Trey Burke saves the night (and a chance at the championship)

Early in the second half at Mackey Arena Wednesday night, it was happening again. As if overtaken by some superior power, Michigan's basketball players were failing to execute the simplest hand-eye coordination plays most kids have down by age 3.

They were losing it, falling apart, on their way to another debilitating road loss, this one, finally, to extinguish their barely flickering Big Ten title hopes. 

Trey Burke intercepted a Purdue pass on a Boilermakers fast break but then, inexplicably, lost the ball as he turned to head upcourt. A Purdue player picked it up, made a layup, and was fouled. 

Disaster. 

Jordan Morgan and Nik Stauskas went up for a rebound against no Purdue defenders, and somehow the ball — oh, that tricky sphere! — eluded them and bounced to a Boilermaker. 

The Wolverines were slow, as if in a trance. 

They had already blown a double-digit lead for the third consecutive game. And they seemed well on their way to faltering against another lowly Big Ten opponent and losing their fifth consecutive game on the road, with no wins away from the friendly confines of Crisler Center since late January.

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Burke was part of the problem. His shot was off. He was getting completely outplayed by the Boilermakers' Terone Johnson, who had the performance of his lifetime. 

Apparently, Terone and his bro Ronnie started talking a little trash to Burke. That helped wake him up, I'm sure. But maybe also the fact the his team desperately needed him. After his clutch performance in Michigan's 58-57 victory Sunday over Michigan State, Burke talked about how he had worked at taking on that leadership role and inspiring his teammates.

On Wednesday, Burke had to start a comeback from 12 points down solely by himself. His young teammates looked lost and couldn't grab a loose ball if their scholarships depended on it. 

Burke took over.

First, he hit a contested 3-pointer from the top of the key with 11 minutes, 7 seconds left to cut the deficit to 52-43. On the next possession, he drained a beautiful step-back jumper from the left baseline. 

Burke's teammates were uplifted. Suddenly, the margin didn't seem such a burden. Nik "bandaid" Stauskas — a few days removed from throwing up during halftime of the MSU game after a nasty, unintentional elbow from the Spartans' Branden Dawson — drained a huge 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 54-48.

From there, Burke scored nine of Michigan's next 11 points to finally regain the lead on a jumper with 5:20 left. 

The sophomore point guard put his team on his back and carried them from the brink of tremendous disappointment. Name me five players in the country who could have done that. You'll probably fail. 

Trey Burke is the National Player of the Year. At the beginning of the year, when Michigan was trampling mediocre opponents, the cast around him looked a little better than they actually are — and it's been exposed playing in the country's toughest conference. Burke, though, has been as good as  advertised since Day 1 of practice. 

And like any great player, his teammates feed off him. On three of four possessions as Michigan hung to its reclaimed lead, Stauskas looked like the aggressive, swagger-showing player he was in November, December and January — drilling a contested 3-pointer from the left wing and then making consecutive strong drives to the basket, absorbing the contact and making the free throws.

Burke reinvigorated the freshman, like any great leader would do, then — legs still seemingly fresh — helped ice the game by shooting 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 57 seconds, with the only miss coming after his own coach, John Beilein, iced him to set up the defense!

Michigan, overall, is far from a great team. They're probably not a Final Four team. All you had to do was watch Purdue's final possession, when the Boilermakes were down 78-75 and the Wolverines' Jordan Morgan and Glenn Robinson Jr. unbelievably miscommunicated and left Ronnie Johnson by himself at the top of the key.

Thankfully, Ronnie had no intention of taking a wide-open 3 and instead threw a bullet pass to his red-hot brother Terone, who tried to shoot before he had the ball. 

Burke put the game out of reach with two free throws, and gives Michigan a chance to claim a share of the Big Ten championship Sunday against Indiana at home, where the Wolverines typically have better control of their bodies. '

Let's be thankful for that.

And Burke — wherever he's playing.