It was clear with about 7:35 left in the first half that Michigan was very likely going to advance to the round of 32 with a win over Texas Southern. That’s when little-used freshman guard Zeb Jackson hit a long triple, one of two he’d nail in the first half, to push a Michigan lead to 29-12.
To their credit, Texas Southern fought back twice from huge deficits and came close to making a game of it with less than four minutes to go, but U-M withstood a late run to advance to a Monday game with LSU.
Here are three things we liked from Saturday’s 82-66 win, two things we didn’t and one prediction heading into the matchup with LSU.
THREE POSITIVES FROM SATURDAY’s WIN OVER TEXAS SOUTHERN
3. Fast starts to both halves. This is an often-overlooked aspect come tournament time. Playing from behind against a good team can require teams to expend more energy clawing to get back into a game … fall behind to a heavy underdog and you risk it getting in your head.
RELATED: Wolverine Watch: Staying Alive, And Cherishing Every Minute
The Wolverines made sure that wasn’t a concern Saturday. They jumped to a 7-0 lead, then 10-2 behind a pair of triples from senior guard Eli Brooks and were up the rest of the way. The defense was dialed in during the first half — for the most part — and they all but ended any chance of a loss by pushing the lead to 50-26 at the 17:15 mark of the second half.
