The best thing you can say about this game is that Michigan won. There was little else here to be happy about. Michigan led KenPom #205 Tarleton State, maybe the worst team on this season's schedule, by just three points with four minutes at home. If you got creeping NJIT vibes, I would not blame you. Michigan missed 17 field goals in the game. They committed 22 turnovers. The sloppiness from the Wolverines was worthy of an appearance on The Real Housewives. At some point during the game, your author felt no choice but to begin asking the difficult questions: 

So what was this team doing in practice in the month of October?

— Alex Drain (@Alex_Drain) November 25, 2021

This basketball team is simply not very good right now despite the talent, and they need a lot of work from Juwan Howard and his staff to get to where they want to be. Luckily, Michigan now has seven days off to hit the gym (something they didn't get before this game, perhaps the only saving grace) before heading to Chapel Hill for a daunting road date with UNC. It's not pretty. At least this is only the beginning, not the end. 

The first half was generally tight. Michigan saw some of the usual suspects pop up in big ways to keep Tarleton State in it, even as the Wolverines canned their shots at a high clip: faulty defensive rebounding, foul trouble from key players, and extraordinary turnover rates. Michigan shot 75% from the floor in the first half, yet led by single digits against an opponent who should have represented an easy victory. Why? 11 turnovers. If the Wolverines got a shot up, it was normally going in. They just didn't get nearly enough shots up. The turnovers came in all varieties, bad passes, offensive fouls, players stepping out of bounds as if they were unaware the sideline exists. Infuriating basketball littered with mistakes. 

So why didn't we see more of Frankie in the second half? [MG Campredon]

There were some positive notes, though. After DeVante' Jones encountered foul trouble yet again following a horrific decision to pressure the ballcarrier at midcourt that did not pay off, Frankie Collins got to play the point. Jones exited only five minutes in, and Collins got the remaining 15 minutes in the half and played very well, going 2/2 from the field, knocking down a three and getting to the line. Only hitting one of his three free throws was the downer aspect of his performance but there were genuinely encouraging signs from Michigan's backup one. Similarly, Caleb Houstan may have played his best half as a Wolverine, scoring five points and hitting one of his two threes, seeming far more engaged in the game. 

On the flip side, Michigan still couldn't enter the post to Dickinson consistently. The star big man attempted an unforgivable one(!) FG in the first half, despite logging 15 minutes. Defensive effort also came and went, and Tarleton State collected five offensive rebounds to Michigan's zero. That cannot happen against a team that Michigan is much bigger than. Eli Brooks and Moussa Diabate combined for 12 points while not missing a field goal, which helped Michigan to go up 31-22 at halftime. The home team outscored their opposition 10-2 in the final five minutes of the first half, though going scoreless in the final three of those minutes after an initial explosion loomed large. 

That reasonably strong close to the first stanza seemed to set up a coherent narrative of Michigan settling in and starting to play like the vastly better team when the Maize & Blue came out of the half juiced up and on a 9-2 run. Three minutes into the second half, it was 40-24 Michigan and your author began to think he would be able to start writing early. Not so fast. Tarleton State answered with an 8-1 run of their own and were back in it. From there it became a tug-of-war, where Michigan would pull forward for a few points, before the Texans would pull back, keeping the center knot in the rope at a margin of roughly Michigan +10. It was with 8 minutes to go that the rope began to pull decisively towards the team in purple. 

Eli represented the good and the bad tonight for Michigan [MG Campredon[

Montre Gipson made a turnaround jumper, Michigan turned it over, had Diabate miss the front end of a one-and-one, and then saw Eli Brooks brick an open three point look on their next three possessions, before Tahj Small and Gipson knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions for an 8-0 run. That suddenly made it 52-49 Michigan with 6:06 left. It was only some 30 seconds later that Michigan missed consecutive threes from Brooks and Houstan, again on open looks, and Michigan's offensive problems were running deep. A three from Daniel Shakur made it 55-52 Michigan with 4:20 to go and the idea of a previously-unthinkable loss became slightly more viable. 

But, Michigan proved to have enough left in the tank. They held the Texans to a lone field goal in the final four minutes of play, while two Diabate dunks off of good passing plays from Dickinson, in addition to free throws from Brooks and Houstan, put the game out of reach for Tarleton state. The time drained off the clock and a Crisler Center crowd who seemed more fixated on the impending football game on Saturday gave their applause. 

The final box score demonstrates the issues Michigan had in this game. The now well-described 22 turnovers stick out like a sore thumb, but some of the other numbers are just as alarming. Hunter Dickinson only attempting six total field goals is something that will need to change. DeVante' Jones playing the entire second half, despite never attempting a single shot of any kind and turning it over five times is ugly. Refusing to play Collins in that latter 20 minutes when Jones was giving you nothing offensively was the most befuddling decision Juwan Howard made tonight. Eli Brooks led the team with 15 points but went ice cold from distance in the second half and was responsible for five turnovers himself. Brandon Johns Jr. played 15 minutes that were generally ugly when he was visible. 

Houstan was a bright spot tonight for Michigan [Campredon]

Diabate and Houstan were the two bright spots. The French big man provided his typical defense, in addition to 14 points that included him going perfect on his twos. Houstan, meanwhile, wasn't perfect on defense, but was more plugged in than in other games, and seeing the Canadian go 4/7 from the field and 2/5 from three for 14 points is a step in the right direction. Trying to find glimmers of hope here. 

Michigan now will hit the gym for what should be some tough practices, if Howard and Phil Martelli want to whip this team into shape. After playing three games in five days, this week off will give them an opportunity to reset and get back to basics. This team should not need to get back basics six games into the season, but that's where we are. At the very least, Michigan is 4-2. It won't help their national image at all though. 

Michigan's next game is at 9:15 PM EST on December 1st against North Carolina as part of the B1G-ACC Challenge. The box score is the only content after the jump. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Box Score]