Michigan went into Columbus absent an All-American caliber player and their head coach, while playing a functional play-in game that would largely determine the season.

With everything on the line, it was senior DeVante Jones that answered the bell time and time again. 

The Wolverine floor general carried the team to a rivalry win that likely punched a ticket to the Dance, while extending the tradition of regular-season finale wins over Ohio State with post-season implications at play. For that, he will live in Michigan lore. 

Jones manipulated the Buckeye defense in every way imaginable. Let's take a look at his brilliance and re-live each agonizing moment for those jokers in Columbus.

 

Going Under

Coming into yesterdays' game, DeVante was shooting 25% from 3 in B10 play. So Holtmann opted to have his guards go under ballscreens to the start game. That approach cost OSU, as Jones connected on a pull-up triple less than 2 minutes into the game. The Buckeyes went back to that coverage early in the second half, with the same result. Pull-up three. Going-under was put on the shelf for the remainder of the game. 

Soft Show

After going-under proved futile, OSU went with a Wisconsin-like soft show approach midway through the first half. In this coverage, the opposing big doesn't show at screen level to avoid a potential blow-by, but isn't deep enough to be considered drop coverage as there are open windows for the roll-man.

This was the most-used coverage by Holtmann against Michigan ballscreens and Jones shredded it as both a scorer and playmaker. The spatial awareness and timing here is just impeccable, as Jones served up easy buckets for Moussa.

Rejecting Screens

In the second half, during critical moments, Jones was at peak comfort level against Ohio State. He started rejecting screens with regularity to catch defenders cheating one way before shifting gears and scoring on straight-line drives.

You don't see this very much at the college level because head coaches are generally control freaks that don't want much freelancing. But you see it a ton at the NBA level where individual talent trumps coaching by a very wide margin. For a team that has lacked a perimeter closer, this sort of comfort + confidence was a welcome sight when the team needed it the most. 

[AFTER THE JUMP, Jones delivers daggers!]

Isolation

DeVante was in his bag so much to close out the game that he backpedaled for 3 dribbles, giving Liddell the proverbial "we're about to dance" signal before blowing by him with a crossover + finish through contact.

That was an absolute dagger that may very well be the biggest play of the season. It also should've been a foul + 1, but apparently EJ Liddell needs to punch the opposition in the mouth to draw the whistle in Columbus. 

 

Blitz

After torching the Buckeye defense all game, Holtmann sold out and blitzed Jones in a desperation attempt to curtail the onslaught with under 1 minute remaining.

DeVante welcomed that approach with a smile on his face. He literally took a dribble backward after the blitz, just to optimize the passing window/space for a wide-open Moussa Diabate on the roll as he throws down a dunk with the nearest defender being at least 5 feet away. 

Blouses. 

 

Transition

DeVante was absolutely brilliant with his decision-making in half-court ballscreen action, but he was also superb in the open-court. He pushed pace and was a large part of Terrance Williams' success, as he found him multiple times for wide open catch + shoot threes. 

Jones isn't necessarily known for pushing pace, but his comfort level yesterday was at its highest level of the season.

 

Undervalued

Last month I stated DeVante was a more complete player in relation to Mike Smith. Undoubtedly, there were a few eye rolls and that's fine. This is a subjective thing without question.

What I will say is that Jones drew a lot of criticism from the fanbase in the early/middle portions of the season. During 20 conference games, DeVante averaged 11.6ppg and 5.2apg while shooting 45.1% from the field and 84% from the charity stripe.

Without Jones' epic performance, we're likely talking about an NIT appearance right now. But thanks to the undervalued point guard, Michigan is heading into the B10 tournament with some momentum and a real chance to improve their seeding.