The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/299859
time. It may be to our fan base. If you took a poll, and I may be crazy, but yeah, they're disappointed we didn't get there. They're not disappointed in this team." RACE TO THE CUSP OF THE FINAL FOUR Performing relatively close to home in Milwaukee to open NCAA Tournament play, the Wolverines left little doubt they were ready to live up to their No. 2 seed. They shot 63.6 percent in the first half to jump out to a 14-point halftime lead against Wofford, then coasted to a 17-point win while the Terriers added bricks to the Bradley Center, going 1 of 19 from three-point range. Then began a mini-disrespect tour for the Wolverines. The pre-Texas talk became awash in awe for the Longhorns' bruising big men — 6-9, 285-pound Cameron Ridley, 6-8, 240-pound Jonathan Holmes and 6-10, 250-pound Prince Ibeh. Ridley beat Arizona State a game earlier with a last-second put-back, and the pregame palaver made it sound like he might put Morgan and the Wolverines out of commis- sion early. Instead, Morgan scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds (compared to Ridley's nine and six), Stauskas poured in 17 points with eight assists, and the Wolver- ines rained down 14 three-pointers to steer the Longhorns back toward Austin. "It was extremely personal," U-M big men coach Bacari Alexander said of the Morgan-Ridley matchup. "I kind of chuckled a little bit. He was frowning at some of the dining room staff at the hotel. I said, 'Jordan, what's going on? He said, 'I'm just thinking about Ridley.'" No sooner than he'd rid himself of Ridley, Morgan heard it again. This time around — in the Sweet 16 contest against Tennessee in In- dianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium — 6-8, 260-pound Jarnell Stokes and 6-8, 260-pound Jeronne Maymon were sure to put the Wolverines flat on their backs. Fuel to the fire, for a No. 2 seed suddenly placed on "headed home" watch by the talking heads prior to each game. "I ignore the good stuff," assured Morgan, who proved the heart and soul of Michigan's run. "People write articles. You win a couple of games, everybody wants to write an article. I try to ignore that stuff. "The other stuff — yeah, it gets used as fuel sometimes. I love when people don't pick us to win. It's kind of becoming the thing. It's like an ob- session. TV analysts just like picking Michigan to lose. "It's fun. Just keep picking Michi- gan to lose. We enjoy it. We'll keep making you look bad." They did so against Tennessee, even amid some scary moments. The Wolverines carved up the Volunteers for a half, building a 45-34 halftime lead and bumping it to a 15-point advantage with 10:56 remaining. Tennessee roared back, pressuring the Wolverines and taking advantage of an uncharacteristic 13 Michigan turnovers. When a wild scramble in the final moments saw the lead evap-