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

Design by Jack Silberman

