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Los Angeles meteorologists forecast heavy rains, but forgot the tsunami warning.
Michigan flooded the Staples Center with threes, washed over Texas A&M in a relentless torrent of deadeye shooting and defense, and gully-washed the Aggies all the way back to College Station, 99-72, in a Sweet 16 showdown.
The Wolverines rode that wave of almost unfathomable precision right into the NCAA’s Elite Eight — for the third time in the last three years.
“It feels pretty good!” Michigan head coach John Beilein declared afterward. “We’re just proud to be at Michigan — the greatest university in the world!”
It felt good, all right. It felt surreal. Everyone saw how, days earlier, Texas A&M treated North Carolina as if there were actual tar on their heels, gluing Roy Williams’ crew to the court in A&M’s blowout win.
That caused plenty of concerns for Michigan watchers — just not for long after tipoff. The Wolverines’ first half didn’t just feel pretty good for them.
It felt surreal.
The Wolverines couldn’t miss. It looked like Beilein went from basketball wizard to actual sorcerer, bottling the magic potion from freshman Jordan Poole’s season-extender against Houston, loading it into his Super Soaker and drenching his players in warm-ups.
They bombed in 10 three-pointers in the first half alone, on the way to 14 for the night. Senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (24 points, seven assists, five rebounds) nailed four of the seven he took. Junior forward Moe Wagner (21 points) tossed down all three he tried.
Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson (10 points) fired in a pair, including one that circled the rim, popped straight up and dropped. Poole drilled the first one of the game, his deep-triple reminder opening the floodgates.
Ninety-one points later, C.J. Baird — playing in his eighth minute of the season after shedding his student manager role early in the season — closed Michigan’s tidal wave with an NBA three.
Sportsman that he is, Beilein didn’t run onto the court and chuck one. If he had, it would have swished.
“It makes it hard, when they keep making threes,” Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said. “They’re a very good team, obviously. You can’t take anything away from them.”
Especially on Thursday night.
When the Wolverines weren’t drowning the Aggies in 14-for-24 deep shooting, they were making moves that would have snapped a break dancer’s ankles.
Sophomore guard Zavier Simpson appeared shot out of a cannon, scoring 11 points and racking up the triple crown of high fives — five steals, five assists, five rebounds. He proved his usual defensive nightmare, while slashing through the Aggies like a lightning bolt through a cattle drive.
Wagner went behind his back on a dribble, stormed the paint, and fired in a left-handed bank shot. Abdur-Rahkman later bolted out on a fast break, drew a defender and went behind his back to feed Wagner for a donnernd dunk.
That’s thunderous in German, and without question, Michigan’s uber-storm against the Aggies reverberated from Brazos Bottom to Berlin and back.
When they weren’t walking on water offensively, the Wolverines were making the jaws of North Carolinians everywhere hit the floor.
The crew that tarred and feathered the Tar Heels, 86-65, couldn’t hit the broad side of the Staples Center in the opening 20 minutes. Michigan’s defensive pressure dominated the decisive, 52-28 first half. The Aggies went 12-for-32 (37.5 percent), compared to Michigan’s 20-for-35 (57.1).
Texas A&M actually shot a decent 47.8 percent for the game, but that didn’t seem like much against U-M’s unrelenting flood: 61.9 percent from the floor, 58.3 on threes, 87.5 percent at the line.
So long, Aggies.
“When we were making threes like that, all the tough twos they were making won’t get them back,” Beilein said. “Our stops were the key. They got us going.”
They got A&M going back to Texas, and made it rain celebration for a team that doesn’t want to pack away the basketballs.
Beilein said it best, days earlier in Ann Arbor. He knows there’s a crown out there for the taking. He’s conceding nothing, and his players echo that attitude.
“All 16 teams that are in this appreciate the opportunity, and all believe they can win,” he assured. “Somebody’s going to win four in a row. I’ve said all the time, why not us?
“We practice hard, do the right things, our kids are dedicated. They deserve this just as much as any other team. They need to believe they do deserve it, and go get it.”
They went and got it the first one, unleashing the tsunami.
“We’re on a business trip,” Abdur-Rahkman assured. “We still have business to take care of.”
Noah appreciates this business, even if Texas A&M didn’t.
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