20 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Oftentimes in practice, the 

Michigan men’s basketball team 
plays exhibitions between its first 
and second units. Normally, the 
result is exactly what you’d expect 
it to be.

“We may beat them a few times 

but most of the time (the starters 
are) beating up on us,” senior 
forward Chaundee Brown said.

In 
Sunday’s 
80-58 
victory 

over Central Florida, though, the 
second unit proved to be the most 
productive players on the floor 
for the Wolverines. Trailing by 
12 points midway through the 
first half, Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard 
subbed 
in 
freshman 

forward Terrance Williams to join 
junior forward Brandon Johns 
Jr. and freshman center Hunter 
Dickinson in the frontcourt. The 
Wolverines needed a spark, and 
they delivered. 

“Soon as I came in on the floor, 

(Johns) talked to me, he was like, 
‘Be a dog, bring energy, do what 
you do,’ ” Williams said, after 
finishing with 10 points and six 
rebounds. “And that instilled a lot 

of confidence with me because he 
believed in me.”

Immediately 
after 
entering 

the 
game, 
Williams 
brought 

energy and then some. On his first 
possession, he converted a three-
point play and followed it up with a 
mid-range jumper on the next trip 
down. For Williams, coming off the 
bench and making a difference is a 
role he’s familiar with, and one that 
he is more than happy to play for 
his squad.

“(Coming off the bench), it’s not 

a jarring difference,” Williams said. 
“I’ve been in this position before.”

Dickinson proved to be a 

difference-maker as well. Though 
he didn’t enter the game until 
around the 13-minute mark and 
struggled early on, Dickinson 
looked far more confident on the 
offensive end once Williams joined 
him on the floor. Dickinson threw 
down a massive jam off an offensive 
rebound 
following 
a 
missed 

3-pointer to cut the Knights’ lead to 
three and later converted another 
second chance bucket to put the 
Wolverines up 33-30 following a 
jumper from Williams. 

“On the offensive glass with his 

length, it’s always good to have 
him,” Howard said. “If you miss a 

spot, he’s there to clean it up. Or if 
he gets in the low block, he’s there 
to finish it.”

While Dickinson has come 

off the bench as a reserve for the 
season’s first four games, he has 
arguably been one of the team’s 
most consistent performers on 
a nightly basis, scoring 14 points 
and hauling down seven rebounds 
tonight 
to 
mark 
his 
fourth 

consecutive double-digit scoring 
performance. As is the case with 
Williams, Dickinson has embraced 
his role on the bench. 

“He’s a total team guy,” Howard 

said. “He trusts the process and 
that’s a coach’s dream, to have a 
guy that’s all in and trusts what we 
can bring to the table to help him be 
successful.”

Four games into the season, 

Howard has twice called on the two 
freshmen to deliver a spark for his 
team, and the pair has responded 
on both occasions. Last Sunday, 
Michigan was also struggling, and 
the duo helped spark a second half 
rally, with Dickinson scoring 19 
points and Williams contributing 
seven. On Sunday afternoon, the 
final 10 minutes of the first half, 
Williams and Dickinson combined 
to score 16 out of the team’s 22 
points.

“The chemistry’s really good 

between us,” Dickinson said. “But 
I think the chemistry among us all 
is really good. I think this team is 
really close and everybody’s really 
close-knit and I think we all work 
really well together.”

In the second half, Michigan 

rode the hot shooting touch of 
fellow reserve Brown — who 
finished with 19 points and four 
3-pointers — to cruise to a relatively 
easy win. Johns also added a 
strong effort on loose balls and the 
offensive glass. 

The game looked like it had all 

the makings of an upset special 
early on, but the team’s reserves 
were the ones to turn it around in 
the Wolverines’ favor.

“They changed the game for us,” 

Howard said.

Chaundee Brown had a long 

list of suitors this offseason. 

The 
2016-2017 
Florida 

Gatorade Player of the Year and 
former Wake Forest guard was 
coming off a season in which 
he averaged 12.1 points and 
6.5 rebounds for the Demon 
Deacons. The appeal was evident 
— the program that landed 
Brown was getting a battle-
tested veteran, a capable shooter 
and a frisky defender who had 
held his own against stiff ACC 
competition. 

Brown announced in mid-

May that he would transfer to 
Michigan, turning down the 
likes of Gonzaga, Illinois, Iowa 
State and LSU. While Brown 
wouldn’t have started for the 
Bulldogs and Illini — ranked No. 
1 and No. 6 respectively in the AP 
Top 25 Poll — he very well could 
have for the latter two teams, 
or a number of mid-majors for 
that matter. Instead, though, he 
chose the Wolverines knowing 
that his minutes may be limited. 

“We 
just 
have 
so 
much 

talent,” Brown said. “... I know 
that myself, (senior guard Eli 
Brooks), (sophomore wing Franz 
Wagner) and (graduate guard 
Mike Smith) we all have to 
sacrifice each other’s minutes, 
shots, things like that. But that’s 
why I came here. I knew I was 
probably gonna come off the 
bench here. I have no problem 
with that. I just wanted to win. 
That’s all, I wanted to win.”

Brown 
didn’t 
do 
much 

winning during his career in 
Winston-Salem going 35-58 in a 
three-year span. In finding a new 
team, winning was a priority. 
So far, so good for Brown and 
Michigan. The Wolverines are 
4-0, and excluding an overtime 
scare 
against 
Oakland, 
the 

results were never in doubt. 

In addition to crisp ball 

movement and a well-rounded 
offensive 
attack, 
Michigan’s 

bench play has been the driving 
force behind its early success. 
In no game was this on display 
more than in Sunday’s 22-point 
demolition of UCF — the highest 
ranked opponent the Wolverines 
have faced this season according 
to KenPom. Michigan’s bench 
accounted for 49 of the team’s 
80 points and Brown led the way 
with an efficient 18 points on 
7-for-12 shooting. 

“I have a second unit that is 

selfless,” Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard said. “They have bought 
into their roles. Truly the star 
was Chaundee … he’s accepted 
the role of being the sixth man 
for us and he’s perfecting it. It 
says a lot about his character.” 

Against 
the 
Knights, 
the 

Wolverines found themselves 
in a double-digit hole midway 
through the first half. With 
Wagner in foul trouble and 
the starting unit struggling 
to 
score, 
Michigan 
turned 

to 
Brown, 
freshman 
center 

Hunter Dickinson and freshman 
forward Terrance Williams to 
dig it out of it. 

“The bench guys, we’re all 

D1, division 1,” Brown said. 
“(Coach Howard) knows that 
we have game. Coach Howard, 
all the coaches recruited us for a 
reason. He saw it in AAU and in 
college basketball.

“Just coming off the bench, 

that’s a different role. We’re 
sacrificing a lot of things that 
on other teams, we would’ve 
been star players or starting but 
we’re taking a second role on a 
winning team. We’re just always 
ready.”

Through the first four games, 

Brown’s ability to hit 3-pointers 
has been on display. At 44% 
— and with an average of 6.25 
attempts per game — Brown 
leads the team in that category. 
Whether his stellar conversion 
rate is more of a product or 
a cause of the Wolverines’ 

dynamic offense is unclear, but 
his confidence from deep is at an 
all-time high. 

“I believe in my shots,” Brown 

said. “I work on my shot hours a 
day, hours and hours in the gym. 
Before the game, before practice, 
after practice, I just work on my 
3-point shots a lot and I just felt 
like I’ve been getting good looks. 
Can’t turn down a good look. 
Coach Howard always tells us, if 
you pass up an open shot it’s like 
a turnover for us. So all the open 
shots I get, I try to take them.”

Howard added: “I watched a 

lot of film on him. I knew that 
he was a knockdown shooter. I 
kept telling my staff about it, and 
we were having conversations 
as we were quarantined in our 
homes. … We talked about — one 
of the things that he provides 
is something that we can truly 
enjoy as a staff and also as a team 
is his outside shooting. So it was 
no surprise to me at all. It was a 
big reason why we were high on 
him.”

Though it’s early, Brown has 

excelled as Michigan’s sixth 
man and justified the decision 
he made over the summer in the 
process. 

Knight squad

Behind Brown’s shooting, bench scoring, Wolverines avoid upset bid from Central Florida

Hailey Brown’s experience helping Michigan

Senior forward Hailey Brown 

has been a mainstay for the 
Wolverines ever since she arrived 
in Ann Arbor three years ago. 
With classmates Deja Church 
and Priscilla Smeenge having 
transferred to DePaul and Liberty, 
respectively, Brown is the only one 
left. 

An energetic presence on the 

court known for shot-making 
abilities, Brown’s ability behind 
the arc has impacted Michigan’s 
ability to develop big leads. Last 
season, she led the Wolverines with 
56 3-pointers, going 36.6% from 
beyond the arc.

This season, she has shown the 

ability to be a major contributor, 
scoring 18 points against women’s 
basketball 
powerhouse 
Notre 

Dame, three of which were from 
behind the arc.

The shots came at dire moments 

when 
the 
Wolverines 
were 

searching for the edge. In the first 
half against the Fighting Irish, 
Brown scored 10 points. Coming 
into the second half, she scored a 
clutch three out 
of 
transition, 

giving Michigan 
a 39-34 lead. Her 
final three grew 
the 
Wolverines 

lead to four in 
the third quarter, 
giving her team 
the 
confidence 

to finish Notre 
Dame 
in 
the 

fourth.

“She 
has 
just 
such 
great 

experience and such great feel for 
the game,” Michigan coach Kim 
Barnes Arico said. “That’s what 
makes us a different team this year 
than the team that we were last 
year.”

Brown’s experience comes into 

play this season. She’s just four 
games shy of 100 as a Wolverine, 

and she knows how to play off her 
teammates well and get open for 
shots. 

It’s been a common theme for 

the opposition to have two or three 

players 
shadow 

junior forward Naz 
Hillmon, 
leaving 

Brown wide open. 
And as she’s shown 
this season, Brown 
has the ability to 
make them pay.

“She’s 
a 
kid 

that 
grew 
up 

playing with Team 
Canada,” 
Barnes 

Arico said. “She 

understands the game. Her IQ is 
exceptional. She just knows where 
to be, and she’s a shot maker.” 

Brown’s 
ability 
offensively 

will be a major threat for the 
Wolverines all season, but her 
defensive game speaks for itself. 
The Wolverines blocked eight 
shots against Notre Dame, half of 
them coming from Brown. Last 

season, she averaged 3.3 rebounds 
per game and looks to improve that 
number this year, averaging 4.5 in 
the Wolverines’ first four games. 
Whether it’s her experience as a 
senior or the pieces aligning for 
one last ride at Michigan, Brown 
looks to be extremely valuable for 
the Wolverines offensively and 
defensively. 

The 
Wolverines 
have 
an 

abundance of experience heading 
into Big Ten play. Barnes Arico will 
look towards junior guard Amy Dilk 
to find Brown off the transition and 
knock shots. In the dire moments 
of the game, the Wolverines know 
they can trust Brown.

“We have experience that helps,” 

Barnes Arico said. “We have depth 
that helps and our freshmen are 
going to be outstanding. They’re 
working hard every day. We have 
those key components, we have 
an All-American candidate Naz 
Hillmon, we have a fifth-year 
player and a senior that are pretty 
special.”

Wednesday game off, 
‘M’ schedules Toledo

The 
Michigan 
men’s 

basketball 
team’s 
scheduled 

game against NC State for Dec. 
9 has been postponed due to 
COVID-19 concerns within the 
NC State program. The news 
was first reported by Brendan 
Quinn of The Athletic.

“Far 
too 
often 
have 
I 

had to say we are all living 
in 
unprecedented 
times,” 

Michigan coach Juwan Howard 
said in a press release. “Our 
main concern is the health 
and safety of (NC State) coach 
(Kevin) Keatts, his players as 
well as all of 
those 
within 

the N.C. State 
program. It is 
unfortunate 
we 
have 
to 

postpone 
this 

ACC/Big 
Ten 

Challenge 
matchup. 
It 

would 
have 

been 
fun. 

However, 
we must do what is right, and 
this is the right thing to do for 
everyone.”

Quinn additionally reported 

that Michigan will instead 
play Toledo on Dec. 9 at Crisler 
Center, replacing the matchup 
with NC State. Toledo is 3-2 on 
the season so far and expected 
to be one of the top teams in the 

MAC. 

By scheduling a game with 

Toledo, the Wolverines will 
reach 
the 
NCAA-prescribed 

limit of 25 games with five 
non-conference games and a 
20-game conference slate. That 
means the door to playing NC 
State would presumably be 
closed.

The Wolfpack had their game 

against Connecticut, scheduled 
for Saturday, cancelled due to a 
positive test within the NC State 
travelling party at the Mohegan 
Sun Resort. The positive test 
was 
initially 
detected 
on 

Friday after previous rounds 
of negative testing. Michigan 

was 
initially 

scheduled 
to 

play in the multi-
team 
event 
in 

Uncasville, 
Conn. but bowed 
out.

The 

Wolverines were 
slated to battle 
the 
Wolfpack 

as a part of the 
annual 
ACC-

Big Ten Challenge. It’s the 
second contest in the Challenge 
to be cancelled, joining the 
Louisville-Wisconsin 
game 

which was called off due to 
COVID concerns in Louisville’s 
program. 

Michigan said in the release 

that as of now, it has no COVID-
19 issues.

JULIA SCHHACHINGER/Daily

Forward Hailey Brown is the only senior on the roster for the Michigan women’s basketball team, making her a leader on the court for the Wolverines.

She knows 
where to be, 

and she’s a shot-

maker.

ASHA LEWIS/Daily

Michigan’s game against NC State was postponed due to COVID-19.

JARED GREENSPAN

Daily Sports Writer

We are all 
living in 

unprecedented 

times.

TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer

CONNOR BRENNAN

Daily Sports Editor

ASHA LEWIS/Daily

Senior forward Chaundee Brown’s outside shooting was key as he helped Michigan’s bench to 49 points against UCF.

NICK MOEN

Daily Sports Writer

