Three takeaways from Michigan's tight 88-83 win over Eastern Michigan

Michigan found itself in a close battle with Eastern Michigan late on Friday night at Little Caesars Arena, but the Wolverines ultimately prevailed, 88-83. Emoni Bates and Noah Farrakhan carried the Eagles to a halftime lead, but a great second-half effort from Hunter Dickinson lifted the Wolverines over the in-state foe. Here are three takeaways from Michigan's tight victory.

Michigan got to the free throw line 14 times in the first half, which is typically a pretty good sign of success, but it converted on only six of those attempts, and that played a big role in the first-half score.

Five different Wolverines attempted free throws in the first half, and Hunter Dickinson (2-3) was the only player to shoot better than 50% from the charity stripe. As a team in the first half, Michigan left eight points at the line, compared to Eastern Michigan's three.

As a team, Michigan finished the game 25-40 from the free throw line, a mark that's not to be swooned over. The Wolverines stepped it up in the second half, and it was much needed, too, as free throw shooting proved to be critical down the stretch.

This wasn't a storyline many were probably expecting heading into this matchup. After all, the 7-foot-1 former All-American led Michigan in scoring last year, and is clearly the team's best player once again this season. However, the big man played only 12 minutes in the first half, including a long stretch of time on the bench with no personal fouls.

Dickinson finished the first half with 12 points on 5-9 shooting, but against a team with far less talent like Eastern Michigan, Dickinson's workload was expected by many to be much larger. The 7-footer was far and away Michigan's leading scorer, and the big man sparked a Michigan comeback in the second half. He finished with 31 points on 13-17 shooting.

Going forward, if Dickinson isn't in any foul trouble, there should be no reason why he spends such an extended period of time on the bench. Juwan Howard deserves a lot of credit, because he clearly made it more of an emphasis to go to Dickinson in the second half, but eight minutes on the bench in the first half with no fouls in inexcusable.

It was blatantly evident in the second half what happens when Michigan gives its best player the ball, and Dickinson proved why he was one of the two best players on the floor.

The Michigan starters stole the show in Friday night's game. For the second game in a row, the bench failed to bring any sort of a spark to the game, and it was noticeable. Of course, in the season opener on Monday, Joey Baker made three 3-pointers, but the Duke transfer — along with all of the other bench players — was quiet on Friday.

Tarris Reed Jr., Jace Howard and Joey Baker were the only bench players to make scoring contributions, and other than that it was all on the shoulders of the starting five. The bench finished the game with just nine points, in what was an all-around poor effort.

If Michigan wants to compete in the Big Ten and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, it will need to develop a much deeper bench to compete with the league's best teams.

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