2021-22 southern utah
Sorely in need of a better showing after last weekend's debacle against Minnesota, Michigan faced an overmatched and severely undersized Southern Utah team on Saturday night. They got that much better showing, on both ends of the floor. To be clear, Southern Utah is not a good basketball team on a national level and this game will not go down on Michigan's tournament resume. But the Thunderbirds are also not abject either, the projected Big Sky preseason favorites and KenPom only saw this as a Michigan by 14 game. So for the Wolverines to win by 37 is a welcome step in the right direction before the holiday break, no matter how small that step may be.
The first 5.5 minutes were close, as Michigan led by just 11-10 at that juncture, following a Dre Marin three pointer. After that, it was not close again. The Wolverines strung together a fourteen point run and seized the game quite rapidly. Before you could blink, it was 31-14, and then 45-16. Cumulatively, it was a 34-6 stretch that lasted over twelve minutes of game time. Michigan led by 29 at the break and the game never got closer than a 27 point margin in the second half. It was complete and total domination by the home team in white.
Michigan's start to the game was fueled by a nice stretch of basketball from DeVante' Jones, who went 5/6 from the field with six rebounds, three assists, and just one turnover. There's not much that can be read from this performance due to Southern Utah's small size, but if there is one thing to be genuinely encouraged about, it's that the transfer PG went 3/3 from beyond the arc.
A nice outing from Jones [Campredon]
As Jones' impact faded, Hunter Dickinson snagged the spotlight with a dominant performance, as expected, against a team that didn't have a player taller than 6'7". The sophomore center posted 22 points in 27 minutes on an incredibly efficient 11/15 from the field, and 11/13 from two (!).
Once Michigan had command of the game, the bigger story became the contributions of some bench pieces who have been seldom seen in other games, notably Zeb Jackson and Kobe Bufkin. Jackson looked sharp in his 14 minutes, with 8 points on 3/4 from the field, which included him draining both threes he attempted. It's been an erratic season from Jackson, but those kinds of outings will do a lot to gain the confidence of Juwan Howard. Bufkin went o-fer on his threes but was efficient inside the arc and posted 11 points in 18 minutes.
The rest of the scoring summary is quite varied, with nearly everyone getting involved in a game this offensively explosive. Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan notched 8 and 9 points, respectively. Frankie Collins had five, but came up short on a potentially electrifying alley-oop attempt. Brandon Johns Jr., Terrance Williams II, and Eli Brooks each had a few points, with Brooks' performance being rather muted despite playing 24 minutes. The garbage time squad got involved too, as Jaron Faulds, Jace Howard, and Adrien Nuñez all saw the floor in the game's waning moments.
Hello Kobe! [Campredon]
In all, it was a plainly dominant offensive showing by the Wolverines. Michigan shot 56% from the floor, 39% from three, and scored at 1.26 points per possession. As stellar as it was offensively, it was nearly as dominant defensively. Michigan held a Southern Utah team that had scored 70+ in each of its other two games against KP top 100 teams to just 50 on 33% from the field and 17% from three at 0.72 points per possession. A very strong game all the way around.
Michigan has one more game until the holiday break, back at it at 7:00 pm on Tuesday night against Purdue Fort-Wayne, who are (per the KP rankings) the worst team Michigan will see all season. It is poised to be another easy win before the Wolverines' improvements are tested in Orlando against UCF on December 30. The Tuesday game is at home and is on Big Ten Network.
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THE ESSENTIALS
| WHAT | #19 Michigan (6-4, 1-1 Big Ten) vs #135 Southern Utah (7-3, 2-0 Big Sky) |
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|---|---|---|
| WHERE | Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI |
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| WHEN | 7 PM Eastern Saturday, 12/18 |
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| THE LINE | Kenpom: M -14 Torvik: M -14 |
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| TELEVISION | BTN |
THE OVERVIEW
Michigan stumbles into the traditionally light portion of their December schedule at 6-4, in deep trouble in several areas and searching for answers. Southern Utah arrives as a buy game, and a slightly dangerous one. The Thunderbirds are coming off a 20-4 2020-21 that saw them win the Big Sky title by fractions because they went 12-2 instead of 12-3—welcome to the club—and rank just outside the Kenpom top 100.
Southern Utah has only played two KP100 (or close enough) opponents, losing by 19 to #37 St. Mary's and in double overtime against Cal. They are probably not a threat to a top 20 team… but Michigan has not played like one this season.
THE US
Seth's graphic [click to embiggen]:
Diabate returned, hooray.
THE LINEUP CARD
Seth's graphic [click for big]:
Nice hair.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the preview.]
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