Northwestern Routed By Michigan 74-51
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Nik Stauskas scored 18 points and Glenn Robinson III added 12 to lead Michigan to a 74-51 victory over Northwestern on Sunday.
The Wolverines (10-4, 2-0) have won six straight over the Wildcats, and this victory wasn't much different than Michigan's two routs last season. Northwestern (7-8, 0-2) trailed by only seven at the half but couldn't keep up. Jordan Morgan had eight points and eight rebounds for the Wolverines, who played without star big man Mitch McGary, who is out with a back problem.
Morgan and Jon Horford have been filling in down low, and they provided more than enough muscle against Northwestern. Horford had seven points and eight rebounds.
Drew Crawford led the Wildcats with 17 points, but scored only four of them in the second half.
Amid a major snowstorm in the Ann Arbor area, Michigan and Northwestern played in front of a quiet crowd with plenty of empty seats. Spike Albrecht provided the game's first real highlight with a nifty drop pass to Stauskas for a dunk on a fast break. That gave Michigan a 13-10 lead.
Caris LeVert's 3-pointer pushed the lead to seven, and he followed with a nice pass to Morgan for a layup and a 24-15 advantage.
It was 31-24 at halftime, and Stauskas started the second half off with a 3-pointer. Robinson then scored from the perimeter to give the Wolverines a 12-point lead.
Horford had 14 points and nine rebounds in a win over Minnesota on Thursday, and this time it was Morgan's turn to make a significant contribution. He had eight points and five rebounds in the first half alone.
There was concern about Robinson's status after he left the Minnesota game with an apparent right leg injury, but he played 31 minutes Sunday and showed his usual leaping ability.
An alley-oop dunk from freshman Zak Irvin on a fast break gave Michigan a 49-35 lead, and another dunk by Robinson in transition put the Wolverines up 53-37.
Irvin's 3-pointer from the left corner made it 64-40.
Northwestern lost twice to Michigan by a combined 50 points last season. Center Alex Olah scored 12 points Sunday on 4-of-5 shooting, but the Wildcats — especially Crawford — seemed to wear down as the game progressed.
Northwestern trailed 39-33 before Michigan went on a 14-4 run to break the game open.
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