Even without Charles Matthews — who sat out with an injury and must have had a tough Senior Day — Michigan obliterated Nebraska in a game that was mostly spent in garbage time. Following their first loss at home, the Wolverines played fantastic defense against a clearly disinterested Nebraska team, hit 6-8 of their first half threes, and raced out to an easy win. The best two Huskers (James Palmer and Isaiah Roby) were held scoreless in the first half, shot 0-12 from the field, and — as Dan Dakich approvingly noted — were benched to start the second. Nebraska’s replacements actually fared better.

It might have been Michigan’s most complete win all season. Their first five possessions: a patient Ignas Brazdeikis shot close in over Roby, a Zavier Simpson turnover, an extremely difficult Isaiah Livers three to beat the buzzer, a side pick and pop three from Livers to Jon Teske, and two Teske free throws. At that point, about three minutes into the game, Michigan led 10-2. Soon after, 9-0 run sparked by Colin Castleton effectively ended the game. The Wolverines built their lead, which grew to 22 by halftime, with defense and hot shooting — and never relented. At times in the second half, it was such a blowout that, at times, the broadcast team spent more time lamenting Nebraska’s level of effort than narrating the game.

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Michigan didn’t seem to feel the negative effects of Matthews’s absence at all. Isaiah Livers stepped into a starting role, played 33 minutes, and had a good game: 12 points and 10 rebounds, three made three-pointers, excellent defense on Palmer, and a few sloppy turnovers. Since Livers was playing heavy minutes on the wing, he wasn’t able to back Teske up at the five — which would have been a problem, if not for Castleton. He’s evidently seized the backup center job; the slender freshman played well on both ends tonight, and finished with 11 points. Despite having barely played in Michigan’s rotation, the offense flowed well with Castleton in the middle, he was decisive and held up well defensively, and showed some nice touch and patience around the rim. Michigan’s search for a true backup center (as opposed to the miscast Livers, who’s a good small-ball five) may have ended tonight.

Michigan's stalwart starting center was fantastic. Simpson only scored four points, but had ten assists and set Teske up with good looks all game. The big man scored 22 points (a career high), didn’t miss a three, had ten rebounds (three offensive), and was an essential defensive presence, as usual. Iggy was impressive as well: 20 points and 4-5 on threes. In Michigan’s similarly dominant wins earlier this season, it was typically two efficient scorers who carried the day — and it was different from game to game. Against Nebraska, it was Teske and Iggy. The Wolverines frontcourt decisively outplayed Isaiah Roby and the reserves who have been forced into more prominent roles after the injury to Isaac Copeland a couple of weeks ago.

Nebraska has quit on Tim Miles. The Huskers were widely regarded to be a Top 25 team before the season, were comfortably en route to an NCAA Tournament bid (after being left out last year despite 22 regular season wins)… and they’ve lost 10 of their last 12 games. Certainly Copeland’s injury has played a part in that, but they may have reached rock bottom tonight. James Palmer finished with 7 points on 15 shots, spent the early part of the second half on the bench, and afterwards, Dakich made sure to note that he didn’t hustle back in transition on a play that ended with a missed Castleton dunk. I can’t say that I recall a game that featured the announcers so openly criticizing specific players — and regardless of what went down behind the scenes, the end result was this: a start-to-finish ass-kicking.

To his credit, Nana Akenten, a reserve wing, showed some heart and made a few nice plays for Nebraska. Hopefully his injury (which came when he crashed to the floor after biting on a pump fake) isn’t serious.

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The biggest storyline of the game, perhaps aside from the emergence of Castleton — who will surely face a tougher test this weekend on the road against Maryland’s big men — was the absence of Matthews, which wasn’t announced until shortly before the game. Michigan is really only comfortable with six players, and losing any one of those for an extended amount of time would be a very tough blow. The prognosis for Matthews, maybe the best stopper on the wing in all of college basketball, isn’t known yet, but a serious injury would be pretty devastating as the Wolverines head into March.

As it stands, Michigan would need to win out (they have a 17% of beating both Maryland and Michigan State on the road, per Kenpom) and hope that Purdue inexplicably drops a result against Ohio State, Minnesota, or Northwestern to claim a share of the Big Ten regular season title. The Big Ten Tournament — Michigan will likely receive a double bye — and the Big Dance loom. Hopefully Charles will be back.

[Box score after the JUMP]