A back-and-forth game of runs between Michigan and Stanford in the Bahamas ended in an 83-78 Wolverine victory on Thanksgiving night. All five of Michigan's starters finished in double-figures as the Wolverines came back from a 14-point first-half deficit to advance to the fifth-place game in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
The Wolverines will take on Texas Tech on Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
Here are three takeaways from Michigan's Thanksgiving Day victory.
Very balanced scoring could be Michigan's best attribute
Through six games this season, Michigan has been a very balanced scoring team. Of course, Dug McDaniel and Olivier Nkamhoua have done a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of scoring, but Michigan got contributions from many other players on Thursday night.
McDaniel and Nkamhoua combined for 36 points, but Terrance WIlliams II was actually Michigan's second-leading scorer on the night with 17 points on 5-8 shooting and 4-5 from distance.
Williams' breakout came just one day after a disappointing two-point showing in Michigan's loss to Memphis on Wednesday night.
It wasn't just Williams, though. Tarris Reed Jr. and Nimari Burnett both finished in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
If there's any area of concern, it would be that Michigan only had nine bench points from only two players (Will Tschetter and Tray Jackson). But Michigan's starters carried the load on Thursday night, and the scoring was balanced enough that Stanford wasn't able to just focus its defense on one or two players.
This was the fourth game of the season in which Michigan had four players finish in double-figures. If this trend continues, the Wolverines' offense could be tough to slow down in Big Ten play.
Defense still needs to improve
For the second night in a row, Michigan's opponent seemingly made just about every tough shot imaginable. On Wednesday night, Memphis shot 41.6% from 3-point range, and on Thursday night, Stanford shot 44.4% from distance.
Despite the hot shooting from The Cardinal on Thursday night, Michigan was still able to overcome it with a great offensive performance.
Still, though, there's still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to Michigan's defense. Stanford had more than 20 points before the second media timeout of the game, and if it wasn't for a 20-2 run by Michigan in the second half, the Wolverines could have been playing in the eighth-place game on Friday night.
Michigan has given up at least 70 points in five of its six games, including allowing 94 points to Long Beach State in the team's first loss of the season.
As good as Michigan's offense is — and for the record, it is really good — the defense will need to improve before this team starts setting its eye on the NCAA Tournament.
Will Tschetter is a valuable player on this team
Is Will Tschetter going to be an All-Big Ten player this year or at any point in his Michigan career? Probably not. But he has a clearly-defined role for this Michigan team, and he plays it to near perfection.
Tschetter finished the game with the best +/- of any player on Thursday night. Michigan was +10 when Tschetter was on the court, which was one point better than Dug McDaniel's +9.
All seven of Tschetter's points came in the first half, but he came up clutch with some much-needed buckets. When Michigan was down 12, Tschetter connected on a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to nine points.
Then, later in the first half, Tschetter had two layups, including one at the end of the half to give Michigan a one-point lead at halftime.
With Michigan's depth currently lacking — it's still awaiting returns from Jaelin Llewellyn and Jace Howard — Tschetter's contributions should not go unnoticed.
He's certainly cooled down since his 20-point outing against Youngstown State, but Tschetter has carved out a role for himself, and he will be a critical piece for Michigan as it nears Big Ten season.
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