National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Indiana 73, Michigan 71
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, January 5, 2012
Where: Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
Officials: # Bo Boroski, # Jim Burr, # Mark Whitehead
Attendance: 16020

Christian Watford scored a game-high 25 points to help No. 12 Indiana hold off a pair of furious rallies from No. 13 Michigan in a 73-71 victory on Thursday.

Cody Zeller added 18 points for the Hoosiers (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten), who beat their third ranked opponent and moved to 11-0 at home this season.

Indiana never trailed and led by as many as 15 points early, but it wasn’t easy. The Wolverines (12-3, 2-1) went on two separate runs to tie the game in the second half and they cut it to 72-71 with 2.9 seconds left, but there wasn’t enough time to complete the comeback.

Watford and Zeller led Indiana's 55.1-percent shooting effort by going a combined 16-of-21 from the field.

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19 points to lead Michigan, which had a seven-game winning streak snapped in losing for the first time since Nov. 29.

The Wolverines trailed 39-32 at the break, but they fought all the way back to tie the game at 46 on Evan Smotrycz's 3-pointer five minutes into the second half.

After the Hoosiers had again stretched their lead back to double digits with less than eight minutes left, Hardaway Jr.’s steal and fast-break dunk tied the game at 68 with 3:07 remaining.

The Wolverines, though, hit only one field goal the rest of the way, and Verdell Jones III’s jumper that made it 72-68 with 25 seconds left iced it for Indiana.

All three of Michigan’s losses this season have come against ranked opponents.

Six of Indiana’s next nine games will come on the road, including three against foes currently ranked in the top 20.
Top Game Performances
 
Michigan   Indiana
Tim Hardaway, Jr. 19 Scoring Christian Watford 25
Trey Burke 8 Assists Verdell Jones III 6
Jordan Morgan 9 Rebounds Christian Watford 7
Tim Hardaway, Jr. 5 Free Throws Made Christian Watford 6
Tim Hardaway, Jr. 3 Steals Victor Oladipo 2
Stu Douglass 1 Blocks Victor Oladipo 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Michigan 71 46.6 10-24 7-11 13 28 1 8 12
Indiana 73 55.1 7-11 12-19 15 28 6 5 15