How May Stoked Embers to Get the Wolverines Blazing Again

Michigan will play Wisconsin Sunday for the Big Ten Tournament Championship thanks to an unbelievable turnaround and last-minute game heroics against Maryland from Tre Donaldson

Photo by Steve Kornacki

Tre Donaldson on the play that produced his three-quarter court drive to score the winning basket with less than one second remaining to beat Maryland, 81-80: “I was just able to execute it. It meant the world to me, but it meant the world to my teammates and I. And I have to give the glory to God.”

By Steve Kornacki

Do you know what I was thinking during the final two minutes of Michigan’s 81-80 Big Ten Tournament semi-final win Saturday over Maryland?

It wasn’t about what player for which team was going to score the winning points. This was going down to the wire, and somebody’s going to be the hero. That’s inevitable in classic games.

But what popped into my head was this: Regardless of how this game ends, the Wolverines, who led the Big Ten late in the regular season and had definite Final Four possibilities before losing their final three games (two by blowouts), were going to be just fine in the NCAA Tournament.

They’d found that magic from earlier in the year. And, most importantly, rediscovered their red-hot fire that had gone from flames to embers.

And now Dusty May has a chance to become the only first-year coach since the Big Ten began playing basketball in 1896 to win the conference championship in his first season in the conference.

And Michigan (24-9) can go from last place last season to tied for second in the regular season with the possibility of finishing first in the tournament.

You can explain this sudden turnaround with two points – reconnected passion and rediscovered guard impact.

Vlad Goldin (25 points, 10 rebounds on Saturday) and Danny Wolf (21 points, 14 rebounds) had stayed strong pretty much the whole season. They combined to score 40 points in that 71-65 loss to Maryland March 5 in Ann Arbor.

But guards Tre Donaldson (12 points, 9 assists, 2 turnovers), Nimari Burnett (10 points) and Roddy Gayle, Jr. (9 points, 3 rebounds) had become inexplicably ineffective for the most part. They combined to score 31 points in this one after totaling only 20 just 10 days ago against the Terrapins.

And it was Donaldson who wouldn’t allow his team to lose this one.

After Wolf missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12.6 seconds left and the Wolverines were clinging to a one-point lead, Donaldson told Wolf something while Derik Queen hit two free throws with 5.4 seconds remaining for a one-point Maryland lead: “Don’t worry. I got us.”

May shared the strategy once the Wolverines would get the final inbounds pass: “We just wanted to get Tre downhill and trust his decision.”

Donaldson got the inbounds pass near the Terp free throw line, dribbled right down the middle of the court to cover about 75 feet in five seconds, launched a bank shot from just left of the basket over 6-foot-9 Julian Reese closing fast, and won the game.

Maryland’s desperation court-length pass with 0.4 of one second remaining went awry, and Donaldson picked up the ball as the final buzzer sounded, flinging it underhanded high in the air.

And don’t forget that it was Donaldson’s running three-pointer with 27.9 seconds remaining that gave Michigan a 79-76 lead. He scored his team’s final five points.

“I was just able to execute it,” Donaldson told Brian Boesch on the Michigan Radio Network of the winning play. “It meant the world to me, but it meant the world to my teammates and I. And I have to give the glory to God.”

May closed his post-game show in the joyous locker room amid the shouts and hollers of the Victors by saying: “What a great game! I’d be surprised if they’re [Maryland] not playing in the second weekend of the tournament [as a Sweet 16 team].”

The Wolverines could very well be there, too.

May found a way to stoke those feint embers into a blaze in practices leading up to this tourney in Indianapolis, which began with an 86-68 win over Purdue -- another team that started strong and faded fast this season.

He eschewed film study to focus on making smart decisions and regaining toughness. May instituted a one-dribble rule in scrimmages to prompt better, quicker passing. And he stressed being physical. This is something most coaches wouldn’t normally dream of doing headed into the physical grind of March Madness, but May knew what his team needed most.

Michigan blew out the Boilermakers and eked out the Terrapins to advance to Sunday’s championship game with Wisconsin – a team they beat, 67-64, in its Big Ten opener Dec. 3 in Madison. The game’s on CBS at 3:30 p.m.

They out-rebounded a very capable Maryland front line, 47-18.

That’s unbelievable.

They survived 19 turnovers while the Terps had just six.

That’s unbelievable.

But when a team truly believes in itself, anything is possible.

“We’re playing together at the right time,” Donaldson told CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, “and that’s our goal.”

May had told the Wolverines prior to their two tourney wins that San Antonio remained their goal, and the Final Four looks possible once again.

With the way Michigan had been playing, that’s unbelievable, too.