After a get-right victory in Evanston on Thursday, the Michigan Wolverines came home to Crisler Center in Ann Arbor and won their second straight game, a confident, decisive win over their bitter rival Ohio State. Hunter Dickinson was the best player on the floor, thrashing OSU inside to the tune of 26 points on 10/15 from the floor, while Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard both chipped in double digits in what was one of Michigan's best offensive performances of the season. They moved the ball well, created loads of good looks, and rarely fell into a slump, stomaching a strong outing from Ohio State's Bruce Thornton to win 77-69. 

Michigan led the game wire-to-wire and they did so by getting out to a hot start. Dug McDaniel swished a three for the first points of the game for either team and that was followed up by a Kobe Bufkin triple and a couple Hunter Dickinson scores inside. The game progressed rather back and forth, staying with a possession or two until a 7-0 Michigan run bumped the lead up to 24-14, the first double digit margin of the game. Ohio State's offense was getting decent looks but were ice cold early on, while Michigan's threes were going down to start. 

Chris Holtmann called timeout while Ohio State was trailing 34-23 with six minutes to go in the first half, which helped spur a late Buckeye run. Bruce Thornton, who played one of his best games of the year, hit a three and made a jumper in the paint to slice the lead down to 34-28. Then, the visitors got an extra boost from the referees, as Michigan assistant coach Saddi Washington was hit with an apparently soft technical foul while sitting on the bench. Sean McNeil went 1/2 on the ensuing free throws and when Zed Key followed that with a bucket, the lead was down to 34-31, an 8-0 run for OSU. The final four minutes of the half saw tighter defense and both teams came up empty handed on their last possessions to send it to the break with a score of 41-36 in favor of Michigan. 

[Bill Rapai]

Ohio State came out of halftime with Felix Okpara at the five, tasking the freshman big with the job of trying to guard Hunter Dickinson. It did not go well for Okpara. Dickinson swished a left-handed hook on the first possession of the second half, and the opening minutes of the half amounted to a rampage for Dickinson, who helped Michigan stretch their lead back to comfortable double digits. Dickinson had eight points in the first seven minutes of the second half, all of it coming inside, dominating the glass and unstoppable with his layups and hook shots. Justice Sueing and Brice Sensabaugh kept Ohio State from being totally buried, but the lead eventually stretched to 61-50 with 9:26 remaining in the game. 

This was the period where Michigan's offense really found a groove. The ball movement was seamless, getting quality looks inside and out, and with the three best offensive players for Michigan clicking at once. They were also competitive on the defensive end, forcing enough misses, and though rebounding was a bit of an issue (OSU rebounded 29% of their misses), Michigan was able to keep OSU bogged down enough to keep stretching the lead. After McDaniel's three bumped the lead to 11, the next seven or so minutes were spent with the margin in the comfortable double digits. 

Ohio State started to make shots with more regularity but every time, the Wolverines had an answer. Joey Baker hit a three to make the lead 64-52, then OSU answered, then McDaniel scored again. That sort of pattern. Each attempt to make the game more competitive from the Buckeyes was answered in-kind by the home team in blue. This was not the recipe that Ohio State wanted and the clock steadily ticked away. Michigan led 72-59 by the time the under four media timeout rolled around, and OSU was running out of time. The official ending came when Thornton missed the front-end of a one-and-one, which was followed by two Jett Howard made free throws, and then a Kobe Bufkin block on the defensive end was the icing on the cake. OSU got marginally better outcomes in KenPom time, dwindling the lead from 13 to a final margin of 8, but that is all cosmetic. The victor had been decided well earlier and that victor was Michigan. 

[Bill Rapai]

The box score is an incredibly clean sight, representing what was one of Michigan's best performances of the season. They shot 49.1% from the floor and went 8/23 (34.8%) from three. Michigan wasn't as assist-happy as the Northwestern game, but they moved the ball well, entering the post to Dickinson with relative ease and Dickinson was able to pass out of double teams with likewise ease. As I mentioned previously, perhaps the greatest triumph was rarely ever getting in an extended cold streak on offense that would leave the team vulnerable. They were consistently getting good possessions which led to scores that were necessary to fend off the OSU charges. 

Dickinson led the team with 26 points, also snatching 11 rebounds and having two assists to just one turnover. This was one of his best showings of the year. Bufkin added 13 points on 5/10 from the floor and 2/4 from three, also grabbing down 8 rebounds. Jett Howard scored 16, Michigan's best spot-up shooter in this one. Dug McDaniel and Joey Baker each had eight, both guys making two triples amid a relatively small amount of attempts. Only Tarris Reed was in foul trouble, turnovers weren't too much of a problem, and the team generated 77 points with solid efficiency. That's what you want to see. Ohio State was led by a dominant effort from Thornton, 22 points on 10/13 from the floor, while Sueing and Sensabaugh each had 14. I didn't feel the Buckeyes played poorly in any notable way... they were just outmatched by a Michigan team that was hot and humming, with the Blue Out home crowd behind them. 

Michigan has now won two games in a row and the schedule sets up favorably to bump that up to three or four. Nebraska, one of the B1G's worst teams, comes to town on Wednesday and then Michigan plays host to Indiana next Saturday. The latter is not a gimme, but a winnable game. Juwan Howard's squad is now up to 7-5 in conference play, tied with Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa for third in the conference, a half-game ahead of 6-5 Northwestern. If Michigan wants to make a late season push to grab a top four seed and a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament, this would be the time to do it. They've strung together two wins now, why not finish out the homestand and make it four straight? 3-9 Nebraska Wednesday at least is a good way to get it to three. That game is scheduled for 6:30 PM EST and will be broadcast on BTN. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]