Michigan Destroys Houston Baptist In Every Facet, 111-68
The Michigan Wolverines' basketball team annihilated Houston Baptist, 111-68, tonight at Crisler Center.
In case you missed it, here's how the entire contest unfolded:
First Half
Michigan came out of the gates on fire tonight, with junior guard Eli Brooks getting the scoring started with a short floater in the lane to make it 2-0 at 19:36.
Junior forward Isaiah Livers extended the lead to 5-0 with a three at 19:10, and a Brooks triple made the score 10-2 at 16:53.
Michigan held a 12-4 edge at the under-16 timeout, and Livers and Brooks each had five points apiece at that point.
The onslaught continued with a driving layup by junior guard Zavier Simpson at 15:02, making the score 16-4.
Sophomore guard Adrien Nunez extended it to 19-4 with a triple at 14:20, and Simpson brought the house down when he threw a beautiful alley-oop to Livers in transition, with the junior slamming it down to make it 21-4 at 13:07.
The crowd erupted upon the junior's two-handed slam.
The three-point parade continued when Simpson drilled one to give U-M a 20-point lead (24-4), and the Maize and Blue held a 28-6 lead at the under-12 timeout.
The Wolverines' offense was shooting 59 percent from the floor at that point.
A Livers three at the 10:45 mark made it 31-8, and the junior already had 12 points.
The triple fest ensued with a dagger from Simpson to make it 34-10 with 10:07 to go, and the Maize and Blue were shooting 6-of-13 from deep at that juncture.
Freshman guard Cole Bajema checked in for the first time at the 8:04 mark, and he hit a short jumper to increase Michigan's lead to 38-10, and that's where things stood at the under-8 timeout.
The margin was advanced to 32 (48-16) when sophomore guard David DeJulius connected from behind the arc with 4:29 left in the half, and Livers poured in his third three of the half at 3:35 to make it 51-19.
Michigan was shooting a hot 8-of-16 from behind the arc at the under-4 media timeout.
Livers connected on a short one-handed floater at 1:12 (assisted from Simpson) to make it 58-24 and give him 17 points for the half, before Nunez ended the frame with a bang when he nailed a triple as time expired.
U-M took a 63-26 lead into the locker rooms, and connected on nine of its 19 three-pointers.
Second Half
Michigan started the second half a bit slower, with its first points coming on a Simpson triple at 18:25, lengthening the margin to 66-30.
The senior then poured in a driving layup at 16:40 to make it 71-30, and the Lima, Ohio, native had 20 points and was shooting 7-of-8 from the floor.
Nunez scored on a driving layup of his own at 13:30 to end an 8-0 Houston Baptist run, putting U-M up 75-41.
The Maize and Blue held a 78-45 lead at the under-12 timeout, but were being outscored up to that point in the half, 19-15.
Sophomore center Colin Castleton then registered in two points on a short bucket under the hoop to give him nine points in just 10 minutes, extending Michigan's advantage to 80-45.
Livers helped blow the roof off the building with a monster one-handed slam at 10:15 to extend the margin to 84-49, with Simpson finding the junior for his 14th assist of the night.
Redshirt junior center Austin Davis checked in for the first time with 6:57 left and U-M up 91-57, and immediately got on the board with an impressive move under the basket to lay it in and put his crew up 95-57.
Davis continued his stellar play with a massive two-handed dunk with 4:17 remaining, giving Michigan a 38-point lead (99-61).
The offensive outburst wasn't done yet, however, with Bajema nailing a corner triple at 3:16 to make the score 104-61, drawing a thundering ovation from the crowd.
The crowd got even louder, however, when guard C.J. Baird connected on a deep three-pointer, giving the Maize and Blue a 109-63 lead with just 1:55 left.
The Wolverines shot 56 percent for the game, and held HBU to just 37 percent from the floor.
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