ANN ARBOR – A difficult start and an unstable finish for Michigan yielded a familiar result: a comfortable victory. Michigan returned to the Crisler Center for the first time in 30 days on Thursday and beat Rutgers 71-64.
No. 3 Michigan will visit No. 4 Ohio State on Sunday afternoon.
If the Wolverines (15-1, 10-1) were spying ahead for that confrontation, they didn’t show up for much of the night. They used an 8-0 run at the start of the second half to go up 15. Rutgers didn’t come close to 11 until the final two minutes, with the game never really in doubt at the end.
Franz Wagner led all scorers with 20 points, while he added seven rebounds and three assists in several drive-and-dish moves.
Michigan improved to 14-0 at all times against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights visited the Crisler Center after winning five out of six, but struggled to break Michigan’s strong defense.
Michigan kept Rutgers at 3 out of 12 in the 3-point range and 40 percent on the field.
At the other end of the room, Michigan had three turns in the first time limit for the media, but he settled down and ended up with just 11 turns. (Rutgers had only three in a fair game, although a little exhausting.) Hunter Dickinson scored 10 points and eight rebounds, while Mike Smith scored 12. Isaiah Livers’ winning streak came to an end when he was held to seven points in 3 out of -10 shooting.
For Michigan, the game was ended by offensive fights. Giveaways were the problem at first, as Michigan was five points behind. After finding a slot to climb 17, Michigan only made a basket almost 11 minutes late.
Myles Johnson’s effectiveness (13 points) close to the basket for Rutgers made Michigan work to close it. Rutgers dropped to 12-8 (8-8).
Michigan had five games postponed in the past few weeks before returning to Wisconsin on Sunday, hence the long break between home games. The Wolverines have yet to face any of the Big Ten’s top ten contenders, but that will change on Sunday. The Buckeyes beat Penn State on Thursday 90-80 to improve to 12-4 at the conference.
It looked like Michigan could get to the top five. Smith’s base jump put Michigan ahead by 17 with 11:52 to go. But the Wolverines went the next 5.5 minutes without scoring, while Rutgers reduced the deficit to 12. Smith’s shot with the remaining 5:08 finally broke Michigan’s goal drought and made it 59-45.
Rutgers reduced the margin to eight three different times. Michigan would have had another double-digit win had it not been for Jacob Young’s 3 in Rutgers’ final possession. Young finished with the team’s best mark, 16 points.
The game started with a rarity – a ball stuck after the ball at the top, which required a second opening tip.
Michigan was offensively disjointed at first, while Rutgers connected in mid-range shots to grab an early lead.
Smith and Brandon Johns Jr. connected in consecutive 3s of opposing corners, crowning a 13-2 streak that put Michigan ahead 22-15 with 8:39 remaining.
Geo Baker, challenged on the edge by Livers, missed a dunk, but led to a Ron Harper Jr. 3, his first shot in 23 attempts, which reduced the deficit to four.
Wagner’s 3 pushed to seven, 31-24, with 3:55 remaining for the break. His floater from behind the table just before the break gave him nine points and made the 37-28 in Michigan at the break.