Photo credit Aaron J. Thornton
By Aaron J. Thornton
The Michigan Wolverines basketball team traveled to the New York City this week to compete in the Legends Classic. The two day tournament included Michigan, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Michigan was matched up against Pittsburgh on the first day of the tournament. Despite scoring first on a basket by Kobe Bufkin of the Wolverines, Michigan found itself down early 2-8. The Wolverines took the lead midway thru the first half and never trailed again en route to a 91-60 blowout victory over the Panthers. Michigan was led by Freshman Jett Howard with 17 points. In the other game on the first night, Arizona State had a come from behind win over VCU. The final score of that game was ASU 63 – VCU 59.
The Maize and Blue played against Arizona State on Thursday night, the second day of the tournament. Michigan again started off slow, missing its first four field goals in the game and hitting only 2 of their first 20 shots. While Michigan struggled, ASU was hot and took an early lead 15-5 over Michigan. During one stretch in the first half, the Sun Devils built their lead to 21 points over the #20 ranked Wolverines. At half time, Arizona State led by 18 points, 46-28.
The second half wasn’t much better for Michigan, as they continued to struggle with their shots and couldn’t find and answer to slow down Arizona State. The Wolverines would end the game shooting a dismal 34% from the field (18% from behind the three point line) and lose their first game of the year to the Sun Devils 87-62. Arizona State shot 60% in field goals for the game including a red hot 58% for three pointers. Desmond Cambridge Jr. of Arizona State led all scorers in the game with 20 points. Hunter Dickinson led Michigan with 14 points and 5 rebounds.
Michigan (3-1) will host Ohio University (1-2) in their next game on Sunday, November 20th at Crisler Center.
Credit: Aaron J. Thornton
About Post Author
