Franz Wagner, Michigan Basketball get right in win vs Ball State

There were a lot of positives from Michigan basketball’s win over Ball State but Franz Wagner reaching double figures was maybe the biggest.

Michigan basketball didn’t need overtime to beat Ball State like it did Oakland on Sunday. In fact, there was no suspense at all over the final few minutes.

Instead of battling it out against a team ranked outside the top 300 in the Kenpom rankings, the Wolverines rolled to a 19-point win over Ball State Wednesday night and were so effective that head coach Juwan Howard was able to clear the bench with just under three minutes to go.

Michigan only made four 3-pointers on the night but still still shot 55 percent from the field and the biggest performance from the U-M perspective came from Franz Wagner, who scored 14 points on 4-of-6 shots. He also made all five of his free throws and his first triple.

Wagner also went through the game without a turnover, while also recording six rebounds and two assists. He had a weird run in that led to a minor injury but he recovered quickly.

Regardless, the performance will allow Wagner to build some much-needed confidence and that will be key going forward as the schedule starts to get tougher.

Wagner managed 14 points by getting the ball inside and he wasn’t alone. Hunter Dickinson had another stellar game off the bench, getting his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Austin Davis started the game and scored six points on 3-of-3 shooting.

A big difference between Wednesday and Sunday was the fact that Ball State didn’t run a zone defense. Mike Smith also didn’t get into trouble and got off to a much better start and scored 10 points. He made 5-of-8 shots and got the ball inside. He also dished out three assists and had just one turnover.

There was a few stretches where the defense had some issues such as the end of the first half but for the game, Michigan basketball held Ball State to 39 percent overall and 35 percent from beyond the arc.

K.J. Walton scored 20 points in the loss for the Cardinals and he caused some problems for the Michigan backcourt on defense, however, Isaiah Livers had another dominant performance for Michigan, making 8-of-11 shots for a game-high 21 points.

Livers was making all kinds of shots and scoring out of ball screens. Michigan has also scored more than 80 points in each of its games this season.

So far, Michigan has dominated MAC opponents on offense and soon we’ll see if that translates against major competition.