ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan coaches can try to minimize that. They can emphasize the team component of Thursday’s game between No. 3 Michigan and No. 9 Iowa, and they won’t be wrong; any team that wins will be much more concerned with winning than with individual player statistics.
But Thursday’s clash between Hawkeyes and Wolverines will also be undeniably personal, pitting Luka Garza against Hunter Dickinson. The two have known each other for six years, as they both trained with the AAU team of Team Takeover based in the Washington, DC area. Despite three degrees of difference, their height (6 feet-11 for Garza, 7 feet-1 for Dickinson) brought them closer. Last spring, as the COVID-19 restrictions limited Garza’s training while he reflected on an NBA Draft decision, Dickinson embraced the challenge of facing it.
Now Garza, the presumed national player of the year, and Dickinson, possibly the best freshman in the country, will be face to face again. Except this time, there is a Big Ten title and implications for the NCAA Tournament at stake.
“I have known him for some time,” Garza told reporters on Tuesday. “We always work with each other and fight. And I played in practice and things like that. It is really impressive to see what he has done so far, I think anyone from the DMV would have told him that this would happen. He’s been very elite for a while. “
When the two trained last spring, several reports confirmed that the battles were not usually closed. According to Frank Garza, Luka’s father, Dickinson won just one match against the player who now leads the country with 24.7 points per match. Garza had thousands of college minutes and points on his resume; Dickinson had not yet finished high school.
Still, it was clear that Dickinson was on the rise. One of the top 50 recruits and Player of the Year in Maryland Gatorade while playing for the 5th Catholic DeMatha, Dickinson’s game was known in the region and in the country, and he did not give up when a consensus college All-American called him.
“He had that look he wanted to improve,” said Frank Garza of Dickinson last summer. “It takes a special character to want to face the best and improve, even though you may be embarrassed.”
Now Dickinson is also a different player than he was then. Since the spring, the ex-Top 50 recruiter has gone through a summer of weightlifting and training with renowned Michigan strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson, a former great man too. He also received mentorship from Michigan coach Juwan Howard, who played 19 years in the NBA as a great player. After Dickinson’s 22-point, nine-rebound performance against Ohio State No. 4 on Sunday, it was revealed that Howard used to conduct one-on-one movie sessions with Dickinson the night before several games this season.
And along the way, Dickinson led the Wolverines with 15.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. He won the seventh freshman Big Ten prize of the week – tied for second place – is in seventh place nationally in percentage of pitches and 12th in Player Efficiency Rating.
“I really wasn’t used to the college game,” said Dickinson of his previous struggles against Garza. “After having a little bit of summer preseason and then the actual preseason and since the start of the season, I think I learned a lot. Especially because of Austin Davis. He really gave me a great example of what is the Big Ten taste and what I need to do daily to prepare for guys like Luka to get in and out of the game.
“I think I have grown a lot since then with my basketball skills, but also with my mind and things like that.”
Of course, Dickinson has yet to face a big man in Garza’s stratosphere this season. Crafty with his post movements, physical in his ability to reach the line and having even made 44.4 percent of his 3s in 72 attempts, Garza’s scoring ability is as good as any of the Big Ten in the past 20 years old.
Dickinson knows firsthand how difficult a confrontation with Garza would be. Admitting that he is still learning a lot while watching the film and that he is still far from being an “expert” on Garza, Dickinson can still claim to know the Iowa giants game better than any of the Big Ten.
“I think one thing he does very well is using his body,” said Dickinson when asked what makes Garza dangerous. “He has a great structure that he designs very well. He is very good at using angles. If you give him any kind of angle to get him off the table or something, he is very good. Whatever the defender do is the wrong kind of mindset. “
Martelli added: “How hard he works, how creative he is with his footwork and both games, for me, were unusual for college basketball. “
Martelli is correct when he says that Thursday is about Michigan vs. Iowa. The Wolverines are in the driver’s seat at the Big Ten, with a 97.88% chance of winning the regular season title and winning it on Saturday. The last time Garza came to Ann Arbor, he set an opponent’s record of 44 points, and the Hawkeyes still lost by 12 points.
Garza could do the same thing on Thursday, and Dickinson won’t mind, as long as Michigan wins. There is also something to be said for not getting too emotionally involved in a personal confrontation, especially against the best player in the country. For what it’s worth, Dickinson said he feels he has played enough of his friends to not be a problem.
“The only thing I’m going to whisper to (Dickinson) tomorrow is that you just need to put friendship aside here,” said Martelli. “And you are not the youngest. He cannot come in and accept this as any kind of built-in excuse. All the notoriety, all the compliments, he took care of that. And now he has to deal with the idea that this is not Hunter against Garza, he is Michigan against Iowa. “
Still, the clash will be between longtime friends and former training opponents, and it will be a juicy subplot for the first 10 clashes. The best center in the country and the fastest growing in the country will be on an equal footing as an important clash between the top 10 takes place around them.
It doesn’t get much bigger than that.
(Top photo: Marc Gregor Campredon, MGoBlog.com)