Michigan Basketball grinds past Nebraska

Michigan basketball (16-0, 3-0) picked up what turned out to be a very scrappy win against a Nebraska team that pushed the Wolverines all night long. A strong second half by the Wolverines eventually led them to a 62-47 win. The perfect 16-0 start matches the best beginning to a season in school history, tying the 1985-86 Wolverines’ effort. How They Won The outcome of this game can be looked at a few different ways: Michigan shot the ball poorly yet still managed to win by 15 points. A year ago this is likely a loss, or Michigan got really lucky to be playing lowly Nebraska on a night where they didn’t have their offensive game in its usual flow. Shoot like that against a better team and Michigan likely would have had their perfect season upended. Mitch McGary Either way, one of the nation’s best shooting teams went just 21-54 from the floor (38.9%) and were a dreadful 3-17 from long range (17.6%). Despite that, the rest of Michigan’s game remained intact. They turned it over just 5 times, committed only 7 personal fouls, and out-rebounded Nebraska 47-30. Of Michigan’s 47 boards, 16 of them came on the offensive end of the floor. With the shooting clearly off from the get go Michigan used their beef and tenacity to make sure Nebraska didn’t sneak out of Ann Arbor with a win. Trey Burke led the scoring charge with 18 points on 6-16 shooting (1-5 on threes). He was joined in the double-digit scoring club by Tim Hardaway, Jr. (15), Glenn Robinson III (14), and Nik Stauskas (13). Ray Gallegos paced the Cornhuskers with 19 points on a wild shooting night. He was 7-21 from the floor, including an erratic 4-16 from beyond the arc. Nebraska falls to 9-7 and 0-3 in Big Ten play. 3 Stars Tim Hardaway, Jr. – Right in line with his team’s poor shooting, Hardaway went just 5-14 from the floor and 0-3 from long distance but still managed 15 points and 11 boards for a solid double-double performance. All of Hardaway’s boards came via the defensive variety. Glenn Robinson III – Robinson was the only Wolverine who shot better than 50% from the field. He was 5-6 including another pair of highlight reel slam dunks. Robinson finished with 14 points, 6 boards, and a steal. Mitch McGary – The line of 2 points and 6 rebounds simply doesn’t tell the story to what this guy has meant to his team the past few games. McGary is leading the emotional charge game in and game out with his floor-burn style of play. The Monster also added a steal and another emphatic blocked shot to his stat line. News and Notes Michigan scored 19 points off of their offensive rebounding. Nebraska scored just 2. Nebraska did a tremendous job slowing down the pace of play and taking Michigan out of their rhythm. The Wolverines’ usual up-tempo style managed just 2 fast break points on the night. 60 of Michigan’s 62 points came from Hardaway, Robinson, Burke, and Stauskas. Michigan’s two lone bench points came on a 2nd half layup by McGary. Jordan Morgan got shut out in the scoring department on just one field goal attempt but made his presence felt with 11 rebounds (3 offensive). Jon Horford could have played tonight but John Beilein elected to give him one more night off in his recovery from a dislocated knee cap. He will likely play against Ohio State on Sunday. Michigan’s defense held the Corn to 19-56 shooting on the night (33.9%). Up Next Michigan will get a really good road test as they travel to Columbus to play the 15th ranked Buckeyes (12-3, 2-1) on Sunday afternoon. Tip is set for 1:30 in front of a national tv audience on CBS. With a win, the Wolverines will set a new team best by starting the season 17-0. If you would like to receive an email notification each time a Michigan Basketball story is posted you can fill out the Email Notification Form.