Michigan basketball handles Washington, improves to 5-0 in Big Ten play
Michigan got off to another great start in a 91-75 win over Washington, scoring inside and out in grabbling early control. The Wolverines attacked the rim and the glass on both ends, got early triples from Tre Donaldson and Vlad Goldin in the first few minutes, and cruised to their fifth Big Ten win without a loss.
U-M led by 8 at the 15-minute mark after Danny Wolf scored inside, his second drive and finish making it 15-7. Washington, though, heated up and hung around. The Huskies cut it to 19-15 before Donaldson’s drive and finish, and to 21-18 after a triple before Wolf’s drive and dunk pushed it back to 5. The Wolverines were shooting 64.3 percent from the floor at that point, but only 1-for-5 from long range.
Big man Great Osobor kept it close for the Huskies and was a problem, scoring 11 points in working both inside and out. Still, it was 26-21 at 10:00 after a Sam Walters triple followed by an Osobor free throw. The Huskies continued to shoot it well, though, and cut an 8-point deficit to our, 28-26, at 8:24. They were 9-for-16 from the floor and 3-for-3 from long range at that point.
U-M responded by attacking the rim. Two Roddy Gayle free throws after a drive, a drive and finish from wing Nimari Burnett, and a Gayle finish in traffic made it 35-26 at 6:40, forcing a Washington timeout. Burnett’s triple from the corner answered a Huskies triple, keeping the Wolverines comfortably ahead. Yet another Burnett triple made it 41-32 at 3:40 .
The Huskies continued to score to hang around, but they left Burnett in the corner too often in their zone. He hit another, and when Donaldson scored in transition to push the lead from 5 to 10 in seconds, the Crisler Center crowd came to its feet in appreciation. The half ended 48-38, Michigan having shot 58.8 percent from the floor to Washington’s 45.5.
Burnett led Michigan with 13 first half points, Gayle and Goldin adding 8 each. Osobor carried the load for the Huskies with 16. And in a half filled with nice stats, one — only 5 turnovers for the Wolverines — stood out.
SECOND HALF — Michigan pulls away for easy win
Burnett continued his outstanding play to start the half, pushing Michigan to its biggest lead (11 with a triple and then finding Gayle underneath for an and-one finish that made it 55-42 at 18:20. It was still 57-47 at the first TV timeout at 15:38, but the Wolverines had turned it over 4 times in just over 4 minutes in getting sloppier.
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Washington hung around, but Michigan always had an answer. Will Tschetter’s triple from the corner pushed the lead back to 60-49 after the Huskies had cut the deficit to 8; Donaldson to Goldin in transition pushed the lead back to 13.
Walters’ triple from the corner gave the Wolverines their biggest lead, 67-53, at 10:30. He hit another to make it 72-60, and he his two of three free throws pushed it to 74-60 at 8:31.
Wolf’s triple made it 77-60 at 8:04 and had the Wolverines rolling. Some fans even started heading for the exits. Justin Pippen‘s triple pushed the lead to 19 at 82-63, and the Wolverines held Osobor in check after the break, limiting him to two second half points through the first 15 minutes.
Michigan closed it out at the line, though Donaldson went 0-for-4 in a stretch and the Wolverines were only 13-for-22 from the stripe in the second half.
Goldin led Michigan with 19 points and added 7 rebounds in the win. Burnett added 16, Gayle 15, and Walters 12 for the Wolverines.
