Last season, Michigan didn't earn its 10th win until its next-to-last game.
The 23rd-ranked Wolverines (9-2) should get there Monday as they host winless North Carolina Central in their final non-conference game before Big Ten play.
It matters little to Michigan's second-year coach John Beilein that his team, which earned its first ranking last week since Feb. 6, 2006, has played largely inferior competition in its last three games, winning by a 20.3-point average margin with a Big Ten opener looming Wednesday at home against Wisconsin.
"As everyone knows what we went through last year, you celebrate every win no matter what," said Beilein, whose team went 4-8 in non-conference games last season and finished 10-22.
Since upsetting then-No. 4 Duke 81-73 at home on Dec. 6, the Wolverines have averaged 84.3 points during a four-game win streak, and got a big performance from DeShawn Sims in a 76-59 win last Monday over Florida-Gulf Coast.
The junior forward scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds, becoming the first Wolverine since 1977 to reach those marks.
"I was told to be a warrior tonight," said Sims, who is averaging 17.2 points and a team-leading 9.2 rebounds. "I wanted to come out really aggressive in the first half. I wanted to go get it."
For the second straight season, Manny Harris leads the team in scoring with 19.0 points per game, but had one of the worst performances of his career his last time out.
The sophomore guard shot 2-for-9 from the field to finish with six points, snapping a streak of 10 straight games in double figures. It was just the fifth time in 43 career games that he failed to reach double digits.
For the second time in the last three games, Michigan topped the school record for 3-point attempts, going 12-for-42 against Florida-Gulf Coast. The Wolverines have made 12 or more from behind the arc in four of their past five games, and they have averaged 29.8 attempts in that time.
Michigan has shot 40.3 percent on 3s in its last five games, and has shot 34.9 percent from 3-point range this season.
Predictably, North Carolina Central (0-14) has one of the nation's worst offenses and one of the worst defenses. The Eagles, one of seven winless teams in Division I, have averaged 55.0 points per game and hit 35.2 percent of their shots. However, they recorded a season high for points in a 97-79 loss last Monday at Duquesne and shot a season-best 43.8 percent.
Freshman guard Jamar Briscoe, who has averaged a team-leading 14.4 points per game, scored a career-high 34 in the loss.
North Carolina Central allowed 90 or more points for the fifth time, and has yielded 80.8 per game.
Monday's game marks the first meeting between the schools.
