One night after Indiana won the national championship in football, Michigan basketball took it to the Hoosiers' hoops team in Ann Arbor.
So, evidently thatMichigan basketball team does still exist.
On the heels of four consecutive pedestrian performances (for the Wolverines' extremely high standards), U-M returned home and had its best game in a month.
Michigan stifled Indiana from the floor, made it rain from long range and got a number of those hustle plays coach Dusty May had been asking for in a 86-72 blowout at Crisler Center on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Michigan wasn't perfect. The Wolverines went 1-for-8 from the free-throw line in the first half and had nine turnovers before the break, but it was much closer to the standard Michigan set over the first two months.
Elliot Cadeau led the way, scoring 19, which included 10 of the team's first 12 points, while Aday Mara had 13 and Yaxel Lendeborg scored 15. Four players made multiple 3-pointers – the team shot 10-for-25 from long range – in what was U-M's best shooting night in the new year.
No. 2 Michigan (17-1, 7-1 Big Ten) will look to extend its winning streak to four on Friday, Jan. 23 (8 p.m., Fox) when it welcomes rival Ohio State to Ann Arbor, the night former star guard Trey Burke is set to have his jersey put up in the rafters.
Rebounding and effort
Michigan had ranked outside the top-200 in the nation in defensive rebounding over the past month, but absolutely dominated the Hoosiers on the glass. U-M won the battle of the boards 41-25 (it was 24-8 at the half) which led to a decisive advantage on second-chance points.
All night long, Michigan brought the juice. It started early on defense, when Roddy Gayle Jr. set the tone, walling off IU leading scorer Lamar Wilkerson on three straight drive attempts. Later, Morez Johnson Jr. swatted a Wilkerson layup attempt after he and Nimari Burnett had him trapped, which led to a runout.
One of U-M's early turnovers came when Cadeau tried a behind-the-back bounce pass to Mara. It appeared to lead to a fast break for IU the other way, only for Will Tschetter to race down court, slow the push and force a Trent Sisley missed floater, which earned a high-five from May.
The highlight of the first half was when Johnson got his own miss off a free throw and dished the ball to Cadeau. Even though he missed the layup, Johnson came flying through for the putback slam to go up, 35-23.
Finding their stroke
U-M had been struggling to shoot in recent weeks. Oregon was the first time in the past six games it made even 33% of its 3-pointers, but it found its range again against the Hoosiers. Cadeau made his first two 3-point tries of the night before McKenney got going, hitting two in less than two minutes to put the Wolverines up early, 22-5.
Though IU clawed back after making just 1 of 15 shots to open the game, Michigan always had an answer from deep.
Tschetter and Burnett buried back-to-back shots from behind the arc to make it 28-13 and as soon as IU got within 10, Tschetter canned another to make it 38-25.
Michigan picked up right where it left off in the second half. Lendeborg probed and kicked out to the left corner for a Burnett 3 before Mara threw a one-hand swing pass out to Lendeborg on the next possession, who drilled a 3 of his own, forcing an IU timeout down 48-33 with 18:00 left.
Burnett's third 3 of the night made it a 20-point lead with 14 minutes to play and the game would never truly get tight again.
The team was 25-for-41 (61.0%) from the floor when Gayle hit a slashing layup to go up, 65-41. From that moment, U-M went cold until a transition lob from Burnett to Lendeborg for a slam put Michigan back up 18 with 3:42 to play.
Michigan finished the night 27-for-53 (51%) from the floor.
Defensive delight
This was U-M’s best defensive performance against a power school since it held Villanova to 61, even if Indiana technically did score six more than USC.
IU made just 1 of 15 shots in the first 10 minutes of the game, which included 10 misses from 3.
Michigan switched effectively, fought through and over screens, rotated to near-perfection and limited second-chance points to keep IU to one-and-done possessions.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines blocked six shots and allowed just four second-chance points on five offensive boards.
Wilkerson, who entered averaging 19.6 points a night, was limited to just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting, while Tucker DeVries did get to his average of 15, but they all came in the final eight minutes of the game when the result was well in hand.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball score as Wolverines steamroll Indiana
Category: General Sports
