Michigan was not interested in letting Texas Southern hang around in the first half.

After watching Purdue and Ohio State lose to double-digit seeds on Friday, the Wolverines came out of the gate strong against the 16-seed Tigers. It did not take long for Juwan Howard’s squad to build a solid lead, and they pushed the lead to 18 points, 42-24 at the break.

Offensively, it has been an extremely balanced attack for Michigan. No player is in double figures, but six Wolverines have scored at least five points entering halftime.

Mike Smith leads Michigan with nine points at the break while Hunter Dickinson has eight points and two blocks. Franz Wagner has a nice all-around stat line of six points, six rebounds, and four assists without a turnover at the break.

Defensively, the Wolverines have suffocated the Texas Southern offense. The Tigers shot just 9-for-32 (29%) without a made three-point basket in the first half. Texas Southern had just two assists to six turnovers in the opening half of action.