Juwan Howard pleased with Michigan's response against Northwestern

Michigan came into Sunday morning’s game against Northwestern having lost two straight and four of their last six. The Wolverines were in big need of a bounceback after letting a game against Iowa earlier in the week slip away at the end of the second half in overtime. Now, after knocking off the Wildcats 85-78 in Ann Arbor today, Juwan Howard couldn’t be happier with his team’s response.

In the opening statement of his postgame press conference, Howard applauded his team for not letting their loss in Iowa City on Thursday get them down. The opposition in the Big Ten requires their best game in and game out. Today, that’s what Howard says the Wolverines gave.

“I was extremely pleased with how our guys bounced back after a tough loss in Iowa,” Howard said. “We could have came in with our heads down because we let one slip away…But, today, we responded. Especially when you’re talking about the first six minutes? We did a good job defensively. Knowing that Northwestern can shoot the ball extremely well, attack the paint, try to expose you on ball screens.”

“We play against good teams in this league. (It’s) a very good, competitive league,” said Howard. “You’re always gonna get a team’s best, whether it’s on your home court or on the road.”

In the first six minutes that Howard mentioned, Michigan took their largest lead of the game of 12 points. Northwestern fought back over the course of the game but the Wolverines maintained enough cushion that they were able to close a back-and-forth game in the end. They were able to capitalize with some high-level offense (51.8% shooting from the field, 45.5% shooting from deep, 18 assists) as well as effort on the glass that earned them a rebound advantage of 12.

This was a big one for Howard’s squad as they now sit as 10-7 and 4-2 in the Big Ten. It also speaks to their mentality for being able to survive this one after letting their last one slip away. Now, it’s on Michigan to string some together as they’ll head into a week where they’ll travel to Maryland as well as play host to Minnesota.