The No. 3 Michigan Wolverines used a second-half surge to defeat the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Tuesday in Ann Arbor, 77-67. With the starters struggling for most of the contest, Michigan received high production from its bench, as L.J. Cason finished with 14 points, Trey McKenney had 12 points and Roddy Gayle Jr. finished with nine. It wasn’t pretty, but the Wolverines clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season title, with a shot at the full title on Friday.
Here’s how it all went down.
FIRST HALF
The Wolverines started sluggishly against the Gophers at home. While it was nice for Michigan fans to see instant production from Aday Mara and Elliot Cadeau, both of whom struggled mightily against Duke on Saturday, the Wolverines’ defense gave up an instant eight points to Minnesota’s leading scorers, Cade Tyson and Langston Reynolds, in the opening four minutes, trailing the Gophers, 8-7.
As Michigan’s starters continued to struggle to find the bottom of the rim, the Wolverines turned to their bench to get a spark. L.J. Cason provided that said spark, knocking down a three and getting a steal on back-to-back possessions, giving Michigan the lead. Then, Mara found Roddy Gayle Jr. on the baseline for a dunk. Out of the under-12 timeout, Gayle scored another five straight points, giving Michigan seven early points off the bench, and a 19-18 lead.
Through the first 12 minutes, Michigan starters Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr. didn’t have a point, along with freshman Trey McKenney, and the Wolverines shot just 53 percent from the field and 3-for-8 from three.
Out of the next media timeout, Minnesota proceeded to go on a five-and-a-half-minute scoring drought. McKenney took control, splashing back-to-back threes, extending Michigan’s lead to eight. Johnson Jr. also finally got on the board with a dunk, giving the Wolverines a 10-point advantage.
However, in the final minutes of the half, Michigan turned the ball over three times on four possessions, and Minnesota finally broke its drought, courtesy of two Isaac Asuma layups. And with time expiring, Reynolds blew by the defense to cut the deficit to four into halftime.
Through 20 minutes, the Wolverines shot just 42 percent from the field, and their top scorer from a game ago, Yaxel Lendeborg, had zero points. Not to mention, Michigan shot just one free throw in the entire half, and it trailed in the paint, 16-14. The good news for the Wolverines, however, was that out of the 28 first half points, 16 came from the bench, and they easily controlled the boards, 21-11.
HALFTIME: MICHIGAN 32, MINNESOTA 28
SECOND HALF
Out of the break, Michigan’s starters appeared invigorated for a different outcome. Mara, Lendeborg, Johnson and Cadeau all scored within the first five minutes, matching the starters’ first half total in a fifth of the time. After a short stoppage, Mara flushed a dunk, and Cason added another five points to his total, ballooning the Wolverines’ lead to nine, 51-42, and forcing Minnesota coach Niko Medved to call a timeout.
The Gophers managed to get five back, but the Wolverines would take over from there and not look back.
With a four-point lead at the 9:50 mark, Cadeau, McKenney and Cason drilled back-to-back-to-back threes to give Michigan its largest lead of the game at 13. Minnesota’s Grayson Grove stopped the run momentarily with a deep two, followed by a bank-shot three by Reynolds, but Cason and McKenney one-upped them with their third and fourth triples, respectively, to cap off a 15-4 run, and gave Michigan a 66-52 lead.
The Gophers sparked a small 8-3 run as Reynolds drove to the rim, Durkin sank his third shot from beyond the arc and Tyson converted at the free throw line, but Michigan maintained a double-digit lead behind a Cadeau impressive euro-step to give himself 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, Mara free throws, and a Burnett three. With 2:47 remaining, the Wolverines held a 73-62 lead.
To close the game out, Gayle made some more free throws and Johnson got a second-chance bucket, and Michigan defeated Minnesota, 77-67.
It was a much better second half for the Wolverines, shooting 60 percent from the field, and 50 percent from three, while outrebounding the Gophers 18-7, and outscoring Minnesota’s bench 19-0.
It wasn’t the classic Michigan blowout that many have become accustomed to, but the Wolverines rebounded from Saturday’s loss to Duke and will take a share of the Big Ten regular season title into Champaign on Friday for a Top-10 matchup with Illinois.
FINAL SCORE: MICHIGAN 77, MINNESOTA 67
MICHIGAN STAT LEADERS
G Elliot Cadeau: 15 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds
G L.J. Cason: 14 points, 5 rebounds
G Trey McKenney: 12 points
G Roddy Gayle Jr.: 9 points, 7 rebounds
MINNESOTA STAT LEADERS
F Cade Tyson: 20 points, 6 rebounds
G Langston Reynolds: 15 points, 4 rebounds
G Bobby Durkin: 12 points, 4 assists
F Isaac Asuma: 12 points, 4 rebounds
UP NEXT
The Wolverines will travel to face the second-place team in the Big Ten on Friday, taking on Illinois in Champaign (8:00 p.m. ET on FOX).