Michigan Basketball Instant Recap: Sluggish Wolverines Beat WMU, 70-62

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Western Michigan’s Seth Dugan proved to be a load against U-M early, but it was guard Michael Flowers who kept the Broncos in the game the entire way. Michigan got an early spark from Jordan Poole, who scored U-M’s first four points after WMU jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and Michigan weathered the storm to win 70-62 behind Charles' Matthews big game.

Dugan scored the Broncos’ first five points and sent junior center Jon Teske to the bench with an early foul. U-M missed three early free throws, and two triples by Jared Printy made it 11-5 Broncos at the 14-minute mark, serving notice that Michigan was in for a game.

U-M got the transition game going to cut it to two on buckets by redshirt junior center Austin Davis and sophomore forward Isaiah Livers, but Flowers (31 points) hit a contested triple from the corner to keep the Broncos ahead.

The Wolverines’ struggles from the free throw line continued. Frosh Ignas Brazdeikis missed three, including the front end of a one-and-one at the nine-minute mark, and the problems mounted from there. Teske picked up his second foul and went to the bench. Michigan missed shot after shot and was 6-of-18 from the floor, 0-for-6 from three-point range before junior Matthews hit a triple to cut the lead to 17-16 at 6:52.

Flowers scored five straight after U-M tied it and answered a runner from junior Zavier Simpson with a drive and finish of his own to put the Broncos back up by five.

Flowers’ crazy finish and two free throws made it 28-20 WMU at 2:59, and Matthews missed two free throws to put U-M at 3-for-11 from the line.

U-M, though, closed the half with a flurry, outscoring WMU to take a 30-28 break into the half. Matthews scored eight of them, finishing with 13 points and adding nine rebounds, two of them on a coast to coast finish at the buzzer. Nobody else had more than four.

Michigan shot 1-for-8 from three-point range and only 5-for-13 from the line in the first half.

SECOND HALF

WMU opened the scoring on a Josh Davis finish inside after Teske missed a lay-up. U-M finally opened up some space when Matthews made a pair of free throws and Simpson hit a three to make it 35-30 at 18:37.

The Broncos turned it over and called timeout. Poole then put U-M up eight with a triple, his first points since he scored four early. Simpson added his second three-pointer after a Flowers score and Matthews finished in transition to make it 44-32 and force another WMU timeout.

The Broncos didn’t fold. They cut it back to seven when Flowers finished a three-point play and Printy hit a three-pointer; it was 45-40 after Dugan scored inside on a reverse over Davis.

Poole’s triple at 9:55 pushed the lead back to eight, 52-44 at 9:50.

Teske picked up his third foul when he hacked Printy beyond the three-point line at 9:10, but Printy only made one of three free throws. Simpson hit his third triple, this one from the corner, to put U-M back up 10 at the under eight timeout.

WMU continued to fight. The Broncos cut it to 55-49 at 6:20 on a finish inside by Kawanise Wilkins, forcing a U-M timeout. Brazdeikis drove and scored his first two points at 5:55 to push the lead back to eight points.

U-M continued to miss at the rim, and a flowers Triple from the top cut it to 57-52 before Brazdeikis countered with another drive and finish off the high glass.

Matthews made some free throws down the stretch, and was 7-for-8 in the half when he made a pair in the bonus to push the lead back to seven. Michigan had a chance to seize control, but Adrian Martin stripped Poole and scored to cut it to five and force a U-M timeout at 1:27.

Matthews hit a huge triple from the corner to push the lead back to eight points and give U-M some breathing room. The Wolverines closed it out with two Poole free throws and a steal and finish by Simpson.

Matthews led Michigan with a double-double, 25 points and 10 rebounds. Simpson notched 15 and five rebounds and Poole added 14 points for the Wolverines, now 11-0 overall.

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