Buckeyes of second half is what team needs to be
The bottom of the halftime box score spelled doom for Ohio State. Through 20 minutes at Value City Arena on Monday night, Michigan had a huge advantage in points in the lane (20-10), points off turnovers (15-0) and second-chance points (11-3). The Wolverines also had four fast-break points to zero for the Buckeyes, which was the real art of the first half:
Michigan was driving through the gums of the Ohio State defense for uncontested layups. Or, they were sticking wideopen threes.
The Wolverines led by as many as 20, but the Buckeyes cut their deficit to 43-30 by the end of the half — and there was the glimmer of what would be the art of the second half:
Senior forward Jae’Sean Tate was the man who stepped to the fore, wagged a metaphorical index finger and said, “No, no, Wolverine people in the Dan Fife-looking jerseys, there will be no more of this.”
Ohio State forced Michigan (7-3, 1-1) into 17.2 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, withstood a late run and closed the game out with free throws for its biggest come-from-behind win since it trailed Tennessee 49-29 in an 85-84 win in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
It didn’t seem possible in the first half, as Michigan scored on 11 of 13 possessions, including eight in a row over one stretch, in building a 43-23 lead.
But Ohio State closed the half with a little momentum thanks to a rare five-point possession — Bates-Diop made a three-pointer as Kaleb Wesson was being fouled, and Wesson made both free throws — and an equally unlikely right-handed dunk from 6-foot-4 Jae’Sean Tate over 6-11 Moritz Wagner that got the crowd roaring.
It allowed the Buckeyes to pull within 13, and it also set a tone for what was to come.
“Getting it to 13, it’s just so much more manageable than seeing 20 up there,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “That was important to get a little momentum.”
A 9-0 run to open the second half made it a four-point game, and the Buckeyes took their first lead at 47-46 with 12:29 left on a three-point play from Bates-Diop.
Michigan rallied and reclaimed a four-point lead with 4:54 to go, but it made just one of its final eight shots as the Buckeyes closed on a 15-2 run. As the closing seconds ticked off, many of the 12,546 fans chanted, “Just like football.”
Michigan coach John Beilein credited the Buckeyes for switching on their ball screens in the second half, something he said the Wolverines hadn’t seen all year. He also said that when the game got close, his team wasn’t able to embrace the moment as well as Ohio State did.
“We knew in the first half if we would’ve kept playing like that we would’ve got ran out of the gym,” senior Kam Williams said. “You definitely don’t want that in front of your home fans.”