Elliot Cadeau scored 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting, and No. 3 Michigan pulled away for a 77-67 win over Minnesota on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor, Mich.
L.J. Cason added 14 points for Michigan (26-2, 16-1), which clinched a share of the Big Ten Conference regular-season title. It marked the program’s first share of a regular-season conference title since 2021 and its 16th in school history.
Trey McKenney added 12 points for Michigan, and Aday Mara chipped in 10 points.
Cade Tyson scored 20 points to lead Minnesota (13-15, 6-11). Langston Reynolds scored 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting, and Isaac Asuma and Bobby Durkin finished with 12 points apiece.
The injury-riddled Golden Gophers played with only six players. Michigan’s bench outscored Minnesota’s bench 35-0.
Minnesota stayed within close range of Michigan for much of the game. The Golden Gophers pulled within 51-47 with 10:19 remaining when Durkin dumped off a pass in the paint to Grayson Grove, who finished with a layup.
The Wolverines responded with a 12-2 run to grab a 63-49 advantage, which marked their largest lead of the game to that point.
Cadeau started the scoring outburst when he sidestepped to the right and drained a 3-pointer from near the top of the key. McKenney and Cason followed with 3-pointers before Grove knocked down a long jump shot with 7:40 to go.
Cason added another 3-pointer, this time from the left corner, to give Michigan a 14-point lead with 7:27 remaining.
Cadeau boosted Michigan’s lead to 70-52 when he dribbled from one end of the court to the other and finished with a flick of the wrist to spin a layup off the glass.
Durkin hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to bring Minnesota within 73-60 with 3:39 left. Reynolds added a driving layup to make it 73-62 with 3:03 remaining, but the Golden Gophers could not get within single digits the rest of the way.
Michigan led 32-28 at the end of the first half.
–Field Level Media
