While not having Hunter Dickinson in the lineup wasn’t the most ideal of situations for the Michigan Wolverines this afternoon, it didn’t stop them from overtaking their arc-rivals from Columbus.
The host Wolverines defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes by a 75-69 final score at Value City Arena, propelling them to the NCAA Tournament with renewed confidence and also getting set to welcome back the suspended head coach Juwan Howard. They finished the season with a 17-13 overall record while also going 11-9 in the Big Ten.
Of course, the rivalry between the two schools continued prior to the game, with the Buckeyes’ Twitter account making sure not to use the capital M in their pre-game post:
The Ohio State University ❌en’s Basketball Tea❌
— Ohio State Hoops 🌰 (@OhioStateHoops) March 6, 2022
Following the win, the Wolverines were quick to respond in a clever fashion.
Lost to the University of 〽️ichigan 〽️en's Basketball Tea〽️ at ho〽️e in 〽️arch
〽️🏀| #GoBlue https://t.co/F5u3QDB3fU
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 6, 2022
Michigan’s DeVante’ Jones finished with 21 points and nine assists on the afternoon, while Terrance Williams II added 17 points coming off the bench. Additionally, Eli Brooks added 14 points.
Assistant coach Phil Martelli, who led Michigan to a 3-2 mark while stepping in for Howard, thanked the Wolverines players afterward.
“We will go forward,” Martelli told the Michigan team. “Tomorrow will be a change. So, thank you for allowing me to be with you.”
Of course, stepping in for Howard wasn’t a problem for Martelli, who had spent over two decades as the head coach of St. Joseph.
“I am not Juwan Howard,” Martelli explained last month. “I’m going to be me. So, a small thing: I’ve never sat down during a game. So, there’ll be a chair there, but it’ll be for him – it will not be for me. And I told the players that yesterday, that I’m not replacing Juwan Howard. What we have in place is the way that we’re going to play.
“I’m going to run the timeout the way that I run it, but I’m not going to mimic him. I didn’t mimic him in practice in yesterday and will not today.”
– – Quotes via On3.com Link – –
