Takeaways from Michigan’s win over Oregon

It wasn’t easy, but the Michigan Wolverines remained undefeated at home this season with an 80-76 victory over Oregon. Here are takeaways from the game:

After 11 games at Crisler Center in Dusty May’s first year at the helm, in the first week of February, the Michigan Wolverines are still undefeated at home. While Oregon nearly overcame a 12-point deficit, Michigan made enough winning plays late to hang on to win, 80-76.

When the Ducks had all the momentum, Michigan turned to big man Vlad Goldin (15 points), who muscled his way to the rim and scored through contact to give Michigan a pivotal 76-72 lead inside two minutes. That basket — and clutch free throws from Danny Wolf and Roddy Gayle Jr. — were enough to seal the Michigan victory.

With the victory, Michigan improves to 17-5 overall and 9-2 in Big Ten play, tied for second with Michigan State in the conference standings.

Here are the takeaways from the win.

Will Tschetter provides a pop

My colleague Jake Singer wrote about how Will Tschetter could be a glue guy for Michigan back in March, but he was much more than that in this game.

After a so-so offensive start from the opening five, Tschetter was red-hot in his first four minutes, making two three-pointers and utilizing a shot-fake before getting to the rim and finishing near the cup for a quick eight points. He cut to the basket well, and even executed the savvy move of getting the defender to bite on the pump fake for three easy points at the charity stripe.

Will Tschetter finished with a season-high 17 points to go along with three rebounds.

Playing across two different regimes, the growth Tschetter has shown over the last few seasons have been remarkable. In a world of constant transfers, Tschetter is a prime example of why staying at one school and gradually improving can pay dividends.

Another solid Danny Wolf showing

Wolf put on a show Wednesday night, nearly putting up a double-double in the first half alone (10 points, eight rebounds) and finishing with 15 points, 12 rebounds and two assists, including a beautiful touch-pass alley-oop to Goldin midway through the second half.

Wolf was the best player on the floor for a good chunk of this game, dictating the pace of the offense and being part of a large portion of Michigan’s buckets. He was held scoreless for a large portion of the second half, but Wolf made an impact in other ways, getting great positioning on the boards and using his size to his advantage on the glass.

The threes come in bunches

Three-point makes kickstarted Michigan’s offense after a slow start, with Nimari Burnett and Tschetter cashing some open looks. Wolf made the play of the game, hitting a FILTHY step-back at the shot clock buzzer to make the crowd at Crisler Center erupt.

You don’t see the caption “7-footer step back three” a whole lot, but there aren’t a lot of players like Wolf.

That three-pointer capped off an 11-0 run that saw Michigan go from down one point to up 10 in a 2:12 stretch.

Oregon clawed back at the end of the half, as Michigan settled for a lot of deep threes that clanged off the back of the rim. Part of the three-happy offense was Oregon sitting back in a zone, but the Wolverines were able to pick it apart slowly but surely.

The shot selection wasn’t always the greatest, and Michigan only made one-third of its 27 threes, but it did enough scoring elsewhere to win.

Nimari Burnett with a solid showing

Burnett was dialed in during warm-ups before the game began, making a large portion of his threes and looking very comfortable back on his home floor.

In the words of the great George Blaha , Burnett fired it up and filled it up early, making his first two threes and finishing the first half with eight points. Burnett also made some key buckets in the second half, finishing with 13 points and five rebounds.

Some rapid-fire key statistics

-While Michigan did turn the ball over 15 times, it made up for it by scoring 25 points off Oregon’s 12 turnovers.

-The Wolverines got to the paint and thrived there after missing their first few layups. Michigan had 20 points in the paint in the first half and 36 in the game.

-The Wolverines bested the Ducks in bench points (17-6) and second-chance points (21-14). Will Tschetter single-handedly outscored Oregon’s bench.

Up Next

The Wolverines head to Bloomington to take on Mike Woodson and a struggling Indiana team on Saturday, Feb. 8. That game is set to start on 1 p.m. EST on CBS.

Michigan needs to take things one game at a time and avoid trap games, but the Wolverines have an important rematch against No. 7 Purdue (Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. EST on Peacock). Michigan got waxed in the first game a couple weeks back, and beating the Boilermakers would give Michigan a signature Quad 1 win, and a huge boost for its Big Ten championship chances and NCAA Tournament resume.