Michigan didn’t spend much time staring at the bruise from Friday night.
After taking its first competitive loss in nearly eight months against No. 4 Connecticut, the No.
20 Wolverines turned around and answered with a sharper, cleaner showing against Marquette on Wednesday. Coach Mike Boynton Jr. made it clear the response mattered more than the setback.
“I try not to dwell on it too much,” Boynton said Wednesday. “I don’t think about the loss any more than I think about the win.”
That approach fit the way Michigan handled the week. The loss to the Huskies was ugly in spots, but it also came against one of the top teams in college basketball.
Connecticut’s defense smothered Michigan early, holding the Wolverines to 35% shooting in the first half. The Huskies also won the perimeter battle and piled up 31 points at the free-throw line on 36 attempts, while Michigan managed 18 points on 23 tries.
Still, Boynton and his players weren’t interested in leaning on the opponent as a shield. The message was simple: move on, clean it up, and get back in the win column.
“The ebbs and flows of a basketball season requires a team to stay focused through good and bad things,” Boynton said. “I was most pleased with the way we responded today after obviously a disappointing result on Friday on the road.”
Michigan’s biggest fix was obvious right away. The Wolverines stayed out of foul trouble, cutting their total to 14 after committing 26 against Connecticut. That kept Marquette from living at the line and allowed Michigan to keep its best pieces on the floor without constantly worrying about foul trouble.
The shot-making followed. Michigan hit 42.3% from three, a major jump from Friday’s performance.
Freshman forward Quinn Costello was the biggest spark from deep, drilling 5 of 6 threes and stretching the floor with both catch-and-shoot looks and contested attempts. His shooting opened things up for sophomore guard Trey McKenney and senior guard Elliot Cadeau, who found cleaner looks from behind the arc.
Costello’s bounce-back stood out because of what came before it. Against Connecticut, he went 1-for-5 from three and finished with just three points. Wednesday showed a different side of the freshman: the willingness to keep firing after a rough night.
Junior center Moustapha Thiam also looked much more like himself after a quiet Friday. He had only three shot attempts against the Huskies and didn’t make much of an impact defensively, but against Marquette he anchored the paint. Thiam finished with three blocks and 12 rebounds, using his 7-foot-2 frame to shut down interior chances.
“We’re not an excuse-making program,” Boynton said. “(Thiam) clearly wasn’t himself on Friday after coming off being sick. But he just put his head down and got back to work in practice, owned his performance and wanted to play better for his teammates.”
Michigan is still a work in progress, but that’s not necessarily a problem this early. The Wolverines didn’t need perfection on Wednesday. They just needed a response.
In Other News...
Michigan QB Situation Just Got Even Murkier After Unexpected Twist
Michigans quarterback picture was already unsettled, and Colin Hurleys latest move only adds another layer to it. After arriving from LSU and being expected to compete for a backup job in Ann Arbor, Hurley medically retired following a concussion, a development that seemed to close the book on his college career for the time being.
Now Hurley is planning to return to football and has entered the transfer portal, reopening a path that looked finished not long ago. For Michigan, it lands amid a stretch of turnover and uncertainty at the position, with Bryce Underwood recently benched and offensive coordinator Jason Beck already fired, leaving the Wolverines still searching for some clarity under center. [Read more 🡒]
Tom Izzo Had Quite A Message For Duke After This Loss
Michigan States preseason win over Duke gave Tom Izzo plenty to talk about afterward, and he made sure to frame it as more than just a good October result. The Spartans beat the Blue Devils 79-73, and Izzo came away impressed with Duke while also acknowledging what his own team had done to earn the victory.
Izzo also couldnt resist tying the moment back to the bigger campus mood in East Lansing, pointing to Michigan States recent football win over Michigan and stressing how much that meant. The basketball result mattered, but in Izzos view, it was part of a stretch that had already given the Spartans plenty to feel good about. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans Offensive Reset Faces Its First Real Test At Oregon
Michigan football heads into a tricky stretch with a familiar kind of pressure hanging over the program: fix the offense without blowing up everything else. After the loss to Michigan State, the Wolverines moved on from Jason Beck and turned the play-calling over to Jim Harding on an interim basis, a sign that the staff felt something had to change. The timing is awkward, too, because Oregon is coming off its own offensive shake-up and has already shown signs of life since making a similar move.
For Michigan, the challenge is less about reinventing the whole operation than finding enough clarity to help an offense that has struggled all season while leaning on a defense that has stayed strong. The expectation is for adjustments, not a full scheme overhaul, which leaves plenty riding on how quickly the new setup can settle in. Oregon is the first real test of whether those changes can translate on the field, and it arrives with little margin for error. [Read more 🡒]