The basketball team appears to be turning the corner after strong performances in three consecutive games. A road win against a top-50 Kenpom team in Indiana has the Wolverines 33rd per the NET rankings and firmly on the bubble per ESPN's latest bracketology. 

THREE UP

Effort. Effort. Effort. The increased intensity from the entire roster starting with the Illinois game has been abundantly obvious to anyone with eyes. There aren't any fancy stats to point to, but take a look at this clip from seldom-used Jace Howard and tell me it doesn't set the tone:

That play by Howard has epitomized the sort of spirit this team has played with over the last three contests. Michigan is now the aggressor in terms of hitting the floor for loose balls, seeking out box-outs and dictating pace on both ends. Moussa Diabate generally brings more hustle than anyone on the floor, but when he's doing this up 12 with under five minutes remaining, it has to resonate with the rest of the team. 

Indeed, the want it more factor has trickled down the roster. Hunter Dickinson has supreme skill, but he's not necessarily known as a guy that's going all out. The All-American big man has now joined the party. In the clip below, Michigan is in a zone press and Dickinson covers more than 20 feet of ground to come up with a deflection + TO that leads to a transition bucket 99% of the time. When a plodding 7-footer is giving you that, the team is going to win a lot of games. 

The thing about wanting it more is that it can't generally be quantified. On most occasions there's no credit in the box score for hitting the floor first, the deflection where your teammate gets credit for the steal or the tie-up that allows the team to gain/retain possession. But undoubtedly, it does impact winning.

Hello, Caleb Houstan. Prior to Maryland, Houstan largely struggled on both ends of the court to put it mildly. The last two games? The former 5-star is living up to his billing as a premier shooter by going 8/11 from distance while averaging 17.5 points on 68.4% from the field overall.

The key to unlocking Houstan's perimeter shotmaking prowess seems to be time. Credit to our own Alex Drain here, as months ago he suggested Caleb may need more time to get his shot off considering it's essentially a set shot. This appears to be the case, as Houstan is getting WIDE open looks from distance over the last two games and connecting at a very high level. 

While the shooting is something this roster unquestionably needs from him, he's also starting to flash some progress defensively. Look at Houstan in the chaser spot here. He's trailing Kopp off the screen, Moussa correctly switches while Caleb tags Jackson-Davis as he dives to the rim. Deflection that leads to a TO.

If he's just an average defender while being a 35+ shooter from distance the rest of the season, Michigan's chances of making some noise down the stretch increase exponentially. 

[AFTER THE JUMP, it's a good thing when this column only has one down!]

If there are such thing as moral victories when your season is on the rocks, tonight is one. With just nine bodies, two of which were the seldom used Jaron Faulds and Jace Howard, Michigan Basketball managed to hang with #25 Illinois for all of 35 minutes tonight, before the heavily favored Illini pulled away at the end en route to a 68-53 victory. Many fans expected a blowout from the jump, after it was announced that Hunter Dickinson could not go in what was set to be a premiere clash with Kofi Cockburn, but the Wolverines hung tough and in the process, put together maybe their best emotional effort of the season. Problem is, it was still a loss, and that's why Michigan is now 7-7 and in massive trouble. 

As expected, the Wolverines were brutal offensively with this particular lineup. It was a surprisingly high level of defensive compete that kept them in the game for most of the contest, in addition to a high offensive rebounding clip. Michigan was tight with Illinois from the very beginning, with both teams trading scores until the first eight minutes ended tied at 10 apiece. In that stretch was the morsel that epitomized how the first 35 minutes went for the visitors: 6'7" Jace Howard swatting 7'0" Kofi Cockburn. Something no one could have imagined happening back in October.

Part of the reason that happened, however, was the bad news that struck Michigan in the first eight minutes, when Moussa Diabate, Michigan's lone scholarship player capable of playing the five available, took his second foul on a stupid over the back just five minutes in. To the bench went the Frenchman and Michigan was forced to bring Faulds out, as well as Howard to try and cobble together small ball lineups to hang in there. Which, as the Jace block showed, went far better than anyone anticipated. 

Not exactly the size matchup we wanted, but hey we got a cool block out of it! [Campredon]

The first half continued in back-and-forth fashion with both teams bricking three pointer after three pointer. The two squads combined to start the game 0/12 from distance when Alfonso Plummer finally made a three with 6:09 remaining in the first half. At the time, it stretched the Illinois lead to seven, which would soon jump up to nine, but Michigan was not done. DeVante' Jones, who played one of his best games in a Michigan uniform, poured in the next six points for his team to cut the Fighting Illini lead back down to three. Illinois had a couple answers from Cockburn sandwiched around a Jones three pointer, and it was 26-22 at the break in favor of the home team. 

The second half was a constant battle between Illinois trying to run away and Michigan making it close again through a combination of defense, hustle (notably offensive rebounds), and contributions from surprising places. The youth movement took full force to start the latter stanza, as Michigan's first nine points in the second half were scored by freshmen, with Kobe Bufkin and Frankie Collins getting an extensive run for the Wolverines. Illinois would stretch it to 8 or 10, and then Michigan would answer and cut it to one score, and the cycle would repeat itself. 

Indeed, Michigan was running up the floor with the ball down just one with a little over seven minutes to play after a Kobe Bufkin steal. That possession would come up empty, though, and a couple turnover-riddled possessions + productive Illinois offensive trips later and it was a 7-0 Illini run in the span of about a minute. Michigan then trailed by eight with just 5:36 to go. That was the moment when the car ran out of gas and a quick closing spurt by Trent Frazier was enough to slam the door and the ranked Illini won. The final was 68-53, but the game as outlined above, was much closer for the first 35 minutes or so. It was just the ending that got away. 

Some more Frankie and Kobe please? [Campredon]

Jones led Michigan with 17 points; no other Wolverine scored in double figures. The point guard was a reasonably efficient 7/16 from the field, and 1/2 from three. No other player made a three pointer, and the rest of the team combined to shoot just 34% overall. The 15 offensive rebounds help, but part of that stat is a function of missing so many shots. It was ugly offensively. There were some brief moments of brilliance from Kobe Bufkin and Frankie Collins that merit more of a look, but the two also combined for four turnovers. If nothing else, perhaps this effort forces Juwan Howard to give the reserve freshmen more of a look. 

The one freshman consistently in the starting lineup, Caleb Houstan, continued his skid. He was a woeful 2/9 from the field and 0/4 from three, now 2 for his last 21 from three in the past five games. Woof. Moussa Diabate showed the whole Moussa experience, inopportune fouls, solid defense, offensive potential, but also wildness and turnovers. Both Faulds and Howard were ofer from the floor, while Eli Brooks scored just seven points on 3/11 shooting. Not good enough. It was a good team effort to hang tough shorthanded, but wins are going to be needed ASAP for a team that's now lost three straight and four of five. 

Michigan is now 7-7 and 1-3 in the conference, facing a crucial week against Indiana and Maryland. That matchup with the Terps is at 7:00 on Tuesday night on ESPN2. There is no content after the jump. 

2021-22 B1G Basketball Season Preview... previously: Season preview podcast, Power Rankings Lower Half, Power Rankings Upper Half, Guards

Earlier today we kicked off the positional preview portion of this season preview by looking at guards. Now we pivot to the wing position, encompassing a range of SG to PF and totaling five names. It begins with a lanky shooter who is poised to be Michigan basketball's next great Canadian star: 

Caleb Houstan

Year: Freshman

Height/Weight: 6’8/205

Recruiting Profile: Five-star, #10 overall, #3 PF, Hello post

After the tease that was the 2020 recruiting class, Juwan Howard’s first five star to officially commit and arrive in Ann Arbor is Caleb Houstan. Houstan is a native of Mississauga, ON, the third notable Michigan player in the last decade to hail from the Greater Toronto Area (following Iggy Brazdeikis and Nik Stauskas). Houstan left his Ontario roots for high school, moving to attend Montverde Academy in Florida, where he played alongside future top five NBA draft picks Cade Cunningham and Scottie Barnes. As a junior, he played a mostly off-ball shooting role and shot 52% from beyond the arc. That number dipped to 39% as Houstan was asked to play a more central role in the offense as a senior, following the graduation of many of Montverde’s heavy hitters, but both of those percentages indicate a very good shooting talent.

Pretty much everyone agrees that Caleb Houstan can shoot the basketball. Here’s some of Matt’s scouting report (emphasis mine):

“Houstan is one of the premier perimeter shotmakers in America. He’s at his best as a catch and shoot threat coming off screens or from a stationary position on the wing/corners. His mechanics are remarkably consistent, with a high release point, good arch and nice rotation. The sheer volume of his makes that don’t touch the rim is almost unbelievable. While Caleb has more of a set-shot, his combination of size/length will make that largely irrelevant at the college level, where closeouts aren’t likely to bother his shot. He also excels at relocating to give his guard optimal passing windows that maximize spacing.

While he was primarily an off-ball shooter for a loaded Montverde team during his junior season, Houstan was more of an on-ball option in the half-court for Canada at the 2019 FIBA U16s. He did display some ability to create plays for himself and others in that setting, but he’s not a shifty prospect that changes direction with a live dribble very often. He’s more adept at attacking in a straight line after getting off-ball screens, while flashing the occasional pull-up from midrange and isolation drive from the wing.

As a finisher, I really like Caleb’s willingness to use his body to negate shotblocking. He consistently gets into the chest of the defender to create space and convert or draw fouls. He shot nearly 9 free throws per contest during the 2019 FIBAs because of this exact approach. That is extremely impressive for a prospect whose best weapon is a catch-and-shoot jumper. While he’s not a great athlete, his size/length and physicality as a finisher probably means he’ll be solid at drawing free throws for the Wolverines when attacking closeouts.”

Houstan’s role in Michigan’s offense as a freshman will more closely resemble his junior year at Montverde, likely receiving passes from Devante’ Jones, Hunter Dickinson, and Eli Brooks, and being asked to get up his shot. There’s a lot of reason to believe that will go well. Athleticism is not considered one of the top components of Houstan’s profile, but his shooting ability and length will make him a dangerous offensive player at Michigan, and it finds him in the lottery of preseason NBA Draft projections.

Defensively, no one expects Houstan to be a 1:1 replacement for Franz Wagner at the SF position, but Matt didn’t seem too worried in his hello post about Houstan’s ability to at least be playable defensively:

Defensively, Houstan is solid at jumping passing lanes on the wing where his length aids him in getting deflections and steals. He doesn’t move well enough to defend legitimate guards, but his size/length will allow him to defend pure wings as a freshman and he’ll likely add enough muscle mass/strength to defend bully-ball power forwards down the line.

If Houstan can be a solid defender, shoot 38-40% from three on solid volume, and occasionally put the ball on the floor to get fouls at the rack, he will be a great B1G player who Michigan will gladly start at the three.

Houstan highlights, for those interested: 

Role: Houstan enters the season as the projected starting SF (he started the exhibition against WSU). The maturity he brings to his game and the polished skillset as a plug and play shooter make him nearly impossible to keep out of the lineup so long as the threes are going down at a reasonable rate. When we talk about Michigan needing to replace perimeter shooting talent that exited after last season, we’re really turning to Caleb Houstan and quoting Rick Blaine by saying “here’s looking at you, kid”. Houstan enters the season as a frontrunner for B1G Freshman of the Year, and if he clicks, it’s quite possible he sees close to 30 minutes per game at the SF position. Houstan is the most crucial freshman on Michigan’s roster because of that sizable projected role.

[AFTER THE JUMP: The junkyard dog has slimmed down]