LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Zack Novak scored a career-high 22 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 20 and No. 15 Michigan rolled over UCLA 79-63 on Wednesday for third place in the Maui Invitational.
Michigan (5-1) played well at both ends to build a modest lead in the first half and ran away with it in the second. The Wolverines made 15 of 23 shots in the second half and hit 62 percent overall to bounce back from a tough loss to No. 6 Duke in the semifinals.
Jon Horford scored all 12 of his points in the first half for Michigan.
UCLA (1-4) came to Maui with two embarrassing losses and headed back home two tough ones to continue one of its worst starts in years.
Travis Wear had 16 points, Joshua Smith and Jerime Anderson 12 each and UCLA shot just 4 of 17 from 3-point range.
The Wolverines and Bruins each followed encouraging wins with disappointing losses in Maui.
Michigan handled No. 8 Memphis’ pressure in the opener, playing with poise down the stretch in a 73-61 win.
The Wolverines struggled early against Duke in the semifinals to fall behind by 16 and tried to fight back by hitting 11 of their first 12 shots to get within five. Michigan couldn’t slow down Duke’s offensive show, though, allowing the Blue Devils to hit 11 3-pointers and shoot 56 percent in the seven-point loss.
The Bruins opened the season with two embarrassing losses and avoided another in the opener by turning a two-point halftime lead against Division II Chaminade into a 92-60 rout.
UCLA staggered at the start of its game against No. 14 Kansas in the semfinals and fought its way back in the second half before fading down the stretch in a 72-56 loss.
The Bruins got off to another slow start against Michigan, missing six of their first eight shots and turning it over four times in the first 8 minutes to fall behind by seven.
It only got marginally better for UCLA the rest of the half.
The Bruins struggled against Michigan’s patient offense, allowing the Wolverines to hit 14 of 24 shots.
UCLA also struggled shooting from the perimeter, hitting 4 of 11 from 3-point range to trail 38-31 at halftime. Horford made all five of his shots in the half.
Michigan didn’t give the Bruins much a chance to try another comeback, dropping in 3-pointers, dunks and scoring on backdoor cuts to push the lead to double digits.
Hardaway had a highlight-reel play by going down the lane for a one-handed dunk — and had a scowl for the crowd on his way back — then hit a long 3-pointer that put the Wolverines up 63-47.
Michigan kept pushing, getting a layup from Hardaway on a nice rebound tip from Trey Burke, then a 3-pointer and a layup by Evan Smotrycz to go up 72-53 with 4 minutes left.