The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1533441
32 THE WOLVERINE ❱ APRIL 2025 BY JOHN BORTON D usty May's Michigan bas- ketball team didn't experi- ence many huge, elevating moments during the regu- lar season's final six-game stretch. That made graduate guard Nimari Burnett's game-winner against Rutgers at Crisler Arena even bigger for the Wolverines. Michigan was teetering on the brink of what would have become a fifth loss in the final six pre-tournament games. The Wolverines trailed the Scarlet Knights, 82-81, prior to a busted inbounds play leading to junior Danny Wolf 's des- peration feed to Burnett, who'd issued a promise just seconds earlier. "Even before the play I told Danny, 'If you see me open, hit me and I'm going to make it,'" Burnett recalled. Count it. Burnett gathered, rose up from nearly 30 feet and fired, the shot hitting home as time expired to set off a wild Feb. 27 celebration at Crisler. For the Michigan veteran, it marked his greatest moment in maize and blue, to date. "That's definitely the best moment — hands down," he said. "It was a very close game, and I just felt like if the ball got in my hands, I needed to be ready to make a play. In that moment, that was not the play that was drawn up. … When I caught the ball, I kind of went blank. I just felt like this is going in, and it did. It was an incredible moment, and so good to get that win — a tough game for 40 minutes." SPECIAL JOURNEY Nimari Burnett Delivers A Much-Needed Boost, Adds Veteran Presence To Michigan's Starting Lineup Burnett (left) has thrived under first-year head coach Dusty May. The second-year grad transfer finished the regular season as Michigan's leader in three-point field goals made (58) and percentage (40.6), while averaging 9.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL