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Top-ranked Michigan rolls on

— Trey Burke raised his eyebrows in disbelief when asked about Michigan’s most remarkable stat of the night.

“We only had two turnovers as a team?” Burke said.

The top-ranked Wolverines were nearly flawless at the start Wednesday night, and they went on to an easy 68-46 victory over Northwestern.

Burke had 18 points and eight assists in Michigan’s first game since taking over the top spot in the Associated Press poll for the first time since the 1992-1993 season.

The Wolverines (20-1, 7-1 Big Ten) made 10 of their first 11 shots and went the entire first half without a turnover. They didn’t commit a foul, either, until the final minute of the half.

Michigan’s two turnovers for the game equaled a national low for any team this season, according to STATS.

“There’s been times we had two turnovers ... in the first minute,” Coach John Beilein said. “We’ll take it, and we’ll move on.”

The Wolverines can now prepare for Saturday night’s showdown at No. 3 Indiana. Michigan fans began chanting “Beat the Hoosiers!” toward the end of Wednesday’s game.

Michigan played without forward Jordan Morgan, who sprained his right ankle last weekend. Jon Horford started in Morgan’s place and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Although Northwestern also shot well at the beginning, the Wolverines were relentless. Some of their points came easily, such as an alleyoop pass from Burke to Glenn Robinson III in transition.

But Michigan was also sharp from the outside. Nik Stauskas made a three-pointer and Robinson added a layup, causing Wildcats Coach Bill Carmody to call the first of two early timeouts. Stauskas added another three-pointer to give the Wolverines a 15-9 lead, and Michigan led by 16 points later in the half.

It was 36-21 at halftime.

The Wolverines didn’t have any turnovers until 6-10 freshman Mitch McGary tried to start a fast break himself by dribbling up the court and lost the ball with less than 12 minutes left.

“It’s a very good passing team, especially with Burke,” Carmody said. “They don’t make mistakes. It’s a good team. They can make you look pretty bad sometimes.”

Alex Olah scored 10 points for Northwestern (12-10, 3-6).

“You have to approach every team the same, but we know that’s the best team in the country, and Trey’s one of the best players in the nation,” Olah said. “Even if you make him give up the ball, they’ve got so many other guys who can score.”

In other games involving top 25 teams, Cody Zeller scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half, Christian Watford added 17 points and No. 3 Indiana routed rival Purdue 97-60 in West Lafayette, Ind., to hand the Boilermakers their worst loss at Mackey Arena. The Hoosiers (19-2, 7-1 Big Ten) have won four in a row overall and five consecutive road games in league play, keeping a share of the conference lead. Purdue (11-10, 4-4) was led by freshman center A.J. Hammons, who had a career-high 30 points, but couldn’t avoid a second consecutive home loss to the Hoosiers.The Boilermakers have lost only twice in their past six games. Indiana took control early with a 9-0 run, then closed the first half on a 13-2 spurt to take a 47-27 halftime lead. ... Mason Plumlee scored a career-high 32 points and No. 5 Duke held off Wake Forest 75-70 in Winston-Salem, N.C. Seth Curry added 21 points, including a tiebreaking threepointer in the final minutes for the Blue Devils (18-2, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). Freshman Devin Thomas had 15 points for the Demon Deacons (10-10, 3-5), who were denied their second upset of a nationally ranked state rival in eight nights. ... Shane Larkin scored 25 points and No. 14 Miami took command with a 13-2 second-half run in Blacksburg, Va., beating Virginia Tech 73-64 for its eighth consecutive victory. Kenny Kadji added 18 points and Trey McKinney-Jones had 12 for the Hurricanes (16-3, 7-0 Big East), who trailed by 12 in the first half before getting a 22-6 burst spanning halftime. National scoring leader Erick Green led the Hokies (11-9, 2-5) with 30 points and Jarell Eddie had 14. ... Thomas Gipson had 17 points off the bench, Angel Rodriguez added 11 points and eight assists, and No. 18 Kansas State whipped visiting Texas 83-57 to snap a two-game skid. Omari Lawrence also scored 12 in a reserve role for the Wildcats (16-4, 5-2 Big 12), who built a 38-19 lead by halftime despite playing long stretches without three key players. The Longhorns (9-11, 1-6) committed 18 turnovers. ... Cameron Bairstow scored 17 points to lead No. 20 New Mexico over host Wyoming 63-59 to hand the Cowboys their third consecutive loss in a Mountain West Conference game. Hugh Greenwood added 13, Kendall Williams 12 and Alex Kirk 10 for the Lobos (18-3, 5-1). New Mexico has won 10 of its past 12 games against Wyoming and five of the past six in Laramie.The Cowboys (15-5, 2-5) were led by Derrious Gilmore’s 15 points. ... Doug McDermott scored 29 points and made five of Creighton’s 15 three-pointers in the No. 21 Bluejays’ 91-77 victory over Missouri State in Omaha, Neb. Ethan Wragge added 15 points, Austin Chatman had 14 points and 10 assists, and Grant Gibbs had 10 points for the Bluejays. Creighton (19-3, 8-2) moved into a tie for first place with Wichita State in the Missouri Valley Conference. Gavin Thurman scored 19 points to lead the Bears (6-16, 4-6), who dropped to 1-10 on the road. ... Sean Kilpatrick scored 19 points and No. 24 Cincinnati intensified its defense in the second half, overcoming a 10-point deficit to beat Rutgers 62-54 in Cincinnati. Cincinnati (17-4, 5-3 Big East) blocked 8 shots, forced 21 turnovers and held the Scarlet Knights to 24 points in the second half. The Bearcats also won at Rutgers 68-58 on Jan. 12. Myles Mack scored 15 points to lead the Scarlet Knights (12-8, 3-6), who have lost four in a row.

Sports, Pages 23 on 01/31/2013

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