The no. 10 Michigan Wolverines rose six points in the locker room Wednesday night with No. 16 Minnesota Golden Gophers by six points.
The backlog at the end of the game was a little bigger than that.
Michigan moved the season to 10-0 (5-0 in conference) with an 82-57 victory over the Gophers. They were led by another Hunter Dickinson career performance with 28 points and eight rebounds, while Isaiah Livers added 14 points of his own.
Here are three quick takeaways from the win.
Throttling defensive performance
It was just such a defensive performance as we’ve seen the entire Michigan season and their stock at the end of the floor still holds the height. The Wolverines shot Minnesota up 32 percent at night and 7-for-28 from the three-point line. Star guard Marcus Carr was held to 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting. At one point, Michigan was on a 37-8 run to start the second half.
It was an absolute spot.
What we have seen over the past few weeks is Michigan exploring how its length and athletics are used to its advantage, and it pays a lot of time. I’ve said here before that I wasn’t sure if it could be a team hanging its hat on its defense, but they quickly prove it wrong and keep getting better there. This team plays extremely hard and is locked on both sides of the floor, but the progress on defense is what can take them from good to great.
Brandon Johns’ night
I thought it was Johns’ best game of a year from a rushed impact. Due to the late season, it felt like his role was starting to creep up a bit with the fact that Terrance Williams was running more, but the coaches were working hard on him and he was responding to the last number of games. He ended the evening in 14 minutes of play with seven points and four rebounds and had other moments that would not appear in the goals. The hustle and bustle that he and guys like Chaundee Brown bring off the couch is tremendous and it allows you to keep your foot on the gas when your beginners need a breather.
Oh yes, Hunter Dickinson
He’s good. What else is there to say? He will win Big Ten Freshman of the Week again and had another career outing on Wednesday night. Minnesota’s Liam Robbins was supposed to be his biggest challenge of the year, but it was Dickinson who came out on top again in a skewed game. The jumper was part of his game again on Wednesday and if it starts to decline consistently, you are looking at one of the top five centers in university basketball.
Alternative fun fact!
Here’s a little bonus content, as Michigan beat Minnesota in both football and basketball by 25 points in their most recent games. This … should go better than the football season.
Michigan was originally scheduled for a game Saturday in Penn State, but it was postponed due to COVID-19 in the Nittany Lions program. As of now, their next opponent is Wisconsin Tuesday night in Ann Arbor.