Mike Smith powers Michigan basketball in wild game vs. Maryland, 79-66, in Big Ten tourney
Mike Smith #MikeSmith
Michigan basketball’s first game in the 2021 Big Ten men’s basketball tournament took an unexpected turn midway through the second half.
During a timeout, head coach Juwan Howard was ejected from the game after a kerfuffle with the Maryland coaching staff. Both sides exchange words, with the situation eventually escalating as Howard had to be held back multiple times by members of his staff while jarring with Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon.
It was the first time Howard has been ejected as a head coach — yet the Wolverines were undeterred. Michigan led by 10 at the time of Howard’s departure and held onto that advantage en route to a 79-66 win to advance to the semifinals Saturday. It’ll play the winner of No. 4 Purdue vs. No. 5 Ohio State at 1 p.m. (CBS).
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First, the Wolverines put together an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 13 after Maryland scored five quick points following Howard’s ejection. Then, Michigan went on a 11-2 run to stretch the lead to 15 after the Terrapins cut it to six with just over six minutes remaining.
Mike Smith led all scorers with 18 points and set a Big Ten tournament record with 15 assists. Franz Wagner added 16 points on 7 of 12 shooting while Eli Brooks, who started the game after suffering a left ankle injury last Sunday, also scored 16 with four made 3s.
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Michigan’s small ball lineup changes the game 
The game was filled with twists and turns — none bigger than the one to end the first half.
Maryland was shooting over 70% from the field and had hit eight consecutive shots to open up a 12-point lead.
Then Michigan went small.
The Wolverines inserted Brandon Johns at center — and promptly ended the half with a 16-2 run to take a two-point lead.
With Hunter Dickinson sidelined by two early offensive fouls, Michigan needed quality play at the center position and found it in Johns, who has spent time at both the five and four positions this season with mixed results. The junior put together arguably his best performance of the season when Michigan needed it most. He scored five quick points on an and-one opportunity and layup to give the Wolverines a spark, then proved he could play enough defense. Johns was able to play drop coverage against Maryland’s ball screens, while still flashing out to the 3-point line whenever the screener popped. It was a perfect matchup for Johns, considering the Terrapins regularly play small and feature two centers in Donta Scott and Jairus Hamilton who are shooting over 40% from 3.
Mike Smith, MVP
Where would the Wolverines be without their grad transfer point guard? Smith has been a key component of Michigan’s offense all season and played his best against Maryland. Not only was Smith masterful with his passing, but he had zero turnovers on a day where he carried the load offensively.
In the first half, he scored six points and tallied nine assists. Smith was able to get into the lane and dish to open teammates (he had two consecutive assists to Johns that kickstarted Michigan’s big first-half run), and could also get his own shot against Maryland’s ball-screen defense.
He scored a quick five points to open the second half, hitting a midrange jumper and a 3 — and the most remarkable aspect was Smith did that while being guarded by Maryland’s Darryl Morsell, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Despite the attention from Morsell in the second half, Smith was unstoppable. And his biggest shot came with 3:30 left, when he hit a 3 to stretch Michigan’s lead to nine.
3-point shooting finds its level
The Terrapins seemingly couldn’t miss in the first half, especially from 3-point range. Meanwhile, Michigan couldn’t buy a make at first, missing wildly and making 3 of 13 3s in the first 20 minutes. But the Wolverines have been a better shooting team than the Terrapins this season, and eventually that came to be — Michigan made 6 of 8 3s in the second half, while Maryland missed its first 11 3s and made 3 of 16 in the final 20 minutes. The Wolverines played primarily zone in the second half and seemingly bet the Terrapins’ 3-point shooting would regress, and it did. Even though most, if not all, of Maryland’s 3-point shots were open, more often than not, the ball clanged off the rim.
Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mike Smith powers Michigan basketball in wild game vs. Maryland, 79-66, in Big Ten tourney