Michigan mauled Iowa 60-46 in a ho-hum affair that was never close. The Wolverines burst out to a 13-0 lead and never looked back. Iowa did not score their first point until almost 7 minutes had elapsed in the game. They did not get their first field goal until Devan Bawinkel drained a three-pointer with 10:36 left to play in the first half. By that time the score was 17-5 and the Hawkeyes were done.
DeShawn Sims
Michigan’s offense was clicking at the start of the game. DeShawn Sims scored 6 of the first 13 points and two of his makes were off really nice feeds from Zack Novak and Manny Harris. Stu Douglass drilled his first two triples and looked smooth doing it. “We had a great offensive flow sometimes and it was just beautiful,” said John Beilein.
The Wolverines started the second half on an 18-7 run and opened up a 24 point lead. In the closing minutes Michigan eased off the gas and Iowa managed to make the final score look respectable.
“We were sloppy at the end; we stopped scoring because we were sloppy,” said Beilein. “I think they [his players] felt the game was out of hand and that’s natural when you’re up by that much. That’s not our goal to ever be that way. We always want to finish the game and play all the way through.”
The key to the game was Michigan’s defense. They held Iowa to 31% shooting from the field and 17% from three-point range. “What a great defensive game by us for most of the whole game,” Beilein said. The Wolverines also hauled down 44 rebounds, their most since opening night. The rebounding comes back to defense. John Beilein said you can’t get 44 rebounds if you don’t make them miss shots. The Michigan defense has grown by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season.
DeShawn Sims continued his dominance as he tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds. Manny Harris also scored 20 points, but he did have 6 turnovers and shot 3-9 on three-pointers.
After a win, Michigan always sings their fight song The Victors in the locker room. Coming off those 3 consecutive tough losses (Wisconsin, Purdue, and Michigan State) Beilein said, “We needed to sing that song today, very badly.”
The win bumps Michigan’s record back over .500 at 11-10 and they are 4-5 in the Big Ten. Next up for Michigan is a trip to Northwestern on Tuesday and a home game against Wisconsin on Saturday.
Notes
- John Beilein confirmed that Blake McLimans and Jordan Morgan will redshirt. He added that Morgan had injured his surgically repaired knee recently and has missed the last two weeks of practice. He described the injury as a contusion.
- Michigan scored 22 points off of a season-high 19 offensive rebounds.
- In my game preview, I predicted Michigan would win by 14 points 74-60. They did win by 14 points, although the final was 60-46.
Recent Michigan Basketball Stories
- Sometimes you just have to land the plane
- “We have to bounce back”
- Michigan drops a 57-56 heartbreaker to MSU
About Rob White