Michigan Bounces Back With Rout Of Huskers

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- For a second straight game, Nik Stauskas was held to only a few shot attempts from the field.

This time, Michigan didn't need much scoring from its standout sophomore.

Freshman Zak Irvin scored all 16 of his points in the first half, and No. 10 Michigan breezed to a 79-50 victory over Nebraska on Wednesday night.

Stauskas, the Wolverines' leading scorer, took only three shots from the field, but he finished with nine points, eight assists and five rebounds.

The Wolverines (17-5, 9-1 Big Ten) were coming off their first conference defeat, a 63-52 loss at Indiana on Sunday. They nearly matched that scoring total with a 49-point first half against the Cornhuskers (11-10, 3-6).

"Everything in the world went in," Nebraska's Terran Petteway said. "It was just one of those nights."

Glenn Robinson III led Michigan with 23 points, and Caris LeVert added 16 points with five assists and seven rebounds.

Shavon Shields scored 13 points for Nebraska.

Stauskas took only six shots against Indiana. That led to some concern about whether the Wolverines could adjust to defenses geared to stop the 6-foot-6 sophomore. He took even fewer shots Wednesday, but this time there were plenty of other contributors for Michigan.

The Wolverines were nearly flawless offensively for the first 30 minutes. They shot 62.5 percent from the field in the first half, going 9 of 17 from 3-point range. Michigan finished 14 of 14 on free throws.

Michigan finished 13 of 31 from 3-point range despite a late dry spell from beyond the arc.

Nebraska nearly knocked off Michigan last month, losing 71-70. The Cornhuskers had won three of four coming into Wednesday, but they were overwhelmed from the opening tip in the rematch against Michigan. Robinson opened the scoring with a dunk off an alley-oop pass, and after two 3-pointers by LeVert, it was 8-0.

Robinson threw down a one-handed dunk off a pass from Stauskas to make it 32-15 -- then Irvin took center stage. The 6-6 freshman, who has an odd-looking release on his high-arcing shot, scored nine straight points -- all on 3-pointers -- to make it 43-15.

Irvin, who was averaging 6.5 points entering the game, seemed to grow more excited with each shot he made. The last one looked short, but it nicked off the front of the rim, bounced up and dropped straight through.

It was 49-21 at halftime, and Michigan led by as many as 41 points in the second half. It was 75-34 with 10:34 to play.

The Wolverines are in the middle of a five-games-in-13-days stretch, but they were able to ease through the second half in this one. Next up for Michigan: road games against No. 17 Iowa and Ohio State.

Petteway was held to five points, and Ray Gallegos scored only three for Nebraska.

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