NCAA Game Summary - Texas vs. Michigan
Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Nik Stauskas tallied 17 points and eight assists as last year's national runner-up Michigan took down Texas, 79-65, to advance to the Sweet 16 in the Midwest Region.
Stauskas, one of the most dangerous outside shooters in the country, was part of a prolific shooting effort for the Wolverines (27-8), who set a team tournament record with 14 3-point field goals (14-of-28).
Jordan Morgan finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Caris LeVert and Glenn Robinson III scored 14 points apiece for Michigan, which will tangle with the winner of Sunday's Tennessee/Mercer matchup in the Sweet 16.
Isaiah Taylor netted a game-high 22 points for Texas (24-11), which advanced past the second round on Cameron Ridley's buzzer-beating layup on Thursday to edge Arizona State. Ridley, who posted 17 points and 12 rebounds in that game, was held in check Saturday, scoring just six points on 2-of-5 shooting.
"I'm really proud of my team," said Texas head coach Rick Barnes.
The pace favored Michigan early on, as eight minutes and 35 seconds of game time went by before the game's first whistle. The Wolverines had 10 fastbreak point during the stretch and hit 4-of-8 from distance to take a 16-10 lead.
"We never went that long without a whistle or timeout or anything," said Stauskas. "We just figured that we'd keep it going and keep running and play to our pace because we were hitting shots and we were feeling good."
Out of the first break, Stauskas hit his third trey and LeVert got to the deck with his patented jump-stop, faked a defender and worked a three-point play.
After Connor Lammert's layup cut the margin to 22-12, Zak Irvin hit two 3- pointers to bookend an 8-0 Michigan surge that left Texas down by 18 and searching for answers.
Michigan didn't commit its first foul until 4:12 of the first half.
Martez Walker trimmed the spread to 12 points late in the period with a 3- pointer. Michigan answered with a Morgan slam and a LeVert 3 from the right wing, but Taylor scored the final four points of the stanza for a 43-30 halftime margin.
The Longhorns came out of the break in a zone, but Michigan quickly shot them out of it. Derrick Walton got a pair of open triples from the top of the key, and Stauskas worked the high post and found Morgan for a dunk. Stauskas added free throws at 16:02 as Michigan matched its largest lead at 53-35.
Taylor scored the last four points of an 8-0 flurry after that to pull Texas within 10. His pull-up jumper at the 8:00 mark had the Longhorns within six, but Robinson made sure the Wolverines' lead would hold. The sophomore forward scored five straight to re-ignite Michigan.
"I wanted the ball," Robinson said. "They were kind of keying in on Nik and some of our other guys ... I think that was just my job to knock it down."
LeVert's triple at 2:41 was the dagger.