Published: Monday, 2/23/2015 – Updated: 23 hours ago UM snaps 5-game losing streak BY DAVID BRIGGSBLADE SPORTS WRITER ANN ARBOR — The matinee had the look and feel of a snoozer. With the depleted Michigan basketball team on a five-game losing streak, most students could not be bothered to trudge through the snow for Sunday’s rivalry game against Ohio State. The 10 sections in the Crisler Center’s upper bowl reserved for maize-clad undergraduates sat half empty. Yet a funny thing happened on the way to the Wolverines’ calling hours. A desperate Michigan team ran the No. 24 Buckeyes clear out of Washtenaw County, bursting to an early 20-point lead before holding on for a 64- 57 victory that moved both schools closer to the brink of postseason contention — Ohio State toward the bubble of the NCAA tournament, the hosts toward the bubble of the NIT. By the end, fan favorite point guard Spike Albrecht had a game-high 16 points, the arena bounced like old times (2014), and Michigan’s players had to recall the words to “The Victors.” It was the Wolverines’ first win over a ranked opponent this season and their first of any sort since beating visiting Nebraska on Jan. 27. “A really good win for us and one that is very much needed,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “We have a tradition of not singing the fight song afterward if we don’t win, so that locker room has been starved of that fight song. Our guys sang it with a lot of gusto.” In the other locker room, Ohio State’s players quietly searched for answers, unsure how to account for an opening stretch that coach Thad Matta called “mind-boggling.” The Buckeyes (19-8, 8-6 Big Ten) lost for the third time in their last five games. …
Continue Reading: Michigan upsets OSU by building early lead
