Michigan Wolverines number 10 went into the locker room for Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers number 16 and went up six points.
The deficit at the end of the game was slightly larger than that.
Michigan changed to 10-0 this season (5-0 in a conference game) with an 82-57 victory over the Gophers. They were led by another performance in Hunter Dickinson’s career with 28 points and eight rebounds, while Isaiah Livers added 14 points of his own.
Here are three quick lessons from victory.
Stifling defensive performance
This was the most complete defensive performance we’ve seen in Michigan all season, and its stock at that end of the track continues to skyrocket. The Wolverines held Minnesota with 32 percent shots in the night and 7 of 28 on the three-point line. Point guard Marcus Carr had 14 points out of 5 out of 16 shots. At one point, Michigan was in a 37-8 run to start the second half.
This was an absolute butt cry.
What we’ve seen in the past few weeks has been Michigan discovering how to use its length and athleticism to its advantage and it is paying off. I have already stated here that I was not sure if this could be a team that hung its hat in defense, but they are quickly proving that this was wrong and getting better. This team plays very hard and is stuck at both ends of the field, but advances in defense is what can take it from good to great.
Brandon Johns Night
I thought this was Johns’ best game in a year, from the point of view of agitation and impact. Lately, it looked like his role had started to wobble a bit with Terrance Williams getting more active, but the coaches have been working hard and he has responded in recent games. He ended the night with seven points and four rebounds in 14 minutes of play and had other moments that will not appear in the scoreboard. The excitement and energy that he and guys like Chaundee Brown bring from the bench are tremendous and allow you to keep your foot on the gas when your beginners need a break.
Oh yes, Hunter Dickinson
He is good. What else is there to say? He will win the Big Ten Freshman of the Week again and had another career break on Wednesday night. Liam Robbins, from Minnesota, was supposed to be his biggest challenge of the year, but it was Dickinson who once again came out on top in an unbalanced fight. The jumper returned to be part of his game on Wednesday and if it starts to fall consistently, you are looking at one of the top five centers of college basketball.
Alternative curiosity!
A little bit of bonus content here, like Michigan defeated Minnesota in football and basketball by 25 points in their most recent fights. This … must end up going better than the football season.
Michigan was originally scheduled for a game on Saturday at Penn State, but was postponed due to COVID-19 under the Lions of Nittany program. As of now, the next scheduled opponent is Wisconsin on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor.