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There’s bad news for point guard Tre Donaldson: Michigan basketball is no longer under the radar.
While that doesn’t sound like a problem, U-M’s primary facilitator joked on Friday afternoon that he enjoyed the Wolverines’ slow climb in the polls this season, and that he didn’t care about seeing a number next to the Block M logo — Michigan entered the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll at No. 23 this week, though it’s still unranked in the Associated Press poll — until March when it “really matters.”
Like it or not, there will be a number next to U-M’s name again Monday, as U-M held on in the second half for an 85-83 win on Saturday afternoon at Crisler Center, and Donaldson was a big part of that.
His highlight reel crossover in the first half sent the Crisler Center crowd into a frenzy as part of an early 17-2 run. Though the Hawkeyes later evened the score, a Donaldson three-point play with 2:34 left in the first and a floater 3 seconds before halftime kept U-M rolling.
Michigan led by 11 with 6:30 to play, when the Hawkeyes went on a 17-7 run, capped by a pair of Payton Sandfort 3-pointers sandwiched around a Pryce Sandfort mid-range jumper, to tie the game at 83 with 20 seconds to play.
But after Dusty May called a timeout with 16.1 seconds left and set up a play for Roddy Gayle Jr., who got a straight-line drive. The ball didn’t fall, but Iowa was called for goaltending. The Hawkeyes got the ball with 4.3 seconds left and one last chance — they beat Northwestern in their Big Ten opener on a 35-foot 3-pointer by Josh Dix as time expired earlier in the week — and then called timeout with 1.1 seconds left.
A late Payton Sandfort heave from the corner fell short and U-M (8-1, 2-0 Big Ten) escaped with its seventh straight win, its longest stretch since it won 11 straight to start the 2020-21 season
Iowa took the lead for the first time early in the second half, 45-44, before U-M made eight consecutive field goals and appeared to pull away Five different Wolverines finished in double figures: Vlad Goldin had 20 points and 11 rebounds (his first double-double for U-M), Donaldson had 18 and five assists, Gayle had 17 points, five assists and four rebounds, Danny Wolf had his third double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Will Tschetter added 13.
Gayle, Goldin and Wolf scored U-M’s final 20 U-M points over the last 12 minutes of the game.
Though the Wolverines’ early stretch of Big Ten play is over, the schedule gets no easier with a game against Arkansas and John Calipari on tap Tuesday (9 p.m., ESPN) in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Sloppy first half keeps Hawkeyes in it
The Wolverines entered play wanting to slow the Hawkeyes on the break and did that, holding Iowa to two points in transition at the break. Michigan also shot much better from the floor, making 50% of its shots, compared to 38.5% for Iowa. But the Hawkeyes had 11 more tries, 39-28, thanks to another sloppy U-M half.
Michigan turned the ball over 11 times compared to just two from Iowa, which the Hawkeyes turned into a 13-0 advantage in points off giveaways, the primary reason U-M only held a three-point lead at the break. The other reason? The Wolverines normally are the team to flash depth, but Iowa had a 23-10 advantage off the bench thanks to 10 apiece before the break from Pryce Sandfort and Drew Thelwell.
U-M dominated most everywhere else, including a 27-13 edge on the glass, a 12-4 lead in second chance points and a 24-14 advantage on points in the paint.
Michigan pulled away during its run as it held the Hawkeyes to a 1-for-11 stretch from the floor while U-M made six of its first nine attempts to get out to a 20-4 lead. Gayle scored the first five, before a 3 from Donaldson, a hook and pair of free throws from Goldin, a put-back from Tschetter and then the crossover from Donaldson.
He added two more free throws then a Tschetter finish at the bucket made it a 16-point lead. But then Iowa went on a 22-8 run over the next eight minutes to get within two. After U-M extended its lead back to seven, the Hawkeyes went on a 7-0 run in 75 seconds to tie the game at 35 before U-M took a 3-point lead into the break.
Wolverines pull away with red hot stretch
Iowa took its first lead of the game, 45-44, with a slashing layup early in the half, but a Goldin putback on the other end gave U-M the lead right back.
Though Iowa would go up by three, 51-48, Goldin’s bucket proved to be the beginning of a Wolverines heater.
Wolf added a layup then a jumper; Will Tschetter added a finish on a baseline feed from Gayle and then a 3-pointer from the left wing; then Donaldson finished consecutive possessions with three points — first, a 3-pointer from the top of the corner, followed by a three-point play at the rim — and another Goldin layup made it eight consecutive made field goals in a five-minute stretch.
The problem? U-M only led by three after that, because Iowa stayed hot from the floor as well. Dix and the Sandfort Bros. each hit 3-pointers as Michigan went on the run to keep it tight, but a Gayle and-1 with 10:25 to play helped turn the tide.
U-M ratcheted up the defense and Iowa missed eight of nine shots, as the Wolverines used a 20-9 run after falling behind by three to go up 70-61. Michigan looked poised to put the game away, up 76-65 with 6:30 to play, but then went more than five minutes without a basket.
Michigan had an 81-73 lead with 2:29 to play before it allowed a 10-2 run over the next 2:09. Michigan had come up with a stop up, 83-80, when it forced a travel, but Wolf made a reckless pass on a press break the other way and gave it back, which set up the last Sandfort 3 to tie it.
