National Basketball Association
Michigan 71, Air Force 50
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 22, 2018
Where: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Officials:
# Kelly Pfeifer, # D.J. Carstensen, # Brandon Cruz
Attendance:
12707
By Field Level Media
It wasn't a dirty dozen, but rather a mighty sweet dozen for No. 4 Michigan on Saturday, which cruised to its 12th straight victory to open the season.
Freshman Ignas Brazdeikis continued his great start to the season, scoring 19 points to lead Michigan to a 71-50 win over Air Force in a nonconference matchup at Ann Arbor, Mich.
The win gave Michigan its 26th win in its last 27 games. The Wolverines also won for the 26th time in their last 27 home games at Crisler Center.
Michigan established a cushion around the midway point of the first half, going on a 13-3 run to take a 24-13 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first half.
Air Force did finish the first half strong and cut Michigan's lead to 28-21 at halftime.
Michigan steadily started to put the game away in the second half, going on a 9-2 run over a span of 2:08 to take a 52-37 lead with 10:29 remaining in the game.
Michigan ultimately built its lead to as many as 23 points at 68-45 with 3:09 left en route to its 10th double-digit win of the season.
As the Wolverines have all season, they stymied an opponent with dogged defense.
Michigan forced Air Force into 18 turnovers and 2-of-11 shooting from 3-point range, although Air Force did manage to shoot 21-of-45 from the field overall (46.7 percent).
Senior Charles Matthews scored 17 points, and sophomores Isaiah Livers and Jordan Poole each added 11 points for Michigan, which went 10 of 32 from 3-point range and 28 of 60 from the field overall.
Michigan has one more nonconference game at home against Binghamton next Sunday before resuming conference play in January.
Junior forward Lavelle Scottie was the bright spot for Air Force as he finished with 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Air Force |
|
Michigan |
|
Lavelle Scottie 16 |
Scoring |
Ignas Brazdeikis 19 |
|
Chris Joyce 3 |
Assists |
Zavier Simpson 7 |
|
Ryan Swan 5 |
Rebounds |
Charles Matthews 7 |
|
Ryan Swan 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Ignas Brazdeikis 2 |
|
Pervis Louder 1 |
Steals |
Zavier Simpson 4 |
|
Lavelle Scottie 1 |
Blocks |
Jon Teske 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Air Force
|
50 |
46.7 |
2-11 |
6-12 |
8 |
24 |
1 |
4 |
20 |
| Michigan
|
71 |
46.7 |
10-32 |
5-7 |
15 |
30 |
5 |
9 |
11 |
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