Michigan didn’t waste any time showing changes in the offense in Tuesday night’s home opener. They dumped it inside to Jon Teske on the first two possessions — the senior center responded with a lay-up and a turnaround jumper and scored the Wolverines’ first nine points in a 79-71 U-M win.
Teske hit a triple and grabbed four rebounds in the first three minutes alone. His put-back after an Eli Brooks runner rimmed out gave him Michigna’s first 11 points before Brooks ended his run with a triple from the corner. That made it 14-5 at 15:40 and started a rout.
Brooks added another triple, and by the time he checked out, Teske had added two rebounds to sit at 11 and 8.
Appalachian State made a mini-run after senior point guard Zavier Simpson went to the bench with his second foul at 12:23. Mountaineers guard Justin Forrest started attacking downhill at sophomore guard David DeJulius and cut the lead to 25-14 with his second consecutive drive and score. They cut it to 10 on an Isaac Johnson triple from the corner with a very fortunate bounce.
U-M continued to work it inside to Teske, and the Wolverines worked the offensive glass relentlessly. They played sophomore Colin Castleton with Teske for several minutes in the first half and pounded it inside. Livers’ triple pushed the lead back to 15, 32-17, at the 7-minute mark of the first half; his second triple, this one in transition, pushed the lead to 37-21. At that point, Teske was sitting on a 13-10 double-double.
A nice look from Teske to sophomore Brandon Johns and a steal and finish by Brooks pushed it to 41-21 at 3:53 and forced a Mountaineers timeout. U-M took a 46-25 lead into the break behind Teske’s 15 points and 11 rebounds and eight points each from Livers, Castleon and Brooks.
SECOND HALF
Michigan got out of the blocks quickly in the second half, pushing the lead to 58-31. Brooks remained hot, hitting a pair of triples against the Appalachian State zone before finally missing a couple. His third of the half made it 61-33 at the 15:20 mark, and his steal and finish pushed it to an even 30 on the next possession. He checked out around the 11-minute mark with a career-high 19 points, having gone 5-for-10 from long range.
The Wolverines started to get sloppy and lax on defense. Appalachian State cut it to 22 with 10 minutes remaining on a pair of buckets inside, but sophomore shooting guard Adrien Nunez tripled from the top to stop the run.
Still, the Wolverines went through a 1-for-7 rut and started hunting shots. They still led 70-46 at the 7:57 mark, but the Mountaineers continued to chip away. They cut it to 70-52 after Forrest three-point play and forced a U-M timeout after another Michigan turnover and App. State bucket made it 70-54 at 5:55. It was a 17-3 run at that point for the Mountaineers.
Another Simpson turnover, his fifth of the game, gave Appalachian State another free possession. They cut it to 70-57, taking advantage of a 4:57 U-M scoring drought. It was 70-60 when Forrest hit another triple, giving him 25 points, then 70-62 after another U-M turnover and an Appalachian State finish in transition.
It remained that way at 2:45 when Teske missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Mountaineers cut it to six on the next possession, and the Wolverines were tight.
U-M finally stopped the bleeding on a steal by Simpson. He missed at the rim, but Livers followed for Michigan's first two points during a 21-2 Mountaineers run. It still wasn't over. DeJulius missed a pair of free throws, and Adrian Delph tripled to cut the lead to 72-67. Brooks made one of two free throws to make it a six-point game, but ASU countered with two at the other end.
Brooks finally sealed it with four free throws, Simpson adding two free throws to cap the scoring in a 79-71 win.
Brooks led the Wolverines with 24 points, his best game ever in a Michigan uniform. Teske added 17 points and 13 rebounds, Livers 14. Michigan turned it over 17 times, 10 in the second half alone, but starts the season 1-0.
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