Takeaways from Michigan’s stunning buzzer beater victory over Rutgers

WOW! As time drew to a close, little hope was left in Crisler Center as #Michigan was down with seconds ticking away. Nimari Burnett hit the clutch three to lift the Wolverines to victory, but a lot of things had to go right to get the dub. Here are the takeaways:

It may have been the basketball equivalent of an Iowa-Minnesota football game in Lincoln Monday evening, but it was a classic Big-12 football showdown on Thursday evening — a whole lot of offense and a lot of nothing on defense between the Michigan Wolverines and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on the hardwood.

The Wolverines just needed to continue to stack wins in Big Ten play as the season comes closer to concluding. But for Rutgers, sitting at 7-10 in the conference, the Scarlet Knights needed to win out to give them a chance at making the Big Ten Tournament .

As Rutgers shot lights out for the first 30 minutes while the Wolverines went on streaks throughout the game, it all came down to one shot, and Nimari Burnett will be a hero in Ann Arbor for the rest of the season.

Let’s get into tonight’s takeaways from Michigan’s 84-82 stunner:

Will Tschetter’s spark off the bench

The pace of the game was quickly ramping up, and Michigan needed to hit some threes. Starting 0-for-3 from behind the arc, head coach Dusty May tapped forward Will Tschetter to enter the game at the 16:18 mark in the first half, and the Minnesota native made an immediate impact.

On his first offensive possession, Tschetter drove inside for an easy layup to take a 10-5 lead. On the next possession, the Wolverines forced a turnover, and Tschetter found the ball in his hands, driving inside and drawing a foul. After making both free throws, he had a quick four points. 45 seconds after that, Tschetter was feeling confident, and he made the team’s first three-pointer of the game, pushing his total to seven. Tschetter would make two of his next three shots, finishing the half with 12 points on four-of-five shooting.

Into the second half, Tschetter went cold for the first eight minutes, but he came alive once again around the 4:30 mark. With just two points in the second half, Tschetter subbed in for a tired Goldin, and another spark was needed.

Down two points with time running out, Tschetter took a pass from Wolf to score a layup, tying the game at 76 after trailing by 12 points just five minutes before.

Tschetter’s 16 points off the bench on 6-for-9 shooting was key to Michigan’s win, and it is a good sign as the Wolverines inch closer to March.

Projected top picks had a hot start, but went cold in the second

Last time out against Michigan, Rutgers’ star freshman guard Ace Bailey went 3-for-15, 0-for-7 from three, and 4-for-6 from the free throw line, scoring 10 points in the three-point loss.

That was not the case on Thursday night.

The Wolverines had the benefit of playing against the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, NJ, without Dylan Harper, but the freshmen duo of Harper and Ace Bailey put on a clinic in Crisler Center. The projected lottery picks were hitting baseline jumpers, poster dunks, getting inside and drawing and-ones, making threes from all five spots along the perimeter and dishing assists in transition.

After putting up 11 points each in the first half, the two freshmen went quiet for much of the second half, combining for 4-of-13 from the field, leading to just six second-half points for Harper and two for Bailey.

The duo finished with 17 and 13, respectively, but one more made shot would most likely have resulted in a very different narrative.

Pick your shooter

It wasn’t talked about nearly as much as the matchup against Michigan State , but the Scarlet Knights have an entire team of shooters that are difficult to defend. With Harper back from injury, Rutgers had eight scorers in the first 10 minutes of action, and five players had seven or more points in the first half.

Whether it was Tyson Acuff with three three-pointers in a matter of thirty seconds, Jeremiah Williams with eight first-half points or center Lathan Sommerville with X for the game, Rutgers had a plethora of shooters were attacking the glass and hitting from behind the arc.

In the first half alone, the Scarlet Knights shot 67.7 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three, leading to 57 first-half points, more than Michigan scored or allowed on Monday night in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before Rutgers went cold, the scoring continued for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Acuff continued to make threes off the bench, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting and Sommerville continued to draw mismatches on smaller Michigan forwards, leading to 10 second-half points and 17 for the game.

The Knights finished with nine players scoring points, and four with double-digits, but it was not enough to defeat the ranked Wolverines.

Live and die by the charity stripe

The Wolverines have shown inconsistencies all season long from the free throw line, but when given the opportunity, they have largely converted.

However, Thursday night was a STRUGGLE from the charity stripe despite getting into the bonus with over 10 minutes remaining in the second half.

After converting on 12-of-15 tries in the first half, Michigan had multiple chances to take the lead in the second half via the free throw line, but went just 9-of-17, including three straight misses by Wolf.

On the other side, Rutgers went 7-for-9 in the first half and needed some clutch free throws at the finish line.

As Donaldson fouled Acuff on a three, Acuff went to the line with Crisler in his ears and drained two of three, leading to a one-point lead with 12 seconds left.

It didn’t matter as an end result, but the game could have ended much earlier if Michigan converted on a few more free throws.

Vlad Goldin cannot be stopped

In the first matchup with Rutgers, Goldin was held to eight points and six rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting. However, with Danny Wolf in early foul trouble, Goldin took over the game from start to finish.

While he missed the first dunk of the game, Goldin was confident from the jump, driving to the basket from the top of the key, posting up defenders in the paint, taking a three and attacking the offensive and defensive glass.

Goldin had an early eight points through the first 10 minutes and 17 points at halftime, shooting 7-for-9 from the field, but he didn’t stop there.

Outside of Nimari Burnett, the Wolverines went ice cold to start the second half, shooting a combined 1-for-9 in 10 minutes of second-half play, allowing the Scarlet Knights to extend their lead to 12.

Enter Goldin.

With little going the Wolverines’ way, the home crowd was growing restless. To Michigan fans’ surprise, the Scarlet Knights finally went cold from the field, going 1-for-10 in four minutes.

While Michigan did not originally capitalize, Goldin locked down the paint, blocking back-to-back shots, leading to LJ Cason and Roddy Gayle Jr. scoring in transition. As Rutgers’ Emmanuel Ogbole went up for a third try, Goldin smouthered him once again, coming down with the offensive rebound and drawing a foul to get to the under-eight-minute timeout. Out of the timeout, Goldin went to the charity stripe and made both attempts, cutting the deficit to four. A shot clock violation on the following possession led to another Goldin rebound, and Wolf cut the lead to two.

After taking a brief rest on the bench, Goldin was back leading his team to victory. Taking advantage of Rutgers’ continued cold streak, Goldin found a mismatch inside that led to a wide-open slam dunk, tying the game once again at 78.

Goldin finished with a double-double, scoring 22 points and 11 rebounds, his eighth 20-point game of the season.

Nimari Burnett’s clutch three

Burnett was one of the few bright spots for Michigan in the second half, and no other moment was bigger than his clutch three-pointer at the end of regulation to lift Michigan past Rutgers.

His 11 second-half points before the shot were already impressive, keeping Michigan in the game despite being ;down double-digits, but his composure as time expired to help the Wolverines stay hot in the Big Ten will be infamous as time goes on.