Michigan basketball rolls past Washington, 91-75, stays atop Big Ten with MSU

Posted by Admin January 12, 2025 Basketball

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From sleepless in Seattle to winless in Michigan, the Washington basketball team almost certainly did not enjoy its trip to the Mitten State.

Michigan basketball made sure to do its part in creating an unenjoyable stay as it hammered the Huskies, 91-75, Sunday afternoon at Crisler Center, which came just days after U-Dub lost in East Lansing by 34 points. the Huskies were outscored by 50 on their trip East.

It was yet another well-rounded performance for Dusty May’s team, with five players scoring in double figures. Vladislav Goldin led the way for a second consecutive game with 19 points and seven rebounds while Nimari Burnett was next with 16 points while going 6-of-6 from the floor (including making all four of his attempts from 3).

“I can’t imagine any wing in the country that’s bringing more to his team than Nimari,” May said. “I could talk about him for days. … He’s given himself to the team.”

Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 15 after missing the last game vs. UCLA with a knee bruise, Sam Walters scored 12 and Danny Wolf added 11 points and eight rebounds, as U-M shot 52.7% (29 of 55) as a team and reached the 85-point threshold for the eighth straight game and 10th time this season (the program’s most such games since the 1993-94 season).

What did Goldin take away from the game?

“Probably that everybody contributed in this game, wasn’t a single effort,” he said. “It’s helpful when everybody plays the right way, it makes pretty easy.”

The Wolverines (13-3, 5-0 Big Ten), after their fifth straight win, kept pace with Michigan State as the only two undefeated teams in conference play. U-M is next in action against league cellar-dweller Minnesota (8-8, 0-5 Big Ten) in Minneapolis on Thursday (7 p.m., FS1).

Battling through first-half foul trouble

The Wolverines got off to another good start, scoring their first eight points in the paint or at the free throw line before Goldin drilled a 3-pointer. That followed a confusing moment, as it appeared as if he’d drawn a three-point play opportunity off a nice dish from Wolf, only for the foul to be ruled as occurring before the shot.

Goldin would get his three points anyway: Tre Donaldson caught the ensuing inbounds pass and flipped it to Goldin, who nailed the 3 in a Washington defender’s face to put U-M up 11-5 early. It was his fifth 3 in 10 games after not making one in the first 118 games of his career.

Michigan’s lead reached eight a few minutes later, but when Goldin picked up his second foul less than seven minutes into the contest, it flipped the momentum. Washington’s Great Osobor made a layup, then added added a dunk and a 3-pointer from the right wing to get U-W within three, 21-18.

Osobor, who reportedly received $2 million in NIL money to follow head coach Danny Sprinkle from Utah State, scored 16 in the first half and finished with a game-high 23 — he had an offensive rebound and dish that got U-Dub within three, 29-26 — but it wasn’t enough to match U-M’s depth and balance.

Wolf also picked up his second foul with 8:24 to play and the Wolverines switched to a 2-3 zone shortly after, as Washington had made six of seven shots. It immediately led to a 6-0 U-M run in 51 seconds: A pair of Gayle free throws, then back-to-back tough slashing layups by Burnett and Gayle, and U-M led by nine once more.

“If things are going perfectly we don’t have any intention of playing zone,” May said. “But you know you’ve got to have contingencies at this level. … I thought we did a nice job of being able to manage (Goldin) playing and still being aggressive despite foul trouble.

“But once again, that was a new lesson for us.”

Washington would get within five in the final two minutes, but Burnett drilled a corner 3 and Goldin found Donaldson on an outlet pass for the transition bucket — celebrating with a “binoculars” motion — to go into the break up 10.

The Wolveirnes appear to be firing on all cylinders, though May disagrees.

“Not even close,” May said. “We’re improving our ball-fakes, eye-fakes, our spacing, when to cut, when not to cut. It’s getting better, but we’re not functioning on an elite level offensively yet.”

It may be scary to see what that looks like for the rest of the nation if that happens, considering U-M entered Sunday leading the country in effective field goal shooting (60.4%).

Shutting the door

After turning the ball over just five times in the opening 20 minutes, U-M gave it up four times in the first 4:22 of the second half, starting when Wolf simply threw a pass to the coaches along U-M’s bench.

Each time U-M looked like it might pull away — such as when Burnett slashed down the lane and drew defenders for a drop-off pass to Gayle who finished the three-point play to build a 13-point lead — Washington answered, that time with a corner 3 from Wilhelm Breidenbach to keep it within 10.

The Huskies got within eight as U-M went on a 4:12 drought from the floor, which saw the team miss all four of its shots and turn the ball over three times. But Will Tschetter ended the run with a corner 3 on a swing-pass from Rubin Jones to go back up double figures.

Michigan started to pull away when Walters got hot, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers — first in the left corner on a dish from Donaldson, then the right corner on a skip from Wolf — before he got fouled on another 3-point attempt and making two of three free throws.

“He’s a unique talent,” May said. “Hasn’t shot near as well as he’s capable of. It was nice to see him bang in a couple, but there’s going to be bigger nights for Sam.”

The Wolverines hit seven of nine attempts when Wolf made a 3 from the right wing to go up by 17 with 8:04 to go and Washington never made it close again. Osobor was entirely contained in the second half; he didn’t even attempt a shot the first 9:30 out of the break and scored just seven points on 3-for-7 shooting in the final 20 minutes.

Zoom Diallo and Mekhi Mason both added 13 points, but U-M ultimately held Washington to 41.3% shooting (26-of-63) on the night.

“We did some nice things overall for a choppy, Sunday afternoon game,” May said. “An odd game, but over the course of a 20-game Big Ten season you’ve got to be able to play a lot of different styles, lot of different ways.

“Need to continue to stay strong, healthy and figure out different ways to win.”

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.