Michigan played poorly for the second game in a row, but redshirt junior Charles Matthews' jumper with no time left beat Minnesota, 59-57.
U-M got off to an awful start in the home tilt, falling behind 6-0 and missing its first five shots. Matthews and junior center Jon Teske both picked up early fouls, forcing head coach John Beilein to go to a small lineup in the first few minutes.
Sophomore Isaiah Livers, in for Teske, scored U-M’s first points on a pair of free throws at 17:08, but even he missed a breakaway dunk.
U-M settled down a bit, scoring the next five, but the Golden Gophers continued to dominate inside against the Wolverines’ smaller lineup. It was all Michigan could do to keep pace early.
Minnesota went up 16-8 at 12:24 with two more Jordan Murphy points inside, forcing Beilein to use his first timeout.
The Wolverines couldn’t buy a bucket in the first 10 minutes. They started 3-for-18, 1-for-9 from long range, and even when they got close to the rim, they struggled to score. Sophomore Eli Brooks missed a layup down 16-12, and Gabe Kalscheur’s triple made it 19-10, Gophers.
U-M seemed destined to play the first half from behind, but the Wolverines got the transition game going to chip away. They scored six straight before Eric Curry stopped the U-M run with a half hook.
Teske singlehandedly brought U-M all the way back. He scored seven quick points, two on a putback and then a long triple from his favorite spot left of the top circle, and it was tied at 23 with 5:16 remaining in the stanza.
Minnesota went back up five by attacking off the dribble, but freshman Ignas Brazdeikis finally got it working after missing his first seven shots. He drove and finished twice to keep the Wolverines close, though it was 31-28 Minnesota at the break after a Curry three.
Michigan finished the first half shooting only 31.4 percent, including 2-for-14 from long range, despite getting a number of good looks. The Golden Gophers were 12-for-25 (48 percent) from the floor.
Teske led U-M with 11 points, but nobody else had more than five.
SECOND HALF
Michigan started the second half with a Jordan Poole steal and a flagrant foul called on Kalscheur. Poole made one free throw, but Dupree McBrayer notched a triple to put the Gophers up five.
Matthews picked up his third personal at 18:34 and it was a dicey seven-point deficit when Kalscheur scored backdoor.
Brazdeikis brought U-M back again. He hit a triple and then a three-point play in transition to cut it to one.
He tied it with a pair of three throws at the 16-minute mark, and junior point guard Zavier Simpson gave U-M its first lead with a patented hook from the right side, his first points of the game.
Simpson’s steal and finish made it 41-37 and brought the Crisler crowd alive.
Brazdeikis, fouled for a second straight time on a three-point attempt, made all three free throws at 13:40 to give U-M its biggest lead. Teske’s putback expanded it to seven at 12:10; it was nine after sophomore Eli Brooks scored his first two on a tricky drive and finish, and it was stretched to 11 when Livers dunked in transition.
Michigan continued to turn it up defensively. Minnesota missed nine straight shots before Jordan Murphy tipped in his own miss at 8:06.
U-M’s biggest lead was 13, and they were still up 10 at 5:53 following a Matthews free throw.
Minnesota, though, kept fighting. U-M missed twice at the rim and the Golden Gophers scored four straight to cut it to 57-51 at 2:42 and force a Michigan timeout.
It got worse when Poole missed two free throws. Brazdeikis missed from the corner at 1:50, and the Gophers cut it to four with 1:39 remaining on two Murphy free throws.
It was 57-54 with a minute remaining when Matthews missed at the rim and Coffey scored inside. Brazdeikis then missed at the basket, and Kalscheur's triple brought the Golden Gophers all the way back, 57-all at 31 seconds, setting up one more shot for U-M.
Brazdeikis drove and missed, but Matthews' jumper barely beat the shot clock — by perhaps a tenth of a second — and after a lengthy review, officials called it good.
Brazdeikis scored 18 points on only 4-of-18 shooting, while Teske added 15 points and five rebounds. Matthews and Livers finished with seven each for U-M, now 18-1 overall and 7-1 in Big Ten play.
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