Michigan basketball and Michigan State were tied with less than two minutes left when Kobe Bufkin and Hunter Dickinson hit 3 straight runs to help the Wolverines go 12-0 last 1:58 of the game and walk away for the 84-72 win on an emotional night in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
Dug McDaniel scored a career-high 18 points for Michigan (15-12, 9-7 Big Ten), Bufkin added 15, Dickinson had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Tarris Reed Jr. had eight points and one. career 10 rebounds as the Wolverines rebounded from the Spartans 38-25.
Joey Hauser had a game-high 20 for MSU (16-10, 8-7), followed by 14 points from Malik Hall and 11 from Tyson Walker.
Ahead of the whistleblower, the Crisler Center was lit up green during a ceremony honoring the victims of the Michigan State campus shooting, in which three were killed and five seriously injured, earlier this week . The UM cheer band played MSU’s alma mater after a moment of silence as the “Maize Rage” student section held up a banner that read “Spartan Strong.”
A quick start
Compared to the rock fight at East Lansing in the first meeting, won 59-53 by MSU, Saturday’s game was a track encounter. McDaniel scored the Wolverines’ first seven points in three straight buckets; a midrange jumper, corner 3 and steal and score Walker to put Michigan up, 7-2, early.
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After a 3-point Jett Howard gave UM a 12-9 lead, the MSU veterans got going. Walker buried a midrange jumper then Malik Hall caught an alley-oop from AJ Hoggard to put MSU up by one. The two teams would alternate the next seven shots before a snap from Hall, Carson Cooper layup and Hauser 3-pointer put MSU, 24-18.
The Wolverines, as they have done all night, fought back, with a Joey Baker 3-pointer and a McDaniel floater to close one. That’s when MSU snatched a 9-2 push – a base jumper from Tre Holloman, a Hall midrange jumper and a 3-pointer and Walker’s left layup to go up 33-25.
Michigan closed the gap before halftime thanks to a long ball from Bufkin, a pair of free throws from Dickinson and another bucket from Bufkin to make it 36-33 at the break.
After Hauser hit three free throws to open the second half, Bufkin responded with a three-pointer to come back inside the three. The game would stay inside a four-point margin most of the way. MSU took a 46-41 lead on a Jaxon Kohler layup, before Dickinson got an offensive rebound and three-point play and Howard hit a midrange jumper to tie the game at 46.
Howard fell awkwardly on his right ankle (he missed a game last month with a left ankle injury) and did not return.
Tight until the end
Teams came and went. Hall hit a layup and Jaden Akins delivered a thunderous slam in transition over Jace Howard to put up four, before back-to-back layups from Baker and Tschetter tied the score at 50.
The game would stay within three until Hauser hit a 3-pointer to put MSU up six, 63-57, and force a UM timeout. Wolverines came out of the break with their best response.
Dickinson sent off Baker for a 3-pointer to cut the deficit in half, then Reed got a rebound and finished a layup on Hauser despite being fouled. His free throw tied the game at 63, before tipping a loose ball on the next possession to tie the game at 65.
Dickinson hit two free throws with 5:20 remaining to put UM up for the first time since the 11:18 mark of the first half.
MSU tied the game at 67 with a pair of free throws from Hauser, then again at 72 when Walker hit a 3-pointer on Baker. Bufkin’s long ball came with less than three seconds on the clock before Dickinson came back from the wing with 1:05 to go.
MSU didn’t score again and went 2 for 13 from the field in the final 8:22 minutes of the game.
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.