For much of this season, very few outside of the PDC, outside of Chrysler Center,

believe that Michigan men's basketball would have a lot of success down the stretch this season,

because after that 3-0 start, things have been really tough for the maize in blue.

And that was added to with the news in the last couple of days of Olivier Kamwa

having a season-ending surgery on his left wrist.

He is done not just for his season, but also his collegiate career.

That added yet another obstacle to a team that has faced plenty of them throughout the course of the season and as of late.

A bug, a flu, something has gone through this program as of late, and the Wolverines were once

again short-handed. Will Cheddar could not go due to us, we'll hear from Coach Howard in a little

while, a high fever. Terris Reed Jr., Terrence Williams II, others are just kind of getting

back into the flow of things. Jace Howard had not played this month because he was very much under the weather.

But Michigan came to Northwestern with very much nobody believing in them.

And they gave Northwestern a game for a while.

It was all Michigan early on in this one.

The Wolverines led for about 16 game minutes of the first half,

but ultimately fell behind by three at the break.

Second half, it was all Northwestern. The Wildcats outlasted Michigan. They were the better

team like they have been for much of this season. The belief level outside of the program is

not really changed. It had dissipated pretty significantly here in the last couple of months.

And the Kamwa injury just reinforces that. But this performance on Thursday night at the very

least showed that this program will not go out without a fight. This team played as hard as

they've played all season with a makeshift starting five with a unique rotation, playing all eight scholarship

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