NCAA Tournament 2017, Michigan vs Oklahoma State: Highlights, score and recap

Recapping Friday’s 2017 NCAA Tournament First Round matchup between the No. 7 seed Michigan Wolverines and No. 10 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys from Indianapolis.

What looked like the most entertaining matchup of the NCAA Tournament First Round did not disappoint, as the Michigan Wolverines advanced with a wild 92-91 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a game that featured 15 lead changes.

Both high-octane offenses got off to slow starts, with just six total points and two combined made field goals by the first media timeout. Michigan received a big blow with forward Mo Wagner picking up his second foul at the 16:49 mark of the first, costing it a key interior presence against a Oklahoma State team that is one of the best offensive rebounding units in the nation.

Oklahoma State’s offense took advantage as the game opened up, building a lead as big as seven midway through the first half. Predictably, the Cowboys’ porous defense wasn’t able to hold Michigan off forever, and the Wolverines took a 34-32 lead with 3:25 to go on a four-point play by Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman.

Michigan took a 41-40 lead into the break behind 11 points from Abdur-Rahkman, while Jeffrey Carroll and Davon Dillard paced the Cowboys with nine points. Neither team got much scoring production out of respective star point guards Derrick Walton and Jawun Evans, but that would change quickly after the break.

The Cowboys kicked up the pace to start the second half and took a 52-46 lead on a Carroll three at the 15:46 mark. Three minutes later, Michigan went back in front 62-61 on Walton’s third perimeter make of the second half, helping to make up for a defense that was getting carved up by Evans’ slashing ability in the paint.

After a rare pair of defensive stops, Michigan managed to take its biggest lead at 70-64 with nine minutes left on yet another deep shot from Walton. Despite Duncan Robinson, D.J. Wilson and Zak Irvin getting in on the long-range action to bring Michigan’s 3-point shooting total to an absurd 11-of-14 in the second half, Oklahoma State hung in down just five at the 2:52 mark, with Evans piling up 12 assists for the game to direct the high-tempo offense beautifully.

Irvin and Walton then buried key back-to-back jumpers to give Michigan some breathing room up 86-79 with 53 seconds remaining. Missed free throws by the Wolverines and a deep shot from Carroll made it a two-point game with 10 seconds left, but Walton and Wilson knocked down four straight from the charity stripe to seal a highly entertaining 92-91 victory.

Oklahoma State shot 54 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle 34-16, numbers that would be good enough to win just about any other game. The Wolverines finished at 16-of-29 from beyond the arc, with five different players connecting from long range.

Three Stars

3. D.J. Wilson, F, Michigan. Added 19 points, including game-clinching free throws, and helped Michigan get a couple of important interior stops with four blocks.

2. Jawun Evans, G, Oklahoma State.  Didn’t have best shooting performance, but led Cowboys with 23 points and 12 assists, plus seven rebounds.

1. Derrick Walton, G, Michigan.  Erased poor shooting first half to finish with a game-high 26 points, including five 3s in the second half, plus 11 assists.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/FanSportsClips/status/842772437691375618

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/842782584643833857

Up Next

Michigan will hope the hot shooting continues in a likely Second Round matchup against Louisville on Sunday.