It’s hard to replicate late-game situations when you haven’t been in many of them throughout the season. Luckily for Michigan, it had plenty of experience in that department. Anything can happen in March, but the Wolverines used their past games as fuel to get by 12-seed UC San Diego:
It doesn’t matter what your record or seed is once the ball is tipped in the NCAA Tournament.
Whether a program won their conference, defeated a number of Quad 1 teams or made a few buzzer-beaters, Power Four and mid-major programs match up relatively well in March, and anything can happen as a result.
The Michigan Wolverines closely escaped UC San Diego late Thursday night, defeating the first-time tournament team, 68-65.
The 5-seed vs. 12-seed matchup is always under a close microscope, as 12-seeds have won 35.3 percent of Cinderella matchups since the start of the tournament. And Thursday night, the Tritons almost added to that percentage.
It’s hard to replicate late-game situations when you haven’t been in many of them throughout the season. UC San Diego had not trailed by more than eight points all season long, and it only finished three games within five points, most recently defeating UC Riverside on January 18th by four points.
However, the Wolverines developed a tendency to take their games down to the wire all season long, going 12-4 in games that ended with a margin of five points or less, even as recently as the entire Big Ten Tournament . That experience surely helped secure the victory on Thursday night.
“During the year you don’t have a lot of time to reflect and study the data with the film and whatever,” head coach Dusty May said after Thursday night’s win. “I’ve spent a lot of time the last three or four weeks trying to figure out why we’re so good in late games. ‘Cause we miss free throws, front ends. We didn’t finish well around the rim.
“When I think about it, I look at our guys, in the last five minutes of games, their awareness, their intensity and their determination are heightened at another level. I watched it even closer because it seems like we’re in these games every single game.
“…Good players make good plays. I think fearlessness, and I think a lot of failure comes with simply being afraid of the results. We’re never afraid of the results. We weren’t scared to go home today. We were going to come in here and hoop and play our game and trust it’s enough to get to Saturday. If not, we were going to tip or cap these guys and root like hell for them.”
The Wolverines led by 10 points at halftime, taking the reins of the game into their own hands for the first 20 minutes. However, the Tritons won 30 games throughout the season, so they weren’t going to go away quietly. And when they took the lead with under three minutes to go, Michigan’s hopes started slipping away.
“Yeah, we knew they were going to make a run,” May said. “I thought for a short prep time our guys did a really good job on UCSD. They just keep coming at you, keep coming at you. They believe, as well. They have older guys. Man, they put on a performance in the second half.
But like the rebounds of Vlad (Goldin), I thought Rubin Jones had two monster rebounds as well. Those aren’t rebounds that land in your hands. He got one big tip-out which allowed us to call a timeout. Late he finished it up at the very, very end with another rebound. Those hustle plays, especially by Vlad, Rubin, and Danny (Wolf), didn’t have one of his better games offensively, but he was a monster on the glass, five offensive rebounds. Tre Donaldson, big shots, Roddy Gayle getting downhill. We needed all those paint points.”
With 19 seconds to go, Michigan found itself up by three points as UC San Diego had one more possession to tie or take the lead. There are a lot of ways that possession could have gone. The Wolverines could have fouled, sending the Tritons to the charity stripe and forcing them to either miss purposefully or put the ball back in Michigan’s hands, UC San Diego could have made a three, forcing the game into overtime. The Wolverines could have forced a turnover, winning the game outright, or potentially 40 other scenarios. While many would have called a timeout in that situation, May trusted his defense, and Jones grabbed a key rebound to secure the win.
“First and foremost, they’re calling the play Luka,” May said. “I looked at the staff. What actually they may be running that looks like the Mavericks? It was an isolation three straight times from No. 13. He made incredible plays. We changed our coverage the next timeout. On that last possession, I thought they would go quick. We thought they would try to get a quick two with 19 seconds.
“When we got the switch, it got to about seven or eight, I was trying to signal Danny to foul. But I lost my voice. He forced a tough shot and Rubin finished it with a big-time rebound.”
Despite a great comeback, #12 UC San Diego comes up just short 68-65 to #5 Michigan. Great game and a fantastic season for the Tritons pic.twitter.com/LduDj3Ll58
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 21, 2025
It doesn’t matter how you win in March, you just need to win. The Wolverines will now learn from Thursday night’s game, and prepare to face a much tougher opponent in Texas A&M on Saturday at 5:15 p.m., hoping to make the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2022.