The Wolverines scored the game’s first 13 points, held the Hawkeyes without a field goal for the first 9 minutes, 26 seconds and cruised to a win over cold-shooting Iowa at Crisler Arena.
“This game was not us. It was embarrassing really,” Iowa sophomore Aaron Fuller said during a Learfield Sports postgame interview.
Michigan announced its intentions early, pounding the ball inside to DeShawn Sims on the first possession of the game, and the senior scored the first of his 20 points on a lay-in 19 seconds after the opening tip.
The senior, who torched Iowa for 27 points in the Big Ten tournament last season, knocked down 9-of-18 shots Saturday and grabbed nine of his 12 rebounds on the offensive end, an effort that led to eight of Sims’ points.
“From the get go, they took it to him and he scored,” Fuller said. “We had no answer. They were way tougher than us. We couldn’t box them out. Rebounding is toughness, and we weren’t tough enough to get them off the glass.”
The Hawkeyes couldn’t do much else, either.
A pair of free throws by Eric May was all of the offense Iowa could muster before Devan Bawinkel knocked down a 3-pointer with 10:34 to play in the first half, cutting into a 17-2 Michigan lead.
Iowa hit just 6-of-28 first-half shots, having success only in transition off Michigan mistakes. For the game, the Hawkeyes turned 12 Wolverines turnovers into 22 points.
Michigan (11-10, 4-5 Big Ten) maintained a 29-17 lead at the half and the Hawkeyes came no closer the rest of the game, trailing by as much as a 54-30 deficit with 7:28 remaining.
“We came out and got beat in pretty much every hustle area,” Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. “The pain in this sort of thing is excruciating. All you have to do is look at this — they missed 37 shots and got 19 of them back. That’s just a choice. This is so unenjoyable that guys have to hate it enough to never let it happen again.”
Fuller, who sat out the last 8 minutes of the first half with three fouls, scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Fuller also led Iowa (8-14, 2-7) with eight rebounds.
By the time Fuller returned to the floor, Manny Harris had found his touch as well. The Michigan junior scored 13 of his 20 points after halftime as the Wolverines ended a three-game losing streak.
“We played our hearts out in three consecutive games against Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan State and came up empty,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “Today, we set a tone early with our defense and we were able to turn things around. That was good to see.”
Iowa items
* Jarryd Cole was held without a point for the first time in the junior’s past 34 games.
* Iowa endured its second-worst shooting performance of the season. Only a 30.6-percent touch at Illinois was worse than Saturday’s 30.9-percent effort from the field.
* Matt Gatens played 35 minutes on a sprained ankle and finished with five points, the first time in his college career Iowa’s leading scorer has been held to single digits in three consecutive games.
* The Hawkeyes return home Wednesday, hosting Illinois at 7:30 p.m.
