In a season outlined so far by adversity, Michigan basketball discovered itself with its again to the wall but once more on Sunday afternoon.
The Wolverines trailed your complete first half in opposition to Minnesota. And to make issues worse, with about two minutes earlier than halftime, standout freshman Jett Howard went down with an ankle damage and needed to be helped off the courtroom. But as an alternative of getting rattled, the Wolverines rallied, led by co-captain Hunter Dickinson.
UM used a 13-3 spurt overlaying about six minutes on the finish of the primary half and the start of the second to tug away from Minnesota, then held on for an additional tight win, 60-56, at Crisler Center.
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Dickinson, who had a game-high 23 factors and simply missed his fourth consecutive double-double with 9 rebounds, mentioned he would not imagine there may be such a factor as an unsightly win.
“I agree with Hunter,” mentioned Michigan coach Juwan Howard, laughing when requested the identical query. “I believe all Big Ten coaches would agree with Hunter. This may be the first time all of the coaches within the Big Ten agree with Hunter. Because within the Big Ten … the ball isn’t all the time going to fall for you offensively.
“Defensively, typically you simply need to win within the mud.”
Kobe Bufkin had 12 factors and 4 rebounds whereas freshman Dug McDaniel added 10 factors and eight rebounds for Michigan (11-8. 5-3 Big Ten).
Sluggish begin
The Wolverines seemed to be sleep-walking to begin the matinee as they missed 9 of their first 10 photographs. Minnesota’s struggling offense, which mustered simply 39 factors in opposition to Purdue on Thursday, used that chance to mount an early lead.
The Golden Gophers went up 8-0 on 3-pointers by Jamison Battle and Dawson Garcia sandwiched round a Joshua Ola-Joseph slam.
The Wolverines made simply two photographs within the first almost eight minutes of the sport, each of which got here off of set in-bounds performs from McDaniel to Bufkin; the primary a mid-range jumper, the second a wide-open layup.
“This was a must-win recreation, so adjustments needed to be made,” McDaniel mentioned. “I used to be simply telling my guys to get up. We had been taking part in very sluggish, lackadaisical and I simply allow them to know we needed to have a way of urgency or we will lose this recreation.”
A Tarris Reed Jr. a slam dunk from Jett Howard on a pick-and-roll with 12:02 left within the first half was Michigan’s first offensive set that led to a basket and made it 16-8. Minnesota pushed it to a 20-10 lead earlier than UM tightened the screws on protection.
The Golden Gophers (7-11, 1-7) made simply considered one of their last 13 photographs from the ground over the ultimate 9:51 earlier than halftime, together with a streak of 10 straight misses. UM held Minnesota to 40% taking pictures (23-for-57) from the ground and 26% (6-for-23) on 3-pointers.
“That’s a type of victories the place we discovered quite a bit from competing within the Maryland recreation,” Howard mentioned. “We gave up six offensive rebounds as an alternative of 15, in order that’s a giant enchancment. Defensively, the opponent shot 40% from the sphere, Maryland shot 41, in order that’s an enchancment.
“Defensively, I give credit score to how arduous our guys performed and dialed into what we labored on these final two days.”
That allowed UM to climate a sluggish begin earlier than Will Tschetter made a spinning layup, McDaniel hit a midrange jumper and Dickinson made consecutive buckets — after beginning the afternoon 0-for-5 from the ground — to chop the deficit to 20-18.
Howard goes down
It was a relatively harmless play when Howard went as much as contest a shot with 2:16 left to play within the first half; however he rolled his left ankle as he landed and went down in a heap of ache.
The freshman wing, who had struggled by quarter-hour on 0-for-5 taking pictures, stayed down for a couple of minutes earlier than he was helped off the courtroom, with out placing any weight on his toes, by the trainers. He sat on the bench for a couple of moments earlier than he made his strategy to the tunnel after which to the locker room shortly after a Dickinson jumper tied the sport at 23 heading into the half.
A Michigan workforce spokesman mentioned Howard was present process exams through the break and that he was dominated out for the second half. Howard sat on the bench within the second half however was carrying a strolling boot.
“I haven’t got any info to offer you on Jett aside from, as you noticed, he was in a boot,” Juwan Howard mentioned. “He got here again on the market within the second half to assist his teammates, which is nice, however I really feel sorry for the younger man.”
Meanwhile, Dickinson was simply getting going. He hit a right-handed bunny off the glass to offer Michigan its first lead of the day, 27-26, earlier than hitting a turnaround within the lane on the subsequent journey down. The Wolverines had been up 31-26 when Joey Baker had a breakaway, however obtained caught between a dunk and a layup and missed the wide-open take a look at the rim.
Minnesota obtained out in transition the opposite manner and hit a 3-pointer to make it 31-29. After a McDaniel 3-pointer a couple of minutes later gave Michigan its three-point lead again, Dickinson obtained an offensive rebound and made the put-back plus the foul to increase the result in 39-33 with 12:33 to play.
“A whole lot of groups tried to reap the benefits of our errors,” Dickinson mentioned, “so we had been on the market simply attempting to remain stable as a lot as we may and make them beat us and never beat ourselves.”
Michigan by no means trailed once more, though Minnesota stayed inside placing distance. After a Dickinson layup made it 43-35, the Golden Gophers scored 5 straight on a drive by Battle and a 3-pointer by Garcia to get again inside three.
Ta’lon Cooper led Minnesota with 15 factors and 10 rebounds, adopted by 14 factors from Battle and 13 from Garcia.
After Bufkin and Battle exchanged baskets, Michigan’s subsequent six factors got here by way of three journeys to the road from Dickinson, who made all six makes an attempt. Minnesota obtained it again to 5 with lower than 4 minutes to play, however a Terrance Williams II layup adopted by a Bufkin floater prolonged Michigan’s result in a game-high 9.
Minnesota lower it to 3 late, however Battle was whistled for an intentional foul in opposition to Tschetter on an inbounds play within the last 40 seconds, giving Michigan a two-possession lead.
“It was actually huge as a result of now we’re 5-3, we’re nonetheless proper there,” Dickinson mentioned. “Teams need to rely us out, you already know, however 5-3 is 5-3 and we’re not going to apologize for it.”
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.