COLUMBUS, Ohio — Beating a ranked rival on the road is a tall task. Doing so without your best player and leading scorer on Senior Day is another story.
With sophomore center Hunter Dickinson out and with its NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance, Michigan found a way to dig deep and do just that.
Behind a huge second-half run and several key plays late in the game, the Wolverines took down No. 23 Ohio State, 75-69, and pulled out a critical win in the regular-season finale Sunday at Value City Arena.
Grad transfer guard DeVante' Jones led the way with 21 points and nine assists, sophomore forward Terrance Williams II scored 17 off the bench, and fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks had 14 points for Michigan (17-13, 11-9 Big Ten).
Freshman forward Moussa Diabate added 14 points and seven rebounds while sliding over and starting at center in place of Dickinson, who didn't participate in pregame warm-ups and was unavailable due to a "stomach ailment," according to the program.
After entering halftime down by seven, Jones and Brooks spearheaded a 26-7 run as Michigan came up with a gutsy response out of the break to pull back in front. Brooks came away with a steal that led to a fast-break opportunity and ended with an offensive putback by Diabate. He followed that with a 3-pointer in transition to tie it at 39 with 15:50 remaining.
Jones countered a pair of layups by Ohio State with a couple of 3-pointers, with the second deep ball putting Michigan ahead for good and trigging a 14-1 spurt to end the flurry. Williams capped a string of seven unanswered points with a driving layup to put Michigan up, 49-43, with 12:16 to play.
Then after Ohio State's Malaki Branham split two free throws, Williams and Brooks provided the finishing touches on the game-changing run. Williams drew a foul and sank two free throws. Brooks scored a layup and made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt to give Michigan a 56-44 lead at the 10:18 mark.
Ohio State eventually mustered a response. Jamari Wheeler snapped a nearly six-minute field-goal drought with a 3-pointer and sparked a 10-2 run. After Wheeler banked in another deep ball, Branham made four consecutive free throws to cut Michigan's lead to 60-56 with 5:02 remaining.
But Michigan found a way to make enough plays and finish in crunch time. Jones stemmed the tide with a layup and dished a bounce pass to Diabate for a two-handed jam to put the Wolverines up by eight. After Justin Aherns drained a 3-pointer, Diabate blocked a shot at the rim and Jones scored a driving layup to beat the shot clock on the other end to make it 66-59 at the 1:56 mark.
After Aherns made another 3-pointer to make it a four-point game, freshman guard Kobe Bufkin answered with a 3-pointer of his own and Jones found Diabate for another dunk to give Michigan a 71-64 advantage with 42 seconds left.
Ohio State cut the deficit to four two more times in the final 25 seconds, but Brooks and Williams combined to make four free throws to seal it.
Branham finished with 18 points, E.J. Liddell had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Ahrens scored 12 for Ohio State (19-10, 12-8), which shot 39.1% from the field in the second half (9-for-23).
The teams traded baskets over the first 10 minutes during a back-and-forth start where familiar issues surfaced for the Wolverines. They gave up some open shots on defense and struggled to knock down some clean looks on offense.
Even though Ohio State hit three early 3-pointers, Jones helped neutralize them by burying a deep ball, scoring on a driving layup and hitting a floater to tie it at 13 with 13:15 left in the first half.
Neither team made consecutive baskets until freshman guard Frankie Collins scored on back-to-back layups to give Michigan a 17-16 lead at 9:49 mark. From there, Michigan's offense sputtered and missed 11 of its next 13 shots, many coming around the rim.
Williams helped the Wolverines navigate the rough patch and kept them close with a trio of 3-pointers. After Ohio State scored consecutive baskets, he drained a deep ball to tie it at 20. After the Buckeyes pulled ahead by two, he splashed a 3-pointer from the wing to give Michigan a one-point edge. Then after Liddell scored five straight, Williams buried one from the right wing to cut Ohio State's lead to 26-27 with 3:52 to go.
The Buckeyes created some separation down the stretch as the Wolverines' post defense struggled without Dickinson. Ohio State ripped off an 8-0 spurt that featured three baskets in the paint by Joey Brunk and pulled ahead by nine before Williams quelled the momentum with a jumper before buzzer to make it 37-30 at break.
