U-M's DeShawn Sims might have hit the most important shot of the season, when he nailed a three-pointer with 6.1 seconds left in regulation that sent the game to OT.

AP photo

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Last year, the Michigan basketball team lost by double digits in overtime to lowly Iowa. Senior forward DeShawn Sims couldn't allow it to happen again.

Behind their senior leader, the Wolverines avoided a potentially damning defeat and escaped Iowa City with an 80-78 overtime win Tuesday that kept U-M's once-sagging hopes at a postseason berth in either the NCAA or NIT tournaments alive.

Sims only had two points in overtime - extra time was dominated by five points from Manny Harris and a critical three-pointer from sophomore guard Stu Douglass that gave Michigan the lead for good at 73-72 with 1:45 left - but Sims was the reason Michigan was in overtime anyway.

The Hawkeyes (9-18 overall, 3-11 Big Ten) led 61-57 with 1:29 left in regulation, mostly off a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds from sophomore forward Aaron Fuller.

That’s when Sims, who had a team-high 27 points, took over. He scored Michigan’s final nine points of regulation, including a three-pointer from the top of the key on the Wolverines’ final possession where he fell down, was poked in the eye and saw the ball go in anyway with 6.1 seconds left.

As soon as Sims let it go, Michigan coach John Beilein said he felt Sims’ shot was on target. So did Sims as he watched it from the ground, hoping for a foul and a potential four-point play that could have ended the game.

“Just with the adrenaline and with me taking that big shot and knowing everything was behind that shot, we need to put together some wins,” Sims said. “And I put it all into that shot.”

It was the same play Michigan ran at the end of the first half, with Sims missing the shot and the half ending tied at 33.

(Complete box score).

Michigan (13-12, 6-7), through Sims and Harris, has found its shooting touch. For the second straight game, the Wolverines shot 50 percent or better from the three-point line, this time making 51.9 percent from beyond the three-point line (14 of 27).

And when it mattered, when his team’s season and psyche hung in the balance of one three-pointer, Sims made it, part of yet another big game against Iowa.

For much of Michigan’s season, it had relied on Harris late in games to essentially be a one-man decider whether the Wolverines would win or lose.

Now, Beilein realized he has two options - the star junior and the senior who is having the best season of his career in his final one - and he went to him.

“I thought they’d be sitting on a lot of our other stuff,” Beilein said. “So we just had a hunch and it worked. If it doesn’t, you’re all saying ‘Why the heck did you go to DeShawn Sims.’”

The answer showed Tuesday night. Sims might have made the most important shot of Michigan’s season.

"He knows how well I shoot the ball," Sims said. "Sometimes numbers and things like that don't show, but he knows how well I shoot the ball.

"He called that play specifically. He didn't second-guess it. My teammates didn't second-guess it. And he was like 'Knock it down.' And that's what I did."

All game long, Zack Novak reminded his Michigan teammates what happened in Iowa last season. He told them how the Hawkeyes, by beating the Wolverines in overtime, had almost wrecked what they had worked for the entire season.

“I just felt like last year when we came here, they almost took what we worked so hard for,” Novak said. “This year, it was kind of the opposite. We’re working to get back. I mean, we’re still fighting here. I just don’t know. It was kind of ironic, opposite ends of the spectrum.

“I just said ‘Hey listen, last year we went here in overtime and they kind of embarrassed us.’”

Thanks to Sims and Harris, that didn't happen this year.

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.