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DENVER − It felt in doubt much of the way, but that’s part of the pizzazz.
Michigan basketball, down double digits at multiple points in the second half, pulled off yet another one of its magic tricks. Fueled by 12 straight points from Roddy Gayle Jr., U-M stormed back late against Texas A&M and used a 20-5 spurt to flip the script and come away with a 91-79 victory at Ball Arena in the second round.
The coaches and players coined the weekend the “Denver Invitational” and U-M came away victorious, punching its ticket to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta. Michigan, which is heading to the second weekend of March Madness for the first time since 2022, will play against the winner of Auburn and Creighton next Friday.
Texas A&M led more than half the game, but Michigan kept its season alive by doing what it’s done all year — simply finding a way — and this time it came from some the unlikeliest of sources. L.J. Cason had the best game of his career, scoring 11 points, but it was Gayle who will go down in U-M history for what happened Saturday.
Buy tickets to Michigan's March Madness game in Atlanta
After struggling all year from long range, Gayle Jr. went 4-for-6 from 3 — he had been 3 for 35 since the calendar turned to 2025 — and scored a U-M career high 26 points.
The 7-foot duo known as "Area-51" also filled up the box score with Vladislav Goldin posting a 23-point, 12-rebound double-double while Danny Wolf just missed a double-double of his own, scoring 13 points to go with nine rebounds.
Michigan stepped up to the physical challenge in a major way, outscoring A&M in the paint (42-34) and winning the battle of the boards (49-39).
This is now the sixth straight time U-M has made the second weekend when earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Texas A&M built a 10-point lead, 51-41, on a C.J. Wilcher 3, then both sides traded blows until Payne converted an and-one to make it a 10-point game once more, this time 60-50.
Michigan, as its done all year, responded. Wolf finished an and-one on a drive, Goldin had a swat at the rim, which led to a run-out and two Cason free throws before another Cason slashing layup. After A&M went back up six, 67-61, Gayle took over.
First he tipped an offensive rebound out to keep the possession alive before he got the ball back on the right wing and drilled his third 3-pointer of the game, then on the next possession he put the ball on the deck from the left wing and finished a layup to get Michigan within one.
Wade Taylor IV, who was scoreless in the first half, then walked up court and drilled a 3 to put Texas A&M back up four. No matter. Gayle then drilled his fourth long ball of the game before he hit two at the line to give U-M the lead, 72-71, with 6:08 to play as he scored 12 straight for Michigan.
Michigan would never look back, thanks to Goldin. The big man caught a lob and finished the layup, then added a floater before two free throws and yet another layup to score eight straight.
A&M, meanwhile, went cold from the floor. The Aggies went almost six minutes without a field goal, but when Zhuric Phelps made a layup with 2:21 things got tight again.
A&M got within three, 82-79, with 1:29 to play when Tre Donaldson hit a scooping left-handed layup while falling down to put U-M back up five with less than a minute to play. Michigan closed it out from the line from there.
The intensity was ratcheted up from the opening tip, with both teams trading buckets until there was a 10-10 tie. That’s when Cason checked in and got things going in a hurry, first drilling a deep 3 from the right wing, then twice slashing to the lane and dumping off handoff passes for a cutting Wolf to finish a pair of layups and put U-M up 17-11.
Texas A&M would respond, however, going on an 18-6 run over the next 6:38, with Andersson Garcia drilling consecutive 3s, Manny Obaseki scoring four straight and then Pharrel Payne netting eight straight for the Aggies to go up 29-23.
But Michigan responded at the end of the half. First, Wolf threw a pass along the baseline to Rubin Jones for a corner 3, then after Gayle had a put-back dunk, he drilled a 3 from the left wing to knot the game at 31.
Michigan briefly took the lead, 35-34, on a Goldin free throw before the Aggies finished on a 5-0 spurt. U-M missed its final seven shots of the half and went into the break down four.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan heading to Sweet 16 after beating Texas A&M in March Madness
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Michigan basketball, down double digits at multiple points in the second half, pulled off yet another one of its magic tricks. Fueled by 12 straight points from Roddy Gayle Jr., U-M stormed back late against Texas A&M and used a 20-5 spurt to flip the script and come away with a 91-79 victory at Ball Arena in the second round.
The coaches and players coined the weekend the “Denver Invitational” and U-M came away victorious, punching its ticket to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta. Michigan, which is heading to the second weekend of March Madness for the first time since 2022, will play against the winner of Auburn and Creighton next Friday.
Texas A&M led more than half the game, but Michigan kept its season alive by doing what it’s done all year — simply finding a way — and this time it came from some the unlikeliest of sources. L.J. Cason had the best game of his career, scoring 11 points, but it was Gayle who will go down in U-M history for what happened Saturday.
Buy tickets to Michigan's March Madness game in Atlanta
After struggling all year from long range, Gayle Jr. went 4-for-6 from 3 — he had been 3 for 35 since the calendar turned to 2025 — and scored a U-M career high 26 points.
The 7-foot duo known as "Area-51" also filled up the box score with Vladislav Goldin posting a 23-point, 12-rebound double-double while Danny Wolf just missed a double-double of his own, scoring 13 points to go with nine rebounds.
Michigan stepped up to the physical challenge in a major way, outscoring A&M in the paint (42-34) and winning the battle of the boards (49-39).
This is now the sixth straight time U-M has made the second weekend when earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.
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The furious comeback
Texas A&M built a 10-point lead, 51-41, on a C.J. Wilcher 3, then both sides traded blows until Payne converted an and-one to make it a 10-point game once more, this time 60-50.
Michigan, as its done all year, responded. Wolf finished an and-one on a drive, Goldin had a swat at the rim, which led to a run-out and two Cason free throws before another Cason slashing layup. After A&M went back up six, 67-61, Gayle took over.
First he tipped an offensive rebound out to keep the possession alive before he got the ball back on the right wing and drilled his third 3-pointer of the game, then on the next possession he put the ball on the deck from the left wing and finished a layup to get Michigan within one.
Wade Taylor IV, who was scoreless in the first half, then walked up court and drilled a 3 to put Texas A&M back up four. No matter. Gayle then drilled his fourth long ball of the game before he hit two at the line to give U-M the lead, 72-71, with 6:08 to play as he scored 12 straight for Michigan.
Michigan would never look back, thanks to Goldin. The big man caught a lob and finished the layup, then added a floater before two free throws and yet another layup to score eight straight.
A&M, meanwhile, went cold from the floor. The Aggies went almost six minutes without a field goal, but when Zhuric Phelps made a layup with 2:21 things got tight again.
A&M got within three, 82-79, with 1:29 to play when Tre Donaldson hit a scooping left-handed layup while falling down to put U-M back up five with less than a minute to play. Michigan closed it out from the line from there.
Back-and-forth first half
The intensity was ratcheted up from the opening tip, with both teams trading buckets until there was a 10-10 tie. That’s when Cason checked in and got things going in a hurry, first drilling a deep 3 from the right wing, then twice slashing to the lane and dumping off handoff passes for a cutting Wolf to finish a pair of layups and put U-M up 17-11.
Texas A&M would respond, however, going on an 18-6 run over the next 6:38, with Andersson Garcia drilling consecutive 3s, Manny Obaseki scoring four straight and then Pharrel Payne netting eight straight for the Aggies to go up 29-23.
But Michigan responded at the end of the half. First, Wolf threw a pass along the baseline to Rubin Jones for a corner 3, then after Gayle had a put-back dunk, he drilled a 3 from the left wing to knot the game at 31.
Michigan briefly took the lead, 35-34, on a Goldin free throw before the Aggies finished on a 5-0 spurt. U-M missed its final seven shots of the half and went into the break down four.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan heading to Sweet 16 after beating Texas A&M in March Madness
Continue reading...
