Coppin State Eagles at Michigan Wolverines

Michigan ends skid with 72-56 win over Coppin State

"He's one of the hardest working kids I've ever met," sophomore Zak Irvin said of Hatch. "It's just nice to see that pay off in front of everyone."

Freshman Ricky Doyle led the Wolverines with a career-high 16 points and five rebounds. Michigan (7-5) scored on its first five possessions to take an 11-0 lead and built that to 21-3 just six minutes into the game.

"I love the way we started the game," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "It was just important to get a win any way we could."

Down early and with little to lose, Coppin State (1-10) shifted to a 2/3 zone and forced three Michigan turnovers in less than a minute, helping the Eagles tighten the gap to 23-11.

"I definitely saw a lot of opportunities," Doyle said. "We were really executing, and that really got me open. We were hungry coming into this game and really wanted it bad."

Fellow freshman Mark Donnal was also active in the paint, tallying eight points on 3 of 4 shooting.

Michigan went into the break with a 42-26 lead but came out a bit sluggish in the second half before a thunderous one-handed, alley-oop dunk from Caris LeVert to Irvin ignited both the crowd and the Michigan bench.

The Eagles played the Wolverines fairly evenly the rest of the way, as the teams each netted 30 points in the second half.

Sterling Smith and Taarig Cephas led Coppin State with 11 points each.

"They didn't really shoot it well once we went into that zone, so we really tried to play zone as much as possible," Coppin State coach Michael Grant said. "Once we calmed down and really made them compete, I thought we kind of played them even."

The Wolverines finished with nearly half as many 3-pointers (26) as field goals (56), but after losing four straight, Beilein was happy to just see the ball go through the hoop.

TIP-INS

Michigan: Michigan improved to 4-0 all-time over Coppin State, including an 87-45 route last season at Crisler Center.

Coppin State: Grant returned to his old stomping grounds on Monday. Grant served as a graduate assistant for Michigan in 1985, helping mentor his younger brother and 1988 Big Ten Player of the Year Gary Grant.

MORE ON HATCH

RESTING UP

Michigan will be off until Friday.

UP NEXT

Michigan will have a week off before opening Big Ten play Dec. 30 against visiting Illinois.

Coppin State plays at Eastern Michigan on Tuesday.

How can I watch Coppin State vs. Michigan?

• TV Channel: Coppin State at Michigan 2021 College Basketball, week 7, is broadcasted on BTN.
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo Free trial.
  Try Vidgo for free.