INDIANAPOLIS — A double-digit deficit. A huge run. A coach ejection. A Big Ten tournament record.
Friday’s quarterfinal matchup between top-seeded Michigan and No. 8 Maryland pretty much had it all.
It also had a familiar outcome as the Wolverines used a big game from grad transfer guard Mike Smith and a 27-6 run over the first and second halves to dispatch the Terrapins, 79-66, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Michigan advances to the semifinals and will face No. 5 seed Ohio State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Smith set a tournament record with 15 assists to go along with 18 points for Michigan (20-3). Sophomore wing Franz Wagner and senior guard Eli Brooks, who made his return to the lineup after injuring his left ankle in the regular-season finale, each scored 16. Senior guard Chaundee Brown added 10 points off the bench.
After using a late surge to wipe out a 12-point deficit, Michigan maintained the momentum and kept rolling in the second half. Freshman center Hunter Dickinson, after being saddled with foul trouble in the first half, got going. Maryland missed open looks as its shooting regressed to the mean. The Wolverines pulled ahead 51-42 with 15:50 remaining.
Michigan continued to widen the gap, using back-to-back 3s from Brooks and Wagner to take their first double-digit lead, 57-47, at the 11:09 mark. During the media timeout, Michigan coach Juwan Howard and Maryland coach Mark Turgeon exchanged words and had to be separated. Howard received two technicals and was ejected for the first time in his two-year career, while Turgeon was hit with one tech.
After the kerfuffle, the Terrapins seemed to feed off the incident and cut the deficit down to five. But the Wolverines quickly responded with a counter punch, with Wagner and Brooks each burying a 3 to make it 65-52 with 7:23 to go.
Maryland trailed by at least six the rest of the way before Smith scored seven straight for Michigan to give the Wolverines their largest lead at 76-61 at the 2:08 mark.
Eric Ayala scored 19, Darryl Morsell 16 and Aaron Wiggins 11 for Maryland (16-13), which shot 36.7% from the field (11 for 30) in the second half.
For the fourth straight game, Michigan slogged through another flat start and struggled on the offensive end early on. The Wolverines missed their first 10 jumpers, including seven 3-point attempts, and most weren’t close. Maryland, though, didn’t have the same problem as it built a 15-6 lead with 13:13 left in first half.
Brown came off bench and snapped the shooting drought by burying Michigan’s first 3-pointer, which started a 9-2 spurt that Smith capped with a mid-range jumper to cut it to 17-15 at the 11:05 mark.
But just when it looked like things were starting to turn Michigan’s way, Dickinson — whose size and scoring gave the Wolverines an advantage in first two regular-season contests — picked up two offensive fouls within a minute and Maryland seemingly couldn’t miss. With Dickinson on the bench the rest of the half, Maryland caught fire and made nine straight shots, including three 3-pointers, against Michigan’s zone to open a 36-24 lead at the 4:45 mark.
Michigan found a spark on both ends when it went small with junior forward Brandon Johns Jr. at the five. The move paid off as the Wolverines closed the half on a 16-2 run over the final 4:15. Johns scored three baskets, including a three-point play, and Smith was masterful down the stretch with four assists to give Michigan a 40-38 lead at the break.
