Michigan did a lot of good things on Thursday night in the 101-80 win over Howard.
The Wolverines didn't have a problem on the offensive end. They scored more than 50 points in each half on their way to 101.
Michigan's defense was another issue. Michigan basketball struggled to defend Purdue, and this isn't the time of year for the Wolverines defense to give out.
We'll start there, but looking back at the first round NCAA tournament win, here are four observations.
Defense wasn't good enough
Michigan didn't win the Big Ten championship because the defense wasn't good enough. Purdue scored 1.26 points per possession. That's why the Wolverines lost the game.
In the first half, Michigan surrendered 46 points. Howard made 14 3-pointers. If the Bison had been able to put up any sort of fight in the paint, this could have been trouble.
It might have been first-game jitters or a matter of Howard going off. If it wasn't two games in a row, I wouldn't be worried, but Saint Louis, for instance, can light it up.
And beyond that, this defense can't give up more than 80 points per game and expect to win the national championship. It has to be better.
Morez Johnson was perfect
One of the reasons Michigan basketball was able to pull away in the second half was the flawless performance of Johnson. He drilled a corner 3-pointer, converted a three-point play, and didn't miss a single shot from the field on his way to 21 points and 10 rebounds, becoming just the fifth player in the NCAA tournament history to do that to notch at least 20 points and 10 rebounds without missing a shot from the field.
For a guy who struggled last week, on both ends of the floor, it was good to see him playing with confidence. The defense was better in the second, but Johnson needs to raise his game on that end as he did offensively against Howard.
Michigan basketball can shoot with the Wilson ball
This has been a topic since the Duke game. The Wilson basketball used in the NCAA tournament is different than the Nike ball. Who knows if it was a coincidence, but the Wolverines weren't shooting as well with that basketball.
They shot just 26 percent from 3-point range against Duke and were in the low 30s in the Big Ten tournament. Michigan shot 48 percent on Thursday against Howard, knocking down 11 threes. Seven different players, everyone in the rotation but Mara, made a triple. That's a good sign moving foward.
If this team makes double-digit 3-pointers in a game, it's hard to see it losing.
The ball movement was big-time
When Michigan was elite offensively early in the season, the team was assisting on a high percentage of baskets. On Thursday, Michigan had 27 assists on 37 field goals.
Howard forces 15 turnovers per game, so 10 giveaways weren't that bad. Michigan, for the most part, made the right passes and the extra passes, and that's what got this offense playing at such a high level.
It was never about dominant individual efforts. It was about finding mismatches and forcing teams to double, which led to open 3-point looks, or dealing with the consequences. That's why so many 3-point shots went down on Thursday night, and why the offensive efficiency came out smelling like roses.