All season long, the motto for the Michigan men’s basketball team’s junior point guard has been, “Tre is gonna be Tre.” The confidence that the Wolverines have in Tre Donaldson has never wavered, even in the ups and down of their season.
And in the biggest moment of Michigan’s season, Donaldson was himself. He exuded confidence, playing through his progression of whether to pass or go coast-to-coast and make a play. Donaldon hit the game-winning shot with less than a second to go against No. 2 seed Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals to pave the way for an eventual tournament title. His consistency throughout the weekend led the Wolverines to their first tournament title since 2018.
It wasn’t just Donaldson’s Saturday performance that stood out, he played his best ball all weekend and displayed why Michigan has so much trust in his leadership.
“As a point guard, it’s not necessarily that I know exactly what I’m going to do,” Donaldson said Saturday after taking down Maryland on his last-second shot. “(Wolverines coach Dusty May) just puts me in position to make a read. 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.”
Even though Donaldson has always been a consistent leader and presence for Michigan, he finally broke through both his and the Wolverines’ late-season slump with his play in the tournament.
When Donaldson is playing his best basketball, the entire Michigan team tends to follow suit — especially in the six most recent games. In a rough stretch of three losses to end the regular season, Donaldson had 21 total points and just 10 assists, both well below his season averages of 11.4 and 4.2, respectively.
But Donaldson turned it around in the three games of the tournament. He finished Friday’s game against No. 6 seed Purdue with 13 points, five assists and four rebounds in Michigan’s rout of the Boilermakers. He had 12 total points and nine assists against the Terrapins. And in the championship game against No. 5 seed Wisconsin, Donaldson scored 11 points while recording eight assists.
“I thought he managed the game extremely well,” May said Friday of Donaldson after taking down Purdue. “He played with confidence. Obviously his stat line is impressive. But it’s more of his presence of being the quarterback, being the leader on the court for us and running our team. … He was extremely focused before the game. He wasn’t happy with the way he’s played the last couple weeks.”
In his standout game against Maryland, Donaldson knocked down the game-winning shot, but also hit two big-time threes from the same spot almost 40 minutes apart. With just under two minutes gone in the first, Donaldson rose above his defender and knocked down the Wolverines’ first 3-pointer of the game. Again, with 28 seconds left in the game, Donaldson hit a shot from nearly the exact spot to put Michigan up by three — all before making the game winner.
All weekend, Donaldson made plays that were reminiscent of his stronger stretches throughout the season and subverted from the performances of the weeks leading up. Donaldson was finally playing to the same ability as his leadership.
“We need Tre to play like Tre if we’re going to be at our best,” May said March 10. “When you look at our most productive games, UCLA, the first half at Indiana, it’s when Tre was running our team at a high level.”
Michigan plays its best basketball when Donaldson does as well. So going into the NCAA Tournament with everything on the line, the Wolverines are going to need Tre to be Tre.
