Michigan notched its eighth Big Ten win of the season on Saturday afternoon at Jersey Mike's Arena against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Nothing about the scrappy Big Ten game would be described as pretty, but Michigan gutted out the 66-63 victory.

Danny Wolf led the way in scoring for the Wolverines with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Both teams started out ice cold from the field. Michigan turned the ball over twice in its first three possessions, and it took Rutgers almost three minutes to get into the scoring column.

Seven minutes into the game, Michigan led by a score of only 9-6.

With 12:39 remaining in the first half, Michigan starting point guard Tre Donaldson picked up his second foul of the game, and Dusty May immediately brought him out of the game. And just a few minutes later, with 8:57 to play, Nimari Burnett picked up his second foul, and he left the floor immediately, as well.

Because of the backcourt foul trouble, freshman Justin Pippen saw a major uptick in first-half minutes, logging 10, while Donaldson and Burnett saw 11 and 10 minutes of action, respectively.

At the half, Michigan led by seven and held the Scarlet Knights to just 25 points. Neither team shot well in the first half, but eight Wolverines made scoring contributions to contribute to the team-wide effort.

In the second half, Michigan did a solid job of maintaining its two-possession lead. Rutgers never led in the second half, and the Scarlet Knights were never able to even up the score with the Wolverines.

The Wolverines kept future top-three NBA pick Ace Bailey in check. The 6-foot-10 forward scored just 10 points — only half of his season average — on 3-of-15 shooting and 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Wolf, Donaldson and Vlad Goldin all finished in double-figures for the Wolverines in the victory. Michigan didn't shoot particularly well from the floor or from 3-point range, but the game plan appeared to work perfectly.

Michigan players and coaches talked at length about the challenge of shutting down a player of Bailey's caliber, and the Wolverines did just that on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, the Wolverines improve to 16-5 and 8-2 in the Big Ten. Michigan continues to hang around at the top of the conference standings with Michigan State and Purdue.

No. 16 Oregon will visit Crisler Center on Wednesday for a big-time duel for the Wolverines.

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