Morez Johnson Jr. and top-seeded Michigan roll past Howard 101-81 in March Madness after slow start

had 21 points and 10 rebounds on a perfect shooting night, and No. 1 seed Michigan rode a second-half surge to a 101-81 victory over 16th-seeded Howard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. Towering center Aday Mara had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists for a Wolverines team that set the Big Ten regular-season record with 19 conference victories.

Johnson shot 8 of 8 from the field as Michigan (32-3) moved within one win of matching a program record set in 2017-18. Top-seeded teams improved to 160-2 against No. 16 seeds, with Duke outlasting Siena earlier in the day.

Michigan advances to play the winner of the later Midwest Region game between eighth-seeded Georgia (22-10) and ninth-seeded Saint Louis (28-5) . Cam Gillus and Bryce Harris scored 21 points each, and Cedrick Taylor had 19 points and six rebounds for Howard (24-11). The Bison were playing two days after their 86-83 win over UMBC in the First Four at Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday — the program's first March Madness victory in six appearances.

Michigan’s depth and relentless, come-from-anywhere attacking style eventually overwhelmed Howard — though it took the Wolverines a while to get rolling. Howard's 46 points in the first half were the third-most by a 16 seed against a 1 seed in tournament history —and the most since Florida A&M scored 52 in a 96-76 loss to Kentucky in 2004. After the Bison cut the lead to 50-48 on Ose Okojie’s drive into the paint 14 seconds into the second half, Michigan began to pull away, eventually building a 77-59 edge on Roddy Gayle Jr.