Michigan basketball: DeVante' Jones discusses masterful performance in win over Ohio State

Michigan basketball fifth-year senior guard DeVante’ Jones has been on an upward trajectory for months now, after an underwhelming start to his career as a Wolverine. Over the last few weeks, he’s played his ‘best game in a Michigan uniform’ a few times, but Sunday at Ohio State takes the cake for now — and it came in the biggest contest of the year, a 75-69 win over the Buckeyes to all but punch Michigan’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Jones controlled Michigan’s offense with his aggressiveness and precision. He sliced and diced his way through Ohio State’s suspect ball-screen defense, dishing beautiful pocket passes to the Wolverines’ big men — mainly freshman forward Moussa Diabate, who scored 14 points — and scoring 21 points of his own. The Buckeyes went under ball screens on Jones, who made them pay to the tune of three made triples.

RELATED

• Five takeaways from Michigan’s big win over Ohio State

• Michigan stuns Ohio State, 75-69, without Hunter Dickinson

The Coastal Carolina transfer took everything the Ohio State defense gave him, scoring or assisting on 11 of Michigan’s 15 made buckets in the second half. Without sophomore center Hunter Dickinson (stomach flu) and any production from freshman wing Caleb Houstan, who shot 0-of-10 from the field, Jones’ masterful performance couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I just wanted to get the win,” Jones said. “That was the main thing for me. When you play with a guy like Moussa, it’s really easy because he’s so athletic. He plays hard every possession, so it’s kind of easy. He’s the one doing all the work, honestly.

“We had a great team win, we had a balance scoring attack, so I can’t take credit. It was a team effort.”

Jones has admitted that the beginning of his Michigan career was a whirlwind. Like many up-transfers, he had trouble adjusting to not only a new system but a new speed in which the game is played at this level. Now, 30 games in, he fits right into both.

“At the beginning, it was kind of like excitement,” Jones said of his first few games at Michigan. “I was trying to do things too fast and not really understanding the flow of the game. Now, the game has slowed down, and I understand the concepts, understand the angles to take.

“Like I said, it’s a great group of guys, so it’s easy for me — not really hard for me at all.”

Jones is averaging 13.2 points per game over his last 12 and 6.5 assists per outing over his last nine. He’s established himself as one of Michigan’s most valuable players heading into the postseason.

Michigan finished Big Ten play with an 11-9 record in the conference and a 17-13 mark overall. With the Wolverines ranking No. 34 in the NET checking into the day and jumping to No. 31 on Kenpom after the win, it’s unlikely the committee will turn down the Maize and Blue. Still, a win or two in the Big Ten Tournament next week would further put the stamp on their resume, and Jones insists they’re not done yet.

“We don’t want to get too high on it,” he said of the win. “We’re known for having a good game, and then the next game, we’ll kind of crumble. So we want to stay level headed. We’re obviously going to enjoy this win, but we know we have a big task coming up Thursday.”

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard‘s five-game suspension is over with, and that should add a boost heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

“We’ll have the same energy,” Jones said of Howard’s return. “That was our coach before. He’s going to come in, he’s going to bring that juice — and we’re going to match his intensity.”

Michigan Center Hunter Dickinson Expected To Return For Big Ten Tournament

Michigan was able to get the win over the Buckeyes without Dickinson, who averages 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and has been the team’s best player. But it doesn’t appear his ‘stomach ailment,’ which was just food poisoning according to sophomore forward Terrance Williams II, is going to hold him out for any more games.

“He’s my roommate, and around 3 a.m., he started to throw up,” Williams said. “And it was constant throughout the night. He was like, ‘T, I got food poisoning.’ I was like, ‘Alright, bruh.’ That’s when I knew, when he told me, ‘I’ll probably be out today because of that.’ The team probably knew around 8:45, when we had film.”

Along with Diabate, Williams was one who stepped up in Dickinson’s absence. He led all scorers with 11 points at halftime, connecting on three three-pointers. All in all, Michigan got enough from its supporting cast to win without the big man.

“He’s a great player,” Diabate said. “We obviously need him, but like Coach always says, we have enough. I believe that when we play as a team, no matter who’s in, we’re definitely going to have a chance against any team we play. We obviously need him, but we did what we needed to do, and it worked out.”