Struggling to control the ball from the get-go isn’t something new for the No. 6 Michigan men’s basketball team.
Lazy passes, bad communication and avoidable violations have hampered the Wolverines in the first five minutes of their matches, but against Texas Christian, Michigan took it to another level. With 14 minutes left to go in the first half, the Wolverines had amassed more turnovers than points — five and four, respectively — trailing the Horned Frogs by five.
But with a resurgence starting at the end of the first half, Michigan (3-0) took down TCU (2-2), 67-63, finding its rhythm within the paint and hauling in far more rebounds amid a lack of discipline with the ball.
While the Wolverines gave up the ball far too often and struggled from the field to open up the game, the Horned Frogs had their own shortcomings in the form of defensive fouls. Taking advantage of TCU’s too-eager hands, Michigan repeatedly drove into the paint and subsequently earned trips to the line, especially during fast breaks. But most importantly it capitalized on these opportunities, shooting a combined 9-for-12 from the charity stripe.
Aided by a four-minute drought from the Horned Frogs where the Wolverines found themselves behind 21-13, big time plays from the entire squad soon pushed Michigan ahead. A second chance layup from graduate guard Nimari Burnett started the onslaught to which graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg followed up with his own and-1 layup. Another made shot from Lendeborg and a steal-turned-3-pointer from junior point guard Elliot Cadeau gave the Wolverines the lead, 23-21.
Michigan’s turnover woes, however, didn’t simply vanish. With 11 total giveaways in the first half, TCU made the Wolverines pay, consistently getting buckets as it leveraged its advantage in numbers to get easy looks.
Coming out of half-time down just two, Michigan still hadn’t figured out how to keep the ball safe — giving up its first turnover a minute in and then a second a minute later off of two bad passes. And again, the Horned Frogs capitalized, turning the second turnover into an open 3-pointer off the fast break.
Michigan took its first-half driving a step further, scoring every single point for the first 15 minutes in the paint. Tough, driving layups from Burnett and senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. was the core of the offense, but interspersed dunks from junior center Adaya Mara and tip ins from Lendeborg kept the Wolverines neck-and-neck with TCU.
Lendeborg also made good on his preseason promise of looking for assists first, recording four assists in the final minutes of the match. Finding both freshman guard Trey McKenney as he cut to the rim and feeding hot-handed sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. with his back to the basket, Lendeborg made up Michigan’s earlier struggles passing.
Despite their 22 turnovers, the Wolverines again narrowly scraped by. Bolstered by the free throws in the first half and paint domination in the second half, Michigan staved off the Horned Frogs en route to its first road-game win.
