After a few games of eschewing the general principles Michigan basketball coach John Beilein, the Wolverines found their way.

Thing is, for a half, they forgot about their best player and offensive catalyst.

Eventually, Michigan got going in its 67-53 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff when it found junior guard Manny Harris.

In the first half, Harris was virtually invisible. He took two shots, and if it weren’t for two late free throws, he would have been scoreless in a half for the first time this season.

“To his credit, he’s trying to get the offense more involved, trying to be patient,” sophomore guard Zack Novak said. “But Manny Harris needs to shoot more than twice in a half.”

After the half, Harris did. Harris scored Michigan’s first 11 points in the second half, and a personal 11-1 run over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-6) gave the Wolverines the spark they needed.

Harris was everywhere, scoring 16 of his 18 points after the half. He broke out of his three-point shooting slump, going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. He drove to the basket and got easy layups. He forced the Golden Lions to foul him and made all three of his free throws.

“When he’s hitting three’s like that, he’s unstoppable,” Novak said. “People think his shot is shaky. He can really shoot.

“I mean, when he’s doing that, what are you going to do?”

If you are Arkansas-Pine Bluff, not much. The Golden Lions went the first 6:06 in the second half without a field goal, allowing Michigan (4-3) to pull away.

More importantly, Michigan showed signs of returning philosophically to what made it an NCAA tournament team last year. Over the past two days, Beilein went back to the shell of his pass-oriented, cutting offense.

Too often in Florida and Wednesday against Boston College, the Wolverines took ill-advised shots early in the shot clock.

It is how Michigan played in the first half Saturday and how Harris ended up with the quietest half of his season. While shots taken were good, few of them fell and Michigan was tied with Arkansas-Pine Bluff at halftime, 32-32.

Senior forward DeShawn Sims kept Michigan in the game, scoring 15 of his game-high 19 points. He also had 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

“It was just running the offense, trying to let it come to me,” Harris said. “I had missed two early shots. They had nothing (special) at all in the first half, I was just taking my time and letting it come to me.”

Beilein was happy with Michigan’s shot selection for the most part Saturday, despite the first-half struggles overall and the continued issues beyond the three-point line.

Michigan shot 3-of-15 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half, its seventh consecutive half shooting under 30 percent from long range. In the second half, the Wolverines were 3-of-9 from 3-point range.

Michigan’s two best 3-point shooters - Novak and sophomore Stu Douglass - were a combined 1-of-11. Arkansas-Pine Bluff struggled, too, making just 27.3 percent of its shots in the second half.

“I still don’t know how we’re going to get out of this deal where we’ve had good shooters that lost so much confidence,” Beilein said. “But when that’s happened you have to play great defense, and that is what saved us in this game.

“First half, not so good, second half was terrific.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.