NEW YORK -- The University of Arkansas men's basketball team overcame a 15-point deficit and nearly gave away an 18-point lead Tuesday night at the world's most famous arena.
But the Razorbacks made enough plays down the stretch to hold off 14th-ranked Michigan for an 89-87 victory. The game was played as part of the Jimmy V Classic before an announced crowd of 14,846 at Madison Square Garden.
Arkansas (8-2) defeated a ranked team for the first time under first-year Coach John Calipari and won at Madison Square Garden for the first time since beating Duke 9888 at the Preseason NIT in November 1990.
Michigan (8-2) had a seven-game win streak snapped. The Wolverines lost for the first time since a 72-70 decision at Wake Forest on Nov. 10.
"Michigan is a good team," Calipari said on ESPN following the game. "I've watched the tape; they really play well. But we're a really good team, too."
The Razorbacks continued a recent stretch of outplaying their opponents after halftime. During its three-game win streak against Miami,
Texas-San Antonio and Michigan, Arkansas has outscored its opponents by a combined 37 points in the second half to rally from halftime deficits of 8, 5 and 4 points with wins by margins of 3, 15 and 2 points.
Against Michigan, the Razorbacks shot 16 of 33 after halftime. Over the past three games Arkansas has shot 56% overall and 47% from threepoint range in the second half.
"Second half, it's like let's go out there and have a blast. The atmosphere is crazy. We've got all our fans here. We're at Madison Square Garden, one of the most famous arenas. Let's go out with a bang," said Arkansas guard Boogie Fland, who grew up 12 miles from Madison Square Garden in the Bronx. "And that's what we did. We came out the first five minutes, second five minutes, and we just kept turning it up."
The Razorbacks opened the second half on a 17-3 run and looked for a time like they would blow out the Wolverines. Trevon Brazile's layup put Arkansas ahead 8062 with 9:45 remaining.
But the Razorbacks went cold and went without a made basket for the next 6:10, allowing Michigan to roar back. A 16-2 run by the Wolverines cut Arkansas' lead to 82-78 on Roddy Gayle's dunk with 3:59 to play.
Johnell Davis' basket and foul with 3:01 remaining increased Arkansas' lead back to 87-80. It was the Razorbacks' final field goal.
Michigan pulled within 88-87 on Danny Wolf's second-chance layup with 1:28 to play. Brazile missed 2 free throws with 32 seconds remaining, but he blocked Vladislav Goldin's hook shot and grabbed the rebound with 15 seconds left.
Brazile made 1 of 2 free throws with 14 seconds left to put Arkansas ahead 89-87.
Michigan Coach Dusty May took a timeout with 3.7 seconds remaining. Out of the timeout, Davis -- who played for May previously at Florida Atlantic -- knocked away Wolf's pass to Gayle at the rim. Gayle's heave at the buzzer fell well short.
"He was beat dead to rights," Calipari said of Davis' defensive play. "And what did he do? Instead of stopping, he fought and he dove on the floor and tipped it with his right hand, and we win the game because of a play where he got beat. But it was an effort play."
The teams felt each other out early in the game before Will Tschetter sparked a Michigan run. Tschetter scored 8 consecutive points and had 13 during a stretch when the Wolverines made 11 consecutive field goal attempts.
Arkansas trailed 36-21 when Tre Donaldson hit a three-pointer with 6:27 remaining in the first half, but the Razorbacks battled back to pull within 49-45 at halftime.
"I was so happy because we could have been down 25, and all of a sudden we're down 4," Calipari said.
"We ran and played faster, and we spread the court. We made some baskets, made a three, and then we got our wheels underneath us."
Back-to-back threes by Zvonimir Ivisic and Karter Knox cut the Arkansas deficit to 42-38. That was part of a 17-6 run that included eight points by Fland.
Fland led Arkansas with 20 points and had 7 assists in 37 minutes. He said he had more than 100 friends and family members at the game.
"Being the first time in the Garden and we get the win, I mean it's not much more special than that," Fland said.
D.J. Wagner added 16 points and 5 assists in 35 minutes. He scored 14 points during the early second-half blitz.
Brazile had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals in 26 minutes. Celebrating his 22nd birthday, Jonas Aidoo had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals in 26 minutes.
Defensively, Brazile and Aidoo were tasked with guarding Michigan 7-footers Goldin and Wolf, who scored 17 and 14 points, respective- ly, and each had 9 rebounds. Gayle and Tschetter scored 13 apiece for the Wolverines.
Arkansas forward Adou Thiero scored 13 points and had 4 rebounds and 1 steal in 22 minutes. He had 11 points in the first half to help keep the Razorbacks within striking distance.
Thiero played the game with the flu, Calipari said.
Arkansas shot 33 of 66 (50%) and 9 of 23 (39.1%) from three-point range, but was only 14 of 22 (63.6%) at the free-throw line, including 7 of 14 in the second half.
Michigan shot 34 of 59 (57.6%) and 8 of 18 (44.4%) from three-point range. The Wolverines were 11 of 18 at the line.
Arkansas forced Michigan into 12 second-half turnovers, including eight during the big run that gave the Razorbacks the lead for good. Arkansas scored 21 points off of 17 forced turnovers during the game.
"I thought their physicality, their speed and quickness definitely had an impact," May said.
The Razorbacks next face the University of Central Arkansas on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock.