Michigan survives Northwestern in overtime, moves to 6-1 in Big Ten play

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines moved to 14-4 (6-1 Big Ten) on the season with an 80-76 overtime win over the Northwestern Wildcats on Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor.

Michigan shot only 36% from the floor but was able to get enough to secure a victory in its second overtime game in as many outings, rebounding from an 84-81 loss at Minnesota on Thursday.

Graduate center Vladislav Goldin led all scorers with 31 points on the night, while Nimari Burnett had 13 points.

Next up for Michigan is a trip to Purdue on Friday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. with a national broadcast on FOX.

First half

Michigan won the opening tip but missed its first shot attempt before a shot clock violation on the other end of the floor by the Wildcats. Northwestern got on the board first with a basket from Nick Martinelli to go up 2-0 at 18:35. Jalen Leach added a three-pointer to build the lead to 5-0, followed by another jumper from Martinelli to go up 7-0 with 17:03 left in the first half. Michigan got its first basket on a layup from Roddy Gayle Jr. at 16:51 and would trail at 7-2 at the under-16 media timeout.

Danny Wolf split a pair of free throws, while Will Tschetter hit both attempts to trim the lead to 7-5 at the 13:25 mark. Martinelli put NU back up by four with a paint jumper at 13:10, answered nearly a minute and a half later by Rubin Jones from three-point range (11:51). Michigan trailed 9-8 at the under-12 media timeout at 11:11.

Sam Walters hit a pair of free throws after the TV timeout to put U-M ahead 10-9, then Ty Berry came off the bench for Northwestern and hit a triple that put his team up 12-10 at 10:39. Vlad Goldin answered with a three of his own – his 7th of the year and his career – to give Michigan the lead back at 13-12 (10:18). Northwestern answered with a 6-0 run to push its lead out to 18-13 by the 8:35 mark.

The Wolverines punched back with a 9-0 run of their own thanks to a pair of threes from Goldin, a free throw make from Wolf and a Goldin putback to roar back ahead at 22-18 (6:38). Brooks Barnhizer hit a paint bucket at 6:11 to cut it to 22-20 before Nimari Burnett hit his first three of the game at the 5:19 mark. The basket pushed Michigan’s lead to 25-20.

Northwestern answered with a 7-0 run between the 4:18 and 3:03 mark, taking the lead back at 27-25. Burnett put Michigan back ahead with a layup and one at 2:32 (28-27, Wolverines). The Wildcats kept up the fight, though, responding with a 6-0 spurt of its own to jump ahead 33-28 with 1:14 remaining. Tre Donaldson got on the board for the first time on a layup at 1:05 to narrow the score to 33-30 before a pair of Martinelli free throws helped Northwestern into the half with a 35-30 lead.

Second half

Michigan got the second half started with a Goldin dink to get the score within 35-32 (19:48) with Leach scoring on a jumper at the other end to push the lead back to five. U-M went on a 6-0 burst with a jumper from Donaldson and a pair of Goldin free throws and another Donaldson bucket to take the lead back at 38-37 at the 17:50 mark. Martinelli stepped the run with a three-pointer at 17:26 to put Northwestern back ahead 40-38. Goldin went on a 4-0 run to put the Wolverines up 42-40 with 16:45 to go. Leach gave the Wildcats the lead with a three-pointer to hold a 43-42 advantage at 16:20. The under-16 media timeout came at the 15:29 mark.

Leach would hit another from three after the TV timeout to push Northwestern’s advantage to 46-42 at the 15:19 mark. Burnett answered with a three-pointer to trim the deficit to 1 before Leach scored on a layup on the other end to push things back to 48-45. Burnett hit a pair of free throws at 12:44 to bring the game to 48-47 before the under-12 timeout at 11:44.

Martinelli hit a free throw at 11:10 to push the lead to two points before another three-pointer from Michigan, this time via Jones. The bucket put the Wolverines up 50-49 with 10:45 to play. Barnhizer hit a triple at the other end to put Northwestern back up 52-50, then Wolf split a pair of free throws at the other end to trim it to one at 10:05. Barnhizer hit a pair of his own foul shots at 9:33, pushing the Wildcats’ lead to 54-51 with 9:33 to go. A big swing occurred 10 seconds later when Leach, who had 19 points on the night, was called for a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected after kicking Goldin in the groin area. Goldin would hit both free throws, then another pair 15 seconds later, to put Michigan up 55-54 with 9:08 to go.

Berry scored a layup on a fastbreak for the Wildcats at 8:34 to go back ahead 56-55 before Michigan took the lead on a layup from Gayle at 8:14 to swing it back to 57-56, which is where the game would stay at the under-8 media timeout (6:17). NU’s Matthew Nicholson split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 57-all after the TV timeout.

Wolf hit one of his two free throw attempts at 6:06 to briefly put Michigan back up 58-57 before Barnhizer went on a 4-0 scoring run to put Northwestern in front 59-58. Goldin converted on a shot in the paint and cashed in on a free throw after being fouled, tying the game at 61-all with 4:37 to play. The final media timeout occurred at 3:55.

Goldin scored his 27th and 28th points of the night on a layup at 2:35, putting Michigan up 63-61. Berry hit a shot in the paint to tie the game 9 seconds later. The score would remain 63-all at 1:30 with Michigan calling timeout with possession.

Gayle would give Michigan the lead in the final minute with a layup with 34.8 seconds remaining. Northwestern tied it up on a pair of free throws from Nicholson with 14.3 seconds to go before the Wildcats called timeout. The Wolverines’ final look saw Donaldson drive the lane, but unable to convert on a layup. The game would go to overtime.

Overtime

Gayle got Michigan on the board first in the overtime period on another layup, giving the Wolverines a 67-65 lead. Donaldson found Burnett for a dunk at the 3:31 mark to extend the advantage to 69-65 in favor of the home team. Barnhizer hit a pair of free throws at 3:09 to get Northwestern within two before Goldin hit a hook shot to push U-M back ahead 71-67.

Nicholson split his free throws at 2:26 to narrow the Michigan lead to 71-68. At the other end, Goldin stepped out of bounds after a pass in, giving the ball back to the Wildcats with 2:02 remaining. Goldin would then foul Barnhizer from three-point range, setting up a trio of foul shots with 1:45 to go. He made all of them, tying the game at 71 apiece.

Gayle was fouled on a layup attempt at 1:20, cashing in on both free throws to put the Wolverines back ahead 73-71. Northwestern intentionally fouled Donaldson with 29.4 seconds to go and he made them pay with a pair of makes. The Wolverines led 75-71 before calling timeout.

Barnhizer was fouled with 19.5 seconds remaining and split his two attempts, trimming the lead to 75-72 with 18 seconds left. Goldin was fouled and would split his attempts after being called for a dead-ball technical after an inadvertent elbow on a rebound. Barnhizer went to the line and split his attempts, trimming the lead to 76-73 with 18 seconds left. He was fouled again and split again, bringing things to 76-74 Michigan with 16.2 to play.

Jones hit a pair of free throws after being fouled with 12 seconds left, pushing the lead to 78-74. Martinelli went to the line for a pair of free throws with 7 seconds remaining and hit both, bringing Northwestern back to within 78-76. Donaldson hit a pair of free throws to close it out and grab an 80-76 victory.

Michigan vs. Northwestern box score