LAS VEGAS \u2014 The Wolverines are putting on quite the show on the Las Vegas Strip.<\/p>\n
For the second straight night, Michigan dominated its Players Era Championship game, beating No. 21 Auburn 102-72 Tuesday at Michelob Ultra Arena. As a result, Michigan will play in the event\u2019s title game Wednesday night. The opponent will be Tennessee or the winner of Tuesday night\u2019s Gonzaga-Maryland game.<\/p>\n
The No. 7 Wolverines owned the second half of Monday\u2019s 40-point win over San Diego State and picked up where they left off against Auburn. Michigan shot 52% to Auburn\u2019s 36%, made 14 3-pointers and led by at least 20 for the final 24:29. Michigan improved to 6-0 on the season.<\/p>\n
For Michigan\u2019s returners, the victory was revenge for last season\u2019s loss to the Tigers in the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n
Tuesday was a team effort. Yaxel Lendeborg and Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 17 points each. Nimari Burnett and Morez Johnson Jr. both had 15. Six different Wolverines scored in double figures, including three reserves, and six grabbed at least five rebounds.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t matter that two starters sat for the majority of the first half with two fouls apiece. Michigan took control early and never let up. The lead was 28 at halftime.<\/p>\n
Michigan even caught some luck, always useful in Vegas: Auburn made just 18 of 33 free throws.<\/p>\n
Tahaad Pettiford, the lone Tiger left who appeared in last year\u2019s NCAA Tournament win over Michigan, made four of Auburn\u2019s 10 3s and finished with 16 points. The Tigers managed a measly three assists on their 22 made baskets.<\/p>\n
The Wolverines\u2019 2-0 record in this event combined with their cumulative victory margin \u2014 counted as 40, as each game was capped at 20 \u2014 put them in the championship. Tennessee is also 2-0 and the Gonzaga-Maryland winner will be as well. The championship will be Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET at MGM Grand Garden Arena.<\/p>\n
Michigan caught fire from 3 early in the second half, with Gayle\u2019s triple extending the margin to 72-42 before the first media timeout. Gayle\u2019s alley-oop to Lendeborg was another highlight during the stretch. L.J. Cason\u2019s second-half 3 plopped on the back of the rim and fell in, making it 82-51 with 10:07 left.<\/p>\n
Later, the deep reserves had Michigan\u2019s regulars going wild on the bench. Redshirt freshman Oscar Goodman drove past his man and threw down a two-handed dunk over a leaping Tiger. Freshman Winters Grady canned a 3, his first points of his career. They came on consecutive possessions and gave Michigan a 100-65 lead.<\/p>\n
Pettiford made two free throws on the game\u2019s opening possession before Michigan ripped off 11 straight points to take the lead for good. Aday Mara shuffled a pass to Johnson for an and-one layup. A scramble that included multiple collisions led to a breakaway dunk for Nimari Burnett.<\/p>\n
Pettiford made two more free throws but Michigan kept coming and Auburn missed its first eight shots. Johnson made another basket through a foul. He missed this free throw but Gayle got the rebound and Johnson scored again. Michigan led 16-4. Auburn answered with back-to-back 3s.<\/p>\n
Trey McKenney came off the bench and promptly followed up Lendeborg\u2019s second 3 with one of his own. Burnett scored via goaltending after an offensive rebound. Michigan led 36-20 with 7:16 left in the half. It made no difference that starters Elliot Cadeau and Mara were on the bench in foul trouble.<\/p>\n
McKenney canned another 3. Lendeborg converted an and-one and flashed the \u201cMichigan\u201d across his chest to the Wolverine fans in the building. Gayle followed with precise footwork and strong finish at the rim. It was all part of a 12-0 run that made it 48-24 with 3:22 left in the half. Michigan pushed its lead to 29. Cason\u2019s acrobatic scoop shot beat the buzzer and made it 59-31 at half.<\/p>\n
The Wolverines have been strong in in the second half this season and that trend continued Tuesday. Merely needing to be decent, they were dominant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 The Wolverines are putting on quite the show on the Las Vegas Strip. For the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":405715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[32579,214,191506,62,135450,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-405714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-auburn","9":"tag-michigan","10":"tag-ncca-mens-basketball","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-top-25","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115615456770995291","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}