Michigan 69, Michigan State 50, Big Ten Champions
My best friend coaches high school basketball in California. We grew up in Ann Arbor as hoops obsessives. He called me on the home phone, because that was how you did it then, when local hero LaVell Blanchard committed to Michigan. We bought tickets for $5 apiece outside of Crisler Arena during the Brian Ellerbe era; one time someone insisted on giving them to us for free. We attended every home game during the glorious NIT title run of 2004.
We also watched a lot of games like this from the other side: a Michigan team desperate to maintain some forward momentum getting smashed back to the Stone Age by Michigan State. As the Spartans hung close in a whistle-marred, stilted first half, my friend sent a text: "We're like 10% more focus from winning this game by 25."
Michigan locked in and won by 19, then celebrated their first regular season Big Ten championship since 2014 in front of Tom Izzo. Juwan Howard earned his first banner as head coach and it feels far from his last. The Wolverines could've been sent reeling by their upset loss against an Ayo Dosunmu-less Illinois team on Tuesday. Instead, they grinded through early foul trouble, got themselves together at the end of the first half, and put on a defensive clinic in the second.
We didn't see this growing up.
another Wagner to haunt Izzo's nightmares [Campredon]
After Michigan jumped out to a 7-0 lead, the pace slowed and the lead shrunk due to turnovers (8 in the first half) and fouls (10), both of which had an outsized impact on Hunter Dickinson, who had eight points, four turnovers, and two fouls before halftime in only nine minutes. Austin Davis also picked up two quick fouls, which led to a Brandon Johns cameo at center that sparked a late first-half spurt to head into the tunnel up by 11.
Then the superior team put the hammer down. Michigan State shot 9/30 in the second half, going 7:52 without a point as the Michigan pushed the lead to 28 and making four of those field goals after Howard emptied the bench. Franz Wagner hit three quick three-pointers to end any hope of a Spartan comeback, Dickinson stayed foul-free while going 3/4 after the break, and Isaiah Livers and Mike Smith added triples during the scoring barrage.
defense wins championships [Campredon]
The Wolverines could've stopped scoring after a Dickinson bucket with 13:44 to play and still won. Instead, they continued to pour in points until the game got well out of reach. That allowed Howard the chance to give curtain calls to his seniors—Isaiah Livers, Austin Davis, Eli Brooks, and Mike Smith—in their final home game, then root on the bench mob before the confetti fell.
That was the Michigan team we'd become accustomed to watching before Tuesday. That's a one-seed. That's a conference champion.
They can put a stamp on the regular season on Sunday in the rematch at the Breslin Center. A game-long coronation that possibly knocks MSU out of the NCAA Tournament would be a dream way to head into the postseason. We've been waiting a long time.
[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]
All photos by Marc-Grégor Campredon.
Beautiful pics by MGC. This was a magical season. And it is still going...
Well - Thank you.
Go Blue!!
Yay!
Has she been found in 2021? I mean I would like to see a "Then and Now" of this lady.
Welcome back! Great seeing her again.
So happy for Juwan. Finally got that league championship that escaped him as a player. Against Izzo in a laugher is just perfect.
Go Blue!
Howard has to be coach of the year both in the B1G and nationally. Doesn't he? And with a #1 class coming in and another top class on tap after that, we can look forward to more of these for years to come! Now, go get the national championship!!
Ace: Michigan won by 19, not 29.
It just felt like 29.
In Ace's defense, it was 28 before the benches got emptied.
What a team! Most fun we’ve had since 2013... now let’s finish the job this year.
https://twitter.com/umichbball/status/1367662987541016578
the senior awards presentation, for those who missed it. it's a damn shame we couldn't be there to thank them, but still a great moment for the old guys.
Chaundee is so expressive. He had me choked up a bit. Thanks for sharing this
Thanks for sharing. It was great to watch. Sooooo many feels.
Josh Langford with the -30. Ouch.
Almost matches his age.
/s
Jack Hoiberg with a +9 in only 6 minutes. Needs more playing time on Sunday IMO, could be the gamechanger they need
oh so nice.
salt the enemy's fields...
I'm all about championship confetti.
Banner. Rivalry win.
Get ready for the postseason. We have a meaningless game against a conference bottom-feeder Sunday to warm up, and then things get real.
dagger thrust by SRJK: "We have a meaningless game against a conference bottom-feeder Sunday to warm up"
well put, well said.
I actually think we could win more handily on Sunday, despite a desperate bottom feeder having everything (?) to play for. The one thing holding us back the last two games was on offense playing tight. Now, with nothing to lose, we might see a free-flowing machine putting up 80+ on these chumps. And Stae’s O is so bad, they struggle to hit 60 even when they win. Go Blue!
The best part of RCMB is the general consensus that Sparty remains a lock for big dance.
Yeah, as good as the Big Ten is, I still don't think 8-12 will get them in.
I spent some time in their game thread. Many are still on the "Juwan can barely put his pants on right without Martelli" thing. Some of them have moved on to "he's a CEO who did a great job hiring assistants and recruiting but when Martelli leaves he's screwed since he isn't a great basketball mind".
The odd poster who does dare to say that Michigan looks better coached than MSU gets the torch and pitchfork treatment.
They also think the refs are hopelessly biased against Michigan and that the elbow Franz took was an embellishment. And they are still on "ESPN hates us" thing from a few years ago. I hate to break it to them but they aren't important enough for ESPN to give a shit about one way or another
Veiled racism on the RCMB? You don’t say...
EDIT: Also, kind of hilarious that they are simultaneously conceding that Phil Martelli > Tom Izzo.
I know Dick Vitale doesn’t hate them.
You're right, but good luck trying to convince the knuckle dragging folks of the RCMB of that fact. They are convinced Vitale LOOOOOOOVVVEEESSS UofM because he hummed a few bars of The Victors (after fawning all over tiny tom izzo for the entirety of the game preceding that).
Don't know what the hell they are talking about, 80% of the broadcast was spent talking about MSU and barely mentioning that UM was playing to win the conference. Even the lead up to the game on ESPN only talked about MSU and trying to make the tournament, didn't even mention UM playing for the conference. It was an incredibly pro MSU broadcast.
This, among other things, is why I always/usually watch with the sound muted. Always muted for pathetic little Dickie V.
Otherwise, it is a joy to watch these young men play this game. Grinding through conference play is a difficult task-escaping with only 2 looses is most commendable. Winning the conference tournament would be quite the feat. One game at a time.
Illinois fans have adopted the "Juwan only recruits" line as well
Well since i cant get muppet banged in the muppet post bang me here you Big Ten Champ lovin fools!
Also i think Putin asked what was the opposite of Muppets on Tuesday. I said Step up M (close enough)
and step up they did!
Muppety Muppety Muppety!
Great stuff. I remember when Blanchard signed, saw him walking through some building the next year, and assuming I was seeing the future savior of the basketball team. And while he did play well and the team won the aforementioned NIT title (EDIT: That was the following year. I have this false memory he was a senior on the Horton team), it wasn't quite enough. It's why the renaissance under Beilein and continued by Howard is so special - after so many stops and false promises, Michigan is back to being one of the best teams in the country on a reasonably consistent basis. And yeah, it doesn't feel like the last time.
On another note, I was bored so I checked out the game thread from The Only Colors and it's remarkable how every fanbase assumes they refs are out to get them. But I am intrigued to see how MSU looks this weekend; it is their season but so was this game, and you could argue that coming off the Illini beating this was your better shot against a vulnerable team; this team effectively just smashed MSU by 30 (before garbage time) and did so going away. I'm intrigued to see how that final game plays out, but this again feels like a team that can compete for a national title.
How in the flying fuck could MSU fans be complaining about the officiating in this game? UM was called for more fouls in each half despite dominating the game.
Your guess is as good as mine, but apparently that flagrant call on Henry was beyond the pale and MSU's continued inability to finish around the rim was due to just copious ref showing. I think MSU fans believe that those games against OSU and Illinois are the norm now and weren't aware that if the refs sorta swallow their whistles they'll do it both ways.
Well, they were obviously listening to the broadcast. That team of idiots mentioned how that flagrant changed the course a half dozen times. They acted like Henry was a NPOY candidate that was forced to sit with 2. Not a middle of the road Big Ten player who happens to be the best player on the bottom feeder team.
Blanchard actually wasn't on the NIT title team. His senior year was in 2002-03, when we were banned from the postseason. The poor guy was here at the worst time possible. He would have been a great fit in either Beilein or Howard's system.
Yep, you're right. For some reason I thought he was a senior on that team with Robinson, Horton, and Sims. But yeah, he was on the team that started off 0-6 with just some awful losses (losses to both CMU and WMU at home!) and then they rattled off 13 straight wins against the likes of Wisconsin and MSU before just sputtering out.
Congrats to the Big Ten champs on a fantastic season so far, but fuck those god awful officials and broadcast tonight. Team dominating the game in both halves somehow gets called for more fouls, many of the phantom variety. And 80% of the broadcast was spent slobbing the knob of an irrelevant bubble team and barely mentioning the other team was about to win a conference championship. Dicky V should be barred from doing any MSU or Duke games.
Half the time when he commented on Michigan, it was reminding everyone that we lost badly against Illinois. So bizarre.
Vitale adds no insight to what is going on in the game.
He reminds me of Brent Musberger --was never very good to begin with and then vastly overstayed his welcome.
Time to find a barn to take Dickie V behind.
So horrible. He wouldn't shut up about Illinois.
My wife was listening to the last couple of minutes of game and scoffed audibly when Dicky V went off on some tangent about honor and toughness and whatever else he thought made sense in a game where UM was smashing the crap out of MSU. Like, at one point he was fun to listen to and had some insights but at this point just find someone else to build your brand around (well, other than Dan Dakich).
It's weird. I actually prefer Dakich to many other analysts because he usually provides some keen game strategy insights. He actually analyzes the game. Vitale made tonight's game veritably unwatchable at times, and that sucked because it was a game for the ages.
Vitale is a caricature of himself. 20 years ago he was interesting, now he is just annoying.
One of my favorite Dickie V lines was when there was like 3 minutes left and MSU down by 20+ And he said something to the affect of “Langford needs to get going” as if there was still a reasonable shot to win...
I find Vitale entertaining but Dakich more insightful (though more opinionated). Like Vitale's backing of the Jimmy V fund.
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