Michigan blew out Nebraska tonight, 82-53, in a game that was never competitive.
Here's how the whole thing unfolded:
First Half
Michigan got off to an incredibly hot start against the Cornhuskers, with sophomore forward Isaiah Livers — who started in place of injured redshirt junior guard Charles Matthews — putting U-M on the board with a layup at the 19:22 mark.
Livers extended the score to 5-0 with a triple at 18:15, and another three from junior center Jon Teske — which Livers assisted on — made it 8-2 at 17:20.
The early onslaught continued when Teske nailed another triple to put the Maize and Blue up 13-4 at 15:15. Sophomore guard Jordan Poole was credited with the assist.
Freshman center Colin Castleton then checked in at the under-16 timeout, and showed some nifty footwork on a layup with Cornhusker senior big man Tanner Borchardt draped all over him to give Michigan a 15-7 lead.
Castleton continued his impressive play with another layup in traffic to give U-M a 19-7 edge at 12:08, with Poole garnering the assist on the play.
Michigan extended its advantage to 25-11 on a corner three by Livers at the 8:55 mark, and then to 29-11 on an impressive driving layup and and-1 from freshman guard David DeJulius (he was fouled by Nebraska sophomore guard Nana Akenten, but missed the free throw).
The lead grew to 20 on a two-handed slam from Teske at 5:25, and then to 22 (39-17) when freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis nailed threes on Michigan's next two possessions.
Teske converted underneath the rim on U-M's final possession of the half to make it 43-21, and Nebraska junior forward Isaiah Roby hurled up a wild three to end the half.
The Maize and Blue shot shot 65 percent for the half, while Nebraska only hit 30 percent of its shots.
Second Half
Livers got the scoring started for Michigan after the break with a three to put U-M up 46-23, but the Cornhuskers then went on a quick run to trim the deficit to 47-30.
A triple from Teske at 15:12 stretched the margin back to 20 (50-30), however.
A monstrous one-handed slam by Poole in transition — in which he was fouled by sophomore guard Thorir Thorbjarnarson — then brought the house down and extended U-M's lead to 54-32 (he converted the free throw).
Poole continued his hot play with a triple at 13:19 to make it 57-32, and the score was 57-34 at the under-12 timeout.
Castleton's career night continued when he converted an and-1 — Akenten committed the foul — at 11:32 to balloon Michigan's margin to 62-36.
A corner three from Brazdeikis at the 7:25 mark made it 67-43, and then another Brazdeikis triple extended it to 72-45 with 4:48 remaining.
The blowout intensified when Teske spun in for an impressive layup to make it 74-45, giving him 22 points for the game (17 had been his previous career-high).
The arena got perhaps the loudest it had been all night when head coach John Beilein emptied the bench and brought in sophomore walk-on C.J. Baird, who immediately nailed a deep three with 2:51 to go, giving U-M a 78-49 edge.
Freshman forward Brandon Johns concluded the scoring with a spinning layup to make it 82-53, and U-M then then ran out the clock on its final possession of the game.
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