Michigan Basketball has elite stretches in blowout win over UCF

Michigan basketball struggled early against Central Florida, but the Wolverines looked elite as they turned a 12-point deficit into a 22-point win.

By all accounts, UCF was supposed to be one of Michigan basketball‘s more challenging non-conference games and after spotting the Knights a 12-point lead it sure looked like it would be.

But once Michigan basketball turned to the bench, it recovered from its slow start, that saw it unable to get stops or get anything to fall and simply dominated from that point on.

Central Florida ripped off 11 consecutive points and it felt like last Sunday against Oakland all over again. Yet, this time around, Chaundee Brown wouldn’t have a cold shooting night.

Brown, Hunter Dickinson, Brandon Johns and Terrance Williams all proved to be key as they came off the bench to spark a 15-0 run that put Michigan basketball in the lead for good.

In the second half, the first unit which struggled to slow down the Knights, stacked stop after stop early in the stanza, which turned into easy buckets and after 3-balls from Eli Brooks, Brown and Isaiah Livers, UCF had the look of a deer in headlights.

The fact that Michigan outscored the Knights by 34 points over the last 30 minutes and change is really impressive, especially considering Franz Wagner and Livers sat for much of the run during the first half.

Instead of being sparked by those guys, it was sparked by two freshman, plus Brown and Johns. Those four players combined for 42 points off the bench, which is incredible considering the Knights finished the game with 58 total.

Michigan’s bench was explosive

Brown got hot like he did in the first game and connected on 4-of-6 3-pointers to score a game-high 18 points. Dickinson again showed why he should be starting, scoring 14 points, grabbing seven rebounds and not missing a single shot (6-of-6 from field).

Williams also added 10 points, six rebounds and a bunch of toughness off the bench when the Wolverines needed a spark. His defense and ability to play anywhere in the front court will ensure that he gets more minutes. The same can be said about Johns who scored only five points but made a much bigger impact than that.

The fact that Michigan won by 22 points with a combined 17 points from Livers, Wagner and Mike Smith was impressive. So were the final defensive numbers as UCF was held to 24 second-half points and 31-percent shooting for the game.

Michigan shot 49 percent overall and 33 percent from 3-point range with nine makes. The Wolverines also had just 10 turnovers as they improved to 4-0.