While the football team is in sunny Tampa, Florida preparing for their bowl game against Alabama, the basketball team took care of business routing Western Kentucky at home to go 10-3 on the season. The WKU Hilltoppers traveled up to Ann Arbor Sunday for a night game but played without two of their starters, senior forward Babacar Faye and graduate guard Khristian Lander, both out with injuries and as it turns out Western Kentucky could have definitely used them.
Michigan controlled the game from the start, never trailing in the contest. Behind a couple different runs, the Wolverines quickly found themselves up double digits midway through the first half. Taking advantage of the Hilltoppers zone defense, Michigan made 11 three pointers with a total of nine different Wolverines scoring in the first half. Seven of those nine players connected from three point range as the team shot an impressive 52% from behind the arc. The team in maize and blue ran away from the Hilltoppers scoring 59 points in the first 20 minutes going into the break with an astonishing 28 point lead.
The second half of play was just as dominant with Michigan outscoring Western Kentucky 53-33. Eleven different Wolverines scored in the game and just about everyone on the team saw some playing time for Coach Dusty May. The only player not seeing any floor time was Rubin Jones who was on the bench sitting it out due to injury. Michigan broke 100 points with about six minutes left in the game on a three pointer by Danny Wolf, and it was a historical moment as well as it was the team’s 19th triple tying a program record. Michigan’s superior performance resulted in a 48 point victory, 112-64, over a team that was 9-3 coming into the game.
Six players for Michigan scored in double figures led by Nimari Burnett and Vlad Goldin with 17 points a piece. Point guard Tre Donaldson surprisingly led the team with a game high 11 rebounds. Donaldson also added 12 points to complete a double-double on the night. Don McHenry of WKU led all players with 18 points in the game.
Michigan (10-3) will take the long flight out to Southern California to play the USC Trojans (9-4) on Saturday. Western Kentucky (9-4) will travel to Virginia and play the Liberty University Flames (12-1) on Thursday.
Final Score: Michigan 112 – Western Kentucky 64