Michigan b-ball is made a beeline for the Sweet 16.
The Wolverines, the No. 1 seed in the East Region, outlasted No. 8 seed LSU, 86-78, in a back-and-forth contest on Monday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead to begin the game and played exceptional offense.
Be that as it may, Michigan reacted in kind. Also, it concocted key stops when it made a mattered the most.
Eli Brooks and Chaundee Brown each scored 21 points, making a combined eight 3-pointers. Tracker Dickinson scored 12 focuses and snatched 11 bounce back. Franz Wagner hushed up in the primary half — however scored nine points in the last five minutes, making Michigan’s last four field goals.
Incredible basketball
The whole second half was comprised of runs. The Wolverines came out level and surrendered a 8-0 run that saw LSU draw various fouls on Dickinson and Franz Wagner. Michigan punched directly back with a 10-0 run that started with two 3s from Mike Smith and Brooks (the second appeared after LSU multiplied Dickinson in the post). At that point, Dickinson left the game and LSU attacked the rim, assembling a 7-0 spurt.
Once more, Michigan had a response. The Wolverines went on a 9-0 run, punctuated by a corner 3 from Brown, to retake the lead — this time for great.
Brown was huge in the second half, scoring 14 of his 21 points. What’s more, Wagner gave U-M an enormous get with his late offense and defense, as his length prompted a few late LSU misses — including a significant miss from Cam Thomas with 34 seconds remaining and Michigan leading by six.
Wild first half
LSU’s stars showed up to play.
Thomas had 19 focuses in the first half and made five of his first six attempts — all contested shots of varying difficulty. The rookie monitor ascended over Michigan’s more modest watches and covered various long jumpers to give LSU the early lead. Thomas at last chilled, making only two of his last seven endeavors of the half, yet his teammates were in that pick up where he left off. Javonte Smart and Trendon Watford joined for 17 first-half focuses, hitting an variety of floaters.
The Wolverines trailed by upwards of nine by battled their way back into the game with a combination of improved defense and efficient offense. Juwan Howard made a few changes, for example, exchanging Dickinson onto Watford, that hindered the Tigers. U-M’s offense, then, settled in despite poor outside shooting. The Wolverines produced great shots from outside however made only 4 of 12 3s. All things being equal, they did their harm inside the paint. Streams had a group high 13 in the main half with four helps, hitting 3 of 4 3s and attacking closeouts.
LSU’s star power doesn’t surpass U-M
Expect to see a few Tigers playing at the following level. The top triplet of Thomas, Smart and Watford is comparable to any and almost conveyed LSU to an upset.
However Michigan just was the better team.
The Wolverines played better defense, forcing the Tigers’ stars to make tough shots. They imploded at the edge and gave assistance when one of their own was beat off the dribble. They boxed out so others could collect key rebounds.
Unpalatably, they shared the ball, particularly when Dickinson was double-teamed down low. Michigan demonstrated it was one of the nation’s elite teams due to how well its top players worked in unison. That was lost when star forward Isaiah Livers went down. Be that as it may, the Wolverines actually have a lot of juice. Furthermore, they’re gone to their fourth consecutive Sweet 16.