Michigan basketball (11-3) took care of another non-conference with ease on Thursday night, defeating Alabama A&M (0-12) 97-47.
In an absolute trouncing, the Wolverines took care of the Bulldogs in quick fashion.
Lead by Duncan Robinson, Charles Matthews, and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Michigan shot 61-percent from the field and 48-percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
Alabama A&M was completely outmatched. TWL’s Anthony Wright goes more in-depth on this and where the Bulldogs rank nationally in his podcast here. If you haven’t been listening, you should.
All in all, Michigan took care of business against a team that it should’ve. This is a good look for the Wolverines moving forward.
Michigan’s Freshman Trio
Jordan Poole, Isaiah Livers, and Eli Brooks all played relatively well. Here is a look at their stat lines:
Jordan Poole – 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal in 13 minutes
Isaiah Livers – 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and a block in 17 minutes
Eli Brooks – 0 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in 15 minutes
The freshmen of the 2017 class continue to come along nicely.
Livers specifically has felt like he has been on the brink of giving significant minutes. We have seen his activity on the boards and his athleticism, but his shot seems to be following.
We could all get used to more of this:
Absence of Moe Wagner
With Moe Wagner continuing to sit out due to an ankle injury, Jon Teske and Austin Davis saw an uptick in minutes.
Teske played well in this game, but it is important to look at the context.
He played an 0-11 team, which was severely undersized.
Austin Davis is still clearly not ready to play against tough competition. In 12 minutes, the redshirt freshman had 4 points and 5 rebounds. Davis had a team-high 3 fouls. Michigan is one of the cleanest teams in basketball. They don’t foul and they don’t turn the ball over. If he is going to progress, the big man needs to learn to play big without fouling.
Player of the Game
Charles Matthews was the player of the game, and it wasn’t very close.
The transfer wing put up 22 points in the first half, which was only one point less than Alabama A&M’s first half score of 23.
Here is just one of his few And-1 plays from the game:
This was the most complete showing of Matthews’ talent that Michigan fans have seen yet.
We got to see Matthews succeed with and without the ball, from the 3-point line, and getting to the bucket and finishing.
He finished with 31 points (12-15), 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal.
Michigan basketball vs. Alabama A&M box score
Here is a link to the complete boxscore.
Michigan basketball’s next opponent
The next game for the Wolverines comes against the Jacksonville Dolphins (4-9) on Saturday the 30th, 6pm at Crisler.