Michigan basketball's depth on display in 91-60 rout of Pittsburgh in Legends Classic

It was about midway into the first half when the Wolverines decided they were simply done missing shots.

After falling behind by eight points just a few minutes into Wednesday night's battle with Pittsburgh, Michigan went on an offensive tear in the first half. At one point the Wolverines made eight consecutive shots, which came as part of a 20-9 run.

They would put together another 24-7 run in the second half as they cruised to a 91-60 victory in the opening round of the Legends Classic.

The Wolverines, who were led by Jett Howard with 17 points, Joey Baker and Kobe Bufkin with 14 a-piece and Hunter Dickinson with 11 points and seven rebounds, will face the winner of No. 14 Arizona State and VCU on Thursday at 9 p.m in the tournament championship.

The Wolverines shot a season-best 58% from the floor.

Two-headed monster at it again early

Dickinson, who posted a double-double in the season-opener vs. Purdue Fort-Wayne before scoring a game-high 31 points in a tight win over Eastern Michigan at Little Caesars Arena, was at the center of the offense early and often again on Wednesday.

He assisted Kobe Bufkin on a mid-range jumper to get Michigan on the board, made the team's next bucket, assisted Jaelin Llewellyn on a slashing lay-in the following trip down and swatted a shot which led to a fast break bucket for Jett Howard to trim the eight-point deficit to two.

He would later add consecutive layups to give Michigan its first lead, 17-16, of the night.

It wasn't long after that Howard got cooking in his own right. The freshman made a pull-up jumper, then after a Tarris Reed. Jr layup, made a layup of his own and another jumper to put the Wolverines up by five.

His best (and then worst) sequence of the night came early in the second half.

Howard hit an and-1 triple from the wing for a four-point play less than one minute into the half. He made another three from the exact same spot on the next trip down to go from 10 points on the night to 17 in just 50 seconds of game time, but he was soon forced to sit the majority of the half.

The freshman picked up his third foul of the game on Pittsburgh's next trip down and started walking to the bench as he waited for this father to replace him. Instead, Juwan Howard motioned him back onto the court, but he fell asleep on the inbound pass, and as the tried to recover, fouled Greg Elliott on a three-point try.

Elliott made it and converted the four-point play, and Howard was forced to sit the next 12 minutes of the game.

Kobe Bufkin, bench get going in second half surge

The and-1 three-pointer for Detroit native Greg Elliott put Pittsburgh back within six points and it felt like there was a chance for the game to flip with Howard on the bench. Instead, Kobe Bufkin and Terrance WIliams took over.

Williams, a captain, scored five in a row on long ball from the wing and a hard-earned fast-break layup to put Michigan up by 11. Llewellyn made the next four Michigan points, before Bufkin made three critical plays in a row; the first when he converted on two free throws, the next an and-one scooping lefty layup and finally a no-look pass from the top of the key into Dickinson for an and-one layup for Dickinson.

Bufkin scored nine of his career-high 14 points in the second half.

He wasn't the only Wolverine to have his breakout performance of the season. Freshman Dug McDaniel, who'd struggled in the first two games of his career, flashed his potential in a flurry in the second half. He scored eight points and had a team-high eight assists, multiple of which led to uncontested dunks for Tarris Reed Jr.

And don't forget about Joey Baker. The grad transfer from Duke, who battled foul trouble on Friday at LCA, had his best game in the maize and blue. He went 5-of-6 from the floor including 4-of-5 from long range as Michigan hit 9-of-20 three-pointers on the night.

Michigan managed just eight total points from its bench in its last game against Eastern Michigan. On Wednesday, the reserves chipped in 34.

Wolverines keep it clean on the stat sheet

As a whole, Michigan was on fire in the second half and played by far their cleanest game of the season.. The Wolverines hit 11-of-14 shots out of the break and finished a red-hot 18-of-25 (72%) from the floor in the second 20 minutes.

Michigan won every statistical category it cared about. It rebounded Pittsburgh 36-30, out-assisted Pittsburgh 21-11 and had a season low six turnovers (the majority of which came in the final three minutes with reserves on the court) compared to 13 for the Panthers.

Michigan held Pittsburgh to just 42 percent shooting form the field and 30 from the three-point line.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball finds balance in 91-60 rout of Pittsburgh in NY