COLUMBUS, Ohio — With under a minute to play, Michigan’s DeVante’ Jones came off a ball screen, quickly read the defense and fired a perfect pass between two Ohio State players to Moussa Diabate in the paint.
As Diabate delivered the dagger with a two-handed dunk, Jones trotted back down the court at Value City Arena and put his hands up to his eyes, forming a pair of imaginary glasses.
It was a fitting gesture, considering Jones’ vision and decision-making fueled Michigan’s second-half comeback in Sunday’s regular-season finale and steered the Wolverines to an upset without their star player.
“I believe in college basketball, you win through your point guards,” acting head coach Phil Martelli said after the 75-69 victory over No. 23 Ohio State. “Certainly, D.J. led us.”
It’s a statement not many would’ve saw coming back in November. Jones, a grad transfer from Coastal Carolina, got off to a rough start and had his share of struggles while making the transition. As Martelli noted, it’s not easy to be a point guard and take over a starting role at a successful program.
But since then, Jones has come a long way and has picked up his play. Since the start of February, Jones is averaging 13.2 points, 5.8 assists and 5.1 rebounds. He’s been even better the past five games, a stretch where he’s averaging 15.8 points and 5.8 assists while shooting 40% on 3-pointers and 63.9% inside the arc.
After scoring a season-high 25 points in the Feb. 27 loss to Illinois, Jones admitted he made some plays in that game that he wouldn’t have been confident enough to make earlier in the season. At the beginning of the year, Jones said he was “trying to figure myself out” and was learning how to play with “high-level guys” for the first time in his college career. Some of his erratic play early on also stemmed from the pure excitement of playing at Michigan.
“I was trying to do things too fast, not really understanding the flow of the game,” Jones said Sunday after his 21-point, nine-assist effort. “But now it's like the game is slow. I understand the concepts. I understand what angles to take.”
Jones credited his teammates for making his job easier and was quick to point out it was team effort. The Wolverines received 24 points from the bench. Kobe Bufkin hit a clutch 3-pointer — arguably the biggest shot of his freshman season — with 1:23 to go. Sophomore forward Terrance Williams II came up huge and provided an offensive spark with 17 points.
Williams made three 3-pointers in the first half, which was Michigan’s only source of offense for a six-minute stretch, and drained a buzzer-beater jumper before halftime that snapped an 8-0 run for Ohio State. Martelli called the last shot the biggest basket of the game.
Williams did it all likely without a good night’s sleep, rooming with sophomore center Hunter Dickinson on the road. According to Williams, Dickinson started vomiting at 3 a.m. and told Williams he had food poisoning.
When Martelli exited mass on Sunday morning, he saw a text message informing him Dickinson had been up until 6 a.m. due to a stomach ailment. During the team’s pregame film session at 8:45 a.m., Martelli told the team that Dickinson might not suit up and prepared accordingly. When Michigan arrived at the arena, it was clear Dickinson, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, was too weak to play.
“He wasn't strong enough to even dress,” Martelli said. “We were looking for another gym where he could go by himself and see if he could go. His coloring is off.”
With Jones leading the way, the Wolverines overcame Dickinson’s absence and a scoreless showing from freshman forward Caleb Houstan (0-for-10 shooting). Once the second half started, Jones was in complete control as Michigan dominated. He was brilliant in executing the offensive game plan and had a hand in 11 of the team’s 15 made field goals after halftime.
He made one big play after another and used high ball screens to burn the Buckeyes, regardless of their pick-and-roll coverage. He dished passes inside to Diabate for finishes at the rim. He knifed his way into the lane. He drained three 3-pointers when he got enough separation.
When Ohio State made a late push, Jones delivered in crunch time. With under two minutes remaining, he sliced his way to the basket, absorbed contact from Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell and flipped up a layup off the glass to stretch Michigan’s lead to seven. Two possessions later, he set up Diabate for the game-sealing dunk.
“I was just reading the big. If he stayed with me, I had a drop off to Moussa. If he left, then I had the layup,” Jones said. “It wasn't hard to figure out.”
Despite the roller coaster finish to the regular season, it’s also not hard to see an NCAA Tournament berth is within reach as Michigan enters the Big Ten tournament on a high.
“We don't want to get too high because we're known for having a good game but then next game we'll kind of crumble,” Jones said. “We're going to try to stay levelheaded. We know we've got a big task coming up Thursday.”
Big Ten tournament
No. 8 seed Michigan vs. No. 9 seed Indiana
— Tip-off: 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
— Records: Michigan 17-13, 11-9 Big Ten; Indiana 18-12, 9-11
— Outlook: Michigan won the lone regular-season meeting between the teams, 80-62, at Assembly Hall on Jan. 23. …Indiana has lost seven of nine heading into the Big Ten tournament second-round matchup. …The winner will advance to face top-seeded Illinois in the quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
