No one ever said it would be easy.
Through the first three-plus months of the season, Michigan had avoided a true off night. It hadn’t played perfectly each and every time out, but it had played well enough to win every game on the schedule but one, and in doing so, it had assembled, by most metrics, the best NCAA Tournament resume in the country.
What did all of that mean on a cold Wednesday night in Evanston? Well, nothing to the Wildcats, who gave the Wolverines all they could handle through the game’s first 35 minutes.
And for the Wolverines? In their pursuit of a Big Ten regular season championship and a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, they had one mulligan, and they were almost forced to use it.
Such is life in the thick of a title race. The bad news? It only gets tougher from here. The good news? Michigan has banked the best collection of wins, top to bottom, in the sport, and after finally burying the Wildcats with a 45-17 sprint through the finish line, Dusty May’s Wolverines head home hungry and ready for more. It’s T-minus 30 days until Selection Sunday, my friends.
Let’s see where Michigan stands as it enters the home stretch.
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