Livers-led Wolverines 'come out swinging,' take down Ball State

Ann Arbor — Hunter Dickinson got the ball on the block, took a dribble, made his move and finished with a soft hook shot over a defender.

As the freshman center trotted back down the court, he held his left hand down by his hip and signaled the opponent was too small.

It proved to be a sign as Michigan took advantage of its size and took care of business by rolling past Ball State, 84-65, on Wednesday at Crisler Center.

For the Wolverines, the comfortable win came on the heels of Sunday’s stress-inducing victory against Oakland.

BOX SCORE: Michigan 84, Ball State 65

“As a team, we knew that we were much better than that (Oakland outing),” said Dickinson, who recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. “We came out flat. We didn't have enough energy out there. We kind of played down to our competition.

“I think this game, as a team, the message amongst us was we've got to come out with energy, we've got to come out playing unselfish basketball and just play Michigan basketball. I think we did that today."

Senior forward Isaiah Livers poured in 21 points and shot 8-for-11 from the field en route to his second straight 20-point game. Sophomore wing Franz Wagner added 14 points and fifth-year guard Mike Smith scored 10 for Michigan (3-0), which shot 55.9% from the field (33-for-59) and finished with 42 points in the paint.

K.J. Walton had 20 points, Luke Bumbalough scored 13 and Ishmael El-Amin had 10 for Ball State (0-2), which shot 39.3% from the field (24-for-61), was outrebounded 41-26 and trailed by double digits over the final 16:52.

The Wolverines were assertive right out the gate as Wagner aggressively attacked the basket and drew fouls. Less than three minutes into the contest, he racked up seven points — which surpassed his scoring total in the previous game against Oakland — during an 11-0 run that gave Michigan the lead for good.

That set the tone for the Wolverines, who did plenty of damage around the rim. Smith blew by a defender and scored on a driving layup. Dickinson knocked down a hook shot. Senior guard Chaundee Brown scored on an offensive putback. It all added up to a 23-8 lead with 10:03 left in the first half.

Michigan’s length bothered Ball State and forced tough shots in the early going. The Cardinals missed 11 of their first 15 shot attempts and didn’t reach double figures until making a 3-pointer at the 9:42 mark.

The Wolverines continued to play bully ball in the paint and didn’t make their first 3-pointer until Livers buried one roughly three minutes later. It was part of a 7-0 spurt sandwiched around a pair of Dickinson close-range baskets that put Michigan up, 34-14, at the 5:39 mark.

The strong start sputtered as the Cardinals made a push to climb out of the 20-point hole. They closed the half on a 19-6 run — much of it coming with Dickinson on the bench — and struck first out of halftime to whittle Michigan’s lead down to 40-35 with 19:46 left in the second half.

“We just went out there and weren't focused on defense,” Dickinson said of Ball State’s run. “I think we were giving them easy baskets toward the end. I think in the middle part of the first half, we were really making them work for everything and they were struggling to score.

“I think toward the end they were starting to get easy buckets and we weren't really locked in on defense, so we let the lead slip a little bit. Going into halftime, this team is really good at coaching ourselves. We have so many veterans and we have so much leadership that we can really hold ourselves accountable for when we're not doing something right.”

After the break, the Wolverines refocused, got hot in a hurry on offense and responded with an 18-7 run to start pulling away. Fifth-year senior center Austin Davis started the spurt with a layup and dunk before senior guard Eli Brooks and Wagner each knocked down a 3-pointer make it 58-42 with 14:37 remaining.

The Wolverines made 13 of their first 18 shot attempts to open the second half. The torrid stretch ended with an 11-0 burst that featured a 3-pointer and floater by Brown and put Michigan in complete control, 73-48, at the 8:50 mark.

"I love the way our team responded, especially in the beginning of the second half coming out with a better defensive disposition," coach Juwan Howard said. "We got after it, got into them. Got some very good defensive stops, we got out into transition and we were able to capitalize on either good shots because of our spacing and also good attacks at the basket."

Ball State trailed by at least 21 points until Michigan emptied the bench in the closing minutes, with junior guard Adrien Nunez, freshman wing Jace Howard and walk-on senior forward Jaron Faulds all checking in for the first time this season.

Compared to last weekend, it made for a much less nerve-wracking finish for the Wolverines.

“That was the emphasis this game, come out swinging first," Livers said. "We had a better buildup in practice. That Oakland buildup, we were flat, energy was low during practice. I don't know if people were looking at the records or their recent scores. This game, we treated it as a conference game and we should do every game like that.”

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins