Michigan Basketball: Jordan Poole catches fire in win over South Carolina

Michigan basketball beat South Carolina to improve to 10-0. Here is a quick recap and some highlights from the Wolverines win.

After the impressive start to the season for Michigan basketball, the Wolverines almost seem invincible. But we have to remember, this is still a young team and one that is still growing.

That room for growth showed at times Saturday against South Carolina as Michigan basketball had a lackluster day on defense in an 89-78 win at Crisler Arena. It was a nice win, however, the victory didn’t come as easy as one might expect.

The Wolverines were winning home games by an average of 21 and that was against teams like North Carolina and Purdue. South Carolina came in at 4-4 and ranked outside the top 100 in the Kenpom rankings. Early on though, they grabbed a lead, until Charles Matthews hit this smooth fadeaway.

South Carolina kept the game tight in the first half, thanks in large part to a 50-percent shooting effort and 10 Michigan turnovers. Yet, this bucket by Ignas Brazdeikis, which came right after a 3-pointer by Isaiah Livers, put Michigan up 34-29.

While Jon Teske isn’t necessarily known for his offense, his play has been getting better and he finished with 15 against the Gamecocks including this impressive slam dunk, which helped UM grab a six-point halftime lead.

Teske had a great game offensively, yet he took care of things on the defensive end too with nine rebounds and three blocks including this one early in the second half.

Teske, Matthews and Iggy all played well for the Wolverines with 44 points combined between them, however, the real story was Jordan Poole, who scored 26 points who was 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Poole was on fire from deep but he also showed he can do some damage going to the bucket.

In a lot of ways, this was far from Michigan basketball’s best game. The Wolverines allowed 78 points when their previous high was 67. UM also turned the ball over 16 times and allowed South Carolina to shoot 51.6 percent from the field.

But in the end, none of that mattered. What mattered more was the 19 points Poole scored in the second half, an effort that included three 3-pointers. He was 8-of-12 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. He also grabbed five boards and dished out four assists.

Poole was lighting things up from deep but so was Livers, who also finished 4-of-7 from deep for a total of 12 points. Zavier Simpson also finished with seven points, seven assists and five rebounds. The win got the Wolverines to 10-0 on the season.

Michigan basketball will be off for the rest of the week until the Wolverines host Western Michigan next Saturday at Crisler Arena.