NCAA News Wire
Michigan 72, Coppin State 56
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
After a 16-day stretch featuring four consecutive defeats, including home losses to both NJIT and Eastern Michigan, the Michigan Wolverines finally returned to the win column Monday with a 72-56 victory over the Coppin State Eagles at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
While Michigan managed to snap its four-game losing streak, Coppin State has now lost six straight games of its own.
The Wolverines were in control from the opening tip, as they scored the first 11 points of the game and led 21-3 just over six minutes in.
Eight of those first 21 Michigan points came from sophomore guard Zak Irvin, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
The story of this game for the Wolverines was their play inside.
Michigan scored 30 points in the paint, outrebounded the Eagles 43-31 and received a career-high 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting from freshman forward Ricky Doyle, who made just his second start Monday.
Also playing vital roles for Michigan were freshman forward Mark Donnal with eight points off the bench and sophomore guard Derrick Walton, Jr., who tallied nine points and a game-high nine assists.
In defeat, Coppin State shot 21 of 61 from the floor and gave up 13 points off 11 turnovers. The Eagles also managed to only attempt six free throws for the entire game, making five of them.
Junior guard Sterling Smith and senior guard Taariq Cephas both finished with 11 points and five assists, while senior guard Daquan Brickhouse had 10 points off the bench for the Eagles.
Coppin State plays again Tuesday at Eastern Michigan.
