2014 NCAA Tournament: the Michigan Wolverines handily take care of Texas

The Michigan Wolverines moved on to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year by way of a 79 to 65 win over the Texas Longhorns. From the first whistle the Wolverines jumped all over the Longhorns opening up an 18 point lead in the first half and never letting Rick Barnes and his team make up the deficit.

Michigan was paced by 14 three pointers, which set a team record for threes in a NCAA Tournament contest. Nick Stauskas had 17 points, Jordan Morgan had 15, and Chris LeVert and Glenn Robinson III each had 14. This type of balanced attack will make the Wolverines extremely difficult to handle for the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

In the second half, Texas was able to cut the lead to six points when it was 58 to 56 with eight minutes remaining, but never got any closer than that. Leading the way for the Longhorns was Isaiah Taylor, who had 22 points. Texas would have liked to move on to the next round, but there is no way that anyone can call this campaign anything other than a success for the Longhorns.

Moving forward, Michigan will be favored in their next matchup, playing the winner of the Mercer Bears and the Tennessee Volunteers. Michigan is coming off of a National Championship game appearance, but losing Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Mitch McGary certainly did not make it likely for them to repeat. Even though there is still a ways to go in order to get to the Final Four, John Belien has done a masterful job in getting his team to this point.