Eli Brooks leads Michigan to upset of No. 4 North Carolina
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Add Michigan to the list of college basketball teams with major upsets early in the season.
The Wolverines got 24 points and five rebounds from Eli Brooks as they surprised fourth-ranked North Carolina 73-64 Thursday in the semifinal of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Michigan will play Gonzaga in Friday’s 2 p.m. championship game.
The Wolverines improved to 6-0 in Juwan Howard’s first season as coach, despite star guard Zavier Simpson missing large chunks of Thursday's game because of foul trouble.
Michigan broke open a close game with a 19-0 run midway through the second half to take a 60-36 lead. North Carolina (5-1) closed within 69-61 with 1:30 to play.
But a three-point basket by Brooks put the Wolverines up by 11 points with 1:06 left.
Early foul trouble sidelines Simpson
Simpson played 10 minutes of the first half and just seven in the second. The point guard had the toughest matchup on the floor – guarding North Carolina star point guard Cole Anthony.
Simpson had a 10-point, 13-assist double-double while playing 35 minutes in the opening-round win against Iowa State. Thursday, he went to the bench with five points and three assists, but his teammates were able to build a 39-32 lead with 2:21 left in the first half.
Simpson got his third foul less than a minute into the second half, but he stayed in the game. He left a few minutes later, though, after being whistled for his fourth. Simpson fouled out with 5:11 left and his team leading 66-53.
It was the second game in a row in which a star player played limited minutes. Wednesday, 7-foot-1 Jon Teske was in foul trouble almost as soon as the Wolverines’ game against Iowa State started. He had two fouls before the first media timeout Wednesday, but Thursday, he didn’t have that problem.
Teske's big three-pointer
Teske’s third three-point basket of the season was a big one, a jumper from the top of the free-throw circle that gave Michigan a 46-36 lead with 15:45 left. He came into the game having made just two of his nine attempts.
He passed up multiple shots from that same spot earlier in the game. Figuring he’d pass again, North Carolina didn’t defend him.
But Teske this time swished a three-pointer from the wing to give his team a 63-40 Michigan lead with nine minutes left.