Michigan Destroys Northwestern, 85-66, To Improve to 9-0 On The Year
The Michigan Wolverines' basketball team picked up an impressive 85-66 win over Northwestern this evening at Crisler Center to improve their overall record to 9-0 on the year.
The Maize and Blue continued their roll and maintained their position atop the conference with tonight's stellar showing.
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Miss any of the action? Here's how the entire game unfolded…
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First Half
Northwestern had the upper hand early tonight, with a lay in from junior Wildcat forward Pete Nance putting his club up 6-0 at the 16:59 mark. Freshman center Hunter Dickinson finally got Michigan on the board at 16:47 with a lay in of his own.
The Wildcats led 8-2 when sophomore guard Franz Wagner drained a triple at the top of the key at 16:07 to trim Northwestern's lead to 8-5, and fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith finished an impressive layup in transition to cut the deficit to just 8-7 at the under-16 timeout.
A driving layup from Wagner at 14:57 gave Michigan its first lead at 9-8, before senior guard Eli Brooks increased the margin to 15-10 on a three-pointer from the left wing at 13:31.
Senior guard Chaundee Brown joined the three-point party when he drained one from the right wing with 12:06 to go in the half, putting U-M on top 18-12. The Wolverines were four-of-seven from deep at that point.
U-M's lead sat at 18-12 at the under-12 timeout. The three-point barrage would then continue in a big way. Senior forward Isaiah Livers connected on a triple at 9:16 to put Michigan up 23-14, and the Wolverines were five-of-eight from deep at that point.
The hot shooting continued when Brown drilled his second three-pointer of the game, this time with 8:23 left in the half to give the Maize and Blue their biggest lead at 26-16. U-M was a red-hot six-of-nine from deep at that juncture.
A triple from Brooks with 2:03 left in the half extended U-M's margin to 37-29, after Northwestern had trimmed it to just 34-29. The game was then blown wide open when Wagner canned a three-pointer of his own at 1:30 to put the Wolverines on top 40-29, with Brooks closing out the half in fashion with yet another triple at the 1:04 mark to give the Maize and Blue a 43-29 lead at the intermission.
U-M ended the first half nine-of-16 from behind the arc, and a 55 shooting percentage overall.
Second Half
It was The Hunter Dickinson Show to begin the second half, with the 7-1 freshman scoring 10 of the team's first 12 points to kick things off. His scoring outburst gave U-M its biggest lead of the game up to that point as a result, with the Wolverines taking a commanding 54-36 lead early in the half.
The edge was stretched to 23 (63-40) on a three-pointer from Livers from the left wing at 13:56, causing Northwestern head coach Chris Collins to call a timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Michigan was shooting a red-hot 56 percent from the field at that point, and was 10-of-18 from deep. Livers showed off a nifty turnaround jumper along the baseline at the 12:12 mark to give his team their biggest lead of the night at 67-41.
Brown maintained Michigan's 26-point edge (69-43) when he converted a layup off a missed three-pointer from Livers at 10:43, on a play that was the result of pure hustle and intensity.
Junior forward Brandon Johns joined the three-point party by draining a triple of his own at the 9:13 mark, ballooning the annihilation to 72-46 in U-M's favor. A trifecta from Brooks with 7:40 left in the game increased U-M's margin to 77-48, giving the 6-1 senior guard 14 points at that juncture.
Michigan as a team was also 11-of-24 from behind the arc. Dickinson ended his night in style by slamming home massive jams on back-to-back possessions at 4:34 and 4:10, making the score 81-53 after his second dunk and concluding his evening with 19 points.
Head coach Juwan Howard then emptied his bench with 4:10 left in the game, inserting freshman guard Jace Howard, freshman guard Zeb Jackson, junior guard Adrien Nunez, freshman forward Terrance Williams (who had already played) and redshirt junior forward Jaron Faulds.
Jace Howard caused the Michigan bench to erupt when he finished a driving layup and got fouled to put U-M on top 85-60 at the 1:53 mark, though he proceeded to miss the free throw.
The Wildcats ended the game on a 7-0 run over the final 1:17, but that didn't put a damper on Michigan's impressive victory. The Wolverines shot 50 percent overall for the game, and saw Dickinson lead the way with 19 points.
They will next take the court Wednesday night at home against Minnesota.
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