Trey McKenney comes up clutch as Michigan survives Nebraska

After trailing for nearly the entire game, Michigan needed an improbable hero to rescue an imperfect performance in a top-five rendezvous with Nebraska. Hitting the game winner with 1:07 to go, freshman guard Trey McKenney had the biggest moment of his young career.

“The baseline was kind of open, because they were forcing us to the baseline,” McKenney said. “They wouldn’t give us middle drives. So I just had to take advantage of that and get one in for a layup.”

Graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg drove in from the right wing and was quickly doubled, akin to how the Cornhuskers guarded dribble drives all game. McKenney’s defender rotated to junior center Aday Mara in the post. Lendeborg found McKenney, who, with a quick fake took to the left baseline bumping into guard Sam Hoiberg and laying it in through contact.

“I thought he got to a spot and played with power,” May said.

In the same breath, May knocked the Wolverines’ offensive rhythm. He lauded how Nebraska’s rotations limited them all game. But in the pivotal moment, McKenney took one of the few things the Cornhuskers were giving them and allowed Michigan to escape.

After May wrapped up his assessment of the Wolverines’ shortcomings on the offensive end, he brought it back to McKenney — but pointed to a moment arguably as big as the go-ahead layup.

“I thought his three free throws were probably the biggest points in the game,” May said. “Sandfort just missed a free throw. We were down (seven). We were in a funk, in a fog. Elliot made a nice pass to Trey (who) jumped up aggressively. Luckily, we were able to get the foul on that play and Hoiberg got under his feet a little bit. He knocks down those three free throws and you can almost see that sense of belief that now we’re getting stops. Our defense is on, now let’s find a way, because at that point you’re down two possessions versus three.”