Game 3: Michigan at TCU Recap

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Michigan moved to 3-0 with a 67-63 win at TCU on Friday night, having to fight and claw for its first road victory of the season.

It was the second time in three games this season that the Wolverines won while scoring less than a point per possession, a feat they accomplished only 4 times total last year.

There are no bad road wins, especially in the second week of the season, but Michigan looked much more rough-and-tumble than a finely tuned college basketball team. The Wolverines figured out how to win, but survived more on sheer will than a perfect plan or execution.

The flashiest teams in November aren’t always the best teams in March, but through 125 minutes of competitive basketball, it’s still tough to decipher just what exactly this group will look like in its final form, or even in two weeks.

I thought TCU’s game plan was terrific. Jamie Dixon’s squad slowed the game down, holding Michigan to 11 transition points, and had the right scouting report against Michigan’s two best players from the last time out — Aday Mara and Elliot Cadeau.

The Horned Frogs weren’t going to allow Cadeau to whip the ball all over the court for open jumpers and lobs and forced him to try to be a scorer. As a result, he struggled: 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting with 1 assist to 6 turnovers. They weren’t going to allow Mara to have clean catches and survey the floor, so they brought a level of physicality on the trap that sped him up.

The plan worked perfectly. TCU negated both players, but Michigan still found a way. Instead of Mara and Cadeau, it was Yaxel Lendeborg, Roddy Gayle Jr., Morez Johnson Jr. and Trey McKenney who figured out a solution.

Michigan has to start figuring out these solutions a bit quicker, but the roster lived up to its billing as a Swiss Army knife. This team wasn’t built to win one way, and through three games, it’s done it three different ways.