Michigan, Courtney Sims Rout Crimson

Michigan showcased all facets of basketball efficiency at Harvard’s expense on Friday night in Ann Arbor, beating the Crimson 82-50 in front of 7,148 fans at Crisler Arena.

The Wolverines improved to 5-0 on the season by shooting an impressive 60 percent from the floor. Center Courtney Sims, who came into the contest having made 26 of his 36 attempts from the field in Michigan’s first four games, was 5-of-6 for 12 points in 25 minutes, while forward Ron Coleman scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting.

Harvard (1-2) hung with the athletic Wolverines out of the gate, a reversal of its game-opening performance in last year’s blowout loss at the hands of then-No. 14 Boston College, when the Crimson went down 12-2 and never recovered. Thanks to a pair of three-point plays, from sophomore forward Evan Harris and freshman point guard Drew Housman, the Crimson led by 6-5 in the early going.

From that point, however, the Wolverines clamped down on defense and took over the game, running off a 26-6 scoring streak that effectively ended the contest before halftime.

“We just had trouble getting into our offense,” Harris said. “We’re not [used to] facing teams with their size, speed and athleticism. They were denying the entry passes to the wing, which was pretty much basic to our offense.”

At one point during Michigan’s extended rally, Harvard went 6:29 without scoring a point. The Crimson shot just 6-of-27 in the first half, 22 percent, and headed to the locker room down 39-17. The squad improved to shoot 12-22 and score 33 points after the break, but by that point the game was already well out of reach.

The Wolverines continued to pound away in the second half, and led by 38 points with around a minute to play before a pair of three-pointers in the final possessions upped the Crimson’s total to the half-century mark. Harvard was paced on offense by Harris, who scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and captain Jim Goffredo, who added 16 points, all in the second half, on 4-of-8 from three-point range. The output of Harris, who has shown a tendency to raise his offensive game to the level of the opposition, was his best since scoring a career-high 18 points last season at BC.

“I just feel more comfortable playing against [more athletic players],” Harris said. “I feel like my game is more suited for an up-tempo kind of game.”

Michigan began its game-breaking first-half spurt with a series of long balls. After Housman nailed a jumper and the accompanying free throw to make it 6-5, Coleman connected on a three pointer, and guard Dion Harris followed suit to make it 11-5 Michigan. After two jumpers by forward Ekpe Udoh, guard Reed Baker nailed another three to make it 18-8, and the rout was on.

The Crimson was prevented from staying in the game by its mishandling of the basketball in the face of the swarming Michigan defense. After pulling out to that early advantage, Harvard turned the ball over on its next five possessions, allowing Michigan to climb into the driver’s seat.

Overall, Harvard gave it away 25 times, more turnovers than it had in any game last season. Housman had a particularly rough game against the pressure of the quick, agile Wolverines backcourt, committing eight turnovers against just two assists.

“We knew that they were very quick—coach warned us about it,” said freshman guard Jeremy Lin, who played 13 minutes off the bench. “We were expecting it, but we didn’t handle it the way we wanted to. We weren’t able to establish a flow in our offense, and they really swarmed our players on defense.”

Harvard also could not get much going in the low block, as senior center Brian Cusworth, who had scored 20 and 24 points in Harvard’s first two games, respectively, was held to only six on 1-of-6 from the floor.

Cusworth did grab a game-high seven rebounds.

Harvard will look to return to the .500 mark on the young season when it returns home to play Patriot League foe Holy Cross on tomorrow night. Tip-off at Lavietes Pavilion is scheduled for 7 p.m.

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.