Before Michigan fans stocked up the cooler or fired up the crockpot before their respective Super Bowl parties, they were treated to another fun victory on the hard wood. No. 2 Michigan beat Ohio State for the second time this season, with the Wolverines leaving Columbus with an 82-61 victory to sweep the season series.
Michigan won the first matchup, 74-62, on the special night Trey Burke’s jersey was honored. Entering this game with a 15-7 record and projected as a play-in 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament,
Ohio State desperately needed a big win.
Michigan jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half, knocking down half of its 18 three-point attempts thanks to great ball movement. The Wolverines locked up in the second half, forcing compounding turnovers to keep the Buckeyes from making any sort of comeback. You can’t expect a comeback when you’re held to just 32 percent from the field in the second half.
Coming off two top-10 wins, there was no let-up this week for Michigan. This team looks sharp and focused on a deep postseason run.
Here are some takeaways from Michigan’s 22nd win of the season, the most through 23 games in program history.
The big men shine
This team is at its best when the bigs are leading in scoring, because that means Michigan is getting good looks around the rim.
Aday Mara has been playing some real good basketball lately, scoring double-digit points in seven of his last eight games. He scored after a few offensive rebounds, knocked down his first three-pointers of the year, and finished a few lobs from Elliot Cadeau. He led Michigan with 24 points (a new career high) while grabbing six rebounds, blocking two shots and moving his feet really well on defense.
This was one of Mara’s best games in a Michigan uniform, as he was dominant on both ends of the floor. He doesn’t always embrace physicality as much as Vlad Goldin did last year, but he’s got the height and touch to make up for it.
You know who does embrace physicality? Morez Johnson Jr., who poured in 11 points, fought for 12 rebounds, played exceptional defense, and finished the best dunk of the game off a feed from Yaxel Lendeborg.
It really is a blessing to have a backcourt as good as Michigan’s, and both Mara and Johnson have improved as the season has gone along, a credit to their work ethic.
Great things happen when you move the ball
One of Michigan’s biggest strengths that hasn’t gotten enough attention is its willingness to share the ball and find open looks. All nine of the usual contributors are good passers, and it’s ingrained within this team’s offensive framework to find the open shooters.
Whether it’s Cadeau kicking it to the corner, Mara flinging a side-arm flare like Matthew Stafford or the ball just moving naturally in the offense, Michigan got looks of open looks from three. The Wolverines made eight of their first 15 looks from deep on Sunday.
Michigan racked up 20 assists on the game — eight more than OSU — and knocked down 41.7 percent of its looks from deep.
A big day for the bench
Ohio State matched Michigan’s starters early on, but the game changed when Michigan’s bench players started making contributions. L.J. Cason poured in eight points in the first half, and the Wolverines got 14 total bench points in those first 20 minutes after threes from Trey McKenney and Will Tschetter.
The Wolverines finished with 23 bench points, 12 more than the Buckeyes. McKenney scored 12 points, his sixth game in a row with double-digit points — that’s as consistent as it gets for a freshman guard.
Good rebounding
As the Wolverines have done all season, Michigan made its presence felt on the glass, out-rebounding the Buckeyes in the first half (25-19) and grabbing twice as many offensive rebounds (12-6) in that timeframe.
Some of those offensive rebounds early were the Wolverines corralling their own misses, but they still dominated the glass on both ends, part of the reason why OSU got demoralized. Michigan ultimately won the battle on the boards, 44-31.
Rebounding is an effort stat, and the Wolverines destroyed the Buckeyes in that department on Sunday.
Stretch bigs on both teams
As we saw in the Penn State road win and the loss vs Wisconsin, a stretch big thrived with Mara sagging back to protect the paint. Ohio State’s Christoph Tilly, another stretch big man, scored Ohio State’s first eight points with a finish through contact and two three-pointers from the wing.
Mara saw those shots and said “hold my beer.” To the surprise of Ohio State’s scouting report, the 7-foot-3 Mara knocked down two threes during a first-half stretch that saw Michigan jump out to a double-digit lead. Mara was previously 0-of-4 this season from deep, and he hadn’t made a three-pointer in the nearly three seasons of college basketball he had played until today.
Michigan kept Tilly pretty quiet after that initial burst to start the game, and played excellent ball on both ends of the floor.
Up Next
The Wolverines travel to Chicago on Wednesday to take on Northwestern (8:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) before returning to Crisler Center next Saturday to face the always-complaining Mick Cronin and UCLA (12:45 p.m. on CBS).
