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Wolverines ride doubts in rout

— No matter how many victories Michigan piles up, Trey Burke insisted one thing will not change. The Wolverines will keep seeing themselves as underdogs, even after nights like this.

Burke scored 23 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 21 and No. 2 Michigan pounded Northwestern 94-66 on Thursday to remain unbeaten.

Off to their best start since they opened the 1985-1986 season with 16 victories the Wolverines (14-0, 1-0) had no trouble in the Big Ten opener after breezing through the nonconference portion of their schedule.

They built a 21-point halftime lead with Burke and Hardaway Jr. leading the way and were never challenged by Northwestern (9-5, 0-1).

Burke said 14-0 “that’s a great start - and 1-0 in the Big Ten - but we’ve got to keep the attitude where guys are still doubting us.”

He’ll get no argument from his coach.

“We’re always working that way, like we’re hunting all the time and we don’t ever want to lose that,” Coach John Beilein said. “It’s not a negative to always be working.”

Michigan shot 59.6 percent overall and made 13 of 22 three-point attempts with the two guards doing most of the damage. Burke shot 9 of 16 overall and hit 4 of 6 threepointers. Hardaway was 6 of 8 from the field and 4 of 5 from long range, and the ankle injury that kept him out of the previous game didn’t seem to be an issue.

“Just to see him back out there after his injury,” Burke said. “Back in action, back in the groove. It was great.”

Jordan Morgan added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Wolverines, while Glenn Robinson III and Nik Stauskas scored 10 points apiece.

Jared Swopshire and Kale Abrahamson each scored 11 points for Northwestern, but the Wildcats gave up the most points they have allowed this season while being outclassed by one of the nation’s best teams.

“Eventually, we’ve got to start doing things that the coaches get on us about,”guard Dave Sobolewski said. “We keep messing up the same things in the 1-3-1. We keep missing assignments. We keep falling asleep on defense. A lot of it will come down to heart and how bad we want it on defense mainly, too.”

It was a sharp contrast from their two meetings last season, when Michigan needed overtime to win both games.

Then again, the Wildcats were short-handed.

Besides suspending guard JerShon Cobb for the season for violating team policy, they also shut down one of their best players, Drew Crawford, for the remainder of the season last month because of a shoulder injury.

Leading scorer Reggie Hearn sat out his second consecutive game because of a sprained ankle.

Even so, Michigan wasn’t showing any mercy. Instead, the Wolverines ended the suspense early.

Burke, averaging a teamleading 17.8 points coming in, scored 15 in the first half. Hardaway added 12 points, hitting all four threes, and Michigan barely broke a sweat before taking a 51-30 halftime lead.

“I guess that’s what happens when you’re running the fastbreaks and getting easy baskets. It all comes off of defensive stops,” Hardaway said.

In other top 25 games, Kevin Parrom scored five of his 16 points in overtime after No. 3 Arizona (13-0, 1-0) staged an improbable late rally in regulation and remained unbeaten with a 92-83 victory over visiting Colorado (10-3, 0-1). ... Elias Harris scored 18 points and Kelly Olynk had 16 to lead No. 10 Gonzaga to a 78-62 victory over Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.

SEC MEN MISSISSIPPI STATE 97, NEW ORLEANS 47

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Colin Borchert had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Mississippi State (5-7) past New Orleans (3-9) in nonconference action.

Jalen Steele and Fred Thomas scored 16 points each for the Bulldogs.

Kevin Hill and Lovell Cook scored seven points each to lead New Orleans.

TEXAS A&M 67, HOUSTON BAPTIST 59

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Elston Turner scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half as Texas A&M (10-3) beat Houston Baptist (4-10).

Ray Turner scored 14 points for Texas A&M, and Fabyon Harris added 12.

Freshman Caleb Crayton led Houston Baptist with 13 points.

The Huskies pulled within 49-47 on a three-pointer by Marcel Smith with 6:18 remaining in the game, but Elston Turner answered with a three-pointer and made two free throws as Texas A&M pulled away.

Sports, Pages 16 on 01/04/2013

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