ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Jordan Reed leaped high into the air, slamming home a missed shot and giving Binghamton at least one highlight to remember from its visit to Crisler Center.
The rest of the night was forgettable. Trey Burke scored 19 points and freshman Nik Stauskas added 12 to lead No. 3 Michigan to a 67-39 victory over the Bearcats on Tuesday night.
"That's a great team — a team that could win a national championship — so coming into their building was taking an awfully big bite at the apple," Binghamton coach Tommy Dempsey said. "I'm not sure that I thought it was realistic for us to come in here and beat Michigan, but I thought we were competitive, and at this stage of our program, that's a great step in the right direction."
The Wolverines (10-0) are off to their best start since their national title season of 1988-89, and this win was every bit the mismatch it looked like before the opening tip. The Bearcats (2-9) were coming off a 22-point loss to Bryant. They led Michigan 10-8 before the Wolverines went on a 19-2 run.
It was 34-14 at halftime.
Reed scored 11 points and was Binghamton's only player in double figures. He also had eight rebounds.
"If you are a small school and you want to upset a top-five school, you have to hit a ton of shots, especially from 3-pointers. That team is awfully tough in the paint, so we knew we were going to need 3s. I thought we had some great looks in the first half, but we only made one or two, and after that, you're trying to come from 20 down against a team like that," Dempsey said. "I thought we really competed on defense, because they have so many players who can score the ball. To hold them in the 60s is a pretty nice achievement."
The Wolverines were favored by 37½ points, but they got off to a slow start, allowing the Bearcats to match them in the early going. Rayner Moquete's 3-pointer off a Michigan turnover put Binghamton up two, but the lead was short lived.
Tim Hardaway Jr.'s three-point play 23 seconds later put the Wolverines back ahead, and Stauskas and Hardaway made it 21-12 with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Reed's dunk made it 27-14, but Michigan scored the last seven points of the half, capped by Burke's 3 from near the top of the key in the final seconds.
Burke made an alert play in the second half when his pass toward Jordan Morgan was deflected up off the backboard. The ball bounced all the way back to Burke on the perimeter, and the Michigan point guard then drove for an easy bank shot and a 52-27 lead.
It was 62-31 after Burke's steal and breakaway layup.
Binghamton did not shoot a free throw until there was 4:41 to play in the second half. Michigan was whistled for only four fouls all night.
"It's been a point of emphasis my whole life," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "We think you can play good defense without having stupid fouls. You're going to have fouls, but it's just fouls that are not necessary. We work really hard at that."
The Bearcats settled for too many outside shots, several of which didn't even hit the rim. Binghamton shot 34 percent from the field, 7 of 25 from 3-point range.
It might have been even more lopsided if Michigan hadn't shot a season-worst 44 percent from the field. Burke was 8 of 12, but Hardaway scored only nine points on 3-of-13 shooting. Freshman Mitch McGary had six points and 10 rebounds.
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