Part Four in a series looking back at the last decade of Michigan basketball, featuring exclusive interviews with John Beilein, Zack Novak and others. Today – Stu Douglass’ dagger at Michigan State in 2011 changes the series with MSU, propels John Beilein’s program to elite heights.

Michigan entered the 2011 game at Michigan State with a 1-6 record, reeling after a decent showing in the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Wolverines hadn’t won in East Lansing since 1997, with MSU’s Tom Izzo having taken advantage of U-M’s off-court woes to build an annual contender, and the Michigan fan base was getting antsy with Beilein in his third year.

After some tense team meetings following a home loss to Minnesota, the Michigan players came together. They knew they had a chance to turn the season around with a victory at the Breslin Center, and they were focused.

Still, the crowd was deafening, as always, and the Spartans jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

“I give them a lot of credit. That program is consistent,” Beilein recalled of the games at MSU. “Crowd-wise, I don’t think it’s any different than Indiana, Purdue or Wisconsin. At all those venues we had only a few wins, probably. We certainly didn’t have a winning record any of those places.

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