The name Rumeal Robinson is synonymous with the 1989 Michigan men’s basketball NCAA Championship.
The All-American point guard hit two free throws in overtime to take down Seton Hall 80-79 in the title game, giving Michigan its first and only title since it began play in 1909.
“That’s the biggest one there, that one right there is what decorates this place,” former forward Sean Higgins said while looking at the 1989 National Championship banner last Saturday when he and the team were honored during the Wolverines’ 65-58 loss to Ohio State.
Along with Glen Rice, Robinson graced Sports Illustrated’s cover the next week, which read — “Michigan: King of the Court.” Eight months later, the magazine put Robinson back on the cover, this time for its college basketball preview issue. Robinson was the star of The Big Ten Network’s special “The Greatest Seasons: 1989 Basketball,” which chronicled the standout years by multiple Big Ten teams.
Robinson, who now works in real-estate development, was a star prior to hitting the free throws. But scoring the game-winning points in a national championship catapulted him to a whole different level. If you’re a Michigan fan, whether you were born before or after the game, you know Rumeal Robinson.
But had it not been for one whistle, it could have been another Wolverine basking in the spotlight.
With eight seconds left in overtime, Seton Hall led 79-78. Pirate guard John Morton air-balled a jumper as the shot clock expired, and Rice grabbed the board and passed to Robinson. He immediately took off downcourt as the clock ticked closer towards zero. After maneuvering through a few Seton Hall defenders, Robinson drove the lane, rose to shoot and was fouled. Looking at the replay, there was little contact between Robinson and the Pirate defender. In fact, had it not been the last play of the game, the referee probably might have swallowed his whistle.
As the whistle blew and Robinson hung in the air, he decided not to shoot, but instead, pass. Robinson claims that he passed the ball because he was fouled, but it may have been because Seton Hall’s biggest defender, who dropped into the lane to help, that would have made it difficult for Robinson to score.
So where did the ball end up?
Michigan center Mark Hughes, who averaged just 5.4 points per game during his career.
Without the referee’s call, he would have taken the potential game-winning shot. Instead, Hughes, who is currently the director of West Coast Scouting with the New York Knicks, caught the ball and then looked at the referee under the hoop who had blown the play dead.
Since Hughes’s defender dropped into the lane to help on Robinson, Hughes had a wide-open look from the right wing.
What would have happened if the play continued?
“I tell everybody if that ref doesn’t blow the whistle, that would have been me making the game winner and I’d have been on the cover of Sports Illustrated instead of Rumeal” Hughes said jokingly. “So he blew it. He stole my thunder.”
Rice agrees: “He makes it.”
And so does Robinson. “Mark Hughes probably would have scored,” he admitted.
Even though Hughes never made the cover of Sports Illustrated, the fact that he was in the right spot at the right time was a microcosm of the team, according to Rice.
“That’s the great thing about this team,” Rice said. “We all (knew) our strengthens and the weaknesses at that time and Mark Hughes was in a spot where he was supposed to be, just Rumeal got fouled, and he went and did what he had to do.”