ANN ARBOR -- Nimari Burnett called his game-winning shot. Before Michigan lined up for the final play of Thursday's game against Rutgers, Burnett said he told teammate Danny Wolf: "If you see me and I'm open, pass it to me. I'm gonna make it."
Wolf did find Burnett open on the left wing and Burnett delivered on his promise, beating the buzzer with a deep 3 to give Michigan an 84-82 win over Rutgers at Crisler Center.
"The play was completely botched," Burnett said afterward.
Michigan trailed by one with 12 seconds left following a Rutgers free throw. Michigan had a timeout left, but head coach Dusty May was content to let the Wolverines play it out, not wanting to let Rutgers arrange (and potentially switch) its defense. As the possession progressed -- with Burnett stumbling to the ground as he passed to Tre Donaldson -- May didn't like what he saw and called timeout with 3.6 seconds left.
"What we wanted to do and what we trained to do in practice, they defended well," May said. "And we didn't have an advantage, so we needed to get organized."
May replaced L.J Cason with Roddy Gayle Jr., which put Michigan's starting five on the floor: Donaldson, Burnett, Gayle, Wolf, and Vladislav Goldin.
As Michigan lined up to inbounds in front of its bench, Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell called his final timeout. May didn't know what sort of defense Rutgers might deploy. "So you have to have contingency plans," he said. "We wanted to put it in Danny's hands in the middle of the floor (and have) Vlad go for a back-screen duck-in."
Said Burnett: "The play was for Danny to lift up, get the catch, and drive and make a play or skip to me in the wing corner area."
Gayle had trouble getting the ball in, causing Wolf to change direction and Goldin to leave the paint in order to make himself available. The two 7-footers were in arm's length of one another as the pass came in.
"(Rutgers) disrupted the initial timing, so we actually had two guys flash in the same spot," May said. "Fortunately, Nimari held space as the outlet on the weak side."
Wolf caught Gayle's pass and dribbled once, splitting two Rutgers defenders while getting bumped. Even so, his pass to Burnett was perfectly on target.
Rutgers' Dylan Harper got caught watching the ball for just a moment and slipped slightly as he went to close out on Burnett, who was setting up at least 25 feet from the hoop. The 6-foot-6 Harper jumped to contest, extending his right arm in front of the 6-5 Burnett, a 41-percent 3-point shooter this season.
Burnett let it fly, the buzzer sounding as the ball descended toward the net: splash; a perfect ending to Michigan's annual "pool(e) party" game.
Former Wolverine and current Detroit Piston Tim Hardaway Jr., sitting front row, had the closest seat in Crisler to the shot. He jumped out of his seat, right hand in the air, to celebrate. Michigan freshman Phat Phat Brooks showed sprinter's speed off the bench, the first to reach Burnett. The rest of the Wolverines closed in, mobbing the hero at the opposite baseline.
May didn't celebrate in the moment, though he was thrilled with the win. He calmly walked the sideline to shake hands with the visitors. "I told Coach Pikiell that his team didn't deserve to lose that game."
Neither did the Wolverines, not after a furious comeback from a 12-point deficit with 10 minutes left. Burnett made sure they didn't.