Michigan cruises past Xavier to win Fort Myers Tip-Off event

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Michigan Wolverines moved to 6-1 on the season with a 78-53 win over previously undefeated No. 22 Xavier (6-1) on Wednesday night in Florida, winning the Fort Myers Tip-Off event with two wins in three days.

Junior forward Danny Wolf led the Wolverines in scoring on the evening with 20 points and 14 rebounds with graduate center Vlad Goldin chipping in with 18 points and 5 rebounds.

The event saw the team grab a win Wednesday night that was preceded by a 75-63 victory over Virginia Tech on Monday.

Next up for Michigan is a trip to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Dec. 3 to open the two-game Big Ten slate prior to the New Year. Below is the full game recap from Fort Myers.

First half

The game kicked off with a frenetic pace in its first four minutes. Danny Wolf opened the game with a 3-pointer at the 18:51 mark, answered at the other end by a Zach Freemantle jumper at the 18:10 mark, bringing the score to 3-2 in favor of Michigan. Vlad Goldin shot his first-ever attempt from three-point land and cashed in at the 17:53 mark, putting the Wolverines up 6-2. Freemantle answered with another make (6-4) at 17:30, followed by a layup from Goldin and a jumper from Wolf, pushing the early lead to 10-4 at the 16:39 mark. Xavier’s Marcus Foster hit a 3-pointer five seconds later, bringing the score to 10-7 Michigan at the under-16 media timeout (16:00).

The Musketeers’ run would continue after the timeout, eventually ballooning to 8-0 to give them a 12-10 at the 15:22 mark. Michigan responded with a 5-0 burst thanks to a three from Wolf and a dunk from Roddy Gayle Jr., jumping back ahead 15-12 at the 14:34 mark. Ryan Conwell hit a layup for Xavier, followed by a Will Tschetter make at 13:57. A Freemantle jumper in the paint cut the lead to 17-16 Michigan with 12:47 remaining before the under-12 time at 11:47.

Goldin made a bucket at 11:16, answered by Foster with a layup at 10:45 to bring the score to 19-18 Michigan. The Wolverines followed it up with a 7-0 on on a layup from Tre Donaldson, Wolf’s third 3-pointer of the night and a Tschetter layup to take a 26-18 lead at the 8:28 mark and under-8 media timeout.

The Wolverines would continued to build their lead over the next 4-plus minutes thanks to a layup from Wolf, a three-pointer and layup from Burnett, a 3-pointer from Gayle and a pair of Sam Walters free throws at 4:22 to push the lead to 38-21 by the time the final media timeout rolled around (3:59).

Xavier got a pair of 3-pointers over the next 60 seconds that would cut the lead to 38-27 in favor of Michigan before Wolf put through his fourth triple of the night, pushing the lead to 41-27 with 37 seconds remaining. Conwell hit a triple for the Musketeers right before the halftime buzzer, cutting the leads to 40-31 for U-M.

HALFTIME: Michigan 40, Xavier 31

Second half

Michigan got the scoring started with a dunk from Goldin (43-30), but then Xavier went on a 5-point burst to narrow the lead to 43-35 with 18:24 to go. Michigan answered with a 5-0 run thanks to a layup from Wolf and a Donaldson 3-pointer (48-35, 17:24). Foster split a pair of free throws for Xavier, then Rubin Jones added a layup at 15:52 to extend the lead to 50-36.

Freemantle would get two points back for the Musketeers on a layup, answered by a Donaldson 3-pointer, which extended Michigan’s lead to 53-38 with 14:01 to go. Xavier would answer with a 6-0 run, cutting the deficit to 53-44 with 12:17 remaining before an L.J. Cason jumper and free throw make from Goldin (56-44, 10:58). Foster hit a jumper at 10:28 that was followed up by a Wolf layup at 9:55. Conwell hit a 3-pointer at 9:18 for Xavier to cut the lead to single digits at 58-49.

Gayle split a pair of free throws at the 8:59 mark to push the lead back to 10, followed by a Freemantle jumper at 7:18 to cut the lead to 59-51 Michigan. Cason hit a 3-pointer at 6:54 to push the advantage back up to double digits at 62-51, followed by the under-8 media timeout 22 seconds later.

The shot kicked off a 16-0 run for the Wolverines, who would completely take over between media timeouts and push the lead to 72-51 with 3:20 remaining. Goldin scored 6 points in the stretch, along with a pair of shots in the paint by Donaldson and a free throw to push it to 73-51. Goldin had a dunk with 1:45 remaining that sent the Michigan crowd into a frenzy and Xavier fans for the exits. Xavier’s Dante Maddox Jr. ended the run with a pair of free throw makes with 1:26 to go.

Cason hit a three with 59 seconds remaining to push the lead to 78-53. That’s how the game would end.

Final Michigan vs. Xavier box score