Michigan outmuscles Florida State
INDIANAPOLIS — What was touted as the Sweet Sixteen’s marquee matchup turned into a dud. For everyone but Michigan, that is.
Seven-foot-1-inch freshman Hunter Dickinson had 14 points and eight rebounds as the top-seeded Wolverines took the inside route to the Elite Eight, dominating the paint Sunday for a 76-58 takedown of Florida State.
Franz Wagner had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan. The Wolverines scored their first 30 points of the second half from close range to lead coach Juwan Howard & Co. to victory.
Michigan (23-4) moved to a region final for the first time since 2018 with John Beilein, whose departure a year later led to Howard’s hiring.
The game’s most telling
stat was points in the paint: Michigan 50, Florida State 28.
“We basically knew how they were going to play us all game with fronting the post and switching everything,” Wagner said. “We knew what to expect and did that in practice. And I think we did a really good job of not allowing them to speed us up.”
The Wolverines created havoc on the other end, too. They forced Florida State (18-7) so off the mark that the Seminoles didn’t score their 20th point until M.J. Walker (10 points) hit a jumper 27 seconds before intermission.
“I think they were the best version of Michigan tonight,” said Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, whose team also had 14 turnovers and three players — Walker, Anthony Polite and Raiquan Gray — in foul trouble.
“Even though I thought we could have played a little better, I’m not sure Michigan didn’t have a lot to do with our inability to play as well as we have sometimes.”
The Wolverines have big men in Dickinson and 6-9 Wagner, the likes of whom Florida State hasn’t faced much, even as its long, athletic bunch took the program to its third straight Sweet 16.