Michigan survives with ugly 49-46 win at Nebraska, is tied atop Big Ten standings

Michigan Wolverines basketball was without graduate Rubin Jones, a starting guard, Monday night at Nebraska. It was an ugly game, with the two teams combining to score only 95 points despite the Las Vegas over/under being 150.5, but Michigan gutted out its 21st victory of the season.

Neither team could buy a bucket all night, and Michigan shot only 30 percent from the field. But the Wolverines will leave Lincoln with their seventh Big Ten road win.

The Wolverines are now 21-6 overall and 13-3 in Big Ten play, tied atop the conference standings with Michigan State. The Wolverines and Spartans will play for the second time this season March 9 in East Lansing.

Here’s a recap of how the game unfolded.

First half

It was the Brice Williams show to start. The Nebraska star scored the team’s first 11 points, and the Cornhuskers led 11-8 at the under-16 media timeout. Graduate center Vladislav Goldin got off to a hot start for Michigan, making his first 3 shots from the field, including 1 emphatic dunk.

The Wolverines weren’t shooting it well (6-of-14 from the field) but began to string together stops. Williams missed his next 3 field goal attempts, and Nebraska went on a scoring drought of nearly four minutes. Michigan held a 12-11 advantage at the 11:53 media timeout.

Williams wound up scoring Nebraska’s first 13 points. Guard Connor Essegian finally chipped in with a two-pointer at the 9:28 mark of the half. The Wolverines, meanwhile, couldn’t buy a bucket from long range until junior forward/center Danny Wolf made the team’s eighth attempt of the game to put them up 17-15 with around eight minutes remaining in the half. Both teams were shooting under 40 percent from the field at that juncture — Michigan at 38 and Nebraska at 32.

Both teams stayed extremely cold shooting. Nebraska missed 7 straight field goal attempts ahead of the under-four media timeout, and Michigan was only 1-for-10 from three-point range and 10-for-27 overall at that point.

Junior guard Tre Donaldson came alive a bit, making a nice scoop layup and another take to the tin. He also led the transition possession that ended in the aforementioned Wolf triple. The Wolverines held a 21-16 lead following Donaldson’s second made shot with 4:01 remaining.

Williams tied the game with back-to-back buckets, with the second being a transition dunk, and Michigan called timeout when it was 21-21 at the 2:10 mark. The Wolverines scored the final four points of the half — a floater and two made free throws by junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. — but it was an ugly first 20 minutes for both teams.

Michigan shot 33 percent from the field, including a 1-of-14 mark from three-point range, but held a four-point halftime lead, 25-21, because of 25 percent shooting from the Cornhuskers. Williams scored 18 of the game’s 46 total first-half points.

Second half

It took Michigan just over three minutes to score its first bucket of the second half, with redshirt junior forward Will Tschetter drilling a three after entering the game for Wolf, who picked up his third personal foul while going for a rebound. That put the Maize and Blue up 28-25 after Nebraska tied the game back up.

Michigan held a 30-29 advantage at the under-16 media timeout, before Gayle knocked down 2 free throws to make it 32-29.

Nebraska took a 35-32 lead, but Donaldson tied the game up with a left-wing three, Michigan’s third made triple of the night, at the 11:51 mark. The Wolverines were shooting 31 percent from the field to Nebraska’s 30 at that point. The Cornhuskers were on a two-plus minute scoring drought.

The game was tied 37-37 at the 7:47 media timeout. At that point, there were only two total points scored in the more than a three-minute span.

Michigan went on an 8-0 run directly following a Rollie Worster tip-in that gave Nebraska the lead. Wolf started to take over, banging in a three from the left wing before making a short jumper. Freshman guard L.J. Cason then netted Michigan’s fifth three of the night to put the Wolverines up 45-39. Nebraska called timeout to try to stop the bleeding.

The Wolverines didn’t score for another four minutes, though, and Nebraska scored five straight to pull within one, highlighted by a Sam Hoiberg three. Gayle made 2 free throws with 18.7 seconds remaining as Nebraska fouled down a point without the ball.

Michigan decided to foul up three points with 12 seconds left, and Williams made both free throws. The Wolverines were only in the single bonus, and Gayle missed the front end of a one-and-one on their ensuing possession, giving Essegian a three-point look to tie the game, but he couldn’t get it to go. Donaldson drilled his 2 free throws with under three seconds left, and the Nebraska three at the buzzer didn’t go. Michigan survived with a 49-46 victory.

Michigan vs. Nebraska box score