Michigan Basketball: Teske and Simpson lead Wolverines to 17-0

Michigan basketball beat Northwestern Sunday night to start 17-0 for the first time and the way it happened should frighten opponents.

Following a win over Northwestern Sunday at the Crisler Center, Michigan basketball reached 17-0 for the first time in program history. However, the scariest thing for opponents had to be the way the Wolverines won.

It wasn’t just that Michigan basketball beat Northwestern, it was that the Wolverines did it with an offense that was led by Jon Teske and Zavier Simpson.

Simpson, the defensive-minded point guard, scored 24 points for the Wolverines and in the process, he connected on 5-of-10 3-pointers. For his part, Teske did something similar, connecting on three treys in the first half on his way to 17 points and 11 rebounds. It was his second straight double-double.

You expect a lot of things when you play Michigan basketball, but you don’t expect to give up 17 first-half points to Teske or 24 to Simpson, not with Jordan Poole, Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis to worry about.

Yet, against Northwestern, that’s exactly what happened.

In the first half, when the Wildcats were trying to overcome an 8-0 start by Michigan, it was Teske who hit three times from beyond the arc, twice late to help the Wolverines take a 50-28 advantage into halftime.

In the second half, Northwestern battled its way back. The Wildcats got it back within striking distance — down to 12, when Simpson took over, connecting on three triples in the second half, including a key step-back late that served as the final nail in the coffin.

When the 40 minutes were up, the Wolverines won 80-60. Michigan basketball is now 17-0 on the season, as well as 6-0 in the Big Ten, where it remains tied for first place. In addition to the 24 points from Simpson and the 17 from Teske, Matthews also added 13 points, including a thunderous dunk in the second half. Iggy also scored 11 in the easy win.

In the previous four games against Northwestern, Michigan hadn’t scored 70 and averaged just 65 points and 21 percent from three. Sunday, Michigan scored 80 and hit on 11-of-27 3-pointers.

It was an incredible performance and other teams have to be thinking, what do we do? If Simpson and Teske are knocking down perimeter shots on the regular, I don’t know how you stop the Wolverines.

And for that matter, I don’t know how you beat them.