Takeaways from Michigan’s blowout win over Western Kentucky

After another hot shooting night, @umichbball capped off 2024 with their 10th win of the season, beating Western Kentucky in blowout fashion. @Kellen__Voss has takeaways from the victory:

The Michigan men’s basketball team ended 2024 with a bang, knocking down 48 percent of its threes — including more than half of its first-half threes — to dismantle the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, 112-64. The Wolverines set a new single-game season-high for points scored and tied a program-record for made threes (19).

This was the final buy game on Michigan’s schedule. The Hilltoppers headed into this game ranked 109th on KenPom after being picked to finish second in the Conference USA preseason poll .

It’s important for college basketball teams to stay locked in for games like this. Teams can often be lethargic coming off the holiday break, and as Kyle Yost pointed out in the preview , under head coach Juwan Howard, the team lost three years in a row in the first game after Christmas.

Michigan did not lack energy at all in this one, showing out in front of a sold-out crowd and restarting Big Ten play with a 10-3 record and firmly on the AP top-25 bubble.

Here are some takeaways from Michigan’s blowout win to close out non-conference play.

A record-tying night from three

Michigan didn’t appear to have any holiday rust from deep, making four of its first five attempts from three to jump out to a double-digit lead, with one of those threes coming from center Vlad Goldin. That was his second career made three-pointer, his first since the Xavier win .

The Wolverines shot well above their 34.7 percent season average. Just like we saw in the Purdue Fort Wayne win , Michigan was red-hot from three in the first half, making 11-of-21 from beyond the arc (52 percent). Those 11 made threes are the most Michigan has made in one half all season, and more than it made in all but two games all season. All the runs Michigan went on in the first half to build up the lead were powered by wide-open makes.

Western Kentucky ran a 1-3-1 zone for parts of this game, but Michigan’s high-temp offense and consistent ball movement helped generate so many great looks on offense. Turnovers are still a concern for this offense, but they’re a lot harder to stomach when you shoot that well from three.

The Wolverines are in the 67th percentile on KenPom in three-point shooting, and they shoot especially well from home. That’s going to come in handy when Big Ten play starts back up next week.

Vlad Goldin has settled in

After getting off to a relatively slow start offensively, it’s safe to say center Vlad Goldin has settled into this offense.

Goldin finished with 17 points — tied with former roommate Nimari Burnett for the team-high — his seventh game in a row with 13 points or more. Combine that with solid rebounding and elite rim protection, and it’s easy to see why he was one of the most coveted big men in the transfer portal this offseason.

Michigan will need him to stay consistent in conference play, but like people getting in the gym this week, he’s heading into the New Year on the right track.

Play of the game: Roddy Gayle breaks some ankles

Ohio State transfer Roddy Gayle Jr. closed out 2024 with a solid performance, scoring 11 points off 3-of-5 shooting while dishing out four assists.

A few minutes into this one, Gayle did his best James Harden impersonation by breaking ankles before knocking down a three to force a Hilltopper timeout.

After that move, Crisler Center was about as loud as I’ve heard it for a non-conference home game, and I’ve been covering games in person for three seasons now. It says a lot about the culture being built and the optimism around the program when you’re getting sell-out crowds despite many students being gone on holiday break.

Injury report

After being listed as questionable on the availability report, Rubin Jones did not dress for this one. At the time of this publishing, it’s unclear exactly why he was held out, but we’ll keep you posted on his status.

Up Next

Big Ten play starts back up again for the Wolverines after the New Year, with Michigan making their first in-conference California trip to play USC and No. 22 UCLA. Michigan faces USC on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX before facing UCLA on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 10 p.m. ET on Peacock.