Michigan thwarts Ohio State
Associated Press
ADVERTISING
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan coach John Beilein had one of the longest days of his career on Saturday.
He couldn’t have asked for a better ending.
More than 17 hours after Beilein showed up at the Crisler Center with doughnuts for the fans, No. 17 Michigan finished off a 56-51 victory over No. 6 Ohio State.
The Wolverines (20-7, 10-4 Big Ten) are 15-0 at home and tied with the Buckeyes for second place in the Big Ten, a half-game behind Michigan State.
“This is a very special day for this program,” Beilein said. “There are a lot of small victories that come when you are rebuilding a program, and this was one of them.”
Beilein’s day started with a pre-dawn visit to Michigan fans lined up outside the arena to see the ESPN “GameDay” show.
“I got there at 6, and I was afraid we were only going to have 40 or 50 kids out there, but they were lined up past the football stadium,” Beilein said. “It was moving the way our fans embraced this game.
“It didn’t just feel like a rivalry game — this felt like we were playing for the Big Ten championship.”
The star of the night was a true freshman who was introduced to the fired-up crowd as “The pride of Columbus, Ohio, Trey Burke.”
Burke finished with 17 points, including a game-clinching runner with 11 seconds left that helped Michigan stop a six-game losing streak to the Buckeyes.
“I was going to call timeout, but I saw Trey had some room, and I trusted him to know what to do with a three-point lead in the final 20 seconds,” Beilein said. “He finished the game for us.”
Burke’s rainbow shot floated over All-America forward Jared Sullinger, hit high off the backboard and dropped through the net. Burke said he knew what kind of shot to take because he knew what to expect from Sullinger — his old high school teammate.
“Jared likes to take a lot of charges, so I knew he would be looking for that instead of trying to block my shot,” said Burke, who also had five assists. “I just wanted to pull up short and get it over him.”
Sullinger struggled in his head-to-head matchup with Michigan sophomore Jordan Morgan.
Morgan had his first career double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Sullinger had 14 points and eight rebounds.
“He’s a great player, and we knew it was going to be tough to stop him,” Morgan said. “I just kept telling myself that we were playing for the championship tonight, and we needed this one.”
Ohio State coach Thad Matta, though, thought Morgan’s biggest contribution came outside the boxscore.
“I think he must have taken five charges, which has to be an NCAA record,” Matta said. “I just kept telling our kids to try to avoid contact whenever possible, because everything was getting called.”
Deshaun Thomas finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds for Ohio State (22-5, 10-4), but Sullinger was the only other Buckeyes player to score more than six.
“No matter what you get from your top players, you have to get some balance,” Matta said. “We didn’t have that tonight.”
The other seven Ohio State players combined to hit just five of 23 shots as the team shot 38.8 percent for the game.
“We were taking good shots — they were open,” Thomas said. “We just weren’t knocking them down. Sully missed some shots that he normally makes, too.”
With the Michigan student section all revved up in its “Maize Rage,” the first half was a defensive struggle. Neither team was able to break 40 percent from the floor and Ohio State’s seven turnovers were the major difference — the Wolverines had only three while taking a 25-20 lead.
The Buckeyes missed all nine 3-point attempts in the first half, but Thomas knocked one down on Ohio State’s first possession after the break.
Morgan, though, had a pair of fast-break dunks, both off long bounce passes from Burke, to give Michigan a 33-25 advantage. The lead got as big as 10 before three straight baskets by Sullinger pulled Ohio State within 42-38.
The Buckeyes couldn’t get any closer than three, however, and Burke’s layup made it 54-49 with 1:17 left. Burke blocked a shot at the other end, then missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Aaron Craft made two free throws, but Burke ran the clock down to 11 seconds before hitting the clinching shot and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
“I’ve never seen Crisler rocking like it was tonight,” Michigan senior Zack Novak said. “This was really special.”
NO. 1 KENTUCKY 77, MISSISSIPPI 62
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Terrence Jones had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to their 50th consecutive win at home.
The Wildcats (26-1, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) are 49-0 at home under head coach John Calipari as part of the nation’s longest active home winning streak.
NO. 3 MISSOURI 71, TEXAS A&M 62
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Kim English scored 21 points and Marcus Denmon had a key 3-pointer late to lift Missouri over Texas A&M for its seventh straight win.
It was Missouri’s 12th win in Big 12 play, tying a school record for most in a season.
NO. 4 KANSAS 83, TEXAS TECH 50
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Thomas Robinson had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead a balanced attack for Kansas, which emptied its bench early in a rout of overmatched Texas Tech.
NO. 8 NORTH CAROLINA 74,
CLEMSON 52
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Harrison Barnes scored 24 points and Tyler Zeller added 14 to help the Tar Heels (23-4, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) improve to 56-0 all-time against Clemson (13-13, 5-7) in Chapel Hill — a record for consecutive home wins over one opponent.
KANSAS ST. 57, NO. 9 BAYLOR 56
WACO, Texas — Angel Rodriguez had 15 points and six assists, and Kansas State made up for the freshman’s potentially costly turnover in the final seconds against Baylor.
Rodriguez had an apparent breakaway layup with 13 seconds left after a turnover by Baylor guard Pierre Jackson. But Rodriguez was called for traveling, wiping out the basket and giving the Bears one more chance.
Baylor (22-5, 9-5 Big 12) got it inside to Quincy Miller, whose shot was blocked.
NO. 10 GEORGETOWN 63,
PROVIDENCE 53
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Hollis Thompson and Jason Clark scored 13 points each and Georgetown shut down Providence’s shooters for the second time this season.
The Friars made just 14 of 54 field goals (25.9 percent). In the previous meeting Dec. 31, they hit only 13 attempts and shot 25.5 percent in a 49-40 loss.
NEW MEXICO 65, NO. 11 UNLV 45
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Drew Gordon scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead New Mexico to its seventh straight victory.
It was the second win this week over a ranked team for the Lobos (22-4, 8-2 Mountain West), who beat No. 13 San Diego State 77-67 on Thursday.
NO. 12 MARQUETTE 79,
CONNECTICUT 64
HARTFORD, Conn. — Jae Crowder had 29 points and 12 rebounds to help Marquette beat UConn and remain in position for a double bye in next month’s Big East tournament.
Darius Johnson-Odom added 24 points for Marquette (22-5, 11-3 Big East), which won for the 10th time 11 games.
AIR FORCE 58, NO. 13 SAN DIEGO ST. 56
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Michael Lyons scored 27 points and Air Force upset San Diego State when Xavier Thames’ off-balance 3-point attempt fell short at the buzzer.
The Falcons (13-11, 3-7 Mountain West) won for just the second time in 74 games against a Top 25 team. They also beat then-No. 22 UTEP on Feb. 15, 1992.
NO. 14 FLORIDA 98, ARKANSAS 68
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Erving Walker scored a career-high 31 points and Florida ended Arkansas’ perfect home record.
The Gators (21-6, 9-3 Southeastern Conference) shot a season-high 58.3 percent (28 of 48) from the field, hitting 13 of 23 from 3-point range.
NO. 16 MURRAY ST. 65,
NO. 21 SAINT MARY’S 51
MURRAY, Ky. — Isaiah Canaan scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half as Murray State (26-1) earned its most convincing win over a nationally recognized opponent.
NO. 19 LOUISVILLE 90, DEPAUL 82, OT
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Russ Smith hit back-to-back baskets in overtime and Louisville rallied from an early 17-point deficit to beat DePaul for its seventh win in eight games.
NO. 20 FLORIDA ST. 76, N.C. STATE 62
RALEIGH, N.C. — Ian Miller scored 17 points and Bernard James had 12 to lead Florida State.
NO. 22 VIRGINIA 71, MARYLAND 44
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Mike Scott scored 25 points and Virginia took command with a 16-0 run early in the second half to beat Maryland.
SAN FRANCISCO 66,
NO. 24 GONZAGA 65
SAN FRANCISCO — Rashad Green scored on a short leaner with 3.3 seconds left to lift the Dons (18-11, 8-7 West Coast Conference), who have beaten the Bulldogs each of the past three seasons at home.
NO. 24 WICHITA ST. 91, DAVIDSON 74
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Joe Ragland scored 30 points and Wichita State shot a blazing 80 percent in the second half to break open a tight game.
