Michigan decisively beats A&M
MICHIGAN 99 West TEXAS A&M 72 Region
LOS ANGELES — If they could even bring themselves to watch, Roy Williams and his North Carolina players had to be sick to their collective stomachs watching Michigan dismantle Texas A&M, 99-72, Thursday night in a West Region semifinal mismatch at Staples Center.
How is it possible this Texas A&M team upset North Carolina by 21 points just four days earlier?
And from where did this offensive explosion come for Michigan, which, after averaging 76.9 points in its previous nine games entering the NCAA Tournament, scored only 61 in its win over Mon- tana and 64 against Houston?
“I’m really proud of our team, because we beat a really good team,’’ Michigan coach John Beilein said after the game. “You could see that by the way [Texas A&M] played so well against North Carolina. That team is really good. It flipped with what happened with North Carolina. Wewere really good and [Texas A&M] just had a bad day.’’
Michigan, the No. 3 seed, dominated Texas A&M so decisively that the Aggies (22-13) looked more like a 27th seed than a seventh seed. With the victory, the Wolverines (31-7) advanced to the Elite Eight to face Florida State, which beat Gonzaga 75-60.
Everything Texas A&M had been doing so well in the NCAAs — dominating in the paint and playing great defense — was absent on this forgettable night for Aggies fans. And everything Michigan did worked. To near perfection.
“We’ve been believing all year that we can beat anyone if we play our best basketball,’’ said Michigan’s Moe Wagner, who finished with 21 points. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had 24 points to lead the Wolverines.
The Wolverines reached their peak when they opened a 29-point lead, 52-23, with 2:08 remaining before halftime.
The Michigan defense rendered Texas A&M’s 6-foot-10 “Twin Towers’’ — sophomore forward Robert Williams and junior center Tyler Davis — virtually invisible.
Williams was held to two points and three rebounds in the first half and Davis had eight points and five rebounds. Williams’ and Davis’ final numbers were deceiving because most of their production came long after the game had been decided. Williams had 12 points and five rebounds and Davis had 24 and eight.
“We felt like we ran into a buzz saw,’’ Aggies coach Billy Kennedy said.