You have to walk before you can run, and you have to get up off the ground before you can walk.
A home holiday guarantee game was never going to eliminate the disappointment of the first month and a half of the season. The concerns and issues that plagued this Michigan team aren’t going to disappear overnight with a blowout win, but the only way to start to wipe them away is to play well for forty minutes. Then turn forty good minutes into eighty and do it again.
Michigan played well on Saturday night, rolling over Southern Utah in an 87-50 win that was decided at halftime. The Wolverines used their size advantage to dominate inside — outscoring the Thunderbirds 48-18 in the paint — and got some of their best guard play of the season.
Michigan has played at least 20 minutes of great basketball in three of its last four games. It also played a dreadful 40 minutes that cost a home conference game against a limited Minnesota squad.
There’s still a long way to go before this group resembles what so many expected in the preseason, but these are the type of games that lay out the path forward. Now, the Wolverines need to turn those flashes into habits and replicate them against tougher foes.
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