The Michigan men’s basketball team took down Oakland University 69-51 Saturday at Crisler Arena — something that not even No. 7 Tennessee was able to do last week.

And something that then-No.7 Michigan State struggled to do last week in a close 77-76 Spartan win.

In both games, Oakland coach Greg Kampe relied heavily on his highly-touted, 6-foot-11 center Keith Benson.

And in both road games, Benson showed up in big ways. In the upset over Tennessee, he had 26 points, 10 boards and no turnovers. And in the loss to Michigan State, Benson dominated, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 boards.

It was expected that he would inflict the same kind of pain against Michigan (9-2 overall) and its contingent of young post players, but the Wolverines used a tight help defense to contain the reigning Summit League Player of the Year.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Morgan and freshman Jon Horford were given the formidable task of keeping Benson’s numbers low, which they did, holding him to just 11 points and seven rebounds, none of which were offensive boards. They spent the bulk of their defensive court time moving Benson out of the lane and creating space for the guards to come in and collect rebounds.

“We needed the guards’ help, we needed the bigs to be strong,” Horford said of the help defense after the game. “Our guards helping down all the time — making it look like Benson’s not open by flashing in there real quick — that made the difference.”

Entering Saturday's game, Benson had posted eight double-doubles already this season and had forced every team Oakland faced to adjust its shots just because of his presence in the paint. While his numbers weren’t as impressive against Michigan, his presence alone proved to be bothersome for the Wolverines in the paint.

“I saw how long he was, and he came out like a 3-D picture, you know, when you have (those) glasses on,” said freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. of his dunk attempt over Benson in the second half. “He came out of nowhere, and I tried to turn the ball and lay it up high off the glass, but he ended up getting it."

On the game, Michigan outrebounded the Grizzlies 40-39.

Twelve of those boards were snatched by junior guard Zack Novak, who led the team in rebounding. Not a small task considering he was going up against forward Will Hudson, who has five inches of height and 25 pounds on him. In addition to his team-high 12 rebounds, Novak scored 13 points, giving him his third double-double of the season.

Sophomore Darius Morris helped carry the scoring load, leading the team with 18 points after scoring just six in the first half. He also dished out five assists, including one pass that brought fans to their feet near the end of the game.

With the Grizzlies looking to make a late comeback, like they did over Tennessee, Oakland (6-6) extended its defensive pressure into a tight full-court press. Initially, it proved problematic for the Wolverines, but they were able to break it with crisp passing and off-ball movement.

With under two minutes left and Michigan up 13, junior guard Stu Douglass saw his man cheating up, so he snuck down the baseline and found his way to the basket, where Morris hit him with a pass from nearly halfcourt.

“They just double-teamed on me, and me and Stu have connected on that a few times,” Morris said after the game. “It’s like our little play right there at the end of the game when they started to pressure up. And Stu has a knack for back-door cutting it and being wide open, and I just hit him with the pass.”

The win was the Wolverines’ sixth-straight and now they look to next Thursday when they play their final game before the Big Ten schedule starts. Michigan will face Purdue right out of the gates on Dec. 28 — a team that’s on a four-game win streak.

But after holding Oakland to nearly 29 points below its average this season, the Wolverines could make a statement defensively as a team in the Big Ten.

“The coaches do a great job of cutting up film and letting us know the defensive fundamentals,” Morris said. “That’s really key for us — to keep breaking that down and keep paying attention to that because we know that that is what we want Michigan basketball to become: a hard defensive team. When you hear ‘Michigan basketball,’ you hear ‘hard defense.' ”