Three insights: Danny Wolf shines with a double-double and a 25-point win

Three insights: Danny Wolf shines with a double-double and a 25-point win

Three insights: Danny Wolf shines with a double-double and a 25-point win

Michigan led for more than 38 minutes in Wednesday night’s 78-53 victory over No. 22 Xavier. The Wolverines were led by Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin, both of whom played their best games of the season.

With the win, Michigan improves its season record to 6-1. Here are three takeaways from Dusty May’s Wolverines impressive performance.

Danny Wolf takes over

Just two days after a very quiet four-point performance against Virginia Tech, Danny Wolf erupted with one of the best single-game performances by a Michigan big man, arguably since Hunter Dickinson graced the streets of Ann Arbor

Wolf was absolutely unstoppable on Wednesday night, scoring 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting and 4 of 4 from long range in the first half. The 7-footer also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out two assists in the first half.

Wolf finished the game with 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 5 from long range. He grabbed 14 rebounds and had two steals as he led Michigan to the Fort Myers Tip-Off Championship.

His 20-point performance matched Roddy Gayle Jr.’s 20-point night on Monday, making it the team’s best performance so far this season.

Michigan puts on a masterful defensive performance

As electrifying as Michigan’s offense was at times, the team-wide defensive performance deserves some credit for keeping Xavier in check in the second half. The Wolverines took an 11-point lead in the second half, and the Musketeers never got closer than eight points in the final 20 minutes of the game.

Xavier finished the night shooting just 34.5 percent from the floor. There were 19 turnovers in the blowout loss. Michigan recorded 10 steals, two of which came from Wolf.

There were at least three occasions in Wednesday’s game where Michigan stifled Xavier’s offense and the Musketeers made a miracle shot at the end of the shot clock.

It was the Wolverines’ best overall performance all season.

The Big Ten plays next

Michigan basketball now enjoys its Thanksgiving weekend before preparing for Big Ten early play, scheduled to begin on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Wolverines have five days off between the win over Xavier and the Big Ten opener.

Wisconsin is currently unranked in the AP poll, but the Badgers beat Arizona 103-88 in mid-November. After its Big Ten opener against Wisconsin, Michigan hosts Iowa on December 7th at the Crisler Center.

These two Big Ten games will be the only conference matchups for Michigan in the early Big Ten window, and the Wolverines will close out the calendar year with games against Arkansas, Oklahoma, Purdue Fort Wayne and Western Kentucky.

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