On a day all about love, Michigan basketball gave its fans yet another reason to feel smitten.
The Wolverines didn’t play their most dominant game early − they led by just two at the half − but pulled away with a second-half frenzy Saturday, Feb. 14, to knock off UCLA, 86-56, on Valentine’s Day at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
It did so in front of the legend Cazzie Russell, who received a raucous ovation as part of a halftime ceremony dedicated in part to the 60-year anniversary of his 1966 Big Ten championship team.
This year's Wolverines extended their winning streak to 10 games and the program's best-ever start (24-1, 14-1 Big Ten), two games up in the conference race.
The win likely solidifies a No. 1 ranking when the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll comes out Monday afternoon.
Four scored in double figures for U-M, led by Yaxel Lendeborg's 17 points. Morez Johnson Jr. scored 15 points and made all six shot attempts, and L.J. Cason scored 13 off the bench. Aday Mara collected nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks against his former team.
U-M led 40-38 at halftime, then shot a blistering 78.3% after the break (18-for-23).
UCLA (17-8, 9-5) was led by 14 points from Trent Perry, and shot just 25.9% (7 of 27) in the second half.
U-M faces two stern tests in the next seven days.
Michigan basketball schedule next week
U-M's schedule next week features a trip Tuesday to No. 12 Purdue (6:30 p.m., Peacock), then a visit Saturday to Washington, DC, for a tasty nonconference matchup against No. 6 Duke (6:30 p.m., ESPN) at Capital One Arena.
Michigan's massive second half
A 10-1 Bruins run to end the half cut U-M's double-digit lead.
It then made 12 of its first 14 shots in the second half to propel a 28-9 run to go up by 21, with just more than eight minutes to play.
U-M piled on late with a 10-0 run to go up 26 with 3:54 to play when Lendeborg threw a feed over the defense to Mara for a slam.
U-M made just 3-of-13 3-pointers in the first half, but Nimari Burnett ripped the nets from straight away to open the second-half scoring. Elliot Cadeau spun in a layup, sunk a midrange jumper, and Lendeborg came away with a steal and a coast-to-coast layup.
Cason brought the crowd to its feet and flexed his muscles when an and-one floater sat on the rim for an extra few seconds before falling through the hoop for a 64-47 lead.
Two possessions later, U-M's defense caused another eruption from the crowd: Will Tschetter recorded a block and Lendeborg swatted a layup from behind, which led to another run out and scooping Cason layup.
The Wolverines led 68-47 with 8:13 to play and forced a UCLA timeout, leaving little doubt about the final result of the game.
L.J. Cason continues great play
It was another quick start for U-M as Johnson scored seven of the first eight, including the opening bucket on a behind-the-back pass from Mara. After three straight from Lendeborg, Roddy Gayle Jr. and Cason canned back-to-back 3s.
Cason, a sophomore coming off the best game of his career, was again electric early. He drilled another 3 to go up by 10, dropped a pocket pass to Johnson, then made a layup to put U-M up 26-18.
Burnett got busy later, slashing down the baseline for a slam before hitting an acrobatic spinning reverse layup on a fastbreak later for a 39-28 cushion.
But the Bruins grabbed eight offensive rebounds for 11 second-chance points early on, and closed the final 2:39 of the half on a 10-1 run to slice the deficit to two.
U-M didn’t turn the ball over for the first 18:27 of the game, then had two giveaways in less than 90 seconds.
But it quickly came out of halftime and erased any worries of an upset. Now, we'll learn more about how U-M stacks up with the sport's best.
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Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball wrecks UCLA in 2nd half for 10th straight win