Michigan basketball is officially playing Texas Southern in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament.
The Tigers beat fellow No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary's in a play-in game Thursday evening, 60-52.
Mount St. Mary's led by 10 at halftime but coughed up the lead almost immediately in the second half when Texas Southern opened with an 11-0 run. Mount St. Mary's countered with an 8-0 run to re-take the lead — only for Texas Southern to come up with an 8-0 run of its own.
The game was back-and-forth for the rest of the half, but Texas Southern's Karl Nicholas grabbed a key offensive rebound with just over two minutes remaining and scored on a put-back dunk to extend his team's lead to four.