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Posted on by Drew Montag

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #07 – 12/12/2022 – A Good Start To Big Ten Play

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week, and they won it.  On Thursday (12/08/2022), they beat Minnesota 90-75 in Minneapolis.  The win raises Michigan’s record to 6-3 (1-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

On the one hand, any Big Ten win is a good win, especially on the road.  On the other hand, Minnesota isn’t very good, so we shouldn’t get too excited.  It was encouraging to see Michigan handle Minnesota so easily, and it was nice to see so many Michigan players get in the game and score.

Game Flow

No “slow start” in this one.  Michigan came out firing, and hit their first five 3-pointers in a row.  Just like that, Michigan was up 24-9 at the 12:36 mark, and they never looked back.  They got up by as many as 24 points in the 1st half (37-13 with 7:42 to go in the half), and led by 16 (47-31) at the half.  They got the lead up around 20 points early in the 2nd half, and kept it there until the 10:18 mark, when they started to pull further ahead.  They got the lead as high as 32 points (81-49) with 8:24 to go, then they took their foot off the gas, emptied the bench, and coasted to a 15-point win.

Stats

The game stats were pretty good.  Michigan shot well overall (33-for-63 = 52.4%), they shot 3-pointers very well (10-for-18 = 55.6%), and they shot free throws decently (14-for-22 = 63.6%).  They lost the rebounding battle (36-33), but they won the turnover battle (9-16).  They won this game with hot shooting.

Who Started?

The starters were Kobe Bufkin, Hunter Dickinson, Jett Howard, Dug McDaniel, and Terrance Williams II.  McDaniel started in place of Jaelin Llewellyn, who injured his knee in the Kentucky game in London last week.  Llewellyn needs surgery on his knee, and he is done for the season.  This is a real shame for Jaelin, and a significant loss for the team.  McDaniel is the only pure point guard left on the team, although a couple other guards can back him up.

Who Looked Good?

As usual, Dickinson was the leading scorer, with 19 points.  He even hit his only 3-point attempt.

McDaniel was the real star of this game, in his first start.  He had 15 points on fabulous shooting: 5-for-6 overall, 3-for-3 from 3-point range, and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.  He also had 3 steals, and 7 assists against only 2 turnovers.  He ran the offense very well, and he had a great all-around game.  If he can keep up this level of play, the team might survive the loss of their original starting point guard.

Bufkin also had 15 points, and he also shot very well: 7-for-11 overall, 1-for-1 from deep.  He had 3 steals, and 4 assists against only 1 turnover.  He played some point guard when McDaniel was resting, and he did a nice job.

Jett Howard was the only other Michigan player to hit double figures, with 14 points.  He didn’t shoot particularly well: 4-for-9 overall, 2-for-5 from deep, and 4-for-7 from the free throw line.

Williams only scored 4 points, on lousy shooting (2-for-7), but he was the leading rebounder with 8.

Tarris Reed, Jr. did pretty well backing up Dickinson, with 6 points on 3-for-6 shooting, and 6 rebounds.

Will Tschetter finally got to play a decent amount of time (12 minutes), and he made the most of the opportunity, scoring 6 points on 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-3 from deep.

Youssef Khayat had his best game so far, scoring 6 points on 2-for-3 shooting, all from 3-point range.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Joey Baker didn’t do much, scoring 3 points (all free throws) in 14 minutes.

Jace Howard played for 7 minutes, and scored 2 points.

Who Else Played?

Isaiah Barnes only played 3 minutes, and failed to score.

Ian Burns only played 3 minutes, and failed to score.

Gregg Glenn III only played 3 minutes, and failed to score.

Jackson Selvala only played 2 minutes, and failed to score.

Who Didn’t Play?

Cooper Smith was the only player who didn’t get into the game.

What Does It Mean?

It’s great that Michigan started the Big Ten portion of their season with a solid win, but we have to keep in mind that Minnesota will probably finish 13th or 14th in the league this year.  Still, the win has got to be good for Michigan’s confidence, especially for the younger players who finally got to play a little more.

Looking at the big picture, Michigan is still looking for a signature win to point to in March.  They only have 3 non-conference games left before the main part of the Big Ten schedule starts up, and they still have lots to work on.

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan plays just one game.  On Saturday (12/17/2022, 4:00 p.m., B1G+), they play Lipscomb in Crisler Arena.

Lipscomb is currently 6-4, with no noteworthy wins or losses.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have a couple 6’10” players.  This is a team that Michigan should handle pretty easily, but they’ll have to stay focused.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

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