The Arkansas Razorbacks knocked off the No. 14 Michigan Wolverines with an 89-87 win in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Arkansas trailed by as much as 15 points in the first half, led by as much as 18 in the second half and then led by just 1-point with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
Freshman guard Boogie Fland, a native of Bronx, New York, led the Razorbacks with 20 points, seven assists, one rebound and two steals. Fland knocked down two of the Hogs’ nine made 3-pointers, and they shot 50.0% from the field as a team in the game.
Guard D.J. Wagner added 16 points, three rebounds and five assists for the Hogs, plus Trevon Brazile performed well with 15 points, six rebounds, three steals, one block and one assist.
Michigan shot 57.6% from the field and the Wolverines had two 7-footers, Danny Wolf and Vladislov Goldin, score in double digits with nine rebounds apiece.
Brazile was the star of the show in the first stretch of play, as he notched four points, two rebounds and one steal to help the Hogs grab an 8-7 advantage by the first media timeout.
The Wolverines then went on a run that featured seven straight made field goals and a 13-2 scoring advantage that gave them a 24-12 lead to trigger a Calipari timeout at the 10:08 mark in the first half.
Michigan forward Will Tschetter, who averaged 6.7 points per game entering the contest, reached 13 points in the game by the 8:31 mark, as his fourth made shot gave the Wolverines a 15-point advantage. The Hogs knocked down a couple of shots on the ensuing offensive possessions to trim the deficit to 33-21 by the under-8 minute timeout.
The Razorbacks found some offense of their own, though, and they five field goals in a row to trim the Michigan lead to 42-38 with less than three minutes to play. The Hogs were shooting over 50% from the field by that point and Fland and Thiero were already in double-digits.
After a pair of layups from the Wolverines, Arkansas went on a quick 7-0 run that was followed by a Michigan 3-pointer just before the half that made the Hogs’ deficit 49-45 at the break. Michigan was shooting 61.3% from the field and 58.3% from three by the midway point.
The Razorbacks gained their first lead of the game out of the locker room, and Michigan head coach Dusty May called for a timeout after the Hogs went up 52-49 at the 17:09 mark in the second half. Arkansas grew the lead to as much as six just before the first media timeout at the 15.5-minute mark.
Fland nailed a corner three to put the Hogs up by 10, and they were out-scoring Michigan by 14 points in the second half by then. Wagner got involved with the 3-point barrage, as he knocked down the Hogs’ third triple of the second half to make it a 65-55 lead. Wagner then continued a hot streak of his own by knocking down two more shots, including a three, to give the Razorbacks a strong 73-61 lead by the under-12 minute timeout.
Michigan then went into a stretch of play that was littered by turnovers, allowing Arkansas to extend to lead to 18 points, but the Wolverines promptly scored 6-straight to make it an 80-68 game with 8:30 left in regulation. Michigan’s run extended to 12 points in a row to trim the deficit to just six points.
With the Razorbacks in the midst of 6-plus minute scoring drought, Michigan made it a 4-point ballgame with just more than three minutes left. That gap remained consistent until the Wolverines made it a 1-point margin with a layup from Wolf with just over a minute to play.
Michigan began to save time by fouling starting at with 32.6 seconds left in regulation and that eventually led to an 89-87 lead for the Razorbacks with just 3.7 seconds left and one more opportunity for the Wolverines, who couldn’t knock down a buzzer-beater.
Up next, the Razorbacks will face the Central Arkansas Bears at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
