ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Coming off a lopsided loss to Arizona that had some players frustrated and disconnected, Michigan coach Juwan Howard wanted to see better effort and energy from his team from start to finish.
It didn’t exactly happen during stretches of the first and second halves of Wednesday’s game against Tarleton State as the turnovers piled up at an alarming rate and a 16-point lead dwindled down to three points.
Still, the No. 20 Wolverines managed to stave off a second-half push from Tarleton State and used a late run to pull away for a 65-54 win at Crisler Center.
Fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks led the way with 15 points and earned the 109th win of his career, surpassing the all-time mark set by former teammates Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske and becoming the winningest player in program history.
Brooks needs 26 more wins to top the NCAA record of 134 wins held by Gonzaga’s Przemek Karnowski (2012-17). Duke great Shane Battier ranks second with 131 wins.
Freshman forward Caleb Houstan and freshman forward Moussa Diabate each added 14 points and sophomore center Hunter Dickinson finished with nine points and 10 rebounds for Michigan (4-2), which closed the game on a 10-2 run over the final four minutes but finished with 21 turnovers.
After closing the first half on a 10-2 run, Michigan picked up right where it left off thanks to Brooks. He drained a 3-pointer, found sophomore center Hunter Dickinson for a dunk and came away with a steal that led to two free throws as the Wolverines pushed their lead to 40-24 with 17:21 left to play.
But just when it looked like Michigan had cleaned things up and were on the verge of turning it into a blowout, turnovers crept back up and Tarleton State chipped the deficit down to nine four times, the last at the 8:49 mark.
Houstan and Diabate helped keep the Texans at bay and pushed the margin back to double digits on numerous occasions. The two combined to score nine consecutive points for Michigan, the last two on a pair of free throws from Diabate to make it 52-41 with 8:32 remaining.
Still, the Wolverines struggled to close it out. Tarleton State ripped off an 8-0 run during a three-minute stretch that saw Diabate miss the front end of a one-and-one, two turnovers from Brooks and a Dickinson shot at the rim get blocked to pull within 52-49 at the 6:06 mark.
After Dickinson made three free throws to push the lead to six, the Texans answered with a 3-pointer from Shakur Daniel to make it 55-52 with 4:20 to play. But that’s as close as they would come as Dickinson found Diabate for a pair of dunks and the Wolverines closed things out with a 10-2 spurt.
Montre Gipson scored 17 and Tahj Small 12 for Tarleton State (1-5), which moved up to Division I last season and shot 33.9% from the field (19-for-56).
It was a less than desirable start for the Wolverines. They opened the game with a pair of turnovers sandwiched around an offensive foul by grad transfer guard DeVante’ Jones on a push off while trying to create separation from a defender on an inbounds pass.
Brooks came to play on both ends and had a hand in Michigan’s first seven points. He knocked down a 3-pointer, dished to senior forward Brandon Johns Jr. for a dunk, blocked a shot to force a shot-clock violation and scored on a driving layup to give Michigan a 7-4 lead with 17:34 left in first half.
But the miscues continued. Freshman forward Caleb Houstan had his toe on the 3-point line on an open shot. Jones picked up his second foul well away from the basket at the 15:02 mark and sat the rest of the half. While the Wolverines had no trouble making shots – opening 6-for-6 from the field – they trailed by three at one point, had 10 turnovers over the first 10 minutes and forced Howard to call a timeout at one point.
Freshman guard Frankie Collins and Diabate provided a much-needed spark off the bench. Collins scored on a driving layup during a 7-0 spurt that put Michigan back on top, 14-12, at the 11:06 mark. Diabate threw down a dunk to make it 21-16 at the 6:10 mark and drew a technical foul after he motioned to the student section.
Despite finishing the first half with nearly as many made field goals (12) as turnovers (11), the Wolverines started to widen the gap with a 10-0 flurry that Collins ignited. After knocking down a 3-pointer, he dished out three straight assists to help Michigan grab a 31-22 lead at the break.
Michigan will return to action next Wednesday when it travels to North Carolina to face the Tar Heels in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
