Michigan stuffs Florida to reach NCAA round of 16
Michigan 64, Florida 49
DES MOINES, Iowa — Michigan’s biggest concern against Florida was facing the Gators’ lockdown defense.
The solution? Beat Florida at its own game.
Michigan is back in the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year after pulling away for a 64-49 win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The Wolverines held Florida to its lowest point total of the season.
“Holding this team to 49 points is incredible,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “That’s how we won the game.”
The 10th-seeded Gators (20-16) shot just 29 percent in the second half and 34.5 percent for the game as Michigan, the No. 2 seed in the West Region, advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the last seven years. The Wolverines are the 2018 national runner-up.
Jordan Poole scored 19 points and the Wolverines took charge in the final minutes as Florida became the eighth Michigan opponent to fail to crack 50 points. Charles Matthews said the emphasis on defense began last summer.
“Guys playing one-on-one sun-up to sundown,” he said. “Nobody wanted to get embarrassed and get talked about the next day.”
The Wolverines play a West Region semifinal in Anaheim, California, on Thursday against the winner of Sunday’s game between Buffalo and Texas Tech.
The matchup of two of the nation’s highest-ranked defenses often produced ragtag play. Florida played its usual combination defenses and caused confusion — Ignas Brazdeikis had an entry pass intended for him sail right past him out of bounds, and the 7-foot-1 Jon Teske fumbled the ball down low repeatedly as the Gators swatted at it.
Even so, the Gators couldn’t slow Poole, who made four threepointers, or overcome their own poor shooting.
“I thought they were super disruptive on the defensive end,” said Jalen Hudson, who led the Gators with 11 points. “It was pretty hard for us to get into the lane and really shake them.”
Zavier Simpson had nine points, nine rebounds and nine
assists, while Teske had eight points to go with 10 rebounds.
Florida kept it close with its three-point shooting in the first half, but Brazdeikis’ three-pointer started an 11-0 run to open the second that put Michigan up 43-28.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Matthews said. “We wanted to shut off the water. The coaching staff did a great job and we just followed the plan.”
Florida wasn’t done, though. The Gators scored nine straight points to close the gap before Poole was fouled shooting a three and made all three free throws.
The Michigan lead was back to double digits when Livers took a bounce pass from Brazdeikis, drove on Kevarrius Hayes,
got fouled and made the free throw with 7 minutes left.
The Gators kept it close in the first half by making 6 of 12 three-pointers. But they missed eight of their first nine from distance in the second half and eventually tired against the bigger Wolverines.
Michigan outscored the Gators 13-5 to end the game and finished with authority as Isaiah Livers and Poole thrilled their cheering section with dunks.
“Second half it got away from us,” Florida coach Mike White said. “We didn’t make the best decisions offensively. I thought we played really hard in the second half and left it on the floor. Playing behind in the second half, we expended a lot of energy.”