Going on the road looking to avoid its second straight loss, Michigan defeated Rutgers 77-65.
The Wolverines got going early in the game taking control against the Scarlet Knights. Freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis opened the game scoring Michigan’s first eight points and U-M got out to an early ten point lead, making six out of seven shots.
Midway through the first half, Michigan got going from three, making four out of first five shots from deep to go up 15. The Wolverines extended their lead to 17 with 10:07 to go in the first half after making nine out of 11 shots.
Late in the first half, Rutgers ripped off a quick 8-0 run to close the gap to nine, but sophomore forward Jordan Poole answered back with a critical three to give Michigan a double digit lead again. The Wolverines led by 12 at halftime with Brazdeikis leading the way with 14 points and the team shooting just under 60 percent from the field.
After halftime, Michigan did not shoot it as well as they did in the first half, allowing Rutgers to hang around in the game. In the second half, the Wolverines shot 32.3 percent from the field. The Scarlet Knights cut the deficit to seven midway through the second half, but Poole answered back with another big three.
Rutgers wasn’t able to climb any closer the rest of the game and Brazdeikis finished with a team-high 23 points.
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