No. 5 seed Michigan holds off UC San Diego 68-65 in March Madness nailbiter

DENVER (AP) Vladislav Goldin and Michigan Wolverines proved a bit too much for UC San Diego Tritons when the Russian center scored 14 points Thursday night and the fifth-seeded Wolverines overcame Tyler McGhie's 25 points to escape with a 68-65 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

McGhie's 3-point attempt at the buzzer with 7-footer Danny Wolf in his face hit the back iron and the Wolverines and their fans finally exhaled.

“Yeah, I think I got the shot I wanted,” McGhie said. “Step-back, going left. I thought it was in. Hit the back iron. Couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it.”

In handing the Tritons their first loss since Jan. 18, Michigan advanced to face fourth-seeded Texas A&M, which turned away Yale 80-71, in the next round Saturday.

McGhie's bucket with 2:29 left gave the 12th-seeded Tritons their only lead at 65-63 and Ball Arena was rocking every bit as much as it does when Nikola Jokic feeds Denver Nuggets teammate Aaron Gordon for an alley-oop.

Tre Donaldson, who was on the Auburn team that was upset by Yale in last year's NCAA Tournament, responded with a 3-pointer to restore Michigan's lead.

Goldin, who picked up his fourth foul at the 8:25 mark, grabbed an aggressive offensive rebound and was fouled with 19.3 seconds left. He sank both free throws to make it 68-65.

The Tritons (30-5), who moved up from Division II in 2020, won the Big West regular-season and tournament titles and earned the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid in their first season of Division I eligibility.

The Tritons brought the nation's longest winning streak into March Madness, having won 15 straight. But the Big Dance, the big stage, the bright lights - not to mention coach Dusty May's talented Wolverines (26-9), who made an unlikely run to the Big 10 Tournament title, looked like they would be too much for the Tritons.

UC San Diego settled in, however, and put a scare into Michigan.

“We knew they were going to make a run,” May said. “They just keep coming at you, keep coming at you. They believe, as well. They have older guys. Man, they put on a performance in the second half.”

It was more than five minutes into the game before the Tritons finally scored.

“I just thought we found our rhythm and we played more of the way that, honestly, we’ve been playing all year," said UC San Diego coach Eric Olen, who built his team through the transfer portal by bringing in three D-II stars - guards McGhie, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones and Hayden Gray. "I was glad that we found that and gave ourselves an opportunity.”

Goldin's three-point play with 1.8 seconds left in the first half sent Michigan into halftime with a 41-27 lead and he opened the second half with a free throw for a 15-point cushion. He wouldn't score again until the final minute.

In between, it was the Tritons who looked tournament-tested and the Wolverines who looked a little wide-eyed.

“This tournament throws so many things at you,” Donaldson said. “These games aren’t going to be all lopsided. They might be tight like we were today. You never know. We’ve been in games like that all year through the Big Ten. We just find a way to win. That’s the biggest thing in this tournament.”

Two years ago, Goldin was a key player on FAU’s Final Four team. When Michigan fired coach Juwan Howard and hired May away from FAU a year ago, the new coach brought his old center with him to Ann Arbor.

Together, they orchestrated the Wolverines’ turnaround from an 8-24 campaign in Howard's final season to finish second in the Big Ten before dispatching Purdue, Maryland and Wisconsin in the conference tournament.

Will Tschetter's 3-pointer that made it 59-49 shouldn't have counted because he was out of bounds when he caught the pass. The officials missed it.

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