Michigan Basketball took care of business against Montana on Thursday night. Can they get past Florida and make their third straight Sweet 16?
Any thought of an upset by Montana on Thursday quickly went down the drain as Michigan shut them down defensively and jumped out to a double-digit lead early and was never really threatened. Besides the Grizzlies making a quick 5-0 run to cut the lead to eight, Michigan Basketball dominated from start to finish. They led by as many as 27 points in the second half and coasted to the victory.
Charles Matthews led the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds in his best game since coming back from a sprained ankle. Ignas Brazdeikis added 14 points including some tough points inside that would ignite the crowd and rile up the Grizzly faithful. Zavier SImpson would add 10 assists and seven rebounds after a rough start that saw him turn the ball over three times early in the game.
It was a better start than last year when the Wolverines were down 10-0 to start the game and looked sluggish in beating the same Montana team. Next they must take on a Florida team who looked very good in their first round upset of Nevada. The Gators had to survive a late push by the Wolf Pack but used a big second half run to get that original cushion that was too much for Nevada to come back from.
The Gators had lost four of their last six games to end the regular season, which included a tough three-point loss to Auburn in the SEC semifinals. Florida comes into the game with Michigan just 20-15, but at one point were on 12-11 and in danger of not making the tournament. They used a late season run and two wins against LSU to help propel them into the field of 64.
The last time these two teams met in the tournament was during Michigan’s run to the National Championship game in 2013. The Wolverines jumped all over the Gators scoring the first 13 points in route to a 20 point win and trip to the Final Four. A Sweet 16 berth is on the line this time, but the Wolverines look to do the same thing. Here are three keys for them to get past Florida and into the second weekend of the tournament.