Michigan Basketball adds another quality win against Providence

Michigan basketball won the Hall-of-Fame Tip-Off Tournament as the Wolverines beat Providence in the title game to get another quality win.

The Michigan basketball team notched an impressive non-conference win over Villanova last Wednesday, but it ended up being just one of two quality wins this week for the Wolverines.

Following the blowout of the Wildcats in a rematch of the National Championship game, Michigan basketball headed to Connecticut to take part in the final rounds of the Hall-of-Fame Tip-Off Tournament. The Wolverines beat George Washington in the semifinals Saturday morning, then knocked off Providence Sunday in the championship game, 66-47.

If you didn’t catch the game, the Wolverines won again with a dominating defensive effort. Dominating might not be the best word — suffocating might be better.

The Friars, who are ranked 61st according to Kenpom and made the NCAA tournament a season ago, shot just 28 percent against the Wolverines Sunday. From the 3-point line, it was even worse as Providence shot 11 percent. That’s not just good defense, that’s out of this world.

Jon Teske is a big part of that defensive effort for Michigan basketball, but Sunday, the big man did more than affect shots inside, he also scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds. Surprisingly, he was Michigan’s second-leading scorer. Ignas Brazdeikis led the Wolverines with 20 points and seven rebounds in another impressive showing for the freshman.

Zavier Simpson also put together another stellar all-around outing. He didn’t score a bunch of points, yet he did manage six points, six rebounds, eight assists and just one turnover. And of course, his effort on the other end was extraordinary.

The Wolverines didn’t shoot it great, just 44 percent from the field. UM was even worse from three as Michigan knocked down 6-of-18. Isaiah Livers and Eli Brooks both made two from deep, no one else made more than one.

While taking some preseason tournament hardware is always nice, the best thing about Sunday’s victory was adding another solid win on the resume. Providence is a solid team and should be around the 50-60 range in the RPI for most of the year and if true, beating the Friars on a neutral floor will look good for Michigan’s resume.

The season is still just a couple of weeks old, but already, Michigan basketball is 5-0 and has two top-60 wins, as well as a tournament title. All in all, not a bad start to the 2018-19 season.