Michigan edges Iowa to complete rare Big Ten road feat

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Wolverines had a chance to become the first Big Ten team in 50 years to go undefeated on the road during league play.

They didn’t let the historic opportunity go to waste, but they certainly had to work for it.

No. 3 Michigan prevailed in a dogfight that went down to the wire against Iowa, 71-68, Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, becoming the first conference team since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers to finish its league slate with an unblemished record away from home.

The Wolverines (28-2, 18-1 Big Ten) accomplished the feat while playing one more road contest than Indiana, which played an 18-game conference schedule. But that’s not the only milestone Michigan reached.

With the win, the Wolverines also tied the 1974-75 and 1975-76 Indiana teams — which went a perfect 18-0 in Big Ten play in back-to-back years — for the most conference wins in a season and became the first Michigan team in program history to not lose a single true road game.

Yaxel Lendeborg had 16 points and made three critical free throws in the final seven seconds and Morez Johnson added 16 points for Michigan, which had 18 turnovers that led to 26 Iowa points. Aday Mara added 14 points, Elliot Cadeau scored 11 and the two connected on the go-ahead basket with 43 seconds left.

After a first half where Michigan had more turnovers (12) than baskets (11) ended with the two sides tied, the Wolverines shook it off and pulled ahead with a strong start to the second half.

Lendeborg scored on a driving layup and a 3-pointer. Johnson had a fast-break dunk and knocked down a corner 3-pointer. A steal and layup by Roddy Gayle Jr. capped a 12-5 spurt that gave Michigan a 42-35 lead with 16:07 to play.

It didn’t last, as a rough stretch by Michigan led to Iowa wiping out the deficit and pulling in front. Iowa scored on a second-chance layup on a possession where Michigan couldn’t corral a rebound with three guys in the area. A defensive breakdown led to a baseline dunk. A turnover by Trey McKenney preceded a three-point play by Bennett Stirtz. A 9-0 run gave the Hawkeyes a 46-43 advantage at the 12:25 mark.

Michigan responded with a 20-7 run as the fouls piled up on Iowa. Lendeborg drew two fouls that led to three free throws. Cadeau knocked down two foul shots after being fouled following a steal and a defensive rebound. Johnson had three buckets at the rim, the last coming on an and-1 finish that put Michigan up, 63-53, with 6:14 remaining.

Iowa countered with an 11-1 burst to pull even. The Hawkeyes turned an offensive rebound into a second-chance 3-pointer. After Johnson was blocked at the rim, Tavion Banks scored on a short shot during a string of seven unanswered points to make it 63-60 with 4:15 to go.

After Cadeau split two free throws to offer a brief reprieve, Mara turned it over on a travel and Iowa ended a possession where it grabbed two offensive rebounds with two free throws. Then after another empty offensive possession, Iowa tied it at 64 on a dunk by Cam Manyawu with 1:57 left.

That set up a stressful finish. Mara put Michigan back in front with a banked-in jumper. Iowa knotted it back up on a layup by Manyawu. Mara gave Michigan lead once again by finishing an alley-oop lob from Cadeau to make it 68-66 with 43 seconds to go.

Michigan got a stop on Iowa’s ensuing possession, with Gayle blocking a put-back attempt by Manyawu before securing the defensive rebound. Johnson was called for a travel on the inbounds pass, giving it right back to Iowa. Gayle, once again, came up clutch by swiping the ball off Banks’ leg to force a turnover.

Michigan closed it out from there. Lendeborg received the inbounds pass and split two free throws to make it a three-point game. Then after Iowa’s Tate Sage made two free throws to cut it to one, Lendeborg was fouled again and made two free throws to make it a three-point game with four ticks left. Iowa had a chance to tie it but Stirtz’s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.

Stirtz, the Big Ten’s third-leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, finished with 21 points and Manyawu scored 14 for Iowa (20-19, 10-9), which shot 29.1% from the field and finished 7 for 26 from deep.

Iowa brought the crowd to life early as Michigan got off to a rocky and sloppy start during a first half that was riddled with turnovers.

Cadeau hit the backboard on an inbounds pass to Mara. On the next trip down, a pass by Johnson was tipped, stolen and turned into a fast-break dunk. Then on the next possession, Michigan turned it over on a shot-clock violation when Nimari Burnett hit the backboard on a late contested 3-pointer. A couple minutes later, the same thing happened with Burnett misfiring on a deep ball for another shot-clock violation.

Five minutes into the game, Michigan turned it over six times and only had six shot attempts, with two of those being Burnett’s rushed 3s that hit the backboard.

The Hawkeyes made the Wolverines uncomfortable on offense with their pressure, slowed the game down, took advantage of all the giveaways and grabbed an 11-5 lead with 14:19 left in the first half, will all their points coming after a Michigan turnover.

Yet, the Wolverines managed to put together a 7-0 spurt to pull ahead. Gayle got to the rim for a pair of driving layups. McKenney knocked down a 3-pointer. Michigan forced Iowa to miss six consecutive shots as it pulled ahead, 14-13, at the 10:05 mark.

But the turnover woes weren’t over, which kept Michigan from building a lead or sustaining any momentum. Cadeau slipped on a drive and had an errant pass intercepted. Johnson dribbled the ball off his foot out of bounds. Gayle had a pass to a cutting Burnett on the baseline that couldn’t be corralled. After Michigan took a 26-21 lead on a 3-pointer by Burnett at the 3:37 mark, Will Tschetter turned it over when he bobbled a pass in the corner and Iowa followed with a 3-pointer on its ensuing possession.

Despite turning it over 12 times, making 11 field goals and attempting nine fewer shots, Michigan scored on its final possession of the half on an alley-oop finish by Mara from Cadeau to knot it at 30 at the break.