Five takeaways from Michigan’s rivalry win over Ohio State

Share

Tweet

Print

Email

On the night when Michigan honored Trey Burke and sent his jersey up into the rafters, the No. 3 Michigan men’s basketball team took on rival Ohio State for the first of two meetings between the two teams this season.

Although the Wolverines struggled offensively for much of the game, their defense held strong long enough for Michigan to finally get things going.

In the Wolverines’ 74-62 win over the Buckeyes that made Burke’s special night a little more special, here are five takeaways.

Trey McKenney comes up big

Less than five minutes into the first half, junior guard Elliot Cadeau picked up his first foul. Returning to the court a few minutes later after being taken out, he picked up his second, chasing a rebound, and went back to the bench for the rest of the half.

Cadeau played in just 10 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, but freshman guard Trey McKenney picked up the slack.

“I’m trying to do whatever the team needs me to do at that point, whether it’s rebounding, scoring,” McKenney said. “But I think I really did a good job of just being patient and letting the game come to me.”

When Michigan hadn’t made a field goal for nearly three minutes midway through the second half, McKenney found himself open on an inbound after an offensive foul to drop in a floater. McKenney also had three rebounds in the first half alone and no turnovers with an extended period as the Wolverines’ primary ball handler.

Again, with just over four minutes remaining in the game, when Michigan was struggling to knock down 3-pointers, McKenney hit a dagger to put the Wolverines up by 13 and give them their largest lead of the night.

“I thought he was really sound,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “He looked comfortable. … Our guys, they don’t play that many minutes. And so you really have to make the minutes count. And sometimes young players think you have to score and Trey, obviously he made a big three late and he made his free throws down the stretch, but he just looked really comfortable, and he was able to recognize the full matchup advantages in our favor and take advantage of those. He’s just getting better.”