Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery looks on from the sidelines during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Michigan at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. Michigan defeated Iowa 95-67. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) (The Associated Press)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The game was slipping away for good, and Iowa coach Fran McCaffery decided to try something drastic. He subbed in a whole new lineup of five players early in the second half.
"I don't like to do that," McCaffery said. "I felt like we might get some energy. We might get a deflection, a stop, a runout — something that I thought might energize our team."
The Hawkeyes never did figure out how to slow down No. 2 Michigan on Sunday. Once the Wolverines started rolling near the end of the first half, a close game turned into a 95-67 rout. Michigan's Trey Burke had 19 points and a career-high 12 assists.
Iowa (11-4, 0-2 Big Ten) lost to No. 5 Indiana by only four Monday and was holding opponents to 37 percent shooting before facing Michigan. The Wolverines shot 58 percent from the field and 10 of 22 from 3-point range.
Glenn Robinson III added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines, who had only 17 points with 7:00 remaining in the first half before overwhelming the Hawkeyes with a flurry of dunks, 3-pointers and other highlights. Michigan (15-0, 2-0) is a win away from matching the program's best start to a season. The 1985-86 team began 16-0.
Devyn Marble scored 14 points for the Hawkeyes. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 19 for Michigan.
The Wolverines aren't a team that tries to force the tempo, but they routed Northwestern 94-66 on Thursday and beat Iowa by the same margin. It was the fourth straight game in which Michigan made at least 10 shots from 3-point range.
The Hawkeyes raced out to a 7-0 lead over Michigan. It was an erratic start for the Wolverines, but their latest offensive clinic began soon enough.
Michigan trailed 21-17 when Burke lobbed the ball to Robinson on the break for a dunk. A 3-pointer by Hardaway gave Michigan a 26-23 lead, but Marble answered with a rare four-point play at the other end.
That stemmed the tide only momentarily. Freshman Mitch McGary blocked a shot for Michigan, leading to a transition layup by Burke and a 33-29 lead. Moments later, Hardaway threw down a one-handed dunk off a bounce pass from Burke to make it 42-35.
Robinson finished the half by barely beating the buzzer for a layup that gave the Wolverines a 46-35 advantage.
"We've been in a lot of games where 15 minutes into the first half, we might have had a double-digit lead," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "We didn't have that today. We closed well, and then we came out in the second half and really played good from the get-go."
Hardaway opened the second half with a 3-pointer. Freshman Nik Stauskas drove for a dunk and scored on a spin move. Hardaway made another 3-pointer and McCaffery sent in his fresh new group of five — to no avail.
"They have so many weapons. They're hard to keep under control for long periods of time," McCaffery said. "They've got you stretched out, both with John's offense and with the fact that they have multiple 3-point shooters."
It was 58-40 after Burke's acrobatic bank shot, and at that point, Michigan had scored 41 points in under 11 minutes.
There was more to come — another alley-oop dunk by Robinson from Burke and a perimeter shot by Burke after a slick crossover dribble. Once the Wolverines started rolling, there wasn't much Iowa could do.
"We came in here with a game plan designed to stop their transition game, and then we didn't do it," Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons said. "We just let them run, and there's no way you are going to beat Michigan if you let them get out on the break. They've just got too much talent."
Burke found Robinson inside for yet another dunk to make it 77-50, and Michigan led by as many as 35.
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