Wolverines scorched by Sun Devils in Legends Classic championship game

Brooklyn, New York — As soon as Frankie Collins saw Arizona State’s schedule, there was one potential opponent that caught his eye.

A possible Nov. 18 date with Michigan, his previous team, in the Legends Classic championship game at the Barclays Center.

“It was marked on my calendar since Coach (Bobby) Hurley called me when I hit the portal,” said Collins, the former Wolverines point guard who transferred after his freshman season and joined the Sun Devils.

“It was definitely a game I was looking forward to and I was happy about us getting to this point.”

Collins and Co. were certainly ready for Thursday night's matchup. No. 20 Michigan, on the other hand, looked far from it. From start to finish, the Wolverines turned in an abysmal all-around performance and were hammered by the Sun Devils, 87-62, in the 16-year tournament’s most lopsided title game loss.

BOX SCORE: Arizona State 87, Michigan 62

The Wolverines struggled to make shots and get stops from the beginning — Michigan missed 13 of its first 20 field-goal attempts and Arizona State opened 11-for-15 from the field — and everything snowballed from there in what turned out to be a long, miserable night.

“You've got to give Arizona (State) credit for how they came out. They were prepared. They brought the energy. They made shots,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “Some of the shots were uncontested, which was disappointing, but there were times when they made shots that were contested because of the confidence level that they had.

“The lack of not being able to provide energy like we provided last night (in Wednesday’s rout of Pittsburgh), it kick-started Arizona (State) and gave them life that they needed from start. Then they just kept going and going and going from there.”

Junior center Hunter Dickinson finished with 14 points and freshman wing Jett Howard added 12 for Michigan (3-1), which shot 33.9% from the field (21-for-62) and had a rough time finishing around the rim (13-for-28), from 3-point range (4-for-22), at the free-throw line (16-for-24) and everywhere else in between.

After a woeful first half where Michigan trailed by as much as 23, the Wolverines tried to claw back. They put together a 7-2 spurt that was capped by a three-point play from sophomore guard Kobe Bukfin, cutting the Sun Devils’ lead to 52-37 with 15:33 to play.

But just when it seemed like Michigan was starting to gain some momentum, it couldn’t build on it. Arizona State (4-1) quickly quelled things as Desmond Cambridge Jr. buried back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 58-39 at the 14:28 mark.

Michigan simply had no answers on either end to muster a response the rest of the way. The Sun Devils rattled off 11 unanswered points to put the game well out of reach and turn it into a laugher, 71-43, with 8:56 remaining.

From there, Arizona State’s lead swelled to as much as 32 points en route to recording the program’s largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent.

Cambridge scored 20, DJ Horne 19, Austin Nunez 15 and Luther Muhammad 13 for Arizona State, which shot 60.4% from the field (32-for-53) and 57.9% from 3-point range (11-for-19). Collins finished with four points, five assists and four turnovers.

“I thought it was an elite performance,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. “Coming into the game knowing how well Michigan played last night versus Pittsburgh, they got great experience and Dickinson is one of the best bigs in the country. I think our staff did a great job of having a plan to try and slow him down some.

“I told the guys there's nothing better than playing great basketball in this city and how much that's appreciated. That was on full display on our end tonight. The way the guys played — making shots, making plays, guarding with energy. I think a place like New York where basketball so special, I think the fans and the people that watched us tonight appreciated our performance.”

Everybody except the Michigan fans, who didn’t have much to cheer for as the Wolverines got off to a brutal start on both ends and fell behind by double digits early.

Michigan missed seven of its first 10 shots, including several from point-blank range, while Arizona State got hot in a hurry and jumped out to a 15-5 lead five minutes into the game.

Things only continued to get worse from there. The Wolverines missed 10 consecutive field goals, clanked free throw after free throw and went scoreless for over five minutes as the deficit swelled. The Sun Devils, meanwhile, continued to get quality looks and ripped off an 11-1 run to take a 31-11 lead with 7:49 left in the half.

When Dickinson scored on a layup to snap a field-goal drought that lasted over seven minutes, it momentarily riled up the Michigan fans. But they soon went silent again as Arizona State immediately countered with a 3-pointer to put the Wolverines in a 21-point disadvantage.

Dickinson’s basket started a string of four straight buckets in the paint to pull within 15, but Michigan couldn't put a serious dent in the deficit. Instead, the Wolverines fell into an 18-point hole at halftime that they never came close to climbing out of.

“They looked forward to the matchup. You can just tell with the way the game started,” Howard said. “I will say this, I didn't do a really good job of preparing our guys. I'll take full responsibility for this one. Every game is a teachable moment. When you win, you learn. When you lose, you learn. We're going to learn from this and we're going to grow from this game.”

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins