Nimari Burnett's buzzer-beating 3-pointer lifted the Michigan Wolverines over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in an 84-82 thriller at Crisler Center on Thursday night. Down one point with 3.6 seconds left in the game, Roddy Gayle Jr. inbounded the ball to Danny Wolf, who then passed it to Burnett about 10 feet beyond the 3-point line.
With time running out, Burnett launched a prayer, and to the delight of Michigan fans, it dropped with no time left on the clock. The win gave Michigan its ninth consecutive win by four points or fewer.
In a complete flip of the script from Michigan's 49-46 win over Nebraska Monday night, the Wolverines and Scarlet Knights combined to score 106 first-half points. Led by first-half double-digit scoring efforts from Vlad Goldin, Will Tschetter, Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper and Tyson Acuff, the two teams combined for an entertaining opening 20 minutes.
Both teams started off hot, but Michigan jumped out to the early lead, holding a 14-7 advantage over Rutgers. But a scoring burst from a slew of Scarlet Knights not named Bailey or Harper sent Rutgers into the lead about midway through the first half.
But toward the end of the first half, Bailey and Harper started to find their grooves, and the Scarlet Knights started to pull away from the Wolverines. Rutgers opened up a double-digit lead with 1:50 to go until halftime, and that lead grew to as many as 13 before the Wolverines cut it to an eight-point deficit by halftime.
The second half didn't go much differently for the Wolverines, as they couldn't keep up with Rutgers' high octane offense. Rutgers' Lathan Somerville was especially effective in the second half, scoring 10 of the Scarlet Knights' first 15 points in the second half.
Nimari Burnett put together a solid second-half effort, but by the under-12 media timeout, he was the only Wolverine with more than two second-half points.
However, just past the midway point in the second half, Michigan went on a run, sparked by Vlad Goldin, Danny Wolf and Roddy Gayle Jr. During Michigan's run, Rutgers went more than five minutes without scoring a point, allowing the Wolverines to cut what was once a 12-point second-half deficit down to two.
With 5:54 remaining in the game, Michigan came within two points, marking the closest the game had been since Rutgers led 37-35 with 5:38 to go.
Michigan tied the game just a few moments later, but strong efforts by Bailey, Harper and Acuff gave Rutgers the advantage late.
But Burnett's heroics saved the day for Michigan. The Wolverines improve to 22-6 overall on the season and 14-3 in the conference.
Most importantly, though, Michigan remains tied atop the Big Ten standings with Michigan State. Ironically, both teams won games this week on buzzer beaters.
The rival squads are both 14-3 in Big Ten play this season, and they will cap off the regular season in East Lansing on Sunday, March 9. But first, Michigan will host Illinois at Crisler Center on Sunday afternoon. That game will tip-off at 3:45 p.m. and will air on CBS.
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