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Advancing to the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, the one-seeded Michigan Wolverines led from start to finish in their 82-66 victory over the 16-seeded Texas Southern Tigers on Saturday at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
Possessing a cushion as large as 24 points, four of the Wolverines’ five starters finished the game in double-figures, headed by redshirt senior point guard Mike Smith’s 18 points.
Transferring to Michigan in April 2020 after four seasons in the Ivy League with the Columbia Lions, during which the program never won more than 11 games, Saturday represented Smith’s first taste of postseason action.
While he admitted having some nerves in the minutes leading up to the tip, he certainly did not let it impact his play, as the Fenwick High School (Oak Park, Illinois) product added five assists and four rebounds in his 38 minutes on the floor.
“Personally, I was a little nervous at first,” Smith said. “I’ve never been here, I’ve watched it all my life, and to finally be a part of this was surreal during tipoff. But after that, I don’t think anybody else was nervous. Me, being the oldest on the team, I was the most nervous, but it was a feeling I’ll never forget and, obviously, the job’s not done, we have to lock-in and get ready for the next game.”
Along with Smith, senior Eli Brooks, freshman Hunter Dickinson, and sophomore Franz Wagner are names Michigan fans are accustomed to seeing provide the scoring, but the Wolverines received an unexpected boost in the first half as freshman guard Zeb Jackson knocked down two 3-pointers off the bench.
“Zeb is a tremendous hard-worker, he wants to be out there and help us,” Smith said. “Each and every day he wakes up at like 8 a.m., 7 a.m., and gets shots up and that just kind of shows the character of Zeb. He’s going to be a tremendous player for Michigan, I believe it, I’m saying it now, and I’m going to stick with it. Today, he just showed a little bit of what he has to his game and came out there and did a great job.”
Thrust into a starting role with the right foot injury to senior forward Isaiah Livers, junior Brandon Johns, Jr. is another Wolverine who has taken his game to new heights, tallying 11 points and two rebounds in 25 minutes in the clash with Texas Southern.
“He’s (Johns, Jr.) playing a lot more aggressive,” Smith said. “He has more minutes, and me and coach (Juwan Howard) and everybody has been telling him he has to be more aggressive. He’s a talent that not a lot of people really know about, if you’re a huge Michigan fan, you know how good Brandon Johns is, he can play. He’s stepped up for us the last couple of games and I’m going to keep instilling confidence in him because he’s a great player and we could use that.”
Saturday’s victory improved the Wolverines’ 2020-21 record to 21-4 and the program will battle the eighth-seeded LSU Tigers, who defeated the ninth-seeded St. Bonaventure Bonnies, in the Round of 32 on Monday.
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