Nimari Burnett injury update: Michigan guard leaves game vs. USC with bad cut near eye

In the second half of Michigan’s game against USC, Nimari Burnett went down with an injury under the Trojans’ basket. He appeared to hit his head on the floor and was clearly bleeding from just above his left eye.

Burnett went up for a rebound during Friday’s game, but hit Roddy Gayle’s knee on his way down. He hit his head on the court and was clearly bleeding while the training staff came out to attend to him.

Out of the commercial break, Burnett headed straight toward the locker room. He had a towel and ice pack over his eye as he walked back.

Burnett is in his third season at Michigan and remains a key contributor for Dusty May’s group. He entered Friday’s game averaging 8.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists across 12 starts. He’s coming off one of his biggest games of the year with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists in Monday’s victory over McNeese State.

At the time of his departure Friday, Burnett had three points and two rebounds in 14 minutes. Michigan continued its dominant run as Big Ten play got underway as the Wolverines’ lead ballooned to 28 points with just over eight minutes left in the second half.

Nimari Burnett wasn’t the only player to suffer an injury during Friday’s game, though. Forward Yaxel Lendeborg headed to the locker room early before halftime with what was diagnosed as a bruised calf, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported. However, he returned after the break with a sleeve on his leg, though clearly hobbled.

Michigan went into Friday’s game as one of the most dominant teams in the country, and the Wolverines’ +30.3 margin of victory ranks as the best in the nation. When asked about turning those big leads into even bigger leads to create more cushion, May said it comes down to sticking with the game, particularly on defense.

“I just think it’s our spurtability,” May said after Michigan’s win over McNeese. “When you defend the way we defend, you stay with it. And then you’re going to turn some of those stops into baskets when you’re as lethal and you have the passing ability that we have, the lethal passing and whatnot in transition. And we didn’t shoot the ball well. I thought we missed a lot of really good looks that we typically make. We’ve got to bang in shots if we want to play at our highest level. Even that last group, we weren’t happy with the way the game finished. And the main reason is that we think those guys are good and they have a bright future playing this game.

“So when you have a chance to play, and they’re playing against McNeese’s top 6-10 guys, their 1-through-10 is about the same. So they’re playing against starters that are going be an NCAA tournament team. And so you want those guys to show their work that they put in on a daily basis because they battle our starters and do a good job. But the rotation guys just, I wanna tip my cap to them. To play with the unselfishness that they do is, that’s a lot of fun to watch.”