Another battle, another tough loss for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who put together one of their scrappiest efforts of the season but fell short in overtime against the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines.
After Davonte Fitzgerald’s layup knotted the score with 11 seconds left in the extra session, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman broke a 73-73 tie with an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Wolverines a 76-73 lead with 3.8 seconds to go.
After hitting a game-tying 3 at the end of regulation, senior Nate Mason missed a 35-footer at the overtime buzzer to give Michigan a come-from-behind win. The home squad trailed 50-40 at one point in the second half before fighting back against the injury-depleted Gophers.
The Wolverines thought they’d won in regulation with a 14-2 run that began with 6:34 to go. The spurt erased a 56-49 deficit and turned it into a 63-58 lead on Charles Matthews’ dunk with 28 seconds left.
Abdur-Rahkman had a chance to ice it at the line but missed both free throws on a day when the Wolverines were an atrocious 12 of 28 from the stripe. Isaiah Washington followed with a layup to make it 63-60, then Duncan Robinson traveled under the duress of a double team to give Minnesota the ball back and set up Mason’s regulation heroics.
Nate Mason with the shot that sent us to OTpic.twitter.com/zkbl5dVHPf
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 3, 2018
With Amir Coffey missing his seventh game with a shoulder injury, Reggie Lynch still suspended and Dupree McBrayer battling through a stress reaction in his left leg, the Gophers got a major lift from Washington, who set a career high for the second straight game. After scoring 15 points against Iowa on Tuesday, Washington exploded for 26 points against Michigan, making nine of his first 10 shots.
Washington and Mason combined for 48 points and helped Minnesota lead for most of the game. The Gophers only trailed for 18 seconds in the game before Robinson’s layup gave the Wolverines a 57-56 lead with 3:13 left as part of their 14-2 run.
Minnesota’s guards were brilliant offensively but didn’t do much to work the ball inside, however, as forwards Jordan Murphy, Michael Hurt and Fitzgerald combined for just 20 points. The Gophers tied a season low with six assists in the game.
After tinkering with various lineups over the past month, head coach Richard Pitino went all small against the perimeter-oriented Wolverines. The Gophers only used seven players and kept big men Bakary Konate and Gaston Diedhiou on the bench, even after Murphy fouled out in overtime.
With four guards on the floor, Michigan attacked the basket and got their eventual game-winner by driving at reserve Jamir Harris, who fouled Abdur-Rahkman on the clinching layup.
The Gophers’ fifth straight loss — and eight out of nine — plunged them to 3-9 in conference with a game at home against Nebraska (17-8, 8-4) on Tuesday.
