Michigan holds off Rutgers with buzzer-beating win, keeps pace in Big Ten race

ANN ARBOR – The cardiac Michigan Wolverines struck again on Thursday night, winning an 84-82 game against Rutgers on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from graduate guard Nimari Burnett as time expired.

With the victory, U-M kept pace in the Big Ten race with a 22-6 record and 14-3 mark in conference play, matching Michigan State’s buzzer-beating win at Maryland on Wednesday night.

MICHIGAN WINS ON A BUZZER BEATER pic.twitter.com/k1ULkutPXL

— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) February 28, 2025

Graduate center Vlad Goldin led all scorers with 22 points, while Burnett had 20 on the evening. At one point in the game, U-M was down 13 points and trailed 57-49 at the half.

Here is the blow-by-blow recap of Thursday night’s contest at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

First half

Rutgers won the opening tip, but the ball was immediately batted out of bounds. The Scarlet Knights got the scoring started on a Lathan Somerville jumper in the paint at 19:15, followed by a 6-0 run from the Wolverines on baskets from Vlad Goldin, Danny Wolf and Nimari Burnett to take an early 6-2 lead with 17:36 remaining. Somerville put a three-point play on the board on a layup and free throw to bring the game to 6-5 in favor of Michigan at 17:16. U-M responded with another 6-point score burst thanks to layups from Wolf and Tschetter and a pair of free throw makes for the latter. Michigan would lead 12-5 at the 14:42 mark.

Rutgers guard Ace Bailey stopped the run with a jumper at 14:26, answered 10 seconds later by a layup from Goldin. The Scarlet Knights put a 5-0 run together than to a Zach Martini three-pointer and Dylan Harper layup, cutting the Michgian lead to 14-12 with 13:40 to go in the half. Tschetter hit a three pointer to stop the run and push the lead back out to five at 17-12 with 13:32 remaining. The squads would trade points over the next few minutes with Rutgers slightly cutting into the lead, trailing 23-19 with 10:38 to go.

That was when Rutgers started to get scorching hot from the floor, thanks to an 8-0 run spearheaded by a Jeremiah Williams three-pointer and capped off by a Bailey layup at the 9:48 mark. The Scarlet Knights would jump ahead by four at 27-23. Michigan scored five quick points to take the lead back on a Burnett layup and Tre Donaldson three-point, going up 28-27 with 8:17 remaining. Bailey responded with a three-pointer that put Rutgers back ahead at 7:40 before Tschetter tired the game at 30-30 with 7:25 to go. Harper made a pair of free throws at 7:09, followed by an LJ Cason layup for Michigan at the other end to tie the game back up at 32-all (6:50 to go). Harper responded with a jumper at 6:37 before a Tschetter triple gave Michigan the lead back at 35-34 with 6:26 remaining.

Rutgers busted out another scoring run, this time with 7-straight capped off by a Williams three-pointer to take a 41-35 lead at the 5:07 mark. Roddy Gayle Jr. stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws, but Rutgers extended its lead to 7 points after a three from Harper at 4:43 to take a 44-37 lead. Michigan cut the deficit to 44-41 with pairs of free throws made from both Burnett and Goldin with 3:28 to go. However, Scarlet Knights guard Tyson Acuff hit a pair of threes at 3:13 and 3:01, respectively to take a 50-41 lead.

Cason got a point back for Michigan with a free throw make at 2:44 before Bailey hit a jumper at the other end to push the lead to 52-42 Rutgers with 2:28 remaining. A Goldin dunk got the deficit down to 8 points before a 5-0 run from Rutgers on baskets from Harper and Acuff stretched the lead to a game-high 13-points with 1:13 to go. A personal 5-0 run from Goldin in the final minute got Michigan to within 57-49 heading into the locker room.

HALFTIME: Rutgers 57, Michigan 49

Second half

A dunk from Rutgers 14 seconds into the second half push the lead back to 10 points at 59-49 Rutgers. Goldin and Burnett free throws cut the lead back to 8 before a Sommerville jumper at the other end at 18:52 pushed the lead back to 10 for the Scarlet Knights. Burnett hit a three for the Wolverines at 18:29 to narrow the game to 61-54 before a 4-0 Sommerville run helped Rutgers back out to an 11-point lead at 65-54 with 16:53 to go.

Michigan had a run in them, though. A 6-0 burst between 16:46 and 14:04 cut the Rutgers lead to 65-60 thanks to a free throw make from Gayle, and two baskets and a free throw from Burnett. Rutgers, as it did most of the night, responded with a run of its own, going on a 7-0 spurt to push its lead back out to 72-60 with 12:06 to go. A Tschetter layup stopped the run before a Harper Jumper at 11:14 to push it back to 74-62.

Michigan came alive from that point on, using a 10-run from 9:43 to 5:54 to get the lead down to two points at 74-72, aided by Rutgers missing 12 consecutive shots from the floor. Harper put Rutgers back ahead four on a jumper at 5:25 before Burnett got it back down to 2 points with a pair of free throws at the other end (76-74 Rutgers, 5:14 to play). Tschetter’s layup at 4:33 tied the game at 76-all, followed 16 seconds later by a Harper layup. Rutgers would lead 78-76 with 2:45 remaining after a Michigan timeout.

Goldin and Wolf had a dunk and free throw, respectively, to put U-M ahead 79-78 with 1:05 to go. Bailey hit a jumper with 44 seconds left to give Rutgers the lead back at 80-79, then Donaldson had a layup with 31 seconds to go to give Michigan the lead back. Donaldson then fouled Acuff at the other end from three, and he made two of his three foul shouts. Down 82-81 with 3.6 to go, Burnett hit a buzzer-beater from three to give them an 84-82 win.

Final Michigan vs. Rutgers box score