Double-digit road victories have become the norm for No. 2 Michigan, which has won five straight away from home within its eight-game winning streak entering Wednesday’s clash with Northwestern in Evanston, Ill.
Complacency is another story for the Wolverines, though.
After rallying from a halftime deficit at Maryland to win their first conference road test in mid-December and surviving a scare at Penn State three weeks later, the Wolverines (22-1, 12-1 Big Ten) take nothing for granted.
“Those close games really shifted our mindset,” said Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg. “We’re not invincible, even though we feel like we are. And it just proved to us that we’ve got to be more mature in everyday approach.”
Michigan led throughout Sunday’s 82-61 victory at Ohio State by remaining centered and steady.
The conference-leading Wolverines plan to apply the same principles against Northwestern (10-14, 2-11), which has lost three straight and nine of 11.
“We know in the Big Ten, every road game is going to be really tough,” Aday Mara said. “But I think our preparation and just being ready and having a good intensity from the beginning, it makes the difference.”
Wildcats coach Chris Collins also has focused on his team’s mentality as Northwestern aims to avoid the league basement.
The Wildcats are one of five schools with double-digit conference losses — joining Maryland, Rutgers, Oregon and Penn State. Of that group, the Wildcats clearly boast the best power ratings. They opened the week at No. 69 in KenPom and No. 79 per the NET rankings.
While he insists Northwestern is “not a moral-victory program,” Collins sees progress amid the losses. On Sunday, fielding a starting lineup with three freshmen just four days removed from a 40-point blowout loss at Illinois, the Wildcats challenged host Iowa throughout a 76-70 defeat.
“When you get throttled like that, you worry about how that’s going to affect them going into the next game,” Collins said, “but I thought our effort was great, I thought our fight was great. I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win this game (Sunday).”
While Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli paced Northwestern with 21 points, freshman point guard Jake West continued his development with a career-best 18 points, including a 4-of-5 effort from long range.
Collins lauded West’s poise as he goes against a deep roster of Big Ten point guards.
“Put yourself in his shoes as a young kid trying to go through this gantlet,” Collins said. “I’m proud of him. He’s learning a lot. But I think what you see about Jake is, he’s a competitor. He’s not going to back down. He’s going to play against these guys, he’s going to give his best. He’s learning with each game. He’s growing with confidence. We’re putting him out there.”
Collins cited Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau as the next point-guard challenge West will encounter, but the Wolverines are solid in the frontcourt as well.
Mara, a 7-foot-3 junior, scored a career-high 24 points on Sunday while connecting on his first two 3-pointers.
“I’m confident with my shot. It’s in my game,” Mara said. “It’s just that I haven’t (shot) it for two years, but I know it’s there, so I’m just going to keep taking the good shots.”
Meanwhile, Lendeborg (14 points, 14 rebounds) and fellow forward Morez Johnson Jr. (11 points, 12 rebounds) each registered their fifth double-double of the year.
–Field Level Media
