INDIANAPOLIS — It has been a turbulent month for Michigan basketball.
On Feb. 21, head coach Juwan Howard was suspended for the final five games of the regular season for hitting Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft in the face during a postgame altercation.
On March 11, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines blew a 17-point second-half lead to Indiana and lost 74-69 to drop their record to 17-14 and leave them nervously waiting to see their name on Selection Sunday.
Michigan got into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed and was gifted a first-round game against Colorado State, a No. 6 seed but a team without tournament experience and with inferior size to the Wolverines.
That was the good news.
The bad news was Michigan would have to play the game without its starting point guard DeVante’ Jones, who suffered a concussion in practice Monday.
So, of course Michigan trailed Colorado State by 15 points in the first half Thursday on the very same Gainbridge Fieldhouse floor where it lost to Indiana six days earlier.
This time, though, it was Michigan making the comeback, overcoming that first-half deficit to beat Colorado State 75-63 and advance to a Round of 32 matchup with Tennessee on Saturday.
“The last game we played versus Indiana, that was a great learning moment for us and how we have to not feel that we’ve got to play the scoreboard,’’ Howard said.
“I know I was thinking, ‘Shoot, if they can do it to us, we can do it to them?’ ’’ Michigan’s 7-foot center Hunter Dickinson said, referring to the Indiana game and Colorado State.
Hunter Dickinson (1) led Michigan with 21 points and Frankie Collins (10) had 14 points in the Wolverines’ win over Colorado State. AP
Michigan’s Eli Brooks (55) shoots during the Wolverines’ first round win over Colorado State. APDickinson was too much for undersized CSU to handle, as evidenced by his game-high 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
The most unheralded star for Michigan was freshman point guard Frankie Collins, who made his first start in place of Jones and scored 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting, had six rebounds, two assists and only one turnover.
Knowing how Michigan likely wouldn’t even have made it into the NCAA Tournament without Jones, its do-everything point guard, Collins was a revelation. Before the game, he was encouraged by his teammates, including Jones, who was back home in Michigan recovering.
“They really just told me to be Frankie — go out there, play with confidence and lead the team,’’ Collins said.
Collins was an igniter for Michigan after the poor first half, in which it trailed 36-29. He was one of three freshman starters for Michigan on Thursday.
Juwan Howard during Michigan’s March Madness win over Colorado State on March 17, 2022. Getty Images“If I remember, Coach [Steve] Fisher started five freshmen,’’ Howard said, referring to the famous Fab Five lineup which he was a part of in 1992. “Going through starting lineup, [when] each player name was called and they give their grade year … I’m like, ‘Whoa, we had three freshmen starting.’ Did they grow up today? Yes.’’
Michigan was outscored 24-0 from the 3-point line by Colorado State in the first half, shooting 0-for-7 from long distance while CSU was 8 of 20.
Colorado State (25-6) led for 27:41 of the game while Michigan led for 10:54, all late in the second half. After the 8-for-20 shooting in the first half, CSU was 4 of 15 in the second half from beyond the arc.
Conversely, Michigan went from shooting 47.8 percent in the first half to 60 percent in the second, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Michigan’s defense held CSU to 29 percent shooting in the second half.
The Wolverines had heavy support from the sold-out crowd, which chanted, “Let’s go blue,’’ and became the first team to complete a 15-point comeback in the NCAA Tournament since Nevada in 2018. Among that crowd leading the cheers was Jalen Rose, one of Howard’s former Fab Five teammates.
Colorado State entered the game 18-1 when leading at the half this season and Michigan was 3-9 this season when trailing at the half.
“Being down 15, we could have easily just said, ‘It’s time to pack it in,’ but we are not built that way,’’ Howard said. “I respect the resilience that they showed.’’
It’s possible that Jones might be available to play in Saturday’s game. Howard was vague, saying, “We expect to see him soon. Right now, we’re just praying that he has good health and can come back whenever he’s ready to come back.’’
