Gut reactions from Michigan Basketball’s clutch win over Ohio State

Michigan basketball was without Hunter Dickison on Sunday but it didn’t matter with the way DeVante Jones played and the Wolverines are going dancing. 

The news broke about 15 minutes before tip-off that Hunter Dickinson wasn’t going to play for the Wolverines against Ohio State.

It seemed like a death blow ahead of a game that Michigan basketball absolutely needed to have. But no worries. At least that seemed to be the attitude of DeVante Jones, who delivered far and away, his best performance as a Wolverine in a 75-69 win that featured 21 points and nine assists for Jones, the senior point guard who (seemingly) helped Michigan play its way into the big dance.

Trailing by seven at halftime, things looked bleak for Michigan basketball and consecutive losses could have sunk U-M’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

Instead, the Wolverines outscored Ohio State by 13 points in the second half, a run that started with a couple of 3-pointers by Jones. Yet, it wasn’t just his shooting.

On one sequence in the second half, he stripped an Ohio State player right near the basket and then dished it off on the other end for a dunk, creating a four-point swing.

And every time Ohio State made a run, Jones found a way to make a play, like when he scored a late two and was knocked to the ground. He was slow to get up, but not even a hard hit could keep him down and he returned to the floor to find Moussa Diabate for the game-sealing slam dunk.

Sitting at 17-13 overall and 11-9 in the Big Ten and with another quadrant-1 win to its credit Michigan basketball should be dancing and here are the gut reactions from its win over OSU.

Gut reactions to Michigan basketball’s win over Ohio State

• Michigan is going dancing. A win in the Big Ten tournament would make me feel even better but It’s hard to see the Wolverines missing out now.
• Phil Martelli is one hell of a head coach.
• Michigan doesn’t win this game without DeVante Jones.
• Eli Brooks was huge too, on both ends.
• Terrance Williams was money all day.
• This was the best win of the season.
• And the fact that it happened without Hunter Dickinson is even more impressive.
• Whatever the committee decides, this is a tournament team.
• Pump it up is Michigan’s good luck charm.
• GO BLUE!!!