Wily Wolverines
The Michigan Wolverines fired in 16 3-pointers, pulling away for a 92-91 win against OSU.
INDIANAPOLIS — Leyton Hammonds repeated his week-long theme, playing on the romantic dreaminess that is March Madness.
“It’s that time of the year. It’s when magic happens,” Hammonds said Friday afternoon, slumped in his chair inside the Oklahoma State locker room.
Hammonds, however, was shaking his head, lamenting that the magic happened not for his Cowboys, but for Michigan.
The Wolverines kept firing 3s. And making 3s. An alarming number of 3s in the second half; the difference in a 92-91 final that ousted OSU from the
NCAA Tournament.
Michigan made 16 treys – 11 in a scorching second half – when it shot 73.3 percent from the arc, pouring in 11 of 15 from long range, many contested.
“They made shots,” Hammonds said. “We shot 55 percent from the field. But when teams are on a roll, teams are getting hot, teams are making shots, it’s kind of hard to defend.
“I thought our guys played as hard as they could.”
Another theme continued, too, a trend of games that saw the Cowboys play well, yet lose; and find themselves haunted by another premier point guard, this time Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr., who outdueled Jawun Evans, leading the perimeter assault with six 3s en route to 26 points, while also dishing out 11 assists.
And on the topic of trends, OSU dropped a fifth straight openinground NCAA game, although this one played out far differently from the recent one-and-done disasters, with the Cowboys doing so many things right.
The box score revealed a bounty of OSU positives: 35-of-64 shooting from the floor; a 40-21 bulge on the boards; 50 points in the paint; a 21-7 advantage in second-chance points; a 14-6 edge in fast-break points; a 19-9 advantage in bench scoring; and five players in double figures scoring, led by Evans’ 23.
“Normally, that would be a winning effort,” said Cowboys guard Jeffrey Carroll. Not Friday. Not against these Wolverines, who entered with a stout reputation for shooting the 3, and enhanced it on the big stage.
“That’s what they do,” said OSU coach Brad Underwood.
“I expected them to make shots, not that rate, I was hoping. A lot of credit to them.
“I felt good with the game plan. I felt good with the execution. They made shots.”
The Cowboys were making shots, too, surging at the start of the second half.
After trailing 41-40 at the break, OSU used a 12-5 run to take a 52-46 lead just over four minutes into the period. The Cowboys kept scoring, too, eventually producing points on 11 of their first 13 possessions of the second half.
And yet they were tied, 64-64, because the Wolverines were firing from the arc. They stayed hot, too, remaining just out of reach of every Cowboys rally attempt.
“We had enough firepower to withstand their incredible offensive talent and get enough points,” said Michigan coach John Beilein.
The Wolverines had Walton Jr., too.
When OSU was bounced from the Big 12 Tournament, leaving it with three straight losses, there was a sense that relief would come with an opponent outside the conference, away from the likes of Kansas’ Frank Mason III and Iowa State’s Monte Morris, point guards who neutralized Evans’ impact.
The bracket provided no such break, with Walton Jr. on his own special run.
He led Michigan to the Big Ten Tournament title, earning MVP honors along the way. And with the game teetering away from the Wolverines Friday, he took it over, scoring 16 points and handing out five assists from the 15:31 mark on.
Evans was good again, adding 12 assists and seven rebounds to his 23-point effort. And he was vital as the Cowboys clung close, keeping the game tight down the stretch.
Still, like Mason III and Morris, Walton was at least Evans’ equal.
“When you’ve got a point guard like Jawun, and you go against a point guard somewhat of his caliber, it’s like getting a dose of our own medicine,” Hammonds said.
“(Walton) played really well. He distributed, made his teammates better. And he made big-time shots.”
It wasn’t just Walton, either.
While the Cowboys shot 55 percent for the game, Michigan shot 55 percent on 3-pointers. Five different Wolverines fired in 3s.
OSU was good from the arc, making 7 of 16. And along with Evans, Carroll added 19 points, Phil Forte and Davon Dillard 12 and Hammonds 10.
“One or two plays on the defensive end, then you’re sitting here (scouting) Louisville,” said Underwood, whose first Cowboys team finishes 20-13, but made it back into the NCAA Tournament.
“I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys. It’s never great to have a season end. I thought we could have made some noise in this thing. Today, we just weren’t good enough. And give a lot of credit to Michigan.”