big minutes brandon johns

Juwan Howard did his Dickie V impersonation while his team did their best impression of a Nik Stauskas outfit, hitting the century mark with enough time left that the (highly enjoyable) announcers started looking for new ridiculous stats. They finally realized Michigan was one three-point shooter away from a record nine players scoring beyond the arc, but couldn’t relay that to Frankie Collins, who didn’t yet have one, as the freshman guard dribbled out the last 20 seconds of a laugher to open Big Ten play.

As a team Michigan made 15 of their 32 three-point attempts, a feat made less remarkable by the fact that Nebraska didn’t contest 30 of them. I know we’re going to get to a box score here but this is the kind of stat line that needs to be near the lede:

It’s good.

Brandon Johns, starting in place of Moussa Diabate (illness), came out with renewed vigor. A Devante’ Jones drive on Michigan's first possession set up Johns at the top of the arc for a buried three, and the mercurial forward added another two tough buckets to get to 7 points before the first commercial break. Johns also played his best defense of the season so far, helping to hold Nebraska’s five-star freshman Bryce McGowens to just four points on the floor, and the frontcourt of Derrick Walker and Lat Mayen to five points total. Johns did his best offensive work around the basket, putting two fouls on Husker center Derrick Walker in the first half while pushing his own scoring to 16 points as the Wolverines went into halftime already up 51-32. By that point they were scoring at a cool 1.4 point per possession clip.

With Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga canning a few early unlikely/incredible threes, Michigan’s offensive revival was only keeping pace until Hunter Dickinson canned his fourth three-point attempt in a row (going back to his 3/3 night versus SDSU) between two excellent defensive possessions by the big man. That plus a Dickinson backdown against a late double-team staked Michigan to a 21-15 lead by the Under 12 timeout. Michigan continued to push that lead out in the next segment as Nebraska got more serious about doubling Dickinson, and his friends were able to pay off more of his good passing, specifically his oldest pal on the team Terrance Williams II, who nailed a three off a post double pass, then another when his man was sucked into the paint by Hunter’s gravity. Williams finished the night with 22 points, while Johns tied his own career high at 20.

The scoring continued, as did the weirdness of doing it all with Eli Brooks, their best shooter coming into the game, going cold on his first six outside attempts (all wide open). But he would nail three of his last four, including a final contested heat check to cue Kenpom time. Caleb Houstan managed to find his range at a consistent pace all game, Jones got one to rattle in for his only field goal of the night, and then Kobe Bufkin and Zeb Jackson added theirs off the bench.

That bench was unleashed before the first half was over, with Zeb Jackson bursting onto the court late in the frame with a gorgeous drive and dish assist and a buried three. More eye-opening was his improved defense, an issue in spot appearances thus far, as Jackson used his length to provide the first pushback all game to Nebraska PG Alonzo Verge’s frequent trips through the lane. Verge scored 31 on 24 shot equivalents, regularly abusing Devante’ Jones and Frankie Collins. But he had little help; Tominga’s missed eight of his next nine attempts as Nebraska finished 5/35 from outside, 30 of those contested or from so deep they got a gravity assist.

Other than that whole unresolved “tall lanky guards can take ours off the dribble” situation, the only complaint from Michigan’s night was that turnovers came back early; Michigan had six in each half, most of those on sloppy pass receptions until Bufkin and Jackson added a pair each on ill-conceived drives. They made up for it defensively, generating seven steals from a Hoiberg outfit that emphasizes ball security as much as Michigan used to. As Michigan’s runs started to resemble the last Big Ten football game, Huskers marched to the free throw line, with Nebraska in the bonus before five minutes had elapsed in the second half.

If those slowdowns helped Michigan crown the century mark, more’s the better. For a team that started the year frigid from the arc, the shooting was the main transmittable takeaway. I’m already refreshing Kenpom to see if their offensive stats have come back to the realm of reasonably good, because the idea of a bunch of guys who can shoot around Hunter Dickinson remains the shape of our hopes for a deep tourney kind of year. Michigan gets their next Big Ten warmup game at home this Saturday when a bunch of strangers in Minnesota clothing come to Crisler. This squad still has a long way to go to answer a lot of the questions exposed in November, but settled one: they can shoot.

[A box score after THE JUMP]

3/28/2021 – Michigan 76, Florida State 58 – 23-4, 14-3 Big Ten, Elite Eight

Michigan was up 11 at halftime and Twitter was unanimous: they weren't even playing that well. Twitter cannot agree on anything.

there’s always someone on twitter arguing with no one. saying stuff like “but I was told steph curry wasn’t a good shooter”

— Mambo No. Pfizer (@killakow) June 11, 2019

Twitter cannot agree what color a dress is or whether a Vehicle Miles Traveled tax is a regressive monstrosity or a good, urbanist idea. The only things Twitter has ever agreed on are 1) a boat stuck in the Suez Canal is extremely, extremely funny, and 2) the Michigan-Florida State score did not accurately reflect how deeply Juwan Howard and friends had dunked the Seminoles into a trash can.

When Twitter's right, it's right. The boat is amazing, and FSU was deep in a trash can. After surveying all available stats this one seem like the best indicator: Michigan had 34(!) shots at the rim. They had 14 other twos. That is a crazy ratio, and honestly it felt like making 23 of those 34 at the rim was cursed. We've got Austin Davis assisting Chaundee Brown out here.

"How good are they," Bill Raftery exclaimed after that. And yeah, the impression Michigan gave off in this game was a magnificent, implacable They. Scoring was distributed. Aside from the deep bench Michigan scoring went like this: 14-14-13-12-8-6-6. Five different guys had at least two assists. Davis didn't make that roster but he only played eight minutes, so he gets a pass.

Michigan followed up a first half where they shot 33%—they weren't even playing that well—by hitting about 70% of their looks in the second half, and that conversion rate was deserved. Michigan's second half shot chart is incredible:

One bucket outside the paint, and ~2 that aren't at the rim. That is against the tallest team in America, and a team that entered the game 10th in two-point defense. Michigan assisted on 15 of 18 second half baskets. Clinic. That was a clinic.

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There is something tremendously satisfying about winning a game where it's not about hitting shots. Michigan was 6/25 away from the rim, and it did not matter because half of Michigan's possessions ended either at the rim or in free throws.

Maybe LSU was onto something with their "give Michigan all the open threes" approach. Anyone can miss an open three. Michigan just had to hit a couple fewer and it was game on. Here there was no respite. FSU's ball denial and constant switching is on the completely opposite end of the defensive spectrum and all it got the Seminoles was the above parade to the rim.

On the other end, well… FSU got a bucket at the end of the first half. It was a pick and roll that evolved into an elbow jumper off the dribble. If you remember the preview, FSU is abominable—second percentile—at jumpers off the dribble. A bad idea shot that Michigan would give FSU all day which they will hit a quarter of the time. That's a win.

The larger win was encapsulated in the TV crew's reaction. Raftery exclaimed "they ran something! They ran something!" This is not a good spot to be in. When the color commentator is shocked that you did a basketball set more than nineteen minutes into a game, and that basketball set got you a not particularly efficient shot that you're particularly horrible at, you're going to be so far down the trash can that light reaching you from the rest of the universe is noticeably redshifted.

[After THE JUMP: Big Minutes Johns]