Michigan beat Illinois 79-69 at Crisler on Saturday.
ANN ARBOR — Charles Matthews knows what’s coming, and he hates it. Whenever a player picks up a quick foul — as Matthews did Saturday, 17 seconds into the game — John Beilein is going to yank him. Two first-half fouls almost always lead to a benching until the second half.
Matthews only played 88 seconds in the first half and Michigan struggled without its leading scorer, but his strong second half helped Michigan beat Illinois 79-69 at Crisler Center for its seventh straight victory.
Sophomore point guard Zavier Simpson returned to the starting lineup to mixed results — five points on 1-of-5 shooting, seven assists, five turnovers in 32 minutes. He started the first four games of the season before freshman Eli Brooks replaced him. Brooks and fellow point guard Jaaron Simmons each played four minutes Saturday.
Moritz Wagner looked better offensively than he has since returning from a foot injury. He made 6-of-7 shots from the field en route to 14 points.
Having Matthews on the floor for an extended stretch allowed Michigan (14-3,3-1) to turn around a 34-31 halftime deficit quickly. Michigan went on a 10-2 run to start the second half to take a 41-36 advantage. The Wolverines took the game from 51-46 to 68-55 by the 5:32 mark, erasing some of the defensive lapses — particularly on the back end — that plagued them earlier in the game.
Matthews scored all 10 of his points in the second half. He was once again effective in side ball-screen situations, deploying his quick first step to rejecting the screen and beat his man or using the screen to weave his way towards the basket.
The shake-up to the starting lineup didn’t prevent Michigan from starting sloppy again. Simpson threw an errant pass that Matthews couldn’t handle to begin the game, and Matthews promptly committed an off-ball foul. It was the third straight game in which the Wolverines turned it over on their first possession.
Matthews subbed out after his foul, returned to action several minutes later, and fouled again. Michigan’s offense looked disjointed for a long stretch of the first half. Twelve turnovers — including five offensive fouls — didn’t help.
Michigan head coach John Beilein made it known he wasn’t pleased with several of the calls. Both teams were in the bonus by the 7:30 mark of the first half.
A pair of freshmen provided a spark off the bench in the first half. Illinois led 21-13 before Isaiah Livers and Jordan Poole scored for Michigan on five straight possessions. Isaiah Livers hit a corner 3-pointer in transition with at the 6:31 mark. Jon Teske found Livers cutting baseline for a dunk. Livers was left alone under the hoop for an uncontested jam after Illinois applied some full-court pressure. Poole was fouled on a 3 and made all three foul shots, and Poole’s alley-oop from beyond the three-point line to Livers gave Michigan a 25-23 lead.
Jordan Poole’s consecutive 3-pointers from the same spot on the left wing — the first of which might make a coach say, No no no, yes — put Michigan ahead 47-40.
Livers finished with 12 points, Poole with 11, among the six Wolverines in double figures — Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Duncan Robinson scored 13 apiece. As a team, Michigan shot 51 percent from the field and 8-of-20 (40 percent) from 3.
Illinois (10-7,0-4) remained winless in the Big Ten in Brad Underwood’s first season as coach despite 17 points from Kipper Nichols.
Michigan will not play Illinois again this season. The Wolverines host No. 13 Purdue on Tuesday at 9:00.
