Michigan basketball survives second-half comeback, advances in NCAA tournament with 68-65 win over UC San Diego

No. 5 seed Michigan men’s basketball is moving on to the second round of the NCAA tournament after beating No. 12 seed UC San Diego 68-65 Thursday night. The Wolverines nearly let the game slip away in the second half, but they were able to lock up on defense and hold the Tritons to zero points over the final 2:29 of the game.

Michigan moves on to play Texas A&M on Saturday (March 22) at approximately 5:15 p.m. on CBS.

Michigan basketball gets by UC San Diego in first round of NCAA tournament

The Wolverines got out to a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes, and forward Danny Wolf started the run with a second-chance three-pointer. Michigan’s lead hovered around the ten-point mark for most of the first half, as it held UC San Diego to 11-0f-32 (34%) from the field. The Wolverines committed nine turnovers before halftime, but they turned into just eight points for the Tritons.

As a first-time NCAA tournament team, UC San Diego didn’t have the depth to match Michigan. The Wolverines’ bench accounted for 12 points in the first half, compared to two for the Tritons, and ended the game with a 24-4 advantage.

Leading into halftime, Michigan led 41-27. Wolverines center Vladislav Goldin scored his team’s final nine points of the half and had a team-high 11 points going into the lockers.

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Coming out of the break, Goldin got fouled on a shot in the paint and hit 1-of-2 free throws. UC San Diego proceeded to go on a 17-3 run to bring its deficit to one (45-44) with 14:40 left in the game. The Wolverines followed with a 14-5 run of their own to get their lead back to double-digits (59-49) with nine minutes left. Six of the 14 Michigan points came at the free throw line.

Coming into the game, UC San Diego was led by guard Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones in averages for points (19.5), rebounds (5.5), assists (3.7) and blocks (0.4). Michigan held Tait-Jones to seven points before he fouled out with 6:57 left in the contest. Instead, the Tritons were carried by guard Tyler McGhie and forward Nordin Kapic.

Kapic had two points in the first half, but after halftime he added 13 more and helped bring his team back in the mix. McGhie finished with a game-high 25 points, including 14 in the second half. McGhie scored the final nine points of the game for UC San Diego and gave it its first lead of the game (65-63) with 2:29 left in the game.

Michigan guard Tre Donaldson answered with a three-pointer to grab the lead back 66-65, and on the next possession Goldin finished it off by going 2-for-2 at the charity stripe after an offensive rebound.

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“This is march madness, we’re going to expect this the next game and probably the game after that if we’re fortunate enough to advance,” head coach Dusty May said after the game.

Goldin finished with a team-high 14 points to go with seven rebounds. Wolf posted nine points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Donaldson ended with 12 points, seven rounds and three assists, and Roddy Gayle Jr. contributed 11 points off the bench.

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