Wolverines Advance, Beat Minnesota In OT
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. (WWJ/AP) - Wolverines rally to beat the Golden Gophers 73-69 in overtime on Friday night in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.
As heard on the home of Michigan basketball -WWJ Newsradio 950 - Michigan took Minnesota to the final seconds in the second round.
Michigan's Evan Smotrycz made a 3-pointer to tie the game in regulation with 18 seconds left on the clock.
Trey Burke scored a career high 30 points, Tim Hardaway had 20 pts. to help No. 10 Michigan rally past 10th-seeded Minnesota.
"Just a mental toughness of the team," said Michigan's Tim Hardaway. "That game could have gotten out of hand quickly."
"It all comes down to 'D' down the stretch," added Hardaway.
The Wolverines (24-8) will face either surging Purdue or archrival Ohio State in Saturday's semifinal round.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes were part of a three-way tie atop the league's regular-season standings.
Minnesota (19-14) was led by Andre Hollins with 21 points and Rodney Williams with 20, but twice blew opportunities to close it out in regulation.
First, the Gophers gave up a seven-point lead in the last 4:37. Then Williams missed a potential game-winning 10-footer at the buzzer.
The Wolverines opened overtime with back-to-back 3s, their last two in a stretch of five straight, and eventually put it away with free throws.
Minnesota made it to the quarterfinal round in four of five years under Tubby Smith.
Tune in to WWJ Newsradio 950 Saturday at 3:45 p.m. as the Michigan Wolverines play in the NCAA semifinal game.
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