Michigan basketball pushes through Ohio State on senior day, 74-62

Michigan basketball has its third signature win and officially has an NCAA tournament resume without many flaws.

The 22nd-ranked Wolverines got 17 points from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and 15 from Jordan Poole on Sunday, pushing through No. 8 Ohio State, 74-62, to end the home portion of their schedule in style.

With the win, Michigan moves to 22-7 overall, 11-5 in Big Ten play and gives its tournament resume a significant boost.

After beating the Buckeyes, Michigan will enter the final week of the regular season (at Penn State on Wednesday) with three Quadrant 1 victories (top-50 RPI win at home; top-75 win on road): at Texas, at Michigan State, vs. Ohio State.

That, combined with Michigan having no bad losses, seems to put the Wolverines in comfortable position with a chance to improve their tournament seed next week.

On Sunday, after starting the game with an emotional boost by honoring Austin Hatch on senior day, Michigan rode its backcourt to victory as Abdur-Rahkman, Poole and Zavier Simpson combined for 45 points.

More: Austin Hatch continues to share his unforgettable story

After taking a five-point lead into halftime, Michigan's lead extended to nine with 10:08 to go in the game. Ohio State had an answer, though, climbing back to within three after a Jae'Sean Tate free throw with 7:53 left.

But Poole had another answer, coming off the bench to make another 3 to make it an eight-point game after a Zavier Simpson layup. Ohio State, meanwhile, went on a nearly six-minute field goal drought.

And after Abdur-Rahkman hit a 3-pointer with 3:15 to play, Michigan went up 12, 65-53.

Michigan never looked back from there.

More from Sunday's game:

Poole party

Poole kept Michigan rolling in the first half with 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting, including a four-point play.

Michigan routinely got Poole matched up with Ohio State guard Andrew Dakich, who came as to OSU as a graduate transfer from Michigan. Poole converted a sparkling transition layup and hit three of his first four 3s.

Still, his minutes were limited in the second half as Michigan continued to get solid time out of Abdur-Rahkman and was forced to keep size on the floor to combat the length and power of Ohio State's Keita Bates-Diop and Tate.

Surviving the glass

Michigan had all sorts of trouble on the offensive glass with Tate, who finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior had a double-double early in the second half.

Tate had five offensive rebounds and helped Ohio State to a 13-2 edge on second-chance points.

The good news for Michigan? Tate's a pretty rare guard and not many teams have the type of physical presence that creates so many awkward matchups.

Michigan has done a better job of mitigating issues on the offensive glass this season. But Tate was a problem Sunday, even though Michigan's defense everywhere else seemed to make up for it.

Abdur-Rahkman sendoff

Abdur-Rahkman put together a vintage performance on senior day. The player who John Beilein applauded for his ability to never get tired, never get hurt and never slow down did exactly that Sunday.

The Allentown, Pa., native played 38 minutes, went 5 of 13 from the floor, had three assists and two rebounds, made critical shots in critical moments and was just steady overall.

He has been that way for his entire career, as now has played in 127 consecutive games at Michigan.

More: Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Rudy Tomjanovich named Basketball Hall of Fame finalists

Better at the line

Michigan's free-throw woes have been noted this season.

On Sunday, the Wolverines were good enough, shooting 17 of 24 overall and a critical 12 of 14 in the second half.

Simpson, who finished with 13 points and three assists, went 4 of 6 from the line. Abdur-Rahkman finished 5 of 6. Simpson, who had been shooting just 46.9 percent from the line entering the game, changed his free throw motion earlier this week after a tip from Beilein.

He says he'll keep working at it moving forward.

Contact Nick Baumgardner: nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @nickbaumgardner. Download our Wolverines Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!