In the halftime locker room
during
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball team’s game against Ohio
State, senior wing Chaundee Brown
had one message for Michigan
coach Juwan Howard:
“Go to Hunter.”
In their biggest game of the year,
the Wolverines shouldered their
offensive load onto freshman center
Hunter Dickinson. Putting that
kind of pressure on any freshman
will undoubtedly lead to a few
butterflies. At this point in his
young career, though, Dickinson
has grown accustomed to it.
The night before the game,
Dickinson met with Howard to
go over film. The pair broke down
Dickinson’s game, zeroing in on
areas that could still be polished.
“Those one-on-one film sessions,
those workouts that we have,
the team workouts, the big man
workouts,
he’s
growing
before
our eyes,” Howard said. “It takes
freshmen a little longer to figure
it out, but Hunter has this high
basketball IQ because of his passion
for the game and the way how he’s
accepted learning. A lot of guys
don’t want to be coached. Hunter
wants to be coached.”
Dickinson was held relatively
in check in the first half. He was
routinely
swarmed
by
double
teams and struggled to find looks
inside, forcing the Wolverines to
concentrate their offensive attack
on the perimeter. The strategy paid
off, and a 10-for-13 3-point shooting
display in the first half forced the
Buckeyes to take their attention
away from the paint.
“They had a 6-7 guy guarding a
7-2 guy,” Brown said. “So I’m like, if
they double, we have myself, Isaiah
(Livers), Mike (Smith), Eli (Brooks)
(as) shooters around the perimeter.
So they gotta give one. They’re not
gonna double him or if they do we
gotta shoot it. It was just common
sense.”
Once the Buckeyes keyed in
on
stopping
the
Wolverines’
3-point
attack,
Dickinson
had
an opportunity to take over. He
notched 16 points in the last 20
minutes alone, whether it was at
the free throw line, shimmies in
the post or a thunderous jam over
two Buckeyes that put Michigan up,
75-72, with 4:19 minutes left.
The
Buckeyes’
E.J.
Liddell,
who stands at 6-foot-7, drew the
assignment of Dickinson. With
Dickinson standing at 7-foot-2, the
Wolverines continued to feed him
nearly every trip down.
For Dickinson, his second half
masterclass isn’t anything new. He’s
proven that he’s more than willing
to shoulder the scoring load in the
second half, whether it be willing
Michigan’s offense to a two-point
win over Penn State in its Big Ten
opener or scoring 13 second half
points to help defeat Maryland on
the road. While most freshmen may
shy away from the big moments,
Dickinson lives for them.
“Hunter’s performance shows
to me exactly what I knew from
the beginning and why I recruited
him,”
Howard
said.
“He’s
a
competitor. He’s not gonna beg or
shy away from competition.”
As much as Howard praises
Dickinson, the young center speaks
just as, if not more, glowingly of
his coach. Following a 10-point
outing against Rutgers that saw him
shoot just 4-of-10, Dickinson was
unhappy with his performance. He
turned to Howard for guidance on
how to bounce back.
“Whenever I’m down on myself
from a previous game … I always
come to him and ask (Howard) to
go over the previous game with
me,” Dickinson said. “He’s really a
player-friendly coach, so whenever
I come to him for help, he’s always
there 110% with me.”
One key aspect of Dickinson’s
game that he has expressed desire
to work on is working out of double
teams. On Sunday, he looked far
more comfortable working out of
them, consistently firing cross-
court passes to open shooters.
“Today, I think they came with
different looks at me,” Dickinson
said. “I think the experience from
playing teams who have doubled
me, teams who haven’t and then
teams who mix it up has really
helped me grow in that aspect. (I’m)
just really reading the floor a lot
better.”
More and more, Howard can see
a little bit of himself in Dickinson,
whether it be his drive to work on
his game, his work in the post or his
willingness to get better. He even
thinks one day Dickinson could
be a coach if he chooses to once he
retires.
Howard knows that can wait
though. In the short term, Dickinson
and the dominant Wolverines have
other goals on their mind.
TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer
DICKINSON’S HUGE SECOND HALF LIFTS U-M TO WIN OVER BUCKEYES
Miles Macklin/Daily
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