He practiced over and over again, went through the same repetitions. He sped up, slowed down, took extra shots and even called his basketball mentor in Indianapolis. Yet for all he did, Stu Douglass still couldn’t find his shot.

Then came Tuesday night, the last non-conference game before the Michigan basketball team enters the behemoth that is the Big Ten schedule. Douglass’ shot returned in the Wolverines’ 76-46 win over Coppin State, and so did his confidence.

Michigan's Stu Douglass pops in two of his game-high 20 points over Coppin State's George Jackson during second half action Tuesday night at Crisler Arena.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

That had always seemed to be the issue for the sophomore guard from Carmel, Ind. As his shots fell short, long, left, right, anywhere but inside the basket, Douglass openly started second-guessing himself. He’d never been through a slump like this.

So the first one fell against Coppin State. Then the second one. And all of a sudden the opening third of the season disappeared in his rear-view mirror as he hit 6 three-pointers and brought Michigan (6-5) its 500th win in Crisler Arena.

Douglass appeared to believe again.

“I feel like a little weight off my shoulders in a sense,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s selfish or not, but it’s big for me. I’ve been working hard, trying to, but in the back of my head it’s still been there.

“It’s good to get it out of the way, like I said, and keep it going, you know. If I don’t shoot like this in the Big Ten, it doesn’t matter.”

For one night it did. Teammates started believing again. They saw the Douglass they remembered from points last season - the guy who had emerged as Michigan’s best three-point shooter - and started feeding him the ball.

The shots came from all over. He hit 3-pointers from both wings. He squared at the top of the key and made some from there, too. His 6 three-pointers Tuesday tied a career-high set last year at Connecticut. His 20 points also tied a career-high set against the Huskies.

He even tied a career-high for rebounds, with 5.

“Stu was the spark,” junior guard Manny Harris said. “He brought a lot of confidence to everybody’s shot. Once he started hitting them, I think a couple more guys started hitting and Stu gave us a lot of spark.”

Douglass spent the past few weeks trying to figure out what had been going wrong with his shot. When he was inserted into the starting lineup prior to the Kansas game Saturday, the flow started to return. Although he missed more than half of his shots against the Jayhawks, he could feel what was wrong. He felt himself rushing.

So he had started to solve the problem.

“I’d like to look back and see the difference for me, starting versus not starting previous games,” Douglass said. “Maybe just coming out and setting the tone, setting the mentality that you’ve got to come out hard right now, maybe come off the bench, I try to give a little spark and maybe just kind of go with the flow instead of trying to initiate. It’s tough to say.

Michigan basketball fan "True Blue" Tom Malden of Ann Arbor gets into the festive mood by donning a Santa hat for Tuesday night's game against Coppin State.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

“I’ve done both things and I’ve had success but I like starting.”

It led to Michigan’s 3rd-best shooting game of the season from the field Tuesday and every Wolverine got into it. Anthony Wright hit his first shot since the birth of his daughter before the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game. Matt Vogrich made his first field goal - and first three-pointer - in December with 2 three-pointers in the second half when the game was already well decided.

Four Michigan players scored in double figures - Douglass, senior forward DeShawn Sims with 18, Zack Novak with 11 and Laval Lucas-Perry with 10. The only starter not to reach double digits was Harris, and that’s the first time this season it occurred.

The margin of victory was Michigan’s largest since a 97-50 victory in the season-opener against Northern Michigan.

“As a team most importantly but individually, it was a relief, kind of get it out of the way a little bit just shooting wise,” Douglass said. “It seems to me it’s a positive going into Christmas and Indiana.

“I’m definitely looking forward to Indiana.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.