Michigan basketball handles EMU in Juwan Howard’s return
Michigan head coach Juwan Howard was back on the bench as head coach, and U-M responded with a 83-66 in his return. The Wolverines played well offensively, shooting extremely well from behind the arc in the first half, and pulled away late in the stanza to take control.
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Redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter started in place of sophomore Tarris Reed, but Reed made an immediate and noticeable impact off the bench. He scored 7 points in 5 minutes, including 3-for-3 from the free throw line, and grabbed a pair of rebounds to help the Wolverines stay ahead in the early going.
Michigan made 5 of its first 9 triples, two each from sophomore guard Dug McDaniel and senior Burnett, in a good first half for both, but Eastern Michigan scored on 4 straight trips to cut it to 21-17 with just under 11 minutes to go in the half.
The Wolverines would go on a run of their own. Senior Terrance Williams II hit a triple to make it 31-23 at 5:26, part of a 13-point first half. He’d made 3 of his 5 triples, part of an 8-for-17 team effort in the first half. McDaniel also made 3 of 5, adding 11 points, while Burnett notched 8 and Reed 9 for Michigan. U-M only turned the ball over 4 times despite the pace that led to a 49-32 lead.
Michigan averaged an impressive 1.58 points per possession and also defended much better, holding EMU to 40.6 percent shooting.
SECOND HALF: EMU fights, but Michigan eventually pulls away
Eastern Michigan wasn’t about to go quietly. The Eagles outscored Michigan 9-5 in the first 4.5 minutes of the second half to chip away at the big deficit that ballooned to 52-34 after a triple from U-M grad student Olivier Nkamhoua.
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Tschetter finally got on the board with a drive and finish, and-one, to push the lead back to 16, but Burnett picked up his fourth foul at 11:45. EMU guard Tyson Acuff, 6-for-19 from the field to that point thanks in large part to Burnett’s defensive efforts, went right to the hoop to score. A steal and another bucket and another Acuff drive and score cut it to 10 midway through the second half.
Eastern had a chance to creep even closer, but Tray Jackson followed an Acuff missed triple with a three of his own from the corner in transition. Reed inside pushed it back to 15 just like that and forced an EMU timeout.
The two teams went back and forth a bit before Michigan started to create some space. Grad Tray Jackson’s drive and finish, and-one, and two buckets from Nkamhoua made it 80-61 at 4:02 and forced another Eastern Michigan timeout. Tschetter’s drive and finish pushed the lead to a game-high 20, 83-63, and the Wolverines would empty the bench up 18 with 1:08 remaining to close it out.
Michigan improved to 6-5 with the win, getting 17 points from Nkamhoua, 14 from Burnett, 13 each from Williams II and Reed, and 11 from McDaniel.
