by Michigan basketball entered its matchup against Toledo in the first game of the National Invitation Tournament with a focus on the 3-point line.
The Rockets were the second-best 3-point team in the country (39.7%) and the Wolverines’ ability to limit them from deep was key. But UM flipped the script with one of their best shooting performances of the season.
Michigan opened the second half with three straight 3-pointers, part of a 13-2 streak in which all five starters scored, and built on the momentum for a 90-80 victory in its NIT opener over Toledo on Tuesday.
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UM made 13 of 23 (56.5%) on 3-pointers, led by Joey Baker (5 of 7) who started in place of guard Jett Howard, who was ruled out shortly before kickoff with an ankle injury and had a new Michigan-best 21 points.
Kobe Bufkin had a team-high 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Hunter Dickinson added 19 points and nine rebounds, Dug McDaniel finished with 16 points and eight assists while shooting four long balls.
Michigan advances to the second round and will play the winner of second seed Vanderbilt and Yale. If Vanderbilt wins, UM will play in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday or Sunday; if Yale wins, the Bulldogs will visit the Crisler Center.
The fourth-ranked scoring offense in the country (85.6 ppg), Toledo got a team-high 19 points from Setric Millner Jr., while JT Shumate added 18 points and seven rebounds, Ra’Heim Moss added 15 and Ray J Dennis. He scored 13 points with eight assists.
closing strong
Baker, McDaniel and Bufkin started with 3-pointers to turn a two-point deficit into a 49-42 lead with less than two minutes left in the half.
Will Tschetter hit a mid-range jumper before Dickinson added a hook to go up, 53-44. It was the first of seven straight points for Dickinson, who then added a hit on a pick-and-roll with McDaniel, a free throw and then another layup.
The Rockets started running when Moss hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the corner to pull within 61-57, but Bufkin connected on one of his three long balls to stop the bleeding. Toledo would then pull within three, 66-63, on a Millner jumper, before McDaniel hit a 3-pointer from two steps inside the half-court logo to stretch the lead to six.
With 6:23 left and UM only three up, Bufkin hit a layup, Baker hit a fast-break layup, and then Bufkin hit a jumper to go up nine with 4:41 left. He would never get within seven points again, as Michigan closed out the game from the free throw line and went 13 of 16 on the night.
The track meet starts early
Toledo wasted no time in displaying its high-powered offense.
The Rockets made each of their first four shots, capped by JT Shumate’s 3-pointer at the top of the key to take a 9-2 lead in less than two minutes of play. Michigan put together an 8-1 run of its own as McDaniel assisted on two straight baskets before hitting a 3-pointer to get within one.
After five straight Rockets points, including another long pass from Shumate, McDaniel hit a deep 3-pointer with one second on the shot clock before launching a jump pass across the court to Joey Baker for a 3-pointer of his own.
Michigan led the game 4 of 4 from deep before a Baker cross tied the game at 18.
The Rockets then went on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to take their biggest lead of the half, as they held a 16-6 advantage in points in the paint and a 6-0 advantage in fast-break points. .
But Toledo would cool down, making just 1 of 13 shots over the next eight minutes as Michigan pulled away. Dickinson scored four straight in the paint before Bufkin hit a slashing layup and then a 3-pointer to get within one, 28-27.
After a layup by And-1 Milliner gave Toledo a 32-29 lead, UM hit the next three buckets to take their first lead, 35-33, of the game.
After trading buckets the rest of the half, Baker hit a 3 to put UM up by one in the last minute against a Shumate with three seconds left.
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on the Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball rains down 3s in opening 90-80 NIT win over Toledo
