Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from Wolverines win over Ohio State

Michigan basketball knocked off hated rival Ohio State 65-49 inside the Crisler Center Tuesday and here are three takeaways for the Wolverines.

Regardless of the sport, it means something extra when Michigan and Ohio State meet and Tuesday night on its home floor, the Michigan basketball team took care of business against the Buckeyes.

It wasn’t always pretty and the Wolverines shooting start matched the cold weather in Ann Arbor. However, Michigan basketball started to heat up and when UM was down 17-12 in the first half, things started to change with a Jordan Poole 3-pointer.

Minutes later, Isaiah Livers tied the game his own trey, evening up the score at 19-19 and then Poole, a favorite of Michigan basketball fans, connected again from deep, giving the Wolverines a 22-19 advantage.

The Wolverines would only trail twice more at 25-24 and 27-25. However, 3-bombs by Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis helped Michigan take a six-point lead into halftime.

In the second half, Zavier Simpson stole the show, finishing with the sixth career triple-double in the history of Michigan basketball after he notched 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He also had two steals and incredibly, no turnovers.

A stretch of three minutes that saw Livers, Poole and Iggy hit from deep pushed the lead to double digits and from there, the suffocating Michigan defense sucked the life out of the Buckeyes offense, which scored just 20 points in the second half.

All in all, it was a huge win for the Wolverines, who are now tied for first in the Big Ten race and as we look back, here are three key takeaways from their win.