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No. 23 Michigan ventures to Nebraska (Jan 18, 2018)
In an unusual twist of scheduling, No. 23 Michigan travels to Lincoln, Neb., on Thursday to take on Nebraska with both teams coming off one-point victories on Monday night.
On the day they garnered enough votes to claim a spot in the Associated Press Top 25, the No. 23 Wolverines (16-4, 5-2 Big Ten) defeated Maryland 68-67 on Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman's two free throws with 1.2 seconds left.
About 740 miles west of Ann Arbor, Mich., James Palmer hit a running 3-pointer with 0.3 of a second left to lift the Cornhuskers (13-7, 4-3) to a 64-63 win over Illinois at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The Wolverines were coming off an emotional win over archrival Michigan State (No. 4 at the time) and John Beilein feared a letdown was in the cards against the short-handed Terrapins.
He didn't have to wait long to see those fears come to fruition as Maryland opened a 14-point lead and led 30-20 at halftime.
Michigan got back in the game with 10-0 run to start the second half.
"There wasn't any inspirational teaching or positive reinforcement," Beilein said of his halftime speech. "It was like, 'What the hell? We've got to play better.'"
Michigan built a 10-point lead with just under six minutes to go, but Maryland tested the Wolverines' resolve and took a 63-61 lead on Kevin Huerter's 3-point jumper, which set up Abdur-Rahkman's heroics.
Moritz Wagner, who led Michigan with 18 points and 11 rebounds, admitted it was a little tough to stay focused after the win over the Spartans.
"Adversity -- we've proven we can adjust to that," he said. "But prosperity, that's what the real good teams adjust to and keep winning and winning."
Beilein said his team might have prepared better had it lost to Michigan State and that the Wolverines have a long way to go.
Playing at Pinnacle Bank Arena should be a solid road test for the Wolverines.
Even though the Cornhuskers have struggled on offense of late, they still have managed to go 6-2 in their last eight games. Those two losses came against Penn State by two points in overtime and to No. 3 Purdue by 12.
Palmer was a no-show in the overtime loss to the Nittany Lions, and he believed he let his teammates down.
"I definitely had to come out and play well this game. I couldn't have two bad games in a row," Palmer told the Lincoln Journal Star after hitting the winning shot against the Illini. "Penn State, I really think it was on me because I didn't really show up in a road game and we really took the loss hard."
Hoping to spark an offense that averages 73.5 points per game, coach Tim Miles shook up his starting lineup against Penn State.
Anton Gill and Isaiah Roby started for the first time this season, with Evan Taylor and Duby Okeke heading to the bench. Okeke started in the loss to Penn State after Jordy Tshimanga temporarily left the team on Friday for personal reasons.
The starting lineup change didn't do much to fix Nebraska's struggles as the Cornhuskers shot poorly and committed too many turnovers.
Taylor did thrive coming off the bench, compiling 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
But maybe more important for the long term, Tshimanga was back with the team practicing on Tuesday.
"Last week, I discussed some personal issues with Coach Miles," the 6-foot-11 sophomore center from Montreal said in a statement. "This conversation resulted in me not participating in team activities the last few days, but it has allowed me to work on these issues so I can fully focus on academics and basketball."
Tshimanga averages only 3.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He started nine games as freshman while playing in 31 games.
It's uncertain whether Tshimanga will be ready to play Thursday. Miles is expected to go with the same lineup, with Gill and Roby getting the starts.
