Game 9: Iowa at Michigan Recap

Throughout the year, Michigan has excelled at imposing its style of play on every game. On Saturday, the Wolverines got sucked into Iowa basketball.

The Wolverines got off to a terrific start and led 20-4 with Iowa star big man Owen Freeman saddled to the bench with two fouls on one early possession, but Fran McCaffery’s bag of tricks pulled the Hawkeyes back into the game.

That early 16-point lead was cut down to three by the break. Iowa came back to lead in the second half, but Michigan pulled away with another double-digit lead.

Eventually, Saturday’s contest ended where every Iowa game seems to end: a helter-skelter combination of inexplicable big plays and key errors in a single-possession game in the closing seconds.

Michigan blew a 6-point lead in the final two minutes before Roddy Gayle Jr. scored on a goaltender layup to give the Wolverines a 2-point lead with 4.6 seconds to play. Days after winning a similar game from the exact spot, Iowa had another chance to win a game with a sideline out-of-bounds set with one second on the clock.

This time, the final shot was short, and Michigan prevailed with a crucial but agonizing home victory, which allowed it to move to 8-1 (2-0 Big Ten) in the season.