Minnesota held on for a hard-earned 73-71 win over Michigan in the Big Ten matchup Thursday night in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Minnesota (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) has won six in a row, while Michigan (6-8, 1-2) dropped its third straight.
The game had nine ties and 11 lead changes. Elijah Hawkins fed Pharrel Payne with a lob pass for an emphatic dunk and a 71-66 Minnesota lead at the 1:50 mark.
Michigan got to within 73-71 with 26 seconds left on a pair of free throws from Olivier Nkamhoua, but Dug McDaniel missed a running floater as time ran out.
Minnesota got its first lead of the second half on a layup by Braeden Carrington with 9:29 left.
Earlier in the half, Nkamhoua’s 3-pointer from the wing with 15:25 to play gave Michigan a 47-40 Michigan lead — the largest lead by either team to that point. But Minnesota stormed right back with a seven-point run to tie it at 47 on Dawson Garcia’s layup with 13:22 remaining.
Five players scored in double figures for Minnesota, led by Mike Mitchell Jr.’s 18 points.
Hawkins had 14 points and seven assists. Garcia, the Golden Gophers’ leading scorer at 17.6 points per game, got 13 in his second game back from an ankle injury. Payne had 12 points off the bench and Joshua Ola-Joseph scored 12.
Guard Nimari Burnett led the Wolverines with 17 points, Nkamhoua added 14, and 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Tarris Reed Jr. had his first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
McDaniel, sixth in the Big Ten in scoring, was held to nine points.
Michigan wore its road blues, perhaps to change the team’s luck on its home floor, where it was just 3-3 this season, including an 87-76 defeat to mid-major McNeese State on Friday.
The Wolverines led 37-33 at halftime as they shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 3-of-8 on 3-pointers.
–Field Level Media
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