Michigan basketball wins in NIT opener against Toledo

Michigan basketball’s season will continue after winning a 90-80 decision against Toledo in the opening round of the NIT on Tuesday night at Crisler Center. They will play the winner of the Vanderbilt vs. Yale game this weekend in the second round.

It was a balanced scoring night for the Wolverines, who are now 18-15 on the season. Sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin led all scorers with 23 points, while graduate wing Joey Baker had 21 points of his own. Junior center Hunter Dickinson had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Freshman point guard Dug McDaniel had 16 points and 8 assists.

Freshman wing Jett Howard did not play due to an ankle injury, per U-M Athletics. McDaniel, Bufkin, Baker, redshirt freshman Will Tschetter and Dickinson filled out the starting lineup.

If Vanderbilt wins, Michigan will head to Nashville this weekend. If Yale wins, the WOlverines will host another NIT game at Crisler Center.

First half

The Rockets won the opening tip and got the scoring started early, rattling off a 6-0 run in the first minute-plus of game time. Michigan settled in and began trading baskets with Toledo, headlined by three-pointers from Tschetter and McDaniel, narrowing an early Toledo lead down to 11-10. But the Rockets would go on a 5-0 spurt to take a 16-10 lead at the first media timeout (15:40).

McDaniel came out of the timeout and hit another three-pointer, narrowing Toledo’s lead to 16-13. The Rockets got a basket back at the other end, but Baker hit a three that got Michigan to within 18-16 at the 14:41 mark. Baker turned a Toledo defender around a few trips later and got to the rim for a layup, tying the game at 18. Another Rocket scoring run would follow, though. Toledo rattled off 9-straight points to take a 27-18 lead into the media timeout at 11:11. Over the next stretch, Michigan would go on a 9-1 run to get to within 28-27 at the under-8 media timeout (7:52).

The back-and-forth action would continue through the late stages of the first half. Toledo got its lead back up to 3 at 32-29 with 7:11 remaining. Michigan answered with a 6-2 run on a pair of buckets from junior forward Terrance Williams II and a dunk from Dickinson. The Wolverines led 35-33 at the final media timeout of the half (3:38). The teams traded blows over the last few minutes, but a three-pointer from Toledo’s JT Shumate with 3 seconds to go gave the Rockets a 42-40 lead at the half.

Second half

Michigan kicked off the second half on fire on the offensive end of the floor. Threes from Baker, McDaniel and Bufkin and a jumper from Tschetter helped them storm out to a 51-42 lead a little over 2 minutes into the half. The Wolverines led 53-46 at the first media timeout at 16:21 remaining. Michigan methodically built its lead over the next few minutes, culminating in a Baker three-pointer at the 13:51 mark to extend the deficit to a game-high 10 points. U-M led 61-51 before the Rockets called timeout.

Toledo would not fade away, though. A pair of three-pointers from Ra’Heim Moss trimmed Michigan’s lead to 61-57. Bufkin answered with his own three at the other end at the 12:12 mark, putting U-M up 64-57. The Rockets hit a pair of free throws to pull within 5 points before a layup from Shumate narrowed the lead to 64-61 with 10:09 remaining.

Bufkin stretched Michigan’s lead back to 5 points on a basket with 9:24 left, answered at the other end by Toledo. McDaniel hit a three-pointer to put the Wolverines up 69-63 at the 8:47 mark and Michigan would be up 70-65 at the under-8 media timeout. Michigan would extend its lead to as many as 9 over the next 4 minutes of action between media timeouts but would have to settle for a 78-71 lead with 4 minutes to go.

Baker hit another three-pointer, stretching Michigan’s lead to 81-71 with 3:36 to go. Toledo’s Setric Milliner would get a pair of layups sandwiched on each side of a Dickinson free throw, bringing the scored to 82-75 in favor of U-M. McDaniel made a pair of free throws to balloon the lead back up to 9 points at 84-75 with 2:23 remaining. Toledo called timeout with 1:02 remaining and Michigan up 86-77.

The Wolverines finished out the game as 90-80 victors over Toledo.

Michigan vs. Toledo: NIT box score, final stats