Michigan basketball is back in action on the hardwood after losing a close one to Wake Forest in Greensboro. Now the Wolverines have an opportunity to get back into the win column with TCU coming to town on Friday evening.
The maize and blue jumped out to a seven-point lead before TCU started fighting back. But from there, the game became something of a rock fight. Or, perhaps, a slap fight.
In the first half, neither team felt like they were in control. Though Michigan had the lead for the bulk of the opening 20 minutes, both teams were firmly riding the struggle bus, with everything feeling difficult — and not because both defenses were on point. The Wolverines actually shot well in the first half, at 52.2%, but turned the ball over with impunity.
The second half saw Michigan stretch the lead before going on something of a lull. Before long, TCU got the game within four after a 10-3 run. By seven minutes remaining, Michigan was up by only two, but 30 seconds later, the Tre Donaldson hit a key 3 to push the game back to a five-point advantage.
Former Wolverines guard Frankie Collins then came alive to help TCU get within striking distance, but Michigan surged again, and held on to win, 76-64.
Here are our five takeaways from the game.
1. Turnovers are a huge issue
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
We’ve been covering this program for a long time, from the John Beilein era to the entirety of Juwan Howard’s tenure. And one common denominator was turnovers. And such was the case again in this one. As noted in the open, the Wolverines shot well, but the inability to control the basketball was a huge issue. Michigan had 16 turnovers in the first half, alone.
Though the Wolverines managed to slow down and slow the turnover rate in the second half, it wasn’t perfect. Had Michigan taken care of the basketball, this game could have looked radically different.
Michigan turned the ball over 21 times and TCU had 22 points off turnovers.
2. Improved rebounding
An issue in the first two games was the lack of rebounding while opposing teams (Cleveland State and Wake Forest) controlled the offensive boards. However, the Wolverines improved greatly in this area — though it was primarily in the first half.
Regardless, given the struggles in this game with turnovers, Michigan couldn’t be as bad as it has been when it comes to allowing second chances.
Danny Wolf led the Wolverines with 14 rebounds en route to another double-double. Michigan outrebounded TCU by 41-29.
3. Defensive prowess
Now, rebounding was one thing, and TCU’s shooting was horrendous, but we’ve now seen enough of Dusty May’s team to be able to discern that Michigan is outright pesky on the defensive side of the court.
There weren’t a lot of open shots for the Horned Frogs, and the Wolverines continued to disrupt passing lanes and have busy hands to force a fair amount of turnovers and tough shots on the other end.
The Wolverines forced the Horned Frogs into 12 turnovers and held TCU to 34.4% shooting.
4. Perhaps slow things down?
Just until Michigan can settle in and get into a rhythm. We heard in the offseason from Dusty May that these Wolverines would run and in the first game, it all worked. But the attempts to run the floor quickly had the maize and blue feeling out of control for much of the game. And given the turnover numbers, perhaps trying to move fast played a big part of that.
We’re all for the ability to fast break and wear opponents down. However, in trying to play fast, it’s caused Michigan to play sloppily. Like anything, slow things down, just a little, and ramp up once the team is comfortable with the pace.
The pace of play did seem slower in the second half and that certainly had an impact when it came to limiting turnovers.
5. Future still looks bright
While this is far from a finished product, you can get a sense of Dusty May’s vision for this team. The turnovers are a problem, yes, but if that can get cleaned up, this could be a very dangerous team against anyone. You’d like to see Vlad Goldin get more involved considering he was supposed to be this team’s primary offensive threat, but you can see the shooting talent around him. It really is a pick-your-poison team. And the Wolverines got a lot better at rebounding and forcing TCU into shots and passes it wasn’t comfortable with, so that’s an improvement on defense.
It’s only the third game of the season with a completely new team. You can see the potential, and with it being so early in the season, you have to feel good about the direction of this program.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Five takeaways from Michigan basketball win over TCU
