No. 2 Michigan routs No. 24 USC, becomes first team since 1996-97 to beat 3 ranked opponents by 30-plus points

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Michigan was a 21.5-point favorite Friday against a 24th-ranked USC team. The No. 2 Wolverines won by 30, without their best stuff offensively and with their bench emptied in the final minutes of a 96-66 win.

Dusty May's group, which previously handled then-No. 21 Auburn and then-No. 12 Gonzaga, is now the first team since 1996-97 to beat three ranked teams by at least 30 points in a season, according to The Field of 68.

And the Wolverines (13-0, 3-0 Big Ten) have barely bitten into the conference slate. The Trojans (12-2, 1-2) hadn't faced a ranked foe this season before taking the court at Crisler Center. They'll play their second in a row Monday against No. 9 Michigan State, as part of a weeklong, three-game road trip.

USC couldn't slow down a high-octane Michigan squad that accounted for 26 of the game's 28 fastbreak points. The Wolverines have the fifth-highest adjusted tempo in college basketball this season, according to KenPom, and they left the Trojans in the dust.

It didn't help that Eric Musselman's team committed 21 turnovers, off which Michigan scored 24 points. USC came in leading the country with 31.2 free throws per game and attempted 33 of them. But a 63.6% percentage at the charity stripe hurt the Trojans' chances, too.

They were paced by Samford graduate transfer Jaden Brownell, who scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Despite entering 27th nationally in 3-point percentage (38.3%), the Wolverines went only 6 of 30, or 20%, from downtown against the Trojans.

Still, they nearly reached the century mark. Ten Michigan players etched their name in the score card. Four players scored in double figures off the bench, including senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who poured in 12 points before fouling out.

Sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. converted 10 of his 12 field goal attempts and finished with a career-high 29 points, along with six rebounds.

Michigan started the first half with an 11-0 run and ended the first half with a 6-0 run. Then it turned an 18-point halftime advantage into another 30-point victory, made possible by a last-second steal and layup by L.J. Cason as USC tried to play out the final seconds.

Michigan has been beating the brakes off teams. Here are the numbers:

USC shouldn't feel too bad because Michigan has been doing this to just about everyone. The Wolverines have played 13 games, and they've won 10 of them by 20-plus points.

Of those 10 victories, six have been by at least 40 points.

Michigan even beat La Salle by 52 point on Dec. 21. One of the Wolverines' 40-point wins came against a 12th-ranked Gonzaga team on Nov. 26. The Bulldogs have responded with a seven-game win streak that's included victories over then-No. 18 Kentucky and then-No. 25 UCLA.

Like the spectacle it put on versus Gonzaga, the first of the three blowouts Michigan's authored against ranked opponents this season took place in the Players Era Festival. A 59-point first half set the tone for a 102-72 win over then-No. 21 Auburn.

Michigan's average margin of victory over the past 10 games is 34.5 points:

Michigan has scored at least 100 points seven times this season. The Wolverines are sixth in adjusted offensive efficiency and first in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, which favors Michigan in the rest of its games and projects a 29-2 record for May and Co.

With the way the Wolverines have been dominating the competition, though, it's only a matter of time before more conversations about a potential undefeated season come about.

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