Chicago — It’s often said that it’s hard to beat the same team three times in one season, let alone a rival.
The Wolverines can attest to that.
After sweeping the home-and-home series, top-seeded Michigan had to lock down late and grind out a 71-67 win over No. 8 seed Ohio State in Friday’s Big Ten tournament quarterfinal at United Center.
“I don’t think we played a good game at all,” said big man Aday Mara, who led Michigan with 17 points and seven rebounds. “Honestly, we were really bad in the first half, but we were able to keep going and play through all that, play better defense in the last four minutes.
“We’ve got to be way better tomorrow. We don’t want to go through another (close) one again.”
BOX SCORE: Michigan 71, Ohio State 67
Michigan (30-2) advances to face No. 5 seed Wisconsin in a semifinal at 1 p.m. Saturday, with a spot in Sunday’s championship game on the line.
Michigan beat Ohio State by 12 at home and by 21 on the road in the first two matchups this season. Round 3 was a much tighter affair.
The Wolverines led by as much as 11 in the first half before the Buckeyes (21-12) chopped it down to four at halftime and erased the deficit. Michigan sputtered on offense out of the break. Ohio State made its first four shots of the second half and knotted it at 44.
Michigan responded with a 7-0 spurt during a stretch where Ohio State missed seven consecutive shots and went scoreless for five minutes. Mara provided a highlight with an and-1 finish at the rim off a lob pass from Elliot Cadeau to make it 51-44 with 12:45 to play.
While the Buckeyes kept hanging around, Mara kept making plays. He threw down an alley-oop slam and knocked down a deep jumper. Then after he blocked a shot on one end, he drew and foul and made two free throws for a 59-52 lead.
Ohio State eventually broke through with a 10-1 spurt to grab its first lead. The Wolverines had one empty possession after another. They didn’t help themselves when Roddy Gayle Jr. missed the front end at the foul line and a foul by Yaxel Lendeborg on a defensive rebound put Ohio State in the bonus. A 3-pointer by Devin Royal put the Buckeyes in front, 62-60, with 5:08 remaining.
“I think we got stagnant on offense. That led to them getting on the run, making the game kind of tight,” said freshman guard Trey McKenney, who scored 12 off the bench. “But I think we made a lot of adjustments and made them shoot a lot of tough shots, contesting them. I think our ability to make late-game adjustments was key in this game.”
That showed as Michigan tightened up defensively and Ohio State’s lead was short-lived. The Wolverines pulled back in front for good when Mara blocked a putback attempt and Morez Johnson Jr. snapped a six-minute field-goal drought on a goaltending call, making it 64-62 with 4:07 to go.
Michigan hung on from there. Mara made a basket at the rim. Lendeborg and Cadeau combined to make four free throws in the final 1:24. The Wolverines strung together one stop after another and held the Buckeyes to four points and one made basket over the last five minutes to seal it.
“I thought our defense down the stretch was the difference. We were able to buckle down, force some really tough shots, and finish with rebounds,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “We struggled in the first half when we did force the misses coming up with loose basketballs and rebounds, and I thought late in the game that was the difference.”
Cadeau finished with 15 points and seven assists, and Johnson added 11 points and seven rebounds for Michigan, which beat Ohio State three times in a season for the first time ever. The Wolverines scored 19 points off 10 Ohio State turnovers and finished with a 22-6 advantage in fast-break points.
Bruce Thornton had 22 points, Royal had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and John Mobley Jr. scored 12 for Ohio State. The Buckeyes shot 37.9% from the field, led for less than a minute, turned 10 offensive rebounds into nine second-chance points and were outrebounded by a 34-32 margin.
“They were being a lot more physical on the rebounds. It’s the first time they’ve ever played this physical,” said Lendeborg, had six points and six assists. “Usually, it’s a lot easier to get rebounds. I definitely felt the difference, and they came out playing a lot more aggressive.”
Still, Michigan got off to a fast start in the third installment between the rivals, scoring the first seven points, scoring on seven of its first nine possessions and jumping out a double-digit lead.
Johnson scored twice inside. Nimari Burnett hit a 3-pointer in transition. Lendeborg deflected a post entry pass for a turnover that led to a deep ball by McKenney. The Wolverines took a 15-5 lead with 14:47 left in the first half.
After the Buckeyes cut it to four, the Wolverines got out in transition to push the lead back to double figures. McKenney broke up a pass that led to a fast-break dunk by Burnett. After another stop, Cadeau drained a pull-up 3-pointer. Michigan went up, 25-14, at the 8:36 mark.
Michigan kept turning defense into offense. A steal by Cadeau led to a thunderous fast-break dunk by Lendeborg. After McKenney blocked a shot from Royal from behind, Mara scored on a hook shot to make it 31-21.
“The energy throughout the game was up and down, had ebbs and flows,” Burnett said. “We’ve got to figure out to keep going up, keep trending up throughout the course of the game and keep that same elite energy level throughout 40 minutes.”
Ohio State punched back with a 12-4 spurt to make it a one-possession game, as Thornton started to heat up. He fueled the run with seven points and ended it with a 3-pointer late in the shot clock to cut the deficit to two.
The Buckeyes had a chance to pull even, but the Wolverines broke up an alley-oop attempt and scored the other way on a Mara alley-oop slam. Michigan settled a 39-35 advantage at the break and had to fight off Ohio State the rest of the way.
In the end, the margin wasn’t what it was the previous two meetings but the result was the same.
“We felt like it took us a minute to get into our groove in the game, and we started playing better toward the end. And that’s just how it goes,” Cadeau said. “We’ll be 100% at our best basketball tomorrow against a really talented team.”
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
Big Ten tournament semifinal
MICHIGAN VS. WISCONSIN
Tipoff: 1 p.m. Saturday, United Center, Chicago
TV/radio: CBS/94.7
Records: Michigan 30-2; Wisconsin 24-9
At stake: A spot in Sunday’s Big Ten tournament championship
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan basketball survives close call against Ohio State: ‘We got stagnant’
Reporting by James Hawkins, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
