Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from big win over Bowling Green

Michigan basketball kicked off their 2020-21 season with a nice win over a very talented Bowling Green team and here are three takeaways.

There were a lot of question marks for Michigan basketball heading into this season. Who was going to start at center? Who would start at point guard? How would the rotation and minute allocation shake out? We got a glimpse into a lot of those answers tonight.

Here are my three takeaways from Michigan’s opening game win.

1. Defense needs work

I know it’s only one game against a very solid opponent. But Michigan’s defense simply was not good enough tonight. This isn’t a new problem either. This defense struggled at times last season as well.

The defensive struggles are a bit puzzling to me. When you look at this roster, there’s a lot of plus defenders on it. Franz Wagner, Eli Brooks, and Chaundee Brown can all be elite defensive players. But tonight was another example of it not coming together and working on the defensive end.

I think Juwan’s whole system puts the defense at a disadvantage. Michigan wants to run. They want to play fast. And when you play that way, you do give up more points. But going forward, Michigan needs to get better defensive efforts from Mike Smith and the center position.

Bowling Green made a flurry of threes in the second half that were just good shots. I’m not going to knock the defense for that. But in the first half and the early stages of the second, Michigan basketball gave up too many good looks.

Again, I’m not too worried about this. It is only the first game. But judging from last season and what I saw tonight, Michigan has to communicate better and be more fundamentally sound on the defensive end of the floor.

2. The transfers are for real

How about the performances from Chaundee Brown and Mike Smith tonight? On the offensive end, Smith was near perfect. 16 points on 4-6 shooting while chipping in eight assists. You can’t ask for much more from your point guard.

For as good as Mike Smith was, the Wake Forest transfer, Brown may have even been better. We’ve been hearing for weeks about how well he’s been shooting the ball and that was on full display tonight.

Brown came off the bench and scored a team high 19 points and went 5-7 from deep. If Brown can be an efficient 3-point shooter this season, It takes his game to another level and raises the ceiling of this Michigan basketball team.

3. Michigan has 7 starters

For months we have debated who was going to start for this Michigan basketball team. I think after watching tonight’s game, it really doesn’t matter. Michigan has seven guys who are starting-caliber players and Juwan Howard did a fabulous job of getting them all minutes.

Dickinson and Brown probably deserve a starting spot, especially after their game tonight. But it’s not a matter of who starts. It matters who plays the most minutes and who is playing those key situations.

Juwan Howard will continue to have a tough task on his hand managing these minutes. But I thought tonight, he passed that test with flying colors.

Game Stats

Point Leaders:

Chaundee Brown: 19

Isaiah Livers: 17

Mike Smith: 16

Hunter Dickinson: 11

Eli Brooks: 11

Rebound Leaders:

Isaiah Livers: 9

Hunter Dickinson: 8

Franz Wagner: 6

Austin Davis: 6

Assist Leaders:

Mike Smith: 8

Eli Brooks: 4

Full box score can be found HERE.