Michigan's mojo runs dry against powerful Auburn in Sweet 16

James Hawkins, The Detroit News on Mar 29, 2025

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ATLANTA — Michigan’s magical March run is over.

Too many self-inflicted mistakes. Too many offensive rebounds allowed. A huge second-half flurry.

It was all too much for the fifth-seeded Wolverines to overcome in Friday’s Sweet 16 matchup at State Farm Arena, where they couldn’t hold onto a nine-point second-half lead and couldn’t recover from a 20-2 run by top-seeded Auburn in a 78-65 loss.

Danny Wolf had 20 points and Vlad Goldin added 10 points and nine rebounds for Michigan (27-10), which committed 15 turnovers and was outrebounded 48-33.

Following a tight, turnover-filled first half, the giveaways continued. Auburn botched a three-on-one fast-break opportunity by losing the ball out of bounds. Wolf dribbled the ball off his leg and out of bounds and had an errant pass lead to a basket the other way.

Michigan powered through and pulled ahead. Nimari Burnett blocked a 3-pointer and found Roddy Gayle Jr. in transition for a reverse layup through contact. Wolf scored on an offensive tip-in and on a spinning finish over Johni Broome in the paint. An 11-3 spurt gave Michigan a 48-39 lead with 12:26 left in the second half.

Just when it looked like Michigan had Auburn teetering, the Tigers roared back with a 20-2 flurry to take control. Tahaad Pettiford (20 points) drained a 3-pointer. A turnover on a pass that forward Will Tschetter couldn’t handle preceded another deep ball by Auburn. Pettiford knocked down a jumper on a possession where the Tigers grabbed two offensive boards to go in front 49-48 at the 9:53 mark.

A Michigan timeout couldn’t stem the tide. Another turnover by Wolf was followed by another possession where Auburn cashed in on a second-chance opportunity with two free throws by Chad Baker-Mazara to cap a string of 12 unanswered points.

Rubin Jones scored a driving layup to snap a three-minute scoring drought for Michigan, but it couldn’t stop the bleeding. Auburn’s Denver Jones (20 points) scored eight straight – including two 3-pointers around another turnover where Wolf had the ball stripped out of his hands and off his thigh out of bounds – to put the Wolverines in a 59-50 hole with 7:27 to play.

Michigan cut the deficit to six on a three-point play by Goldin but couldn’t get any closer. Pettiford splashed a 3-pointer after another offensive rebound by Auburn and buried a turnaround jumper while being fouled to widen the margin to 67-54.

The Wolverines trailed by at least 10 points over the final five minutes, as the curtains fell on their season and Year 1 of coach Dusty May’s tenure.

Broome, a player of the year candidate, had 22 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out for Auburn (31-5), which scored 23 points off turnovers and 21 second-chance points off 19 offensive boards.

The Wolverines held their own throughout a hectic, sloppy first half and didn’t look outmatched against the Tigers in a raucous environment that was pro-Auburn.

Broome got going early for Auburn with a 3-pointer, a putback on a possession where he grabbed two offensive boards and a finish in the paint over Tschetter.

But every time the Auburn faithful roared, the Wolverines found a way to quiet the crowd. After Auburn took an early four-point lead, Wolf finished in transition off a live-ball turnover and then scored over Broome in the post to pull even.

During one stretch, Wolf scored seven straight points for Michigan. He buried a deep 3-pointer. He scored on a driving layup. He turned the corner, got a step on a defender and threw down a two-handed jam. The last bucket sparked a 7-2 burst that Burnett capped with a step-back 3-pointer to give Michigan a 27-23 lead with 5:22 left in the first half.

Both sides, though, did themselves no favors with careless passes and self-inflicted mistakes. During one sequence, Michigan turned the ball over on a fast-break opportunity that led to transition 3-pointer the other way. During another sequence, Auburn gave the ball right back to Michigan following a steal when Baker-Mazara tried a behind-the-back pass in traffic that was taken away.

The Wolverines had a stretch where they turned it over on three consecutive possessions, all on poor passes by Tre Donaldson. One was way off the mark to a cutting Wolf on the baseline. Another was a lazy entry feed into the post that was tipped away. Then there was an alley-oop that was way too high and soared out of bounds.

When halftime arrived, both teams shot below 36% and combined for 18 turnovers, with Auburn holding a 30-29 edge.