Michigan 82, Minnesota 57
Marcus Carr and Mike Smith meandered towards a wayward pass when a maize flash appeared.
"Meander" isn't in Chaundee Brown's basketball vocabulary. Sprinting down the sideline as if fired from a cannon, Brown beat Carr to the ball, collected it in stride, and finished the play with a powerful two-hand slam in front of the exuberant Michigan bench. Brown's unstoppable hustle gave the Wolverines a 22-point lead, their biggest of the night to that point, and the Gophers were broken.
Michigan led by as many as 37 points, demolishing a Minnesota team that entered the game ranked 21st on KenPom. Twice in the first half, the Wolverines went on runs that put the game on a verge of a blowout, only for the Gophers to reel them back each time, riding an eight-point Marcus Carr outburst to keep within six at halftime.
The two second-half runs weren't as well-answered. First, Hunter Dickinson scored eight points in a 17-6 run to open the half. Little-used third-string center Sam Freeman hit two free throws for the Gophers with 12:46 remaining to briefly stem the tide and keep them within a plausibly coverable 17 points. So Michigan threw another haymaker, scoring 18 straight in under five minutes to blow away any doubt about the game and, for that matter, this team's status as a Big Ten and, yes, national championship contender. Brown's backbreaker occurred during the second run.
big dunkinson [Campredon]
Save for Eli Brooks losing a tooth after taking an elbow, which thankfully caused nothing but dental damage, the game went about as well as one could imagine. In Dickinson's first test against a high-level big man of his size, he dominated seven-footer Liam Robbins, outscoring the Drake transfer 28-5 and doubling his rebound total 8-4 while not committing a single foul in 31 minutes. The freshman center went 12-for-15 from the field and hit all four of his free throws; he's now #5 in the KenPom Player of the Year standings.
The offense posted a scorching 1.21 points per possession even though Juwan Howard emptied the bench for the last four minutes and had freshman Zeb Jackson manning the point for the four minutes prior. Michigan went 29-for-45 on two-pointers, scoring 46 points in the paint, and rebounded ten of their 25 missed shots.
Brandon Johns had two of those offensive boards, converting both for putbacks, and scored seven points with two blocks while looking not only comfortable but impactful as the team's backup center and occasional power forward. Franz Wagner's offense didn't take center stage like is has the past few games, but he still put up an efficient 12 points, pulled down five boards, dished out four assists against zero turnovers, blocked two shots, and got his hands on more passes than I could track.
zesty [Campredon]
Smith had six assists, including a highlight-reel behind-the-head dish to Dickinson, though his ball control issues continued in a six-turnover evening. His defense, however, looked improved. While Brooks and Brown—and hellacious team help defense—did most of the work in slowing Carr to a 5-for-16 shooting performance, Smith took a few turns without appearing out of place. Isaiah Livers had two steals that he took the other way for dunks on his way to 14 points, going 5-for-6 inside the arc to make up for an unusual off-night beyond it.
Carr led the Gophers with 14 points; nobody else on their side finished in double figures. Robbins had a particularly rough go, finishing 2-for-9 from the field with no free throw attempts and one block. Both Gach didn't record a point until well into the second half. An offense with an excellent lead guard, a dangerous scoring center, and some decent surrounding pieces was totally shut down, scoring 0.84 PPP with some help from garbage-time minutes.
Michigan played their best game of the year against the best team they've faced so far. They remain the only undefeated team in the Big Ten. With Saturday's game against Penn State canceled due to COVID-19 positives within the Nittany Lions' program, the Wolverines now have five days to prepare before facing Wisconsin in the biggest Big Ten game of the season thus far on Tuesday. They couldn't have warmed up for it any better.
[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]
All photos by Marc-Gregor Campredon. Click here for the full album.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
For real. If a program really wants a complete team that competes year in and year out, it needs guys like that. Super recruit teams now and then pop up and are amazing, but young players have a lot of variance, no matter their physical dominance or potential. If you want to compete for conference titles and make deep tourney runs every year, you need a base of guys like Brooks who fill valuable and needed roles with a lot of experience and knowledge, along with the athletic/high upside freaks sprinkled in there. Experience counts for so much when minimizing variance in a team.
January 7th, 2021 at 10:43 AM ^
Shoutout to that guy in the snowflake thread of the Northwestern game who tried to fight me when I said Eli was one of the most valuable players in the Big Ten
That was me. I still think "one of the most valuable players in the Big Ten" is hyperbolic given how many great players there are in a very strong B1G, but I definitely concede that Brooks is a much better defender than I was giving him credit for. He's a great defender
January 6th, 2021 at 11:55 PM ^
Chaundee brown is the tame version of lance stephenson and I love everything about that. They really are the same player in my mind, have a little flash, can shoot the spot up jumper and play with more energy than anyone else. Chaundee brown is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite Michigan players.
January 7th, 2021 at 9:49 AM ^
Yup I always think of Lance when I see him play. He just has an intensity that never stops. This team just demoralized two solid opponents. Can’t wait to see how this team finishes the year.
January 7th, 2021 at 12:55 PM ^
I don't know if it's the Chaundee effect or the Juwan effect but the team as a whole is playing much better defense. The defensive intensity was really high last night. Brooks is more aggressive, Smith is actually playing solid D and Franz has really upped his intensity.
January 7th, 2021 at 12:00 AM ^
Chaundee Brown looks 35 years old...
Go Blue!
January 7th, 2021 at 12:13 AM ^
He is a thick Michael Finley. A Michael Fickley if you will.
January 7th, 2021 at 6:56 AM ^
I'm pretty sure Greg Oden is his great grandfather.
January 7th, 2021 at 12:09 AM ^
I also thought Brown’s hustle to get to that ball was representative of the game: great hustle
January 7th, 2021 at 12:09 AM ^
“A maize flash”
zoooooooom!
January 7th, 2021 at 12:25 AM ^
When I think of the despair we felt in April. Quarantine just started. No sports. No games. No hope. We lost the NCAA tournament. And then our basketball program loses Isaiah Todd and Josh Christopher in the same week.
That feeling regarding our basketball program sucked.
THIS feeling regarding our basketball program does not suck.
That week in April was the worst week. This week has been the best. Hope is eternal.
January 7th, 2021 at 1:21 AM ^
Do you think Christopher regrets his decision yet? He chose Arizona State to "work on his brand," entered college basketball in a top ten recruiting class, and was ranked #18 in the country to start the year. Since then, they've gone 4-3 and have played zero minutes of college basketball since December 16th: a double digit home loss to UTEP. Meanwhile, Michigan has been...better than that.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:30 AM ^
Tough to feel sorry for him - he chose his bed. Honestly, I hope he does regret his decision. I hope he regrets it while watching the NCAA tourney blow by him. I hope he regrets it as he watches others get picked before him in the draft - specifically Michigan players with better 'branding'. I hope he regrets his decision enough that other top 'croots Juwan wants think about how much he regrets it.
Chet - take a look at Josh Christopher. How's his 'brand' working out?
January 7th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
Better yet, they make the tournament as a 16, face a 1-seed Michigan team and lose to Juwan & Co. by 40+ points.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:57 AM ^
I don't think he regrets his decision at all. He's just there as a lay over year. He'll go onto the NBA this draft and he'll still get drafted. That said, I think it would have been better for his brand to have success on a higher profile and better team. But whatever. Honestly, as Brian pointed out, on this team I think I would rather have Brown for a year than Christopher. That transfer has worked out very well. But isn't ASU closer to home and his brother is on the team as well?
January 7th, 2021 at 9:02 AM ^
He went to go play with his brother and be closer to home during a pandemic. He talked about his brand but ASU was not the "brand" move so not sure how we can make fun of him for that when he made the choice that would not help his brand
January 7th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
Yup, I chalk this up as a pandemic loss and Mama weighing in over anything else. I hold no animus towards him and wish him the best. Bobby Hurley is a basketball name and its hard to fault a kid for wanting to be coached by him while enjoying Scottsdale and being close to home.
January 7th, 2021 at 11:01 AM ^
I don't think he regrets his decision. Hurley barely coaches that team and Christopher is one of like 3-4 guys who Hurley literally just lets them do whatever they want. There's no team ball. Probably better for Christopher's draft stock than playing here where he would've gotten the ball less
January 7th, 2021 at 1:25 AM ^
The back-to-back 3's by Carr late in the first half scared me. And I was grumbling at halftime because I thought our lead should have been bigger. Then the start of that second half for the next ten minutes was like poetry in motion.
What an embarrassment of riches these last few games where we seem to play the majority of our sloppiness when we're up big. Against Northwestern, we were up 27. Tonight, we were up 37. That's about as stress free of a feeling in basketball as you're going to get. And I loved it.
How weird it must have been for the players to help Eli look for his tooth on the court during the commercial break. Glad he'll be alright.
January 7th, 2021 at 6:11 AM ^
Loved how he let Zeb get some run out there with the regulars, and not just minutes when JH cleared the bench. Love how early he was willing to clear the bench and give the end of the bench more than just 60 sec. It takes players a min or two to find the rhythm of a game. If you literally wait till the last 2, they haven't even had a chance to find that feel. Getting him more time in there looked like it also made him more comfortable.
Speaking of off the bench, what is the deal with Williams? First few game games coming off the bench I really started to like what I saw from him. It felt with some time he'd find himself and be a serious contributor. These last couple games when he's been early off the bench I find myself not trusting what he's doing. Add to that his +/- these last 2 are not pretty. That's obviously impacted by who's around him on the floor, but he still seems to have actually gone backwards just a little. Seems to be trying to force things.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:04 AM ^
Chill on Williams. Terrence is going to be a solid nuts and bolts player-at a minimum. Johns is coming to play and Juwan is settling this lineup in for the stretch run-which is going to be a serious grind.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:13 AM ^
Howard put Jackson out there with the Dickinson, Wagner, Johns, Brown lineup. I believe they went on something like a 15-0 run. That lineup is amazing. You have a top 5 player and 3 guys who can play all over the floor, they just suffocate opponents on defense and are far more athletic than their opponents on offense. It might be the most versatile lineup in the country...no matter which guard is running the point.
January 7th, 2021 at 12:28 PM ^
He's young and needs time to develop, he'll make good plays here and there and brings skillset Howard values.
He may be showing something in practice that's not showing up in games and frankly, the bench can't just be Chaundee.
January 7th, 2021 at 7:05 AM ^
Hunter Dickinson not fouling isn’t talked about enough. He would have been to 3 in recruiting rankings if they weren’t basing it on nba potential. Not that I really care but expectations would have been different.
January 7th, 2021 at 9:00 AM ^
Refs let them play in this one, which was honestly fine for me. And it was consistant and fairly called. It stinks that kind of consistancy seems rare to me. First the game was more fun and fluid, second Minnesota's offense is highly dependent on getting to the free throw line. We'll see if that trend holds when UM goes to Minnesota next week. I thin we see Minnesota shoot like 30 FTs in that game
January 7th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
That goes with Hunter understanding that he is not a shot blocker/rim protector so Juwan told him to put his hands straight up which is plenty to bother player because he's so tall and long.
January 7th, 2021 at 1:06 PM ^
He's not that bad of a shot blocker (14 blocks in 10 games) but he's too valuable to risk drawing fouls by going for blocks all the time. He's likely to outscore his man if he stays on the court, so we want that.
January 7th, 2021 at 7:12 AM ^
I don't get a chance to watch a lot of Michigan basketball games, but I must say that I really liked Stephen Bardo as an analyst. Last night was the first time I have heard him do a game and his perspective on the game and from the players point of view was solid.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:23 AM ^
A blowout when we're 4/13 from 3. That was awesome.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:30 AM ^
I like this team!
January 7th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
Love, love, love watching this team.
January 7th, 2021 at 8:55 AM ^
Anyone know what the biggest gap of the second half was? Didn’t we outscore them 33-8 at some point in the second stanza? Did it actually get beyond that?
Woot!
January 7th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
You can actually find that info under the "largest lead" notes in the box score at the end of the post. 37 in this case.
January 7th, 2021 at 10:37 AM ^
Great all around game.
- Dickinson, Livers, and Franz were all great.
- Smith was solid besides his turnovers
- As someone who has called Brooks a "decent defender" in the past: Fuck that. He's a great defender and shut down Carr before losing his tooth
- Chaundee had a bit of an off shooting night but was still made a great net impact
- Johns and Zeb gave some nice minutes off the bench
- Calling the hard hedge on Carr at halftime was genius by Juwan
- My only real gripe from this game is some of the turnover issues. Smith can be a little bit careless with the ball and Livers tries to do too much sometimes
January 7th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
Great write up Ace. It’s like I watched the game all over again. This team is awesome to watch, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the rest of the season.
January 7th, 2021 at 12:41 PM ^
I found the game to be a welcome diversion from the disaster in DC. And during the timeouts, there was enough time to keep track of the proceedings in the Senate on CSPAN2! Always nice to end the day with an unexpected Wolverine blowout!!
If Dickenson stayed for at least three years, he could challenge Cazzie and a few others (such as his coach) as the best player in Michigan history. I would expect him to break Rudy T's rebound records that have stood for 40 years. Alas, he won't stay that long.
January 7th, 2021 at 12:57 PM ^
I recommend to put your tooth in Whole Milk while you are on the way to an emergency dental visit.
Don’t use the skimpy slim, almond or fairlife lactose free bullshit!!!
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