ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Isaiah Livers scored 24 points, one of five Michigan players to set a career high, and the Wolverines defeated Houston Baptist 111-68 on Friday night.
Zavier Simpson scored 22 points and had a career-high 14 assists. Simpson, who entered Friday at ninth in the nation with 7.3 assists per game, had nine at the half.
Also setting career marks in scoring were sophomores Colin Castleton (12 points) and Adrien Nunez (eight). Cole Bajema (five points) and Rico Ozuna-Harrison (two) had their first career baskets. Simpson was two points shy of his career high.
David DeJulius had 10 points to tie his career best for coach Juwan Howard, who moved to 4-0 since taking over at his alma mater.
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Howard & Livers after 111-68 win over Houston Baptist
Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard and forward Isaiah spoke following their 111-68 win over Houston Baptist Friday night.
Ian DuBose led HBU (0-4) with 16 points.
Michigan took a 26-4 lead and never looked back. Nunez beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer to put Michigan up 63-26.
The Wolverines were 23-of-39 shooting (59.0%) in the first half, the first time Michigan had a 60-point first half since playing HBU in 2013.
BIG PICTURE
Houston Baptist: The Huskies are preparing for the Southland Conference schedule in a major way with road games at Tulsa, Oral Roberts, Texas Tech, Michigan, Houston and Dayton to open the season.
Michigan: Now it gets real for Howard and the Wolverines, who are in a tough Bahamas bracket next week with No. 5 North Carolina, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 11 Oregon and No. 13 Seton Hall in the field.
UP NEXT
Houston Baptist: The tough HBU stretch to start the season continues Tuesday with the Huskies first game in their home state, at Houston.
Michigan: The Wolverines first game away from Crisler Center is far from Ann Arbor as the team opens Battle 4 Atlantis play Wednesday against Iowa State.