Michigan trailed Northwestern with under 3 minutes left in the second half, but Juwan Howard’s squad rallied to come away with a 72-70 home win on Wednesday night.

Michigan’s Caleb Houston led all scorers with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 3-pointers. Moussa Diabate had 7 rebounds in his 21 minutes, which were limited by foul trouble. Pete Nance led Northwestern’s scoring effort with 14 points over 31 minutes.

Michigan won despite having 2 big men, Diabate and Hunter Dickinson, foul out during the game. The Wolverines also committed more turnovers (13-9).

Northwestern played Michigan tight in the first half, even leading 17-16 at the 11:40 mark. UM’s largest lead of the first half was just 6 points (28-22, 4:31). The Wolverines took a 34-31 lead to the locker room at the break.

The first half was close, despite the Wolverines holding Northwestern’s Boo Buie to just 2 points and Chase Audige to 1 point. Ryan Young’s 10 points led the way for the Cats in the first period. Michigan’s big men Dickinson and Diabate each picked up 2 fouls in the first half, causing some lineup shuffling.

UM opened it up to a 48-37 lead at the 17:10 mark, prompting Northwestern coach Chris Collins to take a timeout. The 12-2 run was led by Eli Brooks. In roughly 90 seconds, Brooks scored 9 points on a pair of 3-pointers and 3 the old-fashioned way by making a free-throw after getting fouled on a layup. Brooks led all in minutes with 37 on Wednesday night.

Ryan Greer gave Northwestern a 56-55 lead at the 7:58 mark. The Cats extended it to 62-55 at 5:09. Michigan then answered with a 7-0 run to tie things up 62-62 with 3:24 left.

Dickinson fouled out at the 2:29 mark. Ryan Young made the free throws, making it 64-62. Michigan retook the lead 65-64 on Terrance Williams’ 3-pointer with 2:08.

Houstan’s 3-pointer at 1:38 made it 68-65 Michigan. DeVante’ Jones added a pair of free throws to make it 70-65. Bouie cut it to 70-68 with a 3-pointer at 0:52. Jones went to the line again, making it 72-68 with 27 seconds remaining.

In a wild end sequence, Northwestern had opportunities to tie or take the lead. Young went to the line late, and cut it to 72-69 with 17 seconds left.  UM’s Jaron Faulds went to the line with 8 seconds left and missed 2 free throws. Bouie went to the line with 4 seconds left, making the first free throw and missing the second. Julian Roper fired off a 3-point attempt at the end, missing.