The Michigan men's basketball team is reflected in the Crisler Arena floor as the team huddles before taking on the University of South Carolina Upstate on Saturday.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Welcome to The Day After, a new feature with breakdowns and observations from each Michigan men's basketball game.

Start with this: USC Upstate is not very good. Actually, the Spartans may be the worst team Michigan plays this season.

They were picked 11th in the Atlantic Sun - not a traditionally strong conference - for a reason and at times they looked worse than Michigan’s exhibition opponent, Saginaw Valley State.

That said, with a team as young as Michigan has, it’ll take any win it can get early, which is exactly what it received in a 66-35 beating of USC Upstate.

Didn’t see this one live, but after catching video of the game Monday morning, it was about what I expected. Some good things, some questionable things and one team just way more talented than the other.

Starting lineup: Zack Novak; Darius Morris; Tim Hardaway Jr., Evan Smotrycz; Jordan Morgan

Observations:
Darius Morris’ game is improved: The sophomore point guard looks more confident in every area. His passes are crisper. His drives and finishes are more better, and he’s not hesitating nearly as much on his mid-range shots as he did a year ago. He’s turned from a liability on offense to one of Michigan’s more important scorers.

Tim Hardaway Jr. is going to be special: Although he relied on the 3-pointer more than expected - his first four shots were three’s and he badly missed one in the second half when he could have taken his man off the dribble - his game has potential. He was the best player on the court Saturday and showed his ability to slash with a one-handed dunk and then a defensive rebound he took the entire way cutting through the USC Upstate defense in the second half. His defense was better than expected for a freshman, although sometimes he got caught wanting to help-side defense a bit too much.

The defense: Michigan almost exclusively went man-to-man, only going to the 1-3-1 in the first half when Matt Vogrich was subbed in and he played up top for one possession at the 11:42 mark. The 1-3-1 didn’t return again until the second half. Otherwise, Michigan stuck with man.

Team play: Michigan looked more together than at any point last year. The Wolverines passed more - and this team has the potential to be a better passing team than last year - and looked like they took more shots in the flow of the offense. As a result, Michigan drove-and-kicked better than a season ago. Both Morris and Zack Novak appeared comfortable with it.

Shooting: Michigan looked like it took few shots that were not in the flow of the offense. That was a major issue for the Wolverines last year when they would hoist shots early in the shot clock without trying to run any sort of movement.

Rebounding: This is going to be an issue. Michigan, at times, struggled against an inferior opponent, especially when redshirt freshman Jordan Morgan wasn’t in the game. Morgan is the best rebounding center Michigan has - by a wide margin.

Evan Smotrycz had a rough night: His shot wasn’t falling and, like Hardaway, often seemed more concerned about help-side defense than his own man. His stroke looked good, but it just wasn’t falling.

Michigan missed too many open 3-pointers: Against USC Upstate, the Wolverines can get away with missing 3-pointers. Against better teams, like what Michigan will see in the Legends Classic and in the Big Ten, it needs to make almost every one of them.

Team speed: This has to be Michigan’s biggest concern. There were times USC Upstate - and Saginaw Valley State - took Michigan players off of the dribble. That shouldn’t happen against teams like this from a speed or athleticism standpoint. Also, the lack of speed showed when Michigan tried to push the ball on the fast break. Often, USC Upstate stayed with the Wolverines off of a turnover.

Michigan's Tempo-Based Statistics from Saturday (courtesy SCACCHoops.com)

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