ARLINGTON, Texas – The Michigan Wolverines stamped their ticket to the Final Four for the first time since 1993.
No. 4 seed Michigan (29-7) played SEC regular-season champion and No. 3 seed Florida (29-7) for the South Regional title on the raised court at ultramodern Cowboys Stadium on Sunday
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Michigan easily beat the Gators 79-59. Nik Stauskas led the Maize and Blue with 22 points, going 6-6 from three point range.
Trey Burke, the hero from the Kansas game, had 15 points. Freshman big man Mitch McGary continued his stellar play in this tournament finishing with 11 points and 9 rebounds.
The Wolverines came out cruising, scoring in their first eight possessions. They led by 17 at the break. The Gators made a push in the second, but the Maize and Blue held on to make it to their 7th Final Four in school history.
This will be the first Final Four for Head Coach John Beilein.
Michigan hasn't been to the Final Four since consecutive national championship game appearances in 1992 and 1993 by the Fab Five — Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King — as freshmen and sophomores.
This is the most successful Michigan season since then, though there is no sense of satisfaction yet.
"You're not the team until you're the team. And the only way you can be the team is that you win that championship," said sixth-year Michigan coach John Beilein, who took West Virginia to a regional final eight years ago. "We want to make sure that they never get satisfied that this great season that we have. We're trying to get one more (win) every game."
Next stop: Atlanta to take on Syracuse on Saturday.