team have been painfully familiar
for those that follow the Maize and Blue. For the second consecutive year, injuries
have sapped Tommy Amaker's playing rotation of its depth. The most recent addition
to the list of wounded was senior power forward Chris Hunter, who is now out
for three to six weeks after partially tearing his MCL versus Michigan State.
Even though the depletion in manpower has played a significant role in the Wolverines'
1-4 record over the previous five contests, Amaker has refused to let his team
feel sorry for itself. With his squad's tournament hopes resting on how they
finish the season, a win over Bruce Weber's 8th ranked Illini would be just
what the doctor ordered. For Michigan to end Illinois' 11-game winning streak
in the series, it would take great defense, senior leadership, and most of all,
guts. Tuesday night, Daniel Horton stepped to the fore to exhibit all of those
traits in what was one of the most memorable showings of his entire Michigan
career.
For the first ten-and-a-half
minutes of the game Horton was the Wolverines' entire offense. The veteran floor
leader had a hand in all 13 Michigan points, scoring eleven on his own and assisting
Brent Petway on a dunk for the other deuce to keep Michigan within four, (17-13),
with 9:36 left. Then the rest of the Wolverines started to get into the act,
Jerret Smith leading the charge.
Both Smith and Dion Harris were playing in only their second games since being
out for extended periods of time. Their presence clearly had a positive effect
on Horton and the team as a whole. Smith was particularly effective when he
entered the contest, picking the pocket of an Illini ball-handler and driving
to the other end for a difficult lay-in. That bucket ignited a 10-2 run that
was capped off by a Horton triple that give Michigan its first lead of the game,
(23-21), with just under seven minutes left in the half.
Illinois responded to Michigan's surge with an 8-0 spurt of their own to regain
a six-point lead, but Smith was there to steady the ship for the Wolverines.
The young floor general scored five of the home team's final seven points, including
a three pointer, to help his squad head into the break trailing by only four,
34-30.
The Illini quickly increased their advantage coming out of the break thanks
to the low post duo of James Augustine and Shaun Pruitt. The two big men outscored
Michigan 6-3 in the opening moments up the half to go up 40-33. But as was the
case in the first half, Horton stepped up to stem the tide.
After coming up with a big steal, Horton found Dion Harris trailing in transition
for a big three-point bucket that sparked a long range barrage. The next time
down the floor Horton drained his second trifecta of the half and fourth of
the game to cut the lead to one. Ronald Coleman then joined the three-point
party with yet another bomb to complete a 9-0 run that put the Wolverines back
on top 42-40 at the 16:43 mark.
Dee Brown began to assert himself for the Illini at that point, but Horton
was always ready with a response. After Brown nailed a triple to put the visitors
back up 43-42, Horton came right back with five straight points, including his
fifth three-pointer, to put Michigan up four. Minutes later Brown connected
from long distance again to chop the lead to one, but Horton answered with a
jumper to make the score 51-48 with 12:11 to go.
Despite Horton's
frequent retorts, Bruce Weber's club just kept on coming. The Wolverines were
still clinging to a one-point lead with 4:06 left in the game when Jerret Smith
came up with one of the biggest plays of the contest. With the shot clock winding
down, the freshman point-man drove into the lane and drew the defense, before
elevating for a jump-pass to a wide-open Courtney Sims for a dunk. Sims was
fouled in the act of shooting and converted the free throw to put the home team
up 62-58 with 3:35 left to play. From there the Wolverines never looked back.
Horton scored the Michigan's final eight points, the last six of which came
from the charity stripe, to ice the 72-64 upset victory.
Horton, who scored a career best 39 points on the evening, drew praise from
both coaches for his outstanding performance. "He willed us to this victory,"
Amaker said regarding his senior guard. "He willed the balls in the basket.
He is an amazing player with that and the incredible confidence that he has
in himself and in all of these kind of tight, big-game situations."
"I thought Chester (Frazier) might have bothered (Horton) the most, but
when Chester is in there, we probably don't play as well offensively,"
said Illini coach Bruce Weber. "Chester at least battled him. I don't think
our other guys battled him. Horton just got in one of those grooves and got
going. Everything he threw up it looked like it was going in and you were surprised
when he missed. He mixed in the threes with getting to the basket. The start
of the second half was the key to the game. Our awareness and communication
was poor and we let them get three or four wide open threes. When that happens,
you give a team a chance to make a run and we could never recover. They rose
up and we didn't do the things we needed to."
The victory moved Michigan's season record to 18-7 overall and 8-6 in the Big
Ten. For more on the game, click the following links: Boxscore,
Notes,
Quotes,
Photos.
Next up for the Wolverines is a road battle on Saturday with the 12th ranked Ohio State
Buckeyes. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 PM.