Michigan suffered an 84-81 overtime loss, falling to 13-4 and 5-1 in Big Ten play as Minnesota drilled a buzzer-beater to snap the five-game win streak. The Wolverines had several chances to pull away before falling short to the Big Ten’s last place team.
The Michigan Wolverines suffered an 84-81 overtime loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, falling to 13-4 and 5-1 in Big Ten play. Dawson Garcia drilled a buzzer-beater from just inside half court to snap the Wolverines’ five-game win streak.
Michigan came into the matchup undefeated in the conference , while Minnesota was winless in the Big Ten and sat at the bottom of the standings. The Wolverines were double-figure favorites before eventually coming up short.
Danny Wolf led Michigan with 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, but his six turnovers proved to be very costly. Vlad Goldin racked up 18 points and eight rebounds, and Tre Donaldson finished with 14 points, and Will Tschetter added 15 points off the bench in his return to his home state.
— Michigan Men’s Basketball (@umichbball) January 17, 2025
FIRST HALF
Michigan’s turnover issues were apparent in the early minutes as three straight giveaways allowed Minnesota to take a 5-2 lead but the Wolverines gained control, putting together an 8-0 run as Tschetter connected on back to back three-pointers .
Minnesota was able to hang around for most of the half until Michigan went on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a slam dunk from Goldin. Tschetter made another three-pointer just moments later to help the Wolverines go into halftime with a 40-31 lead.
Despite committing seven turnovers, Michigan found a rhythm on offense and shot 7-of-13 from three-point range in the half. Donaldson and Tschetter led the Wolverines with 11 first half points, while Goldin had 10 points and six rebounds at halftime.
SECOND HALF
Following a scoreless first half, Nimari Burnett knocked down a three-pointer in the early stages of the second half to extend Michigan’s advantage to 45-36. A few possessions later, Donaldson drilled a triple of his own to keep the lead intact.
It appeared the Wolverines were going to pull away for a comfortable win when Wolf finished a fastbreak layup to push the lead to 51-41 midway through the second half but Minnesota quickly answered with a 10-0 run to tie the game 51-51.
The Golden Gophers forged ahead for the first time since early in the first half, taking a 64-61 lead as Lu’cye Patterson scored four straight points. On the ensuing possession, Wolf hit a clutch three-pointer to tie it 64-64 with just 3:03 remaining.
Wolf went on to knock down a go-ahead triple to give the Wolverines a 71-69 lead with 28.9 seconds left but Garcia made two free throws to tie the game and send it into overtime as Donaldson’s potential game-winning shot came up empty.
THE GOPHERS TAKE DOWN NO. 20 MICHIGAN AT HOME ‼️ #B1GMBBall x @GopherMBB pic.twitter.com/T3JUD0gPYv
— Big Ten Men’s Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 17, 2025
OVERTIME
It looked like a second OT was on the horizon when Wolf finished a game-tying layup in the final seconds, but Garcia drilled a buzzer-beating triple on the other end to give Minnesota a 84-81 win.
UP NEXT
The Wolverines will return home to face the Northwestern Wildcats at the Crisler Center on Sunday before finishing the month of January with upcoming matchups against the Purdue Boilermakers and Penn State Nittany Lions.
With an opportunity to get back on track following the last-second loss, Michigan will look to take down Northwestern. The Wildcats are currently 10-6 and 1-4 in Big Ten play after suffering a third consecutive loss, falling to 55th on KenPom.
Purdue should be a difficult test for the Wolverines as Matt Painter’s team is on the quest for a third straight Big Ten regular season championship. The Boilermakers are 14-4 overall and sit at No. 11 on KenPom, just one spot ahead of Michigan.