Michigan Gets It Done On Phil Martelli's Watch

Michigan defeated Rutgers 71-62 with Phil Martelli standing in has head coach while Juwan Howard serves a five-game suspension. It's a nice resumé boosting win for the Wolverines as they try to pile up as many victories as possible down the home stretch. Here's what stood out in the win over the Scarlet Knights.

1. Caleb Houstan

Michigan's big time freshman led all scorers with a career-high 21 points and knocked down five threes in the game. Whenever Houstan shoots the ball well, Michigan seems to win. In fact, the Wolverines are 9-0 whenever Houstan scores 13 or more points. When he has an off night, and he's had several, Michigan's offense really struggles. He was brought in as a top flight talent with unlimited range and tonight that's how he looked. It hasn't exactly played out that way during every contest this year, but he was great tonight and led the Wolverines to victory.

2. Second-half shooting

In the first half, Michigan shot only 43% from the floor overall and just 20% from three-point range but still took a two-point lead into halftime. In the second half, Michigan was 50% from the floor overall and 42% from distance. That better shooting performance allowed U-M to pull away from the Scarlet Knights en route to the 9-point win.

3. Kobe Bufkin coming into his own?

Bufkin obviously played more than normal with Moussa Diabate and Terrance Williams II suspended, but he capitalized on the opportunity. The lanky freshman only scored five points but he looked comfortable out there. He played with pace, showed off his offensive skill set, knocked down a three on an isolation possession and also used his length well to defend several Rutgers players. He didn't stuff the stat sheet, but he logged 21 minutes and showed that he can play a bunch in a must-win game.