The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 29 a symbol of this group coming together and doing something special. More im- portantly, I know that these guys are going to come back in 10 years and tell stories about this tournament and tell stories about the time we got knocked on our tails the last three games of the regular season and how we responded." He was even prouder, he said, to do it at a school with a history and a legacy like Michigan, one with an athletics de- partment that rewarded him with a re- vamped contract late in the season when Indiana — his alma mater — and other job openings started to materialize. As is always the case, the conference tournament title didn't come easy. The Wolverines fell behind 6-0 in the first game, but a 10-0 rally with a more con- nected offense got them off and run- ning. The offense was crisper than it had been in months — May said he felt they cut and passed better than they had in a long time —and with the big men lead- ing the way (junior forward Danny Wolf with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, and graduate center Vlad Goldin with 15 points), U-M cruised into the semifinals. Maryland, meanwhile, blew out Illi- nois the same day to set up the Saturday matchup, and the Terrapins came in with a lot of momentum and a starting five some feel is as good as any in the country. The Wolverines led by 11 in the second half, but a furious Terps rally offset 25 points from Goldin and 21 from Wolf and had Michigan on the ropes, down 80-79 with 5.9 seconds to play. May used graduate guard Nimari Bur- nett as a decoy on the inbounds pass, and Goldin took it from Donaldson and quickly gave it back to Michigan's point guard. Donaldson was in the lane and scoring with 0.4 seconds remaining to give U-M a thrilling 81-80 win. "The play was either to make a play for myself or make it for my teammates," Donaldson said when asked if there was any chance he was giving it up. "When I got down there, they took away my teammates, so it was just about me mak- ing a play for the team but for me, as well. "This is something a kid dreams of his whole life. Playing Division I basketball at a school like Michigan with the legacy it has and being able to make a shot like that … it's unreal." Maryland coach Kevin Willard prob- ably erred in not having a sub at the table after big man Derik Queen made his sec- ond free throw. That would have allowed the defense to set up. Instead, Donaldson got the ball in full stride immediately and went to work. "He had a running start, and Tre was a [four]-star football recruit. He was able to get downhill and use his speed and athleticism," May praised. "But for him to knife back to his left hand and finish that, credit Maryland — they made him change directions. "Typically, in that situation, if you make the guy change direction, you can maybe bring some help and just distort his reads. But Tre made a great change- of-direction move, got past the guy, and had to finish over 6-foot-10 at the rim." The Wolverines overcame a 19-turn- over game by doing one thing Maryland hadn't allowed all year — dominating the glass. "It was impressive throughout the game … 47-18," May said. "At the half, we had 50 percent of our misses back. I do think we did a better job in the first half of getting downhill, and we were cutting better off our penetration and driving the closeouts." Donaldson was the "quarterback" the Wolverines needed all weekend, and he looked like the player who started the year with a bang. May praised him for starting the late run from down 11 against Wisconsin in the title game, one in which the junior dished 8 assists. Freshman L.J. Cason started the comeback by hitting two huge triples after Wisconsin opened the double- digit lead, and redshirt junior Will Tschetter came out of an 0-for-5 three- point shooting slump to hit two big ones late for the comeback win. Goldin was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and he did yeoman's work in an ugly game with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Michigan shot only 32.2 percent but communicated as well as it had all year on defense, May noted, to hold Wisconsin to 22.1 percent from the floor. T h e Wo lve r i n e s ce l e b ra te d u n - der confetti before donning their blue championship shirts and hats, ex- hausted but also exhilarated. A team May had put together in weeks last spring had done the unthinkable in dis- patching three outstanding foes in three days for a title. "That's why we all came here," Wolf said. "We talked about doing these things in the summer, whenever we were first together as a group. The end of the regular season did not go as we would have hoped, but Coach May said it right in the postgame speech — we have a new season approaching. This was part 1, and we have part 2 coming up soon [in the NCAA Tournament]. "I grew up watching games like these, and I'm just so proud of how hard my teammates played. Our coaches put us in a great position to succeed. When it mattered, we were able to come away with the win." May summed it up even more suc- cinctly in finishing up his press confer- ence. "It's great," he said. "I know this team will have a bond for eternity." ❏ May, who made history as the first coach to capture the Big Ten Tournament champion- ship in his first season, gave all the praise and credit to his players and staff — a winning group he assembled just one year ago. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS