Refs certainly swallowed a lot of whistles but I partly blame that on OSU, in terms of how they established their style of play for the first 30+ minutes.
They by in large just hung around the perimeter and just jacked up 3's for most of the game. They refused to drive, refused to work the ball inside and just settled for way too many jump shots. Even Sullinger shot three 3-point attempts (he came in to the game 23 attempts in 26 games).
As the game progresses and a flow develops, officials have a tendency to give calls (or non calls) to the more aggressive team. Not really arguing the merits of such cause and effect but that seemed to be what happened last night.
And really, the box score says the game was called fairly evenly.
FT attempts:
OSU: 15 Michigan: 14
Fouls:
OSU 13 UM: 15
There's always one fan base who feels like the officiating was bad. I agree that there were some 50/50 calls that went Michigan's way more than 50% of the time but Michigan just played better last night. Better spacing, ball movement, effort. They looked like they wanted it more.
My only concern with OSU heading in to tournament play is their bench is just meh. Their starting 5 is great but they get next to nothing from anyone outside the top 5. Is someone hurt that I'm missing? I can't remember an OSU team that didn't have someone on their bench who could provide a spark.
All and all though, the Big Ten has 3 really tough teams heading in to the NCAA stretch. With Michigan surging, it's likely the Big Ten gets three teams slotted at a 3 seed or higher (Michigan, MSU, OSU). If all play well, there could be a nice B1G contingent at the sweet 16.
I think moving forward OSU will be fine but they really need to remember who they are. Ignoring Sullinger for as long as they did cost them the game. Michigan had no answer for him when he caught the ball inside 5 or 6 feet.
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