Nimari Burnett drills buzzer-beater to send Michigan past Rutgers

In the final seconds of Thursday’s game against Rutgers, Dusty May opted to call a timeout. That helped set up a long-distance buzzer-beater from Nimari Burnett – and when it found the nylon, it send Michigan.

Michigan had one timeout left after Rutgers got two free throws to take an 82-81 lead. The Wolverines went back down the court, but May opted to use it after things looked disjointed.

Danny Wolf appeared to trip as he went toward the lane, but still managed to get the pass off to Burnett. With time ticking away, he threw up a deep three-pointer. It fell, and Michigan avoided a surprising late home loss.

MICHIGAN WINS IT AT THE BUZZER ‼️‼️#B1GMBBall x @umichbball pic.twitter.com/aMKUNQPZnR

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 28, 2025

May didn’t necessarily want to use that last timeout, though, he said on the Peacock broadcast. He cited Rutgers’ ability to throw different looks at opposing offenses, and a timeout presented an opportunity for the Scarlet Knights to set their defense.

May also said the play wasn’t meant for Burnett to take such a long-range shot. Vlad Goldin was the focal point. But the look wasn’t there, which is why the pass went out to Burnett.

“We didn’t know if they were going to be in man or zone,” May told Jordan Cornette and Ahmed Fareed. “They’re known to change defenses. That’s the risk of calling a timeout there.

“We wanted to try to get Danny a catch, and Vlad was going to duck in. If it wasn’t there, the skip was going to be for Nimari as a last option. Man, he banged in a big one.”

Burnett finished his night with 20 points, second on the team only to Goldin’s 22-point, 11-rebound double-double. He had some big shots throughout the game, but the biggest came as the clock hit zero and the buzzer sounded.

Burnett was also dealing with an illness, May said, as was Will Tschetter. But they both played through it, and they provided a boost Michigan needed and eventually got the Wolverines over the hump.

“They’re very key to everything that we do,” May said. “Nimari and Will both are battling illness. They’re coming back from the flu, like half of college basketball. So for those guys to power through, it was a great mental effort by them. But Nimari made great physical plays around the rim, and we needed all of them.”

Dusty May: ‘We didn’t play like a championship-caliber team’

Nimari Burnett’s buzzer-beater sent Michigan to a 22-6 overall record and a 14-3 mark in Big Ten play to stay tied for first with Michigan State – which had a buzzer-beater of its own on Wednesday at Maryland. It wasn’t easy for the Wolverines on Thursday, though. They trailed by as many as 13 points late in the first half and were down 57-49 at halftime.

In the locker room, May said Michigan didn’t make any scheme changes, necessarily. Instead, the message was about getting back on track and playing with pride in the second half.

“We really didn’t change anything schematically,” May said. “We challenged our guys to have a lot more pride and compete at a higher level. Our offense was killing our defense. I think we missed three dunks in the first half, and we have a [habit] for turning those into five-point swings. We thought that hurt us.

“They banked in two threes in the first half, and we thought that gave them extra rhythm, but we were just flat. We didn’t play like a championship-caliber team tonight.”