Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned vs Texas Southern
Looking back on Michigan basketball’s win over Texas Southern and breaking down three things we learned about the Wolverines.
When you talk about the NCAA Tournament, the mission is to survive and advance. The Michigan basketball team certainly did that Saturday against Texas Southern, but it wasn’t a great showing.
Michigan had some nice stretches in this game. The Wolverines defended pretty well, especially in the first half and some had some good spurts of offense.
However, U-M also struggled with turnovers, lost the offensive rebounding battle, and put Texas Southern on the line so much that the Tigers nearly averaged a point per possession despite shooting 35 percent and making just 1-of-12 3-point attempts.
A number of Michigan basketball players played their first NCAA Tournament game so keep that in mind and first games aren’t always pretty.
Still, Michigan needs to figure some things out quickly or the season could come to an end Monday night, and here are three things we learned.
Rotation clarity
This seemed like it was going to be the case going into the tournament but it became official when Brandon Johns started and then played well for the second straight game. He’s going to hold that starting position going forward.
Johns did a great job of getting to the free-throw line and also knocked down a 3-pointer, which seems to be the common denominator in games when he makes a positive impact. He strangely got just two rebounds and that needs to improve. Both Johns and Hunter Dickinson grabbed two boards each.
Yet, it’s hard to argue at this point that Michigan basketball would be better off with Chaundee Brown in the starting lineup. Brown got into quick foul trouble, didn’t score, and only attempted one shot.
Michigan can win games without Brown scoring a ton, but that means that Dickinson, Mike Smith and Franz Wagner can’t afford to slip up. It also means Johns has to keep reaching double figures.
Beating LSU and teams beyond that will require more from Brown. And in terms of the rotation and starting lineup, it looks like Johns will continue to play more minutes than Brown.