AP Photo MICHIGAN’S ZAVIER SIMPSON shoots a three- point basket in the second half against Creighton Tuesday.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — At halftime, Michigan had largely wasted a fine shooting performance by allowing Creighton a 10-0 advantage in offensive rebounds.

Needless to say, that was discussed.

“They shoot a lot of 3s. There’s going to be a lot of long rebounds,” said Jon Teske, Michigan’s 7-foot-1 center. “Go get the rebounds with two hands instead of one. They were just being more aggressive than us in the first half. In the second half we had to change that.”

The Wolverines allowed eight more offensive rebounds in the second half on Tuesday night, but Michigan’s defense was tight enough down the stretch to beat the Bluejays 79-69. The Wolverines outscored Creighton 41-28 after halftime, passing their first significant test under new coach Juwan Howard.

Zavier Simpson had 17 points and nine assists for Michigan, and Isaiah Livers scored 22 points. The Wolverines (2-0) shot 57% from the field.

Michigan was 7 of 16 from 3-point range in the first half but still trailed 41-38 after 20 minutes. Then the Wolverines, who relied heavily on their defense the past couple seasons, were impressive on that end in the second.

Livers put the Wolverines up 60-52 with an alley-oop dunk, and a driving layup by Simpson made it 64-55.

“Not being able to keep Simpson out of the paint ended up being the downfall in the end,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “If he gets into the paint, he’s got room to make decisions. He’s going to pick your defense apart.”

Teske gave the Bluejays problems with his size at both ends of the court. He had 17 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals, and Michigan eventually found him for enough easy baskets to keep Creighton at bay.

Ty-Shon Alexander led Creighton (1-1) with 20 points, and Marcus Zegarowski added 18. Mitch Ballock scored the first eight points of the game for the Bluejays but finished with only 11.

“I thought they really got out on our shooters. I thought they did a good job taking Mitch, just not letting him get any open shots, because he got hot early,” Zegarowski said. “I thought they made adjustments down the stretch with the way they defended ball screens and the way they came at us with zones.”