If you're looking for Brian's OSU preview, it's here. Adam has a great feature on Tyree Kinnel here.

Another game, another blowout, as Michigan hoops handled the weakest opponent on its schedule (they entered the game at 328th nationally in Kenpom's rankings) with ease. The Wolverine defense actually wasn't at its best, as Chattanooga's Kevin Easley put up 21 points - with five made threes - and the Mocs totaled 0.82 PPP, but the game was over early. That a 0.82 PPP effort is below average by Michigan's standard speaks to how dominant the defense has been over the course of the season thus far. In a post-game interview with BTN, Ignas Brazdeikis said that "the practices are harder than the games" - it was that kind of game.

John Beilein called up a nice horns set to get Iggy a wide-open three on the first possession of the game, and he missed. He responded with a post isolation bucket in the paint, then committed a touch foul on a drive and was subbed out. After checking back in, Iggy was Michigan's most effective player: he scored 20 points on just 13 shot equivalents, including knocking down a stand-still three that the defender essentially gave him. It was a quality all-around performance for the freshman as well, as his ability to contest shots forced several misses, he was a bit more active on the glass, and he dished a nice pick-and-roll assist to Austin Davis late in the game.

A strong combined effort from Michigan's sophomore class provided a solid complement to Iggy's scoring. Isaiah Livers hit his first two three-point attempts and finished with 12 points, all of which came in the first half. Notably, Davis regained his spot in the rotation after returning from injury, and consequently Michigan played fewer minutes with Livers at the five (and he even played a little bit of the three next to Iggy for a portion of this game). Jordan Poole missed a few shots early, but it didn't deter him; he got going a bit in the second half - including a few floaters and one of his jab-step to step-back iso threes on the wing after a switch. Poole had an efficient 14 points. Eli Brooks had nine off the bench, and he singlehandedly detonated a Chattanooga possession in the second half before snatching the ball.

Even though it wasn't as ugly as it could have been against such an overmatched opponent, Michigan's defense still turned in a nice effort. Chattanooga was held to 13-39 on twos (33%) and aside from Easley - who got hot well after the outcome was decided - had an effective field goal percentage of 33%. The Wolverines opened up a nice shot differential by winning the turnover and rebounding battles, and also did a good job of avoiding fouls and putting the Mocs to the free throw line. 

It wasn't a perfect performance. Charles Matthews had an off day, going just 2-9 from the field, though he did get a little bit more involved as a distributor (with three assists) than he had been in recent games. Zavier Simpson was weirdly quiet with just three points and two assists in his 26 minutes on the floor. Michigan's other defensive stalwart, big man Jon Teske, had a good performance with a couple of alley-oop layup finishes and a career-high 12 rebounds (and he did a lot of little things well, as usual).

tl;dr, it was more or less the expected performance against a sub-300 Kenpom team, and mostly everyone was thinking about The Game tomorrow. The "Beat Ohio" chants started coming with a little over three minutes left.

[Box score after the JUMP]

​