DES MOINES, IOWA — Michigan looked a bit sloppy out of the gate in a first round NCAA Tournament game with Montana Thursday night, but the Wolverines’ opponent was bad enough that it couldn’t do anything about it. U-M pulled away in the second half for a 74-55 win.
Center Jon Teske was, as expected, a huge size mismatch for the Wolverines, but he did his first damage outside with an early triple. Unlike last year when they fell behind 10-0 in a first round game with the Grizzlies, the Wolverines got off to the early double-digit lead.
Redshirt junior Charles Matthews scored six early points inside, and sophomore shooting guard Eli Brooks gave U-M an early 15-4 edge with a triple at the 12-minute mark. Montana made only three of its first 16 shots, most of the misses midrange and long jumpers.
The Wolverines, meanwhile, continued to move the ball well on offense. They had six assists on their first nine makes, and it was 21-6 at 8:23 when Matthews scored inside on the break following a missed dunk in transition on the other end.
U-M wasn’t sharp, having turned it over five times in the first 12 minutes, but still enjoyed a comfortable lead. The Wolverines were only 2-for-8 from three-point range, both Jordan Poole and Isaiah Livers 0-for-2. Livers especially had good looks but wasn’t close … U-M also made only one of its first four free throws.
They made up for it with some solid shooting. It looked to be their night when Matthews hit a step back jumper at the shot clock buzzer that made it 25-8 with just over six minutes remaining in the half.
U-M continued to be sloppy with the ball, however, to allow the Grizzlies to hang around. Junior point guard Zavier Simpson was uncharacteristically lax, turning it over four times in the first 15 minutes. Montana even cut it to 12 before a Teske dunk inside and a Matthews free throw pushed it back to 30-15 heading into the last three minutes of the stanza.
The Grizzlies didn’t fold. Donaven Dorsey’s triple pulled it back to 12, and it was an 11-point edge after Michael Oguine’s three-point play.
The half ended 34-21 after a pair of Livers free throws, but U-M could have been up much more given how poorly the Grizzlies shot (9-for-33, 1-for-11 from long range). Michigan turned it over eight times, four by Simpson.
Matthews led Michigan with 11 points and seven rebounds at the break. Frosh Ignas Brazdeikis added eight points, Teske seven for the Wolverines.
SECOND HALF
Michigan missed two opportunities inside to expand the lead, and a Sayeed Pridgett triple and finish inside quickly cut the lead to eight.
Poole finally answered with a triple from the corner, his first points of the game, to stop the run. Matthews added a corner jumper and a triple to push it back to a comfortable 16, a great response from the Wolverines.
Teske from Simpson on the alley-oop made it a game-high 18-point edge heading into the first TV timeout.
Montana started applying full court pressure, and the Wolverines got sloppy again. The Grizzlies scored four straight after Poole picked up his third foul, a phantom call four minutes in to the half that forced head coach John Beilein to go back to Brooks.
Simpson stopped the run with one of his patented hook shots, but the fouls continued to mount. U-M had five in the first six minutes of the half, and the Grizzlies were in the bonus at 13:00.
Matthews, though, continued to play well. His free throws made it 50-32, and he was approaching double double territory with 18 points and nine rebounds approaching the 10-minute mark.
U-M took its biggest lead, 54-35, on two Brazdeikis free throws, and the lead ballooned to 20 on Poole’s three-point play with 8:29 remaining. All the Wolverines needed to do was kill the clock at that point to move on to play Florida, a winner over Nevada, Saturday.
They did more than that, pulling away behind five points from Livers that pushed the lead to as much as 27. Matthews picked up his double-double with his 10th rebound at 2:25; he finished with 22 points to lead the Wolverines.
Brazdeikis finished with 14 points, Teske 11 with nine rebounds and Poole 10 in the win. Michigan went 19-for-24 from the free throw line and picked up 15 assists on 25 made baskets.
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