ANN ARBOR — Oregon came out gunning and stunned Michigan early, running out to a 16-point lead before U-M recovered. The Ducks got it back and pulled out a big road win in overtime, 71-70, over the No. 5 Wolverines.
Anthony Mathis hit two NBA triples, Chris Duarte a step back three-pointer from the corner as part of a 3-for-4 start for the Ducks behind the three-point line. Duarte’s runner and tough finish made it 13-5 and forced a Michigan timeout.
The Wolverines were only 2-for-7 from the field at that point, one of the buckets a game-opening triple from the top by freshman Franz Wagner.
Michigan went 5:04 without a field goal in falling behind by 10. A Zavier Simpson steal and two free throws after a foul brought U-M within eight points, 15-7, where it stood at the 11:47 mark.
U-M was only 2-for-10 shooting at that point.
Anthony Mathis’ triple made it 22-7 Ducks before sophomore David DeJulius finally ended the field goal drought with a runner at 9:18.
U-M still couldn’t score. The Wolverines were 3-for-17, 1-for 8 from long range despite many good looks.
Mathis’ fourth triple in five attempts after faking to get DeJulius off his feet expanded the lead to 25-9, and U-M was in trouble.
DeJulius finally tripled, Michigan’s second in 10 attempts, to cut the lead to 27-14 at 5:55. The sophomore continued to spark the Wolverines He scored nine to help U-M chip away, and U-M finally got it back within 10 on a Simpson drive and finish.
The Wolverines continued to miss, but they were much better defensively playing with a small lineup. Junior forward Isaiah Livers missed an easy finish at the rim trying to dunk and sophomore Brandon Johns blew an alley-oop in transition, but DeJulius hit another triple and U-M trailed only 29-23 despite having shot only 7-for-27 from the floor.
Michigan lost momentum trying to go for the highlight reel play again. Johns missed another dunk inside and Payton Pritchard hit a long step-back two to make it 31-23 at the break.
DeJulius led the Wolverines with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Simpson added four, and nobody else had more than three. Michigan shot only 7-fort-29 in the first half to Oregon’s 46.2. Neither Livers nor senior Jon Teske scored, Livers going 0-for-6 from the floor.
SECOND HALF
Teske started the second half by fouling the three-point shooter and Oregon opened its lead back to 11 on three Duarte free throws.
U-M started to click offensively. Livers tripled from the top, and he finished again inside on a great pass from Simpson. Two more Livers threes cut the lead to five, but Oregon answered again with two triples of their own to stay ahead by eight.
The Wolverines continued to chip away. Wagner tripled from the corner and cut it to three — it was four after a Livers jumper at 12:03, and back to three on a tough drive and finish three-point play from Wagner at 11:11.
Wagner inside cut it to two at 9:40, and the Crisler Crowd came alive. Johns tied it with two free throws after a tough drive, making it 48-all and bringing the crowd to its feet at the nine-minute mark.
Johns brought the house down with a blocked shot on the next possession and Wagner put the faithful into a frenzy with a shot clock triple from the corner.
A poor play by Brooks trying to dribble through a trap led to a game-changing triple from the corner by Mathis, and Oregon was back on top 54-53 at 5:02. An angry Juwan Howard called timeout to settle his team.
Oregon’s lead was three at 2:55 after a Pritchard drive and finish, but Simpson answered at 2:20 with a hook. It was headed to the wire a 58-57 game.
Pritchard got by Simpson again for yet another finish, but Johns went strong to the hole to cut it back to one. Pritchard scored yet again off the dribble — Wagner appeared to tie it with a corner three, but he had his foot on the three-point line.
Pritchard scored two more from the line after Simpson fouled him, and it was 64-61 with 45.4 seconds remaining.
Simpson found Johns inside to tie it, setting up one last shot for the Ducks. Simpson stripped Pritchard, and Mathis’ three-pointer at the buzzer went in a fraction late. It was headed to overtime.
OVERTIME
Simpson found Wagner for the freshman’s fourth triple to open the scoring, but Pritchard continued to get to the rim. The two teams continued to go back and forth — U-M appeared to take the lead on a Simpson triple. He walked before the shot, though, and Oregon still led by a point, 69-68, with 1:41 remaining.
Johns went back to work and took the ball to the rim, getting fouled. He missed both free throws, and the Ducks still had the ball up a point. Pritchard schooled Simpson again off the dribble though he missed the and-one. U-M was still down three.
DeJulius answered again. He hit a runner on the baseline, and with 34.1 seconds remaining knocked the inbounds pass off Pritchard to get the Wolverines the ball back.
DeJulius missed at the rim, but Michigan had one more chance with 10.9 seconds remaining when the ball went out of bounds on the rebound. Simpson's running hook missed and Johns' tip-in went off the back iron as time expired to give Oregon the win.
Wagner finished with 21 points and Livers added 13 for the Wolverines. Pritchard led all scorers with 23. U-M dropped to 10-3 with its third loss in four games.
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