Northwestern’s Chris Collins impressed with Michigan, his own team in tight loss
Michigan pulled away from Northwestern late for an 85-78 win, but it wasn’t easy. The Wolverines turned it over 18 times, were lax on defense too often and gave up a big, early lead before rallying.
The Wildcats made center Hunter Dickinson their focus, forcing others to make plays. Dickinson did a nice job finding his teammates and keeping the ball moving, but it was the Michigan guards who made the difference.
Michigan freshman Dug McDaniel scored 10 points in the first half on his way to 17. Sophomore Kobe Bufkin turned it over 5 times but went 9-for-11 from the floor and made key shots down the stretch.
“All of them made plays,” Collins said. “McDaniel did a really good job in the pick-and-rolls most of the game. Bufkin hit a couple big corner threes, [and] his ability to drive closeouts [was big].”
But Michigan also rolled out the two-big lineup again with freshman Tarris Reed with Dickinson. That allowed Michigan some second chance points, and Reed more than held his own defensively.
“I’m sure it’s a lineup they’ll look at more going forward because Reed is very talented,” Collins added. “Hunter is going to play, so it’s a way to kind of get (Reed) out on the floor and get more minutes.
“[But] we put ourselves in a position on the road to get one, which isn’t easy. There are a lot of things that we can get better at, but you know, sometimes the other team just plays a little bit better than you do.”
In addition, Michigan scored 85 points despite all the miscues with turnovers. That led to 16 points in transition for the Wildcats.
But there were other times the Wolverines got good looks. The ball movement was solid, at times, and led to 10 triples.
“We’ve got to recommit ourselves to playing better defense,” Collins said. “It’s hard during the season, because there are so many games and such a short window everybody’s playing two or three games a week. So, your practice time becomes more limited.
“But I’m just proud of our energy and toughness. For us to then get the lead at the half, I think it showed a lot about who our group is, and who we’ve been all year.”
In the end, he noted, it was a battle of “two good teams” in which Michigan made a few more plays.
“We got a little bit worn down in the second half,” Collins said. “Michigan made more plays than us, they made more shots, and they did the things that were worthy of winning today.”
