Michigan
Florida State
Wolverines to Face No. 9 Seed Florida State for Spot in NCAA Final Four
3/23/2018 4:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
» U-M faces No. 9 seed Florida State in the Elite Eight. The Maize and Blue will be looking to advance to its second NCAA Final Four in the last six years.
» The Wolverines advanced to the West Regional final after a 99-72 win over No. 7-seed Texas A&M.
» Michigan is one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 12 straight games -- nine of which have come away from home.
NEXT GAME
Saturday, March 24 -- vs. Florida State, 5:49 p.m. PT (TV: TBS)
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The No. 3-seeded University of Michigan men's basketball team (31-7) will square off with No. 9 seed Florida State (23-11) in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight in Los Angeles, California, at Staples Center. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 5:49 p.m. PT with the game broadcast on TBS.
A LOOK AT NO. 9 SEED FLORIDA STATE
• Florida State brings a 23-11 overall record into the West Regional Final. The Seminoles opened the NCAA Tournament with a 67-54 win over No. 8 Providence, then earned a 75-70 victory over No. 1 Xavier and defeated No. 4 Gonzaga, 75-60, in a regional semifinal.
• The Seminoles have three players scoring in double figures, led by Terance Mann at 12.9 points per game. Phil Cofer adds 12.7 points per contest and Braian Angola also chips in 12.7 points per game.
• FSU is ranked 14th nationally in blocks per game (5.3) and 36th in scoring offense (80.9).
• Florida State has faced one other Big Ten foe this season, as they defeated Rutgers, 78-73, on Nov. 28 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
• Leonard Hamilton is in his 16th season as head coach at Florida State. Hamilton has also been the head coach at Oklahoma State (1986-90), Miami (1999-2000) and the Washington Wizards (2000-01).
WHAT A VICTORY WOULD MEAN
• With an Elite Eight win over No. 9 seed Florida State, Michigan would advance to the Final Four for the eighth (sixth*) time in program history and for the first time since 2013.
• A victory would help U-M set the school record for most wins in a single season with 32.
• A win would give Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman an opportunity to break the U-M record for most games played in U-M history; he has 141. Playing against Florida State, he would tie the mark of 142 shared by Jordan Morgan (2011-14) and Zak Irvin (2014-17).
• A win would give John Beilein 798 career wins.
• The Final Four is scheduled for Saturday, March 31 and would pit U-M against the winner of Midwest and East brackets for a chance to play for the national title on Monday, April 2.
MICHIGAN IN THE 2018 NCAA TOURNAMENT
• Michigan advanced to the Elite Eight with a dominating 99-72 victory over Texas A&M in the Sweet 16 (March 22). Five players scored in double figures for the Wolverines, led by 24 points from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. Moritz Wagner added 21 points, Charles Matthews scored 21 points, Zavier Simpson had 11 points and Duncan Robinson chipped in 10 points.
• Michigan's 99 points were the sixth most in U-M NCAA Tournament history and the most since scoring 102 against East Tennessee State on March 22, 1992 in the Second Round.
• Michigan's 61.9 percent shooting was its second-best in school history in the NCAA Tournament. The only better shooting performance by the Wolverines in the NCAA Tournament came on March 19, 1988, when U-M shot 64.7 percent against Florida in the second round.
• Michigan made 14 three-point field goals against Texas A&M, tied for the second most by a Wolverine team in NCAA Tournament history. U-M also made 14 against Texas on March 22, 2014, in the round of 32, while the school record of 16 was set on March 17, 2017, against Oklahoma State in the first round.
• Michigan's 58.3 percent shooting from three-point range was the second best by a U-M team in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan's only better three-point performance in the tournament came on March 12, 1987, when U-M shot 60 percent against Navy in the first round.
• Eight different Wolverines made a three-point field goal against Texas A&M (Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, C.J. Baird, Charles Matthews, Jordan Poole, Duncan Robinson, Zavier Simpson, Moritz Wagner and Ibi Watson) setting a NCAA record for most different players to make a triple in a NCAA Tournament game. Michigan previously had seven players make a triple in a NCAA Tournament game against Oklahoma on March 21, 2009, in the second round (Stu Douglass, Zack Gibson, Manny Harris, C.J. Lee, Zack Novak, Deshawn Sims and Anthony Wright).
• Zavier Simpson tied a U-M NCAA Tournament record with six steals against Texas A&M, tying a mark set by Derrick Walton Jr. against Notre Dame on March 18, 2016, in the first round.
• Charles Matthews leads Michigan in the NCAA Tournament with a team-high 16.3 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game.
• Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Moritz Wagner also score in double figures in the NCAA Tournament; Abdur-Rahkman is averaging 15.7 points per game while Wagner is adding 12.7 points per contest.
• Michigan advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament win a thrilling 64-63 win over Houston in the second round. With U-M down by two, Jordan Poole made a long-distance three-pointer as time expired to give the Wolverines the victory.Â
• Four Wolverines scored in double figures against Houston, led by 12 points each from Moritz Wagner and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. Charles Matthews and Duncan Robinson each added 11 points.
• Poole's buzzer-beater was Michigan's first win at the buzzer since March 11, 2016, when a Kameron Chatman three gave U-M a 72-69 win over Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals.
• The win gave Michigan its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in the last six years. Michigan is one of seven schools to reach the Sweet 16 four times since 2013, joining Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky and Wisconsin.Â
• In the first round, U-M overcame a slow start to earn a 61-47 victory over Montana as Charles Matthews scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 11 points.Â
• All 11 rebounds for Matthews came on the defensive end, the fourth-most defensive rebounds by a Wolverine in an NCAA Tournament game. Loy Vaught holds the record with 16 defensive rebounds in the first round against Illinois State in 1990.
• The double-double for Matthews was his fourth of the season; he also recorded point/rebound double-doubles against Chaminade (Nov. 21) and Minnesota (Feb. 2) and had a point/assist double-double against UC Riverside (Nov. 26).
• Michigan has had a player record a double-double in the NCAA Tournament first round for two consecutive seasons. Last year, Derrick Walton Jr. scored 26 points with 11 assists against Oklahoma State (March 16, 2017).
• Matthews recorded the first point/rebound double-double by a Wolverine in the NCAA Tournament since Jordan Morgan posted 15 points and 10 rebounds in the round of 32 in the 2014 Tournament (March 22, 2014).
• Michigan is 7-1 in opening tournament games under John Beilein, with the lone loss coming against Ohio in the 2012 first round. Since that game, U-M is 9-1 in the opening week of the NCAA Tournament.
MICHIGAN WEST REGIONAL TIDBITS
• Michigan has been placed in the West Region for the sixth (fifth*) time in school history, and the first time since 2011. U-M was also in the West Region in 1975, '88, '90, '93* and 2011.
• Michigan is a No. 3 seed for the sixth (fifth*) time in program history. U-M has been on the No. 3 seed line more than any other seed. The Wolverines were also a No. 3 seed in 1998, '89, '90, '94 and '98*.
• Michigan holds a 2-1 advantage all-time against Florida State. U-M won its most-recent meeting, 82-80 in overtime on Nov. 22, 2013, at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. U-M also defeated Florida State, 82-73, in the Championship Game of the 1997 Postseason NIT (March 27, 1997) while the Seminoles defeated the Wolverines, 87-66, in Tallahassee in the second round of the 2007 Postseason NIT (March 15, 2007).
• Michigan will be playing in Los Angeles, California, in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The Wolverines did play in nearby Long Beach in the first and second round in 1990, when they defeated Illinois State (76-70) before U-M fell to Loyola Marymount (149-115).
• Michigan is playing in STAPLES Center for the first time but has played numerous times in Los Angeles, with the most recent coming last season when the Wolverines fell at UCLA, 102-84, (Dec. 10, 2016).
• Michigan played in Wichita, Kansas, in the NCAA Tournament for the second time.
• U-M was a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region in Wichita in 1994* when they defeated No. 14 Pepperdine, 78-74, in overtime, and No. 6 Texas, 84-79, to advance to the Sweet 16. U-M then defeated No. 10 Maryland, 78-71, in the Regional Semifinals in Dallas, Texas, before falling to No. 1 Arkansas, 76-68, in the Regional Final.
SOME BEILEIN NOTABLES FOR THE WEST REGIONAL
• This season marks the first time a John Beilein-coached team has been a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
• John Beilein is coaching a team in the West Region for the second time in his career. Beilein guided No. 8 seed Michigan in the West Region in 2011, when they defeated No. 9 Tennessee before falling to No. 1 Duke. In 2005, Beilein's No. 7-seeded West Virginia team defeated No. 10 Creighton and No. 2 Wake Forest to advance to the Regional Finals in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Mountaineers defeated No. 6 Texas Tech before they fell to No. 4 Louisville in the Elite Eight.
