Michigan Basketball: Gut reactions, highlights from win over Jackson State

Michigan basketball notched a win Wednesday night over Jackson State. Here is a look at some highlights and our gut reactions from a 78-68 win. 

For a half or most of one at least, it seemed like Michigan basketball might have another struggle on its hands.

The Wolverines led by just one point with about three minutes left in the first half when Michigan basketball finally put together a run, a run that was capped with a step-back 3-pointer by Jett Howard to push the halftime advantage to 10.

In the second half, Jackson State still hung around but the lead was pushed to 18 points after two 3-pointers by Joey Baker in short order.

Jett Howard also hit a couple of treys in the second half as Michigan pushed the lead to 21 points at one point.

However, Michigan got a little sloppy in the closing minutes and didn’t have a great stretch offensively or defensively to close it out as the Wolverines took their foot off the gas.

U-M did make some free throws in the final minute and won but, much like the Wolverines’ 5-1 start, it left a lot to be desired and this seemed much harder than it needed to be.

Jett led Michigan with 19 points. Terrance Williams added 11 and Kobe Bufkin had 10. No one else hit double figures.

There were some positives of course and a win is a win. But, Michigan still isn’t playing its best basketball, and here are the gut reactions.

Gut reactions to Michigan basketball win vs Jackson State

•  Jaelin Llewellyn continues to struggle. Teams are daring him to shoot and he went 1-for-6. He did have four assists but also three turnovers and just one field goal.
• It was stunning how hard it was to get Hunter Dickinson the ball. He attempted just six shots and scored nine points.
• Dickinson did block four shots and played solid defense. Michigan basketball blocked 13 shots total which isn’t something I expected. It feels like an anomaly.
• This offense looks better when Dug McDaniel is on the floor.
• Kobe Bufkin was better and the two triples were good to see but he turned the ball over too much and has too many inconsistent stretches.
• Terrance Williams had to take too many shots (4-for-11).
• The defense was better allowing 37 percent from the field and 27 from three.
• The end of the game was really ugly.
• Michigan is hard to beat when Joey Baker and Jett Howard hit 3s.
• Other guys have to hit shots though.
• Two buy games in a row that were more competitive than they should be and Michigan didn’t come close to covering the spread in either.
• Hard to be confident going into Virginia. This team needs to wake up.
• Go Blue!