Michigan basketball picked up its third win of the year against Southern Mississippi on Thursday night.
Unlike the last two games, Michigan (3-0) started off hot against Southern Miss (1-1). After the very first bucket by USM, the Wolverines went on a 12-0 run. The game was starting to look like a blow out – it wasn’t. Southern Mississippi made 7 of their last 8 shots to close out the half. Despite being up by 14 mid way through the 1st half, the Wolverines went into the locker room tied, 32-32.
The second half was a different story.
At one point, USM didn’t have a field goal in over 9 minutes, and over that span, Michigan had 20 points. The Wolverines pulled away late to win by a score of 61-47.
Takeaway’s from Michigan’s win over Southern Miss
Jon Teske was Michigan’s player of the game and continues to play great minutes. He was the best center on the team tonight. The big man had a double-double in his first 11 minutes he played.
AND THAT’S A DOUBLE-DOUBLE for @JonTeske !!!! pic.twitter.com/xaruvveGeG
— Michigan Men’s Basketball (@umichbball) November 17, 2017
Charles Matthews only played for 2 minutes before getting yanked by Beilein for committing a turnover. He seemed to be in hot water, and even when he reentered the game he still didn’t look all there. Matthews finished the half only playing 9 minutes with 0 points and 2 fouls. The forward bounced back a little in the second half and finished with a score line of 6 points (2-4), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers. Matthews is human, he is going to have bad games, but this is the first game where he didn’t really seem comfortable on the floor.
MAAR keeps getting buckets. The senior had a stat line of 14 points (6-14), 4 rebounds, and 4 assists – he also added a steal on defense. lets hope that he can continue putting the ball in the bucket heading into the Maui Invitational.
Not totally indicative of play, but worth noting: Grand transfer, and current backup, PG Jaaron Simmons had the 2nd highest +/- on the team with +20, while starting PG Zavier Simpson had a score of -6.
The Wolverines head out to Hawaii to face LSU (2-0) this upcoming Monday in their first round of the Maui Invitational.