Minnesota Drops 82-80 Road Contest at Michigan

The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team (9-16, 3-8) dropped an 82-80 decision to Michigan (17-8, 5-5) in Ann Arbor at Crisler Arena on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Dan Coleman and Lawrence McKenzie led the Golden Gophers in scoring with 18 points apiece. McKenzie also added a career-high seven assists and had just one turnover on the night. Coleman also added eight rebounds and two blocks for Minnesota.

Minnesota had three other players in double figures as Jamal Abu-Shamala had 11 points, and went 3-for-5 from three-point land, while Limar Wilson and Spencer Tollackson contributed 10 points apiece. Wilson’s 10 points and two three-point field goals tied career-highs. In his second game back from injury, Tollackson had 10 points and was 5-for-7 in a game where he only played 23 minutes due to foul trouble.

Minnesota shot 53 percent (31-for-59) from the field and was 8-for-18 (44 percent) from three-point land. Michigan shot 58 percent (26-for-45) from the field, and was 26-of-35 (74 percent) from the free throw line compared to 10-for-12 (83 percent) for Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers maintained its nine-point halftime lead at 47-38 early in the second half after Dan Coleman hit a shot and converted a three-point play at the foul line at the 18:02 mark in the second half.

Michigan went on a 12-3 run and cut the Golden Gopher lead to 51-50 on a Ron Coleman layup at the 13:28 mark. Tollackson halted Michigan’s momentum temporarily with a layup that put Minnesota back up by three at 53-50. However, Brent Petway hit a jumper and converted a free throw to tie the game at 53 at the 12:04 mark.

After Wilson hit a shot to put Minnesota up 55-53, Michigan took its first lead of the second half on a three-pointer by Ron Coleman to make it 56-55 with 11:10 left in the game. Brandon Smith converted a pair of free throws to put the Golden Gophers back up by 57-56 at the 10:53 mark.

However, that would be Minnesota last lead of the night as the Wolverines answered quickly with a 7-0 run to take a 63-57 lead capped off by a jumper by Lester Abram with 8:25 remaining in the game.

The Golden Gophers regrouped when Dan Coleman hit a jumper and McKenzie converted a three-point play to cut the Wolverine lead to 63-62 at the 7:26 mark.

Both teams exchanged buckets to move the score to 65-64 with 6:52 remaining. Michigan pushed its lead to six points with a 6-1 run to move ahead 71-65 with 4:03 remaining in the game. Abu-Shamala responded with a three-pointer to cut the lead to 71-68.

After Michigan hit a pair of free throws to make it 73-68, Jonathan Williams tipped in a shot to put it back to 73-70 with 2:17 remaining. Michigan hit four free-throws to extend its lead to 77-70 with 57 seconds remaining.

Wilson hit a three-pointer to start a furious Gopher rally to make it 77-73 with 44 left in the game. After Petway hit one of two free throws to make 78-73, McKenzie converted a layup to make it 78-75 with 30 seconds remaining.

The Wolverines looked like they had put it away when Abram hit a pair of free throws to make it 80-75 with 21 seconds left, but Abu-Shamala hit a three-pointer to make it 80-78 with 14 seconds remaining. Michigan’s Jeret Smith hit a pair of free throws to push it to 82-78, but Coleman followed with shot to cut it to 82-80 with three seconds left.

Abram proceeded to miss both free-throw attempts, but Minnesota did not have a timeout and was unable to get control of the ball in time to get a good final shot attempt off as Michigan moved on to the two-point victory.

Minnesota jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start the game. Michigan scored the first two points of the game, but Wilson hit a jumped to tie the game. Smith scored the next five points on an old-fashioned three-point play and a dunk to give the Golden Gophers seven points in a row.

The Golden Gophers pushed the lead out to 13-8, but Michigan answered with a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 14-13 when Dion Harris made a layup and converted the foul shot for a three-point play.

Wilson answered with a three-pointer to give Minnesota the lead back at 16-14. Michigan tied it at 16, but the Golden Gophers went on a 7-1 run capped by a three-pointer by McKenzie to take a 23-17 lead at the 8:04 mark.

Michigan cut the Golden Gopher lead down to 27-23, but Abu Shamala hit a three-pointer to push the Minnesota lead out to seven at 30-23 with 4:15 remaining in the first half. The Golden Gophers stretched the lead to nine at 32-23, but the Wolverines answered with a 6-0 run to cut Minnesota’s lead to 32-29 at the 3:03 mark.

Dan Coleman hit a shot to end the Michigan run, and McKenzie followed a three-pointer to give Minnesota an eight-point cushion at 37-29. Michigan hit a pair of three throws to make it 37-31, but the Golden Gophers closed out the half with five of the last seven points to go into the intermission up 42-33.

McKenzie’s three-pointer with three seconds left sent the Golden Gophers into halftime on a positive note, giving them the nine-point lead.

The 42 points were the most by the Golden Gophers in the first half of a road contest this season.

Michigan was led by Harris, who had 27 points, three steals, three assists, was 8-of-10 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Petway also had 18 points, seven boards and two blocked shots on the night.

Minnesota will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 14 against No. 4 Wisconsin at Williams Arena at 7 p.m. That game will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports Net North.

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Players Mentioned

Jamal Abu-Shamala

Dan Coleman

Lawrence McKenzie

Brandon Smith

Spencer Tollackson

Jonathan Williams

Limar Wilson

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