Tre Donaldson on his game winner: ‘Something a kid dreams of his whole life’

Michigan played outstanding in stretches in a win over Maryland, but the Wolverines still found themselves down one with 5.9 seconds to go after Danny Wolf missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Terps’ Derrick Queen made two free throws after a ticky-tack foul. With CBS analyst Bill Raftery screaming “Don’t let the inbounder get the ball!” from press row, Michigan guard Tre Donaldson took his inbounds pass back from Vlad Goldin, went coast to coast and scored with .4 seconds remaining to give the Wolverines an 81-80 win and a spot in tomorrow’s Big Ten title game against Wisconsin. 

Donaldson, who’d hit a huge triple with 28 seconds remaining to give U-M a 3-point lead, had a head of stream and looked determined to put the game on his shoulders. Nobody stopped him, and rather than give it up, he got all the way to the rim and finished with his left hand in traffic for the win. 

“Yes, the play was either to make a play for myself or make it for my teammates,” Donaldson said when asked if there was any chance he was giving it up. “When I got down there, they took away my teammates, so it was just about me making a play for the team but for me, as well.

“This is something a kid dreams of his whole life. Playing Division I basketball at a school like Michigan with the legacy it has and being able to make a shot like that … it’s unreal.”

And capped a game of runs that was frustrating, entertaining, crazy at times … a lot like many of Michigan’s other wins this year. The last play was drawn up when guard Rubin Jones picked up a foul after barely bumping Queen up top.

“Fortunately, that was Rubin’s fifth foul. We looked dejected because we thought we played good defense, got a foul [instead],” Michigan coach Dusty May said. 

But it allowed them to get organized and get a play called, and they knew who they wanted to have the ball. 

“He had a running start, and Tre was a five-star football recruit. He was able to get downhill and use his speed and athleticism,” May said. “But for him to knife back to his left hand and finish that, credit Maryland. They made him change directions.

“Typically, in that situation, if you make the guy change direction, you can maybe bring some help and just distort his reads and whatnot, but Tre made a great change of direction move. He got past the guy and had to finish over 6-10 at the rim. He didn’t have to get to option 2 or 3. But like I said, just a great play by him, and good heads up by Vlad. Vlad had a clean catch and tossed it right back, so he had a head of steam. That’s really all we were trying to do was put it in Tre’s hand with a head of steam, and he had a couple options and made the play.”

It was the second outstanding game in a row for Donaldson after several games in which he’d struggled with confidence and his shot. He finished with 12 points and 9 assists and made 2 of 5 triples, adding 3 rebounds and a steal, and took the game in his hands when it mattered most. 

“As a point guard, it’s not necessarily that I know exactly what I’m going to do. Coach [May] just puts me in position to make a read,” he said. “Me and him have that relationship and that trust for me to make that right decision. He just puts me in that place to make the decision, and I feel like I made the right one tonight.”

As such, his confidence appears to be peaking at the right time. He and his teammates will play for a championship Sunday as a result and have momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament when it looked like they might be dead to rights.

“My confidence is something we’ve talked about as a team and something my coach has continued to push me and trust me. If I wasn’t a good player, I wouldn’t be here,” Donaldson said. “That’s something that Coach feels I got away from a little bit, just having confidence. 

“Obviously, the screen from Vlad to get me open [for the last triple] was great. It’s just confidence and belief in myself and the trust from my teammates. When I’m open, I feel like the trust and the belief coming from them. It gives me the confidence to knock down big shots like I did today.”