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Michigan Blows Out Iowa, Locks Up NCAA Tournament Bid
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I think it is now safe to say that, for the first time since 1998, Michigan is going dancing. The Wolverines needed a win today to guarantee that they will make the NCAA tournament, and they didn’t disappoint.
Michigan avenged its loss to Iowa from a few weeks ago by blowing out the Hawkeyes this afternoon in Indianapolis. Michigan never trailed and was led to victory by DeShawn Sims, who scored the first 14 points of the game for U-M and ended up with 27 for the day. Michigan got up by double digits in the first half thanks to a pair of extended scoring runs and simply pulled away for good in the second half en route to a 73-45 victory.
This was one of those games where everything went well for Michigan. They played tough defense and shot the ball extremely well (59.2% from the field). As mentioned, Sims scored the first 14 points of the game for Michigan and really set the tone for how this game was going to play out. He went 8-8 from the field in the first half and ended up going 12-16 for the game. Iowa couldn’t stop him, and Sims’ teammates did a great job of getting him the ball in the post.
Manny Harris was one of those players that did a great job of dishing out assists, and he had a solid game in general. Harris scored 18 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and had 8 assists. He basically let Sims take over at the start of the game and picked his spots to impose his will on Iowa. Outside of Sims and Harris, the rest of the team only scored 28 points. The pair combined for 45 points, matching Iowa’s total for the entire game.
Michigan now moves on to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament to face Illinois, the number two seed in the conference. A win over the Illini would likely improve Michigan’s seed in the NCAA tournament, as there is no way they won’t be dancing after today’s blowout win. Michigan would have been squarely on the bubble had they lost to Iowa, but the win means they are resting comfortably on the good side of the bubble.
Tip off for the Illinois game is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
Wow, we looked very good this afternoon. It’s almost like a new team with the inside game Simms has developed. It really opens up the offense and makes scoring so much easier then it was a few weeks back. I hope to see a few more games like this and maybe two or three more wins for the season. How great would it feel to win one in the big dance?
How sweet it is. I have to say I am amazed at how this team brings the ‘A’ game when they absolutely have to. After losing to Iowa they had to win 2 of 3 hard ones and did. Then they had to win this and did. Of course now they’ll lay an egg against Illinois.
Anonymous, absolutely it would be good to be more than one and done. Anything from here is gravy! Seriously, name me one person on our UM blogs that picked us in the dance this year.
Amazing job coach B. Amazing job.