Michigan junior guard Stu Douglass makes a 3-point shot against Harvard. He finished with 19 points.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Zack Novak gathered his Michigan basketball teammates in the huddle, a group searching for a way to win. Standing behind the group of players was the reason the Wolverines had a chance to win Saturday.

Novak, a junior guard, gave his teammates an edict: Doesn’t matter how open you are. Get Stu Douglass the ball.

It was one of those days for Douglass, but one he hasn't experienced in almost a year. For so much of last season, Douglass struggled with his shot and his role on the Michigan team.

This year, the junior guard embraced his role and, on Saturday, he was the reason Michigan came back from a double-digit deficit to beat visiting Harvard, 65-62.

“I didn’t say it in front of him, because I didn’t want to jinx him or nothing, but I said ‘If you see this dude open, I don’t care how open you are, get him the ball,’” Novak said. “We’ve seen it so many times, where he just gets in that zone and he doesn’t miss.”

There is some poetry in this, too. The two players who gave Michigan the win were also the two players recruited the hardest by former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker while he's been at Harvard.

Douglass has said if Michigan coach John Beilein didn’t offer him a scholarship, he would have played for Amaker. Sophomore guard Darius Morris, who sometimes dribbled all the way across the court in order to find Douglass for a shot or drive, said Amaker recruited him heavily as well.

“Maybe (Amaker) sees something,” Morris said. “You know what I mean.”

What Amaker saw Saturday, in his first trip to Ann Arbor as a coach since he was fired in 2007, was Douglass and Morris raising Michigan up when it was down. Douglass had 19 points -- 16 in the second half -- to finish one point shy of his career-high. Morris had 13 points, five assists and five rebounds.

The two were the main catalysts in a 19-1 second half run that brought Michigan (5-2) back from down 37-25 to up, 44-38.

“A day like today, that would have been terrific (to have Douglass),” Amaker said. “He came out and took a look at our school. Nice family, nice kid and, we think, a very good player.

“And obviously he played exceptionally well today.”

That might be an understatement. It was the second-best 3-point shooting night of his career. His 5-for-7 effort was just shy of a 6-for-8 game on Feb. 7, 2009 against then-No. 1 Connecticut.

Back then, Douglass was a naïve freshman trying to help Michigan to its first NCAA tournament berth in a decade. Now, he is one of Michigan’s leaders, one of two juniors along with Novak.

Coincidentally, Douglass came off the bench in that Connecticut game, too. And at a point -- he wasn’t sure when, although Novak recognized it after Douglass hit a step-back 3-pointer during the 19-1 run -- Douglass knew he was having one of those days.

“You don’t want to admit it, but it always kind of happens (during a night like this),” Douglass said. “Darius, we were running the fast break pretty well, and we were looking for that to open up some things, like the backdoor cut I had, to open up things for the offense.

“Just a boost of energy for the team as a whole, really.”

The entire team had that early, even if the Wolverines didn’t show it. Harvard, which got 18 points from forward Keith Wright, went on a 12-0 run in the first half and led 32-25 at halftime.

Despite the slow start, Michigan’s players said they discussed the importance of the game prior to tipoff.

Current Michigan coach John Beilein replaced Amaker when he was fired after six seasons in 2007. This was also the first season since Amaker’s firing where all of the players on the roster were Beilein’s players.

And while none of them played in Harvard’s 62-51 win over Michigan in Boston in 2007, they were made aware of it.

Novak and Morris made sure.

“(We) said we have to get this one for coach, we can’t let (Amaker) come into Crisler and get this win,” Morris said. “So, really, before we even brought it into the locker room, when we were warming up, we really emphasized that to the youngsters.”

Then when Michigan played, it was the three veterans that carried them, led by the two guys on the Wolverines that Amaker might have wanted most.

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