Michigan Wolverines at Texas A&M Aggies

Roddy Gayle's second-half surge leads Michigan past Texas A&M 91-79 in March Madness turnaround

Gayle scored 21 of his season-high 26 points in the second half to help the restocked Wolverines overcome a 10-point deficit and advance to Atlanta to face Auburn in the South Region.

They got there by beating the Aggies at their own game.

No. 4 seed Texas A&M entered the day as the nation’s top offensive rebounding team, but the fifth-seeded Wolverines pulled down 16 offensive boards to the Aggies’ 15 and they outrebounded them 48-39 overall.

“Just a mindset,” said Michigan center Vladislav Goldin, who followed coach Dusty May over from FAU a year ago. “If we know what they do, we will have to adjust it and have the same physicality.”

Goldin had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Michigan (27-9) overcame another big day for Pharrel Payne. The big man led Texas A&M with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting, but he was shut out after his basket put the Aggies ahead 65-61 with 9:59 left.

“It’s hard to shut someone down completely, and he’s obviously a great player,” Goldin said. “And we just decided we would have to make him finish tough shots, we would have to put (pressure) on him every single time and basically hope he’s going to miss because sometimes that’s all you can do.”

In two NCAA games at Ball Arena, Payne scored 51 points on 20-of-25 shooting and pulled down 15 rebounds. He had five boards on Saturday, including just one off the defensive glass.

“I don’t think we finished at the rim at the rate we need to, and I think we fouled way too much,” said Aggies coach Buzz Williams, who was trying to take a third school to the Sweet 16 after successful runs at Marquette and Virginia Tech.

“We are dependent on shooting more balls from the field and from the free-throw line. And so to allow them in the bonus so quickly both halves goes against us,” Williams said. “And then we are reliant completely on extra shots from offensive rebounds, and we are reliant and dependent on only allowing the opponent one shot. We did not do as well as our averages up until today from a defensive rebound perspective or an offensive rebound perspective.”

The Wolverines, who made a surprising run to the Big Ten tournament title, won for the fifth time in nine days. The Aggies (23-11) were playing for just the second time in nine days, but they were the ones who looked exhausted at elevation by game's end.

The Aggies missed eight of their last nine shots and the Wolverines closed on a 9-0 run after two free throws by Zhuric Phelps pulled Texas A&M to 82-79 with 1:29 remaining.

“It’s an amazing feeling, especially all that we’ve been through,” Gayle said. “I feel like we’re clicking at the right time, especially how we were able to finish the Big Ten Tournament. I just feel like we have a great team chemistry right now.”

Quick turnaround Two years ago, Goldin was a key player on FAU's Final Four team. When Michigan fired coach Juwan Howard and hired May 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, followed by a conference tournament title and highlighted by another March Madness run.

“I think it’s great,” Goldin said of the duo’s journey. “That’s why I’m here. I’ve said this the whole season long. I chose to be here because of the relationship we built together, and that’s something that I personally take pride of, that we were able to build that type of relationship, and I’m happy to be his player.”

Quiet on the court After the Wolverines closed to 67-66, Wade Taylor IV replied with a deep 3-pointer for the Aggies. He spun, put his fingers to his lips and motioned the Michigan fans to “shhh!” as the teams retreated to their benches for the 8-minute mark timeout.

It was the Aggies who were quiet after that, however, as they were outscored 25-9 after play resumed.

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