Michigan-Ohio State: Buckeyes Dealt Another Blow From Wolverines

Manny Harris had 27 points and DeShawn Sims added 22 points to lead the Wolverines past the Buckeyes. Harris was 7-19 from the field, 3-5 from three point range, and 10-11 from the charity stripe. Sims was 8-14, 4-8 from three point range, and 2-2 from the free throw line. 

At the end of the first half, the score was all tied up at 38 apiece. Both teams played well on the offensive end in the first half. Ohio State (17-9, 8-5) shot 68 percent on 17-25 shooting. Michigan (8-17, 4-9) shot 48.4 percent on 15-31 shooting.

Two turnovers and two missed layups by Kosta Koufos at the beginning of the second half turned out to be a bad omen for the Buckeyes. Koufos, OSU’s leading scorer, had 18 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes of play. 

Even with the poor start, the Buckeyes were still able to take a 44-43 lead on back-to-back layups by Butler and Lighty at the 17:10 mark of the second half. 

Michigan responded with a 7-0 run behind a Harris three-pointer and layup to force the Buckeyes to take a timeout, trailing 50-44 at the 14:36 mark. Michigan would not trail the rest of the game.

Butler and Hunter, both seniors for Ohio State, were dominated the entire game by freshman Manny Harris and sophomore DeShawn Simms. Butler was 6-17, 2-9 from long range and turned the ball over six times. Hunter was in foul trouble the entire game and ended up fouling out with only six points and three rebounds.

Michigan was 20-24 from the free throw line. Ohio State was only 2-3 from the line.

Thad Matta is now 7-1 against Michigan. His first lost to the Wolverines may cost the Buckeyes a tournament invitation. Bad losses to Iowa and Michigan will not go unnoticed by the tournament committee.  

Ohio State is clearly out of the NCAA tournament at this point. The Buckeyes will have to sit on this loss for the entire week. Their next game is at home against Wisconsin on Sunday, Feb. 24th(4pm ET, CBS).   

Michigan has won three straight conference games.  They go on the road against Minnesota on Feb. 21st (9pm ET, ESPN).

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