ANN ARBOR, MI – Michigan men’s basketball (2-1) pulled away from TCU (3-1) for a 76-64 win on Friday night. The Wolverines held a lead for almost 38 minutes of game time. TCU pulled within two points around the seven minute mark of the second half, but Michigan held it to just three points in the final five minutes.
Here are three takeaways from Friday night’s game:
Michigan Could’ve Won by 30
Michigan turned the ball over 16 times in each of its first two games this season. The Wolverines matched that number in the first half against TCU. A 12-point win doesn’t usually coincide with 21 total turnovers, but in this case, it could’ve been much worse for the Horned Frogs.
Michigan head coach Dusty May said the team might’ve thought about turnovers too much during the week.
“We probably stressed not turning over the ball too much. Probably talked about it and told them what not to do too much this week instead of focusing on what we wanted to do to beat their defense,” May said. “We were so consumed with focusing on ourselves. We had a long prep week, and chose to use the majority of it on ourselves identifying what we needed to (do) going forward – rebounding and defending and whatnot. We’ll definitely spend some more time on the details as far as turnovers, but it’s part of the growth process for us.”
Tre Donaldson Lifts Offense in Second Half
Michigan guard Tre Donaldson had zero points in the first half as he went 0-for-2 from the field. The Wolverines were still up 34-31, but they were in need of a spark on the offensive end. Donaldson made it worth the wait and put up 14 points in 17 minutes on 5-of-7 shooting.
May said Donaldson wasn’t going to back down.
“On offense he had a different gear in the second half. I thought he played fearless,” May said. “In the first half, they kind of had him being a little bit tentative. I thought he ran our team on the offensive end and made big shots and made big plays. When the shots going in, typically it ignites our defense. As coaches we want to act like they’re not correlated, but when you’re making shots you tend to play a lot harder.”
Burnett Burns TCU
Michigan guard Nimari Burnett made his first six shots on Friday night. Burnett ended the night tied for a game-high in points with 16. TCU forward Trazarien White also had 16 points.
Burnett was 3-for-4 from deep range and 6-for-7 from the field to go along with six rebounds. Michigan forward Danny Wolf said Burnett does more than what the stats show.
“The guys that have been here, they just bring so much value to the team outside of the actual game (and) outside of practice,” Wolf said. “Just their knowledge of everything. Nimari is one of the hardest workers on the team, he’s always in the gym and whenever the ball leaves his hands I have a good feeling it’s going in. He was reaping the rewards of how much time he puts in and it’s just exciting to see one of my teammates be successful.”
Wolf posted a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds to go with four assists.
Michigan is set to host Miami (OH) next on Monday at 6 p.m.
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