Michigan coach talks about his team's performance in Tuesday's 59-52 win. James Hawkins, The Detroit News
Austin, Texas — Last season’s contest between Michigan and Texas was a grueling, grind-it-out affair.
The second act wasn’t much different.
Michigan shook off rough starts at the beginning of both halves and answered a pair of second-half pushes to hang on for a 59-52 win over Texas Tuesday at the Frank Erwin Center.
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and made several key baskets down the stretch for Michigan (9-3), which shot 40 percent (22-for-55) from the field and outrebounded Texas 40-31.
BOX SCORE: Michigan 59, Texas 52
Charles Matthews added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Moritz Wagner, who left the game late in the second half with a right ankle injury, and Duncan Robinson each scored 10.
Dylan Osetkowski scored 17, Kerwin Roach II 11 and Mohamed Bamba had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Texas (6-3), which was without leading scorer Andrew Jones (fractured wrist) and entered the game averaging 78.3 points.
“I was really impressed with Texas' defense and how hard they played,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “I think we were very fortunate, but our kids also deserve the win. If we didn't play defense tonight, we wouldn't have got the victory.”
After Michigan made 11 of its final 14 first-half field goals to take a 12-point lead into halftime, Texas turned the tables and used an 8-0 run including a Bamba dunk and six points from Osetkowski on a three-point play and 3-pointer to cut Michigan’s lead to 35-31 with 17:38 remaining.
The Longhorns eventually pulled within three after Osetkowski and Bamba combined to make three free throws to put the pressure on the Wolverines.
But Michigan responded, using a 13-2 run over the next six minutes to regain control. It started with an 11-0 blitz on a 3-pointer and driving layup by Matthews sandwiched around back-to-back 3-pointers by Wagner to push it to 50-36 with 8:09 to play.
“We just look each other in the eye and we just stick together through everything,” Matthews said. “We didn't really pay that no mind. We gave up leads before so we just said we're not going to do this again and everybody kept their composure.”
After making just one of 10 shots during Michigan’s run, Texas countered with a quick 7-0 flurry in a minute to cut the deficit to 50-43 at the 6:09 mark. But Abdur-Rahkman banked in a 3-pointer to quell the momentum and make it a 10-point game with 4:53 remaining.
Texas made one final push, cutting it to 53-47 in the final two minutes but Michigan was able to draw a critical offensive foul on Texas before Abdur-Rahkman came up big once again with three points on a floater and free throw to keep the Longhorns at bay.
“He's been through so many tough games, big games in his career. I'm not surprised,” Matthews said of Abdur-Rahkman’s play. “I see him every day in practice. I know how great of player he is. I'm just thankful he did what he did for us tonight.”
Michigan got off to a rough start and missed its first five shots. By the time the Wolverines made their first basket on a 3-pointer by Robinson in transition with 15:34 left in the first half, they already had four turnovers and four fouls.
But Texas wasn’t faring any better as Michigan dared the Longhorns to shoot from out on the perimeter and from 3-point range.
Through the first 10 minutes, the two teams combined for only six made baskets and 20 missed shots. However, the final 10 minutes of the half was a completely different story for Michigan as it began to figure things out on the offensive end.
The Wolverines rattled off an 8-0 run and scored on five straight possessions with layups by Zavier Simpson, Jordan Poole and Isaiah Livers, an Abdur-Rahkman dunk and a Poole jumper to make it 18-8 at the 6:44 mark.
Then after Texas trimmed the lead to single digits, Matthews took over down the stretch and scored six straight for Michigan with two free throws, a turnaround jumper and a driving layup to give the Wolverines a 32-20 advantage at the break.
“The two teams struggled to score just like last year,” Beilein said, referring to last season’s 53-50 win in the home-and-home series. “It was almost in that (53-50) area but I'm really proud of our kids.
“Last Monday we had a similar situation up 13 at the half and we didn't respond in the first four minutes. We didn't come out on fire, but they made a run and we came back and got right back where we were.”
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