MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
B1G upsets
No. 18 Michigan swept No.
1 Notre Dame, bolstering
its resume for the NCAA
Tournament.
» Page 4B
Sweet Senior Day
Michigan’s senior class
showed just how special it is
in the team’s 74-62 win over
Ohio State.
» Page 2B
Poole’s hot shooting helps
Michigan pull away from OSU
Jordan
Poole
has
had big performances
before.
The freshman guard
scored
19
against
Indiana, and he had 11
in East Lansing.
Sunday
afternoon
was
a
bit
different
though. It was Senior
Day,
Crisler
Center
was
sold
out
and
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball team hosted
No. 8 Ohio State — the
team
who
beat
the
Wolverines via a huge
comeback in December
— in a vital game in
the homestretch of the
season.
And
Poole
showed
up on the biggest stage
of his young career,
helping the team to a
74-62 win.
The Wolverines (11-5
Big Ten, 22-7 overall)
led the Buckeyes (13-3,
22-7) a majority of the
game, but the lead felt
fragile. So with 6:25
left and the Wolverines
hanging on to a five-
point lead, insurance
points felt necessary.
That’s when senior
guard
Muhammad-
Ali
Abdur-Rahkman
drove into the lane
and
kicked
out
to
Poole
in
the
right
corner. The freshman
collected himself, rose
up and buried it before
running
back
on
defense with his arms
in the air, taking in the
scene around him.
Three
minutes
after
Poole’s
shot,
Abdur-Rahkman
hit
an open three of his
own to make it 65-53
to essentially put the
game away.
It
was
a
winning
combination
for
Michigan
all
night.
Poole, with his electric
personality and f lashy
style of play, hit big
threes and urged the
crowd to get excited.
Abdur-Rahkman, with
his calm, workmanlike
demeanor,
made
the
plays the Wolverines
needed to win. The
pair led the team in
scoring. Poole finished
with 15 points, and
Abdur-Rahkman
had
17.
From
there,
Michigan simply iced
the game away, 74-62.
“When they cut it
to four and had a foul
shot, and I think they
cut it to three, we
made just about every
good play down the
stretch to get the ‘W,’
” said John Beilein. …
“I was really proud of
the way we battled the
whole time.”
The first half was a
back-and-forth affair.
Poole
dazzled
for
Michigan in that half
too.
With
6:05
left
before
halftime,
he
drove right on Ohio
State
guard
Kam
Williams, stopped on
a dime, stepped back
to create space and
drilled
a
3-pointer
over
Williams,
who
fouled Poole in the
process.
The play exhibited
the
raw
skill
Poole
possesses
and
also
the spark he gave the
Wolverines, as he led
all scorers with 12 of
his 15 points coming in
the first 20 minutes.
“The first (shot) felt
great,”
Poole
said.
“So I was just, kinda,
liking my shot a little
bit. I had confidence
once
they
started
dropping.”
On the other end, the
Buckeyes worked more
methodically. Forward
Jae’Sean Tate nearly
had
a
double-double
in the first half alone,
accruing eight points
and eight rebounds. All
the action ultimately
led to a 5-point
Michigan lead at
halftime.
The
second
half
began
similarly. Ohio
State
f lexed
its muscles on
the inside, but
the Wolverines
stayed ahead.
That’s
how
it
was
when
Poole
toed
the
3-point
line
in
the
right
corner,
sending
Crisler Center
into hysterics
and Michigan
to
its
22nd
win
of
the
season.
“The
first
game had me
and everybody
else
on
the
team sick, only
because
we
were up by 20,”
Poole said. “And
then, we just knew
we had to get this
one. It was more
of a, ‘We’ve got to
get revenge game,’
instead of it being a
top-20 team and a
top-10 team.
“… We feel we’re
better than them,
especially
with
the performance
we
put
on
at
Ohio
State.
We just
feel
we
had to get
that win.”
Kateyln Mulcahy // Daily
Design by Jack Silberman
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Monday, February 19, 2018
B
MICHIGAN 74
OHIO STATE 62
“The first (shot) felt great.
So I was just, kinda, liking
my shot a little bit.
I had confidence
once they started
dropping.”