ANN ARBOR, Mich. _ The disparity was noticeable from tip-off.
When 7-foot-1 center Jon Teske lined up at halfcourt before the start of Sunday's non-conference finale, he was greeted by UMass Lowell's tallest player: 6-7 forward Connor Withers.
Against an opponent that lacked any size, No. 11 Michigan took advantage of the significant height differential and overwhelmed UMass Lowell in an 86-60 victory at Crisler Center.
The strategy on offense was straightforward: Get the ball to the post and let the big men go to work.
Teske and sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr., who was making his first career start in the place of injured junior forward Isaiah Livers (left groin), combined to score 13 of Michigan's first 17 points as the Wolverines jumped out to a 13-point lead with 13:06 left in the first half.
While all of Michigan's big men gave the River Hawks problems, they had no answer for Teske, in particular. He needed less than seven minutes to reach double figures in scoring and did it in a variety of ways: scoring over his man in the post with short hook shots, getting to the rim for easy layups and cleaning up on the offensive glass.
Michigan's length also gave UMass Lowell fits on defense. The River Hawks struggled to finish around the rim and shoot over defenders, missing 13 of first 15 shots as they were predominately held to one-shot possessions.
After Michigan took a 42-25 lead into the break, the Wolverines continued to feed Teske and attack the paint. Teske opened the second half with back-to-back baskets down low and Johns scored on consecutive baskets � a driving layup and offensive putback � to push the margin to 52-29 with 15:17 remaining.
Another layup from Teske � off a feed from sophomore center Colin Castleton, who was being double-teamed � widened the gap to 70-40 with 10:03 to go.
Roughly 20 seconds later, the Wolverines took their largest lead, 72-40, on a driving layup from senior guard Zavier Simpson and led by at least 23 points the rest of the way.
Teske finished with a career-high 25 points (11-for-14 shooting) and eight rebounds in 25 minutes. Michigan's other big men � redshirt junior center Austin Davis, Castleton and Johns � combined for 17 points and 16 rebounds as the Wolverines outscored the River Hawks 48-26 in the paint and won the rebounding battle, 41-25.
Junior guard Eli Brooks added 15 points and Simpson had nine points, 10 assists and six rebounds for Michigan (10-3), which used its third starting lineup of the season with Livers sidelined.
Christian Lutete scored 21, Obadiah Noel 16 and Ron Mitchell 11 for UMass Lowell (6-9), which shot 41.7% (25-for-60) from the field.
With the non-conference portion of the schedule complete, Michigan will resume Big Ten play after the new year with a road game at Michigan State on Jan. 5.
