West Lafayette, Ind. — A day after a couple Big Ten teams fell to lower-seeded squads in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines shut down any chance they would become the next victim.
Michigan put its size and defense on display in the No. 1 versus No. 16 matchup against Texas Southern and used a strong first-half effort to take care of business with an 82-66 win Saturday at Mackey Arena.
Grad transfer guard Mike Smith finished with 18 points and freshman center Hunter Dickinson scored 16 for Michigan (21-4), which led by double digits over the final 25 minutes.