The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MARCH 2024 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 15 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2019: Michi- gan basketball posted win No. 30 on the season, a 64-49 victory over Florida on March 23, 2019. The Wolverines ad- vanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 with their manhandling of the Gators. Michigan owned Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, allowing only 21 sec- ond-half points in turning a 32-28 half- time advantage into a decisive 15-point win. The Gators (20-16) shot a mere 28.6 percent over the final 20 minutes, seeing their season slip away. Meanwhile, the 30-6 Wolverines ad- vanced to their third consecutive Sweet 16 on the strength of their effort, paced by Jordan Poole's 19 points and 4 three- pointers. He proved one of only two Michigan players in double figures, with Isaiah Livers scoring 10, but Charles Matthews and Zavier Simpson tossed in 9 each and Jon Teske scored 8. Poole nailed a pair of threes early, allowing U-M to burst out to a 15-6 lead. The Gators began chipping away, though, narrowing the gap to just four at the half. They couldn't shoot straight after intermission, and the Wolverines' 11-0 run out of the locker room made it clear there wouldn't be any upset in Iowa. "Holding this team to 49 points is in- credible," Michigan coach John Beilein said afterward. "That's how we won the game." 10 YEARS AGO, 2014: Beilein's Wolverines found themselves Elite Eight bound after fending off Tennes- see, 73-71, in a Sweet 16 showdown in Indianapolis on March 28, 2014. The Big Ten champion Wolverines (28-8) sealed the victory on a great de- fensive play by veteran Jordan Morgan, who took a charge with six seconds remaining and the Vols down by only one. Instead of Tennessee getting the go-ahead bucket, Morgan — who led Michigan with 15 points and 7 rebounds — got the Wolverines the ball back for a final, frenzied close-out. The Wolverines led by as many as 15 in the second half, before the Volunteers (24-13) made a desperate comeback in an attempt to keep their season going at Lucas Oil Stadium. They whittled the Michigan advantage all the way down to one, before Morgan's late heroics and a free throw by Nik Stauskas (14 points) in the final seconds allowed U-M to hang on. Glenn Robinson III added 13 points and Caris LeVert put up 10 to go with his 5 assists in the victory. The Wolverines' hot first-half shooting (62 percent, in- cluding 7 of 9 threes) opened the door for a 45-34 halftime lead. But the big defensive play at just the right time let them finish the Vols. "We heard all week about how they had mismatches and we couldn't guard them inside," Morgan said. "We're not really soft around here. That's not who we are." 25 YEARS AGO, 1999: Red Beren- son's Michigan hockey team knocked off No. 8 Denver in the NCAA East Re- gional on March 26, 1999, in a 5-3 nail biter. The Wolverines advanced by tak- ing down the Pioneers with a stirring comeback in Worcester, Mass. Denver raced out to a 3-0 lead on a Paul Veres goal 7:46 into the second pe- riod. Berenson called a timeout, with the Wolverines clearly on the ropes. Whatever he said in those tense mo- ments worked like magic. The Wolverines stormed back with 5 goals over the final 32 minutes of play. Michigan clawed back with a pair of goals before entering the final period, and U-M's Dave Huntzicker scored 6:11 into the third to tie it up. Dale Romin- sky put Michigan on top, 4-3, with his 15th goal (and eighth game-winner), the clock showing 9:40 remaining. Mike Comrie added an insurance goal three minutes later, completing the Wolver- ines' fierce comeback. "I think we needed to refocus and start all over again," Berenson said of the timeout conversation. "We had a half a game left, and we weren't doing some things we wanted to do on the ice — like our work ethic and checking and finish- ing our hits and going to the net, getting the puck deep. It was the simple little things. I said I wasn't worried about the score, I just wanted them to play better and harder and don't worry about the score. We'll just start over again." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY In 2019, Jordan Poole helped the Wolverines advance to their third consecutive Sweet 16 with 19 points in a 64-49 victory over Florida. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL