[ad_1]
Beating the Buckeyes in Columbus is never easy, but the Wolverines made it look like it was.
The No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team (22-1 overall, 12-1 Big Ten) took care of business on the road against Ohio State (15-8, 7-6), dominating the interior and taking home an impressive 82-61 win.
From the opening tip, the Wolverines’ size advantage was evident. They started the game with a big-to-big action, with junior center Aday Mara finding sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. on a cut, but it was the offensive glass where Michigan made its mark.
Over the course of the first half, the Wolverines attempted 42 shots to Ohio State’s 30, largely thanks to a whopping 12 offensive rebounds. Johnson himself finished the half with five offensive boards, while Mara added four.
Typically, those 12 extra shot attempts would afford Michigan a large lead, but it struggled uncharacteristically from the interior. The Wolverines finished the first half just 3-for-12 on layups and dunks, with countless attempts simply rolling off the rim.
So, despite their rebound dominance, they relied on the 3-point shot to score. Throwing a true curveball, Mara actually made not one, but two 3-pointers in the half after not making a single one in his entire college career entering the game. As a team, the Wolverines shot 9-for-18 from deep in the first period.
Despite the abnormalities, Michigan held the lead for the entirety of the first half, it just couldn’t pull away like it wanted to. Its offensive rebounding and 3-point shooting prowess was enough to take a 44-34 lead into halftime.
Graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg opened the second half with a bang, throwing down a right-handed hammer off of a perimeter cut. And that play was foreshadowing for how Michigan wanted to play the rest of the game: dominate the interior.
The Wolverines extended their lead to 54-39 five minutes into the half without scoring outside of the paint. They forced the ball inside and challenged the Buckeyes to try and stop it.
Michigan wasn’t able to open up any larger lead than 15 points, and Ohio State kept the game within theoretical reach, but as the clock ticked under 12 minutes and the Wolverines led 56-43, the idea of a Buckeyes comeback became less and less likely.
Michigan wasn’t straying from its second-half plan, as 12 minutes into the period, it still hadn’t hit a 3-point shot. Everything was coming from inside the arc, and Ohio State didn’t have an answer. Mara continued his nice performance, showing off his touch on post hooks and off-the-dribble layups.
Finally, with just under six minutes to play, freshman guard Trey McKenney banged in a right-corner triple to break the theme, putting his squad up 67-52. That 3-pointer opened up the flood gates. Lendeborg finished a tough fastbreak layup, then McKenney and Lendeborg combined for three free throws to open the lead up to 20 points at 72-52 with 4:14 to play.
If it wasn’t already over, it was then. Michigan continued to run the floor and play suffocating defense and there was nothing the Buckeyes could do.
The Wolverines’ dominance this season has made 20-point wins a commonplace, but walking into a solid Big Ten opponent’s gym and winning in this fashion is rare. Michigan made it look easy, though, and as the final stretch of the season approaches, it’s playing some of its best basketball.
[ad_2]
Eli Trese
Source link