No. 24 Michigan men’s basketball led by 17 early in the second-half against Indiana on Saturday, but nearly let the game slip away. The stars of the Wolverines (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten) helped them survive several scoring slumps with timely playmaking, ultimately pulling out the 70-67 win. It marked their fourth-straight win and kept them tied with No. 9 Michigan State (19-4, 10-2 Big Ten) for second in the conference behind No. 7 Purdue (19-5, 11-2 Big Ten).
Here’s a recap of Saturday’s win.
Michigan basketball survives late surge at Indiana
Michigan dominated most of the first-half and held Indiana (14-10, 5-8) to just 12-of-34 shooting (35.3%) from the field. Wolverines point guard Tre Donaldson had 14 points in the first 20 minutes, and the front-court duo of Danny Wolf (9) and Vlad Goldin (8) combined for 17.
Hoosier forward Malik Reneau led his team with eight points in the first-half. The Wolverines used physicality to their advantage on both ends of the floor, as they went 10-of-11 from the charity stripe and forced Indiana into 8-of-17 layups before halftime.
Michigan led 43-27 going into the break.
The Hoosiers came out of the lockers and flipped the game on its head, tying the game at 59 with 4:08 left in the game after a 25-10 run. Indiana forward Mackenzie Mgbako came into the second-half like a wrecking ball, scoring all 15 of his points in the final 20 minutes. Mgbako also pulled in a game-high 11 rebounds.
Reneau went on to score eight more in the second-half for a team-high 16 points.
The Wolverines let Indiana back in the game with multiple scoring droughts, but their stars had their back in the final three minutes. Donaldson, Wolf and Goldin combined for 11 points to close out the contest.
Wolf finished with a game-high 20 points to go with nine rebounds and five assists. Goldin and Donaldson both had 18 points, and no other Wolverine had more than four. Rubin Jones replaced Nimari Burnett in the starting lineup, and he had just three points, but he also recorded the highest plus-minus of +16.
Michigan now heads back to Ann Arbor for a rematch with Purdue on Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. on Peacock.
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