Men’s Basketball: Michigan beats UC Riverside 87-42

Men’s Basketball: Michigan beats UC Riverside 87-42

Michigan came back after the Maui Invitational strong as they beat UC Riverside from the Big West Conference.

UC Riverside came into this game 2-2 and had an upset win against Cal earlier this year. Despite the loss, Head Coach Dennis Cutts liked playing in Ann Arbor. “I do believe in our guys playing Division 1 programs at the highest levels and you need to expose your program against these types of teams,” said Cutts.  Even though the loss may be lopsided for UC Riverside there’s a lot they learn from in this game. “I like how Michigan shared the ball and the way they conducted themselves I like a lot.” Cutts said. “We are not quite there yet and we will use a lot of what Michigan does to help us.”.

Coming off the Maui Invitational, Michigan started off with a win. However, after the game Sunday,  Michigan enters a scheduling gauntlet, starting on Wednesday when they travel to North Carolina to take on the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. “It’s a stretch I have not seen before and it is a stretch Michigan has not seen before,” said Head Coach John Beilein. One player who has made a real difference for Michigan so far has been Charles Matthews who has made some improvements up to this point in the season. “He did not play much when he was at Kentucky.” said Beilein. “But either when he was with us or when he was in Kentucky when he redshirted he worked so hard on his game. Now the lights come on and now he has to do it in real time. Charles is a very young player with a lot of potentials.” Beilein continued. Beilein was also impressed with freshman Jordan Poole’s play against UC Riverside. “Jordan has grown great strides in many areas of the game.” Beilein said. “He’s got some things we really can’t teach as coaches and we are hoping to get him and Charles playing together at the same time.” Coach Beilein took into consideration fatigue factor heading into today’s game after coming off the Maui Invitational and had an interesting way to get them back into Eastern Standard Time. “We met with a sleep study.” Beilein said “We put them in a hotel last night and it was very rare for a 4:00 Game. We had what time we wanted them to sleep and what time we wanted them to get up every day and they gradually got them back to our time.” The Next Game for the Wolverines will be at North Carolina and it’s the first time that Beilein has played in Chapel Hill. “I have not coached a game against Roy Williams or coached at Chapel Hill and I don’t  know what to expect and hopefully we can go in there and give them a good game and hang around and win it.” Beilein said. Moe Wagner led the way with 21 points, 10 rebounds and was 4 for 5 from 3 point range. Charles Matthews had 17 points, 4 rebounds and was 7 for 12 from field goal range. It was a good night for Duncan Robinson as well as he finished the day with 13 points, 5 rebounds and was 5 for 8 from field goal range. Jordan Poole had 11 points and was 4 for 9 from field goal range

Michigan’s next matchup will be at North Carolina on Wednesday for the Big Ten/ ACC challenge. Tip-off will be at 7 pm at Chapel Hill.