Almost four weeks ago, the Michigan men’s basketball team opened February by playing one of its best games of the season but falling in overtime at Michigan State, 76-66.
That loss snowballed into four more before the Wolverines finally snapped their skid Sunday with a home upset of Ohio State. Saturday, they’ll wrap up the month with a visit to No. 14 Maryland, where a sellout crowd is expected at the Xfinity Center (capacity 17,950).
For the first time in a month, Michigan (7-8 Big Ten, 14-13 overall) will have significant momentum going into the game, coming off five days’ rest since a win — as opposed to five days’ rest since its sixth straight loss.
“Yeah, it would have been six,” said junior guard Spike Albrecht, almost sighing with relief. “I think everyone was kind of rejuvenated to see some of the hard work pay off. It was getting old there, getting after practice so hard and still coming up short. To finally get that win was a big step for us.”
On the injury front, sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr. practiced for about 15 minutes Thursday, but Michigan coach John Beilein said the workout “wasn’t promising.” Walton will make the trip to Maryland, but Beilein doesn’t expect to have him available.
The Wolverines will play Maryland (11-4, 23-5) for just the seventh time, and the first as a Big Ten opponent. The last time the teams met was the 2008 ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
But for any momentum Michigan has, the Terrapins can match it. They have won four straight games, each by six points or fewer, including Tuesday’s 59-53 upset of No. 5 Wisconsin. This season, they are 17-1 at home and 9-0 in games decided by six points or fewer, while the Wolverines are 2-6 on the road and 5-7 in games decided by six points or fewer or in overtime.
“I think with all the adversity that we’ve faced, all the games that we go into, teams overlook us,” Irvin said. “We just go in with a chip on our shoulder, and we’re going to go out there and compete.”
If those stats didn’t highlight enough the experience gap between the teams, Maryland will also honor its seven seniors Saturday in College Park. The notable name is senior Evan Smotrycz, a Michigan transfer who played on NCAA Tournament teams in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and helped the Wolverines win a share of the Big Ten title in 2012.
In two seasons, he made 42 starts, played 19.4 minutes per game and averaged 7.0 points.
Of course, Michigan looks quite a bit different than when he left, too.
Senior Max Bielfeldt is the only current Wolverine who played with Smotrycz. The team will start three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior against two seniors, a junior, a sophomore and a freshman for the Terrapins.
The freshman is guard Melo Trimble, whom Beilein called “Trey Burke-like” on Friday. The Upper Marlboro, Maryland native was the state’s top recruit and hasn’t disappointed, averaging 16.1 points with 45 3-pointers and 25 double-figure scoring games.
He and the Terrapins will provide a tough test at the front end of a two-game road swing that closes Tuesday at Northwestern.
“For us to go and get either one or both of these road games is showing we’ve made huge steps,” Beilein said. “That would really be big for us, to be able to finish strong in this year. … But everybody’s going to have to play pretty well. We’ve shown we can do that, but the other team’s trying to stop us from doing that.”