Three takeaways from Michigan's 83-66 win over Eastern Michigan

Following a brief two-game conference slate of games, Michigan was back to the non-conference schedule on Saturday afternoon as it took on the in-state Eastern Michigan Eagles at Crisler Center. Last season, the Wolverines outlasted the Eagles 88-83 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

This year's game wasn't nearly as entertaining as last year's game was. Star players Emoni Bates and Hunter Dickinson have both moved on from their respective schools, and Eastern Michigan struggled to hang keep pace with Michigan this time around.

Here are three takeaways from Michigan's comfortable 83-66 home victory.

Through the first third of the regular season, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard was not in his usual head coaching role on the sidelines. In fact, he wasn't even on the sidelines until Michigan visited the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The coaching situation was still rather odd with Phil Martelli serving as the team's acting head coach. Martelli seemed to be the one shouting out commands from the sidelines for the majority of the games, but Howard, even in games in which he was simply an observer, was still vocal.

Howard even got ejected from a game during the Battle 4 Atlantis against Texas Tech.

The spectacle surrounding the coaching staff seemed out of the ordinary, but all returned to normal on Saturday afternoon. Howard was greeted with a loud round of cheers when he was officially announced as Michigan's head coach.

Although Jon Sanderson wasn't on the sidelines with the rest of the team, the coaching situation finally started to show some semblance of normalcy against Eastern Michigan.

On Saturday afternoon, Michigan featured just its second different starting lineup all season. The Wolverines had stuck with the same starting five through the regular season's first 10 games, but in the 11th game, there was a change.

Redshirt sophomore Will Tschetter got the starting nod over true sophomore Tarris Reed Jr., a change that Maize and Blue Review recently speculated could happen relatively soon.

Some would argue the change came at a weird time. Reed was coming off his best game in a Michigan uniform with 19 points, six rebounds and three blocks in a 90-80 win over Iowa on Sunday.

Nonetheless, Tschetter got the start.

There seems to be little to no consistency, though, from either Tschetter or Reed. After scoring at least eight points in each of the last three games, including a 17-point performance against Indiana on Dec. 5, Tschetter totaled just five points in his first start of the season.

Meanwhile, Reed had another solid outing with 13 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Which player gets the start doesn't affect the outcome of many games — Michigan will just ride the hand of whoever is hot — but it would be nice to see some consistency out of the '5' going forward.

Entering Saturday's matchup, Michigan had been shooting 37.1% from beyond the arc as a team. Most of the season, the Wolverines have been a team that has largely lived and died by the 3-pointer, and on Saturday afternoon they thrived from distance.

Michigan sank five triples in the game's first eight minutes, and it finished the game with 12 made 3-pointers on 27 attempts, which was good for 44.4%.

Dug McDaniel, Nimari Burnett, Tray Jackson and Jaelin Llewellyn all shot 50% or better from 3-point range as 36 of Michigan's 83 points came from beyond the long line.

The Wolverines have proven to be a team that can score in bunches if they're hot from deep, but if they're cold it could turn out to be a long night for the team as a whole.

Eastern Michigan certainly isn't anywhere near the most talented team Michigan will see all season, so while it's encouraging that the Wolverines shot well from distance, they'll need to keep it going as Big Ten play picks up again after the New Year.

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