Before Saturday’s fight card between Michigan and Michigan State, Phil Martelli warned that the Wolverines needed a boxer’s mentality if they were going to come out of the Breslin Center with a win.
And throughout the first half, Martelli’s vision became reality. Each team traded blows, but the Spartans held an edge. Fouls, missed assignments and settled for weak outside shots. Battered and down 27-18, Michigan looked to rally coming out of halftime.
So they did.
After taking two quick punches to start the second half, Michigan found its opportunities, drawing fouls, scoring inside and slowly pulling their way back into the game. In a game they once trailed by 14, the Wolverines fought back despite their lacking start and had a legitimate chance to win.
The only problem — they couldn’t land a knockout blow.
“It hurts because I felt like this was the one, man,” Hunter Dickinson said. “… When you get yourself down 14 points in the second half against a really good team — a really well coached team — it’s hard for you to get back into the game. And we did that, it just showed how much fight we have in the team.
“But when you’re trying to get back in the game you can’t afford any mistakes, and we just had a couple too many.”
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