One of the hottest teams in college basketball continues its winning ways with a 58-54 victory over Florida State in Elite Eight. For as steadfast in its ways of sluggish play as Michigan is in football, perhaps the basketball Wolverines are more entrenched in their ways. John Beilein’s roundball maize and blue outfit punched a ticket to the Final Four playing their game, and exerting their will on the Noles.
Michigan beats Florida State to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2013
The Wolverines are red hot, and they just keep rolling.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
In what sounded like a heavily pro-Michigan crowd, the Wolverines made Staples Center a home away from home and sent the partisan crown home happy.
The game was honestly quite the rock fight for most of it, going to halftime at 27-26. Michigan sprinted out to an 11-0 run early in the second half and Florida State looked unable to hit anything. FSU would go another seven minutes without making a field goal late in the game. Neither team did much of anything from three-point range, combining to go 8-39. The Noles shot 31 percent in total from the field.
Despite Michigan’s penchant for set plays and a slow pace that ranks them 324th in the nation in adjusted tempo, the Wolverines really made their bones on fast break points, outscoring FSU 12-0 in that category.
Despite fan unhappiness in Tallahassee with Leonard Hamilton in recent year, it’s tough to question the fact that these Seminoles impressively overachieved. The Noles had been to the tournament’s second weekend only once since 1993 before this year, and hadn’t been to the Elite Eight at all in that span.
The Wolverines are back in the Final Four for the second time under John Beilein. They’ll be back on the 25th Final Four since Chris Webber’s infamous timeout call lost them the 1993 national championship. The Wolverines are hoping there’ll be no need for a pressure-packed decision like that in San Antonio.
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