Instant Rewind: Notre Dame 70, Michigan 63

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A monster second half spurred Notre Dame past Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at The Barclays Center.

Down as much as 13 in the first stanza and 41-29 at halftime, the Irish outscored the Wolverines 41-22 in the final 20 minutes to emerge with a 70-63 victory.

Below is an instant rewind of the game in reverse chronological order.

FINAL | Notre Dame 70, Michigan 63. Colson and Pflueger free throws seal the game.

:11.1 2H | Notre Dame 66, Michigan 63. Wolverines miss a prayer of a three-point attempt, and have to foul Bonzie Colson. He’ll shoot a one-and-one.

1:13 2H | Notre Dame 66, Michigan 63. Michigan misses their initial shot attempt, but the Irish couldn’t corral the rebound. Could have been ahead five with possession, instead, a Wolverines bucket.

2:20 2H | Notre Dame 64, Michigan 61. Pflueger slips and the ball falls out of bounds for a wasted Notre Dame possession.

3:09 2H | Notre Dame 64, Michigan 59. Beachem continues his tremendous postseason, nailing a three-point make to put the Irish ahead 62-59. On the following possession, Vasturia defers to the junior forward, giving him the ball and watching him drive to the rack to put the Irish up five.

Cool to see for a kid like Beachem, who struggled in the postseason as a sophomore.

5:13 2H | Notre Dame 57, Michigan 56. Irish go back ahead one after Auguste makes 1 of 2 free throws.

8:19 2H | Michigan 54, Notre Dame 51. Ouch. A tough sequence of back-to-back threes for the Wolverines puts Michigan back up three.

9:26 2H | Notre Dame 51, Michigan 48. The Irish grab their very first lead of the game on a three-point make from Beachem.

10:24 2H | Michigan 48, Notre Dame 48. Both teams go stagnant from the field. Michigan is zero for its last six and Notre Dame is just one of its last five.

12:17 2H | Michigan 48, Notre Dame 48. A quick-release three from New York native Matt Ryan evens the game. That’s the first tie since the 0-0 start.

15:45 2H | Michigan 46, Notre Dame 41. Brey's squad showing signs of life, opening the second half 3 of 4 from the field with zero turnovers. There’s a notable increase in energy on the court compared to the first stanza.

18:18 2H | Michigan 41, Notre Dame 37. That must have been some locker room speech. Irish start the second half on a 7-0 run, courtesy of two buckets from Vasturia plus a Farrell three. Vasturia was just 1 of 5 in the first half.

Halftime | Michigan 41, Notre Dame 29. Notre Dame again can’t finish a half; the Wolverines close the period on a 7-0 run. Crushing.

Entering this game, two major keys to the contest were the Irish’s ball control and Michigan’s three-point shooting. The Wolverines won that bout 2-0 in the first period, forcing 10 Notre Dame turnovers and sinking 7 of 14 three-point attempts.

1:36 1H | Michigan 34, Notre Dame 29. The Irish continue to pick up — just a little — momentum. Closing out the first half could prove key, which is something they’ve struggled with recently.

2:39 1H | Michigan 34, Notre Dame 25. You could feel just a little momentum for the Irish after a Jackson three cut the Michigan lead to six, but the Wolverines countered with a three of their own, pushing the margin back to nine.

6:54 1H | Michigan 26, Notre Dame 15. At this stage, Vasturia and Jackson are now just a combined just 2 of 8 from the field. Many of the struggles that plagued Notre Dame in its late-season slide have carried over into tonight.

8:54 1H | Michigan 26, Notre Dame 13. The Irish backcourt continues to miss some easy shots and turn the ball over. Some easy runouts help spur a 10-0 run for the Wolverines.

11:54 1H | Michigan 16, Notre Dame 11. Jackson scores on a nice alley-oop dunk. Still, it’s been mostly Wolverines early.

12:28 1H | Michigan 16, Notre Dame 9. Colson picks up his second foul and has to check out. He’s replaced by freshman forward Matt Ryan.

14:57 1H | Michigan 9, Notre Dame 4. Colson comes off the bench and has the only two buckets for the Irish so far. Notre Dame opens the game just 2 of 6 from the field with two early turnovers.

17:12 1H | Michigan 5, Notre Dame 0. Matt Farrell has already checked out for sophomore forward Bonzie Colson. The Irish are 0 of 3 from the field.

10:12 p.m. ET: It's about time … we are underway from Brooklyn.

9:40 p.m. ET: No. 14-seeded Stephen F. Austin (finally) defeats No. 3-seeded West Virginia 70-56. Irish will draw the Lumberjacks in the next round if they can beat Michigan tonight.

8:48 p.m. ET: In an interesting move, reserve sophomore guard Matt Farrell will pick up his first career start, along with regular starters Demetrius Jackson, Steve Vasturia, V.J. Beachem and Zach Auguste.

Box Score: LINK.

Game Notes:

• The Irish improved to 15-8 in the all-time series against the Wolverines.

• Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey is now 7-1 against John Beilein, dating back to Beilein’s West Virginia days in the Big East.