Not many people knew what to expect on Tuesday night at the Crisler Center when Michigan hosted UNC Asheville. After all, the Bulldogs won 27 games a season ago and made it to the NCAA Tournament — something Michigan couldn't accomplish.

The Wolverines were 10.5-point favorites over their opponent, but because of the unknowns surrounding the program heading into the season, an upset from UNC Asheville wouldn't have been totally astonishing.

But Michigan handled business rather easily. The Wolverines never trailed past 2-0, and they cruised to a 25-point victory.

For a team without its head coach and with multiple question marks across the roster, Tuesday night's win was an impressive statement from the unranked Wolverines. Associate head coach Phil Martelli said after the game that it's a credit to the team's maturity, even though Juwan Howard hasn't been as accessible.

"I think the biggest thing that stands out to me, now this is a personal thing, is, we have not had a day, we have not had an hour in a day, we have not had a drill in a day, where they're looking around and going, 'Yeah, where's coach?' and 'What would coach do?'"

With Howard still absent and recovering from heart surgery, Martelli is the one running practices, but he assured reporters after the game that the team and style of play is still 100% Howard's.

"This offense and this defense is Juwan Howard's offense and defense," Martelli said. "The way we practice is the way that I like to practice. And they haven't blinked. So that's where I appreciate them."

Martelli likened practices to that of a classroom in school, although he's not the ignorant substitute teacher — he's the knowledge regular teacher.

"You remember when you were a kid, and you walked in [to class], and your eyes got this big, and you went, 'Substitute teacher!' right? Well, I'm not the substitute teacher. Like, I don't mean that egotistically; like, I know what I'm doing here."

The timetable for Juwan Howard's return is still unknown, but as long as Martelli is coaching, he's going to continue to preach maturity, because according to him, they're going to need it later on in the season.

"The most mature that we need them to be is yet to come," Martelli said. "Just call it the way it is. We haven't trailed."

Martelli then dropped an interesting nugget regarding Michigan's secret scrimmage against Marquette, about which not many details got out.

"Just suppose, and I'm not reporting this, but just suppose we had a secret scrimmage in Milwaukee. Okay? And just suppose that the score that was reported was the score of that 48 minutes. And just suppose, in 48 minutes, we trailed twice."

The purpose behind Martelli's bringing up the secret scrimmage wasn't to brag about how good Michigan is, but instead it was an acknowledgement of the fact that the Wolverines "haven't gotten blood in [their] mouth yet."

"You get blood in your mouth when you're trailing. When it's not going your way. And that's when I would like to see their maturity come forth."

Michigan will undoubtedly be trailing at some point during the season, so it will have an opportunity to showcase its maturity, but until that time comes, it will look to continue riding a fast-paced offense to wins.

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