Michigan 91, Toledo 71
With one big exception, that went as well as one could hope.
Facing a frisky opponent on short notice, Michigan established their identity early by relentlessly attacking the paint, shut down Toledo's top scorer, and cruised to a perfect 5-0 non-conference record. Unfortunately, the status of one of those paint presences is now in doubt.
Senior center Austin Davis tallied the team's first six points and added two more buckets before the customary substitution for freshman Hunter Dickinson with the Wolverines holding a 15-12 lead. After Davis kick-started the offense, Dickinson helped take over the game on both ends, as Michigan went on a 10-2 run after he checked in.
The Rockets briefly pulled closer but with their star, Marreon Jackson, getting harangued into a 0-for-8, four-turnover first half, the home team inevitably blew the game open. Michigan blocked seven shots in the first half, including four by Dickinson, as drives were met with a sea of arms and with only a few exceptions outside shots were still contested. The Wolverines entered the break with a 44-26 lead.
Austin Davis scored ten first-half points but later exited with a leg injury [Campredon]
The starting five picked up where the team left it off coming out of the tunnel. While Toledo hit a couple threes to keep the margin within relative reach, Eli Brooks and, after an early substitution, Chaundee Brown answered with their own triples, and Davis earned a trip to the line after an offensive rebound, hitting both to take his point total to 12, a career-high.
A couple possessions later, however, Davis pulled up limping with a non-contact injury while moving to set a screen and went straight to the bench, inadvertently stopping play with a "moving screen" on the way. He eventually went to the locker room, and while he came back to the bench, he did so with a heavy limp; the team announced he'll be evaluated in full tomorrow.
While a potential Davis absence would have a significant impact on the team as they head into Big Ten play, his injury did little to slow M's roll this evening. They stretched their lead to as much as 26 points with five different players knocking down threes in the second half. Dickinson and Brooks each scored a dozen in the half to lead an otherwise balanced attack. The freshman big man was particularly dominant, scoring a series of comical post buckets by bulldozing through overmatched defenders.
Chaundee Brown made his usual impact on both ends of the court [Campredon]
Dickinson led Michigan's five double-digit scorers with 18 points while stuffing the stat sheet with eight boards, an assist, four blocks, and a steal. Isaiah Livers only needed nine shooting possessions to net 16 points and was similarly active all over the floor. Franz Wagner came around with an efficient 14 points, making both of his three-point attempts and adding five rebounds, four assists, a block, and a steal. Chaundee Brown just missed out on being the sixth double-digit scorer with nine on 4/4 FGs; he also had three assists, a block, and a steal while playing his signature hounding defense.
Brandon Johns played center in Davis' place for much of his ten minutes of action, which mostly came late in the game. He was his usual energetic self, making his only shot, getting to the line for another point, getting an offensive rebound among his three total boards, and recording a block and a steal. He was also robbed of a pretty assist by a shooting foul. Toledo didn't have the size and skill up front to test him too much; at least for now, however, he looks like he can handle playing backup minutes at the five.
Michigan finished with a scorching 1.32 points per possession despite the usual late bench mob stint slowing the scoring flow. Only a late flurry after the game was well in hand got the Rockets to scrape above a point per trip. The Wolverines begin conference play on Sunday against a 3-1 Penn State team that's ranked 51st following an unexpected 20-point win at Virginia Tech that sent the Hokies tumbling 23 spots to 49th on KenPom. Hopefully they'll have Big Country available. We'll have to wait and see.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
the good dogs have always been here [Campredon]
December 9th, 2020 at 9:03 PM ^
Davis walking back out of the locker room without a boot on gives me hope that it may not be as serious as it looked. *Crosses fingers*
December 9th, 2020 at 9:04 PM ^
Active eyes on Twitter spotted Austin in a walking boot after the game.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ConnrBrennan/status/1336847689489780740
To me that’s a good thing; no way they let him walk around if they had an inkling of a major injury. I do have an Austin source and if I get provided shareable info before the media does I’ll try to post an update.
Edit 12/10 at 10:18 AM: My source pointed out to me this is the same foot/ankle Austin hurt in November of the 18/19 season. It really hampered him that entire year and apparently it still gives him trouble from time to time. Of course, that doesn't mean something serious didn't happen last night.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:28 PM ^
I was worried about the dreaded achilles tendon but agree he wouldn’t be walking around if that’s the case. At least I hope not.
December 9th, 2020 at 11:12 PM ^
Same. Those injuries where almost nothing seems to have happened end up the worst.
December 10th, 2020 at 9:30 AM ^
If your Achilles’ tendon ruptures, you’re getting carted off. He certainly could have strained it though.
December 10th, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
Kobe shot free throws and walked off under his own power after tearing his Achilles. Unfortunately, don't think you can draw a concrete conclusion based on not being carted off.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:25 PM ^
Davis scored our first 10 points.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:29 PM ^
Thanks for mentioning. For all the bashing Davis has taken for starting when HD is clearly awesome.....we will really miss him if he's out and he was great tonight.
UNC has four scholarship centers and they used just about all of their fouls against Garza. I am dreading seeing Faulds have to guard him.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:35 PM ^
Thats because you can't even look at Garza without the official calling a foul.
December 10th, 2020 at 12:23 AM ^
If needed, the Ben Faulds five fouls will be used with alacrity vs Garza!
Luka Garza shall sleep with the fishes after meeting Michigan!
December 10th, 2020 at 9:32 AM ^
All the references.
December 10th, 2020 at 5:40 PM ^
Good catch. I remember the announcers mentioning it several times. He also had a tip-in very early too but it was waved off because he hooked a guy in getting it. I am not sure if that would have made 12 straight points to start the game or there were a few other points between his first 10 and the tip.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:25 PM ^
Ace had a much more positive take on Johns playing the five then I did. He got called for two dumb fouls back to back and got beat easily on defense once. I still think he could be effective, but I really wished the coaches had embraced him as a 5 in the fall so he could focus. He still seems confused.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:28 PM ^
Looks like left-handed 7'1" Freshman pivot Wally Pipp will be getting the start on Sunday.
December 9th, 2020 at 10:46 PM ^
As much as I hate to be that guy, Lou Gehrig will be getting the start on Sunday.
Wally Pipp:Lou Gehrig::Austin Davis:Hunter Dickinson
December 9th, 2020 at 11:20 PM ^
Only in the current political climate would pointing out a fact be taken for being that guy.
A humble +1 to you, sir.
December 10th, 2020 at 12:28 AM ^
It's the current social as much as the political clime that detests facts & knowledge, and especially the elitism of pointing them out.
But I'm sure a Michigan blog, of all places, is one where elitism will be not just tolerated, but welcomed!
December 10th, 2020 at 9:25 AM ^
Asking for a friend: how did we go from the first black President to “this”? I’m flabbergasted. Poli Sci majors please reply.
December 10th, 2020 at 8:09 PM ^
Seems pretty clear, actually. Or did no one expect the abominable to be outraged that a black man could boss them around?
December 10th, 2020 at 5:52 PM ^
Appreciate the Wally Pip reference but sad that you needed to explain it.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:28 PM ^
If ever there is a conference foe that we should be ok without Davis it is Penn St. They play one big guy at 6'10 240 and the rest are smaller players. We should be able to get away with a Dickinson and Johns rotation at center. Also have 12 days after that before our next game. Our first 7 footer we play is against Minnesota on 1-6-21. We actually avoid the big centers until February and March.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:28 PM ^
Michigan looked so much bigger and longer than Toledo it was crazy. Fun team to watch, depth and hungry guys. Let’s go
doing a good juju dance for Austin
December 9th, 2020 at 9:34 PM ^
Complete game--only a couple very minor complaints. Would like to see Zeb getting some more minutes in the rotation when a guard is struggling, which is usually so far.
Also, seems like the team started to get sloppy when up by 15-20. Would like to have seen Juwan call a TO and get all over them for that.
If Davis is out a couple games, I have no worries that Johns, given a different dynamic, can be just as effective.
That is all, what a great effort by a team that has one of those special looks.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:48 PM ^
I'm no basketball guru but it really seems like Zeb forces everything he does when he gets out there. It's like he knows he's good enough to play more minutes and he's trying to show it every time he gets in the game.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:59 PM ^
So far Zeb looks more like a shooting guard than a point guard. I know it's early in his career but he doesn't appear to run the offense, more iso style of play. It'd be nice if Mike Smith came back next year to give our young point guards the same leadership Davis is giving HD.
December 9th, 2020 at 10:35 PM ^
Agreed, good take. Would very much like to see Zeb get an early sub for either Mike or Eli. Only one of them need to take the point, Zeb could be the 1 or 2 at that point.
December 9th, 2020 at 10:15 PM ^
Not sure why you got negged for this. You make a good point - it certainly looks as though he's forcing rather than playing within the flow of the offense. Anyway, +1. You don't deserve a neg for that comment.
December 10th, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
I didn’t neg the comment, but one possible reason it got negged was because of the assumption that Jackson is forcing shots because he feels he deserves more minutes and wants to show it. That might be true, but I’m not sure that we should assign that motive to him when other explanations are possible.
But no matter what his motive is, he is definitely forcing the issue, and is a bit of a black hole with the ball.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:43 PM ^
I'm not sure which team is better, starters or replacements.
December 10th, 2020 at 12:37 AM ^
Well, who would be the next 5? With HD & Chaundee on the replacements, the starters would seem to be in trouble. Johns would make the 3rd bench player, so still strong.
It's how the remaining 2 positions are apportioned that will tell the story! Williams & Zeb? Hmm, the starting 5 just took an advantage. In fact, Zeb's play so far would put the team at a disadvantage in any situation where he was required to contribute for the team to win.
Frenetic is the first word that comes to mind...
December 10th, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
Fonrtcourt may be replacements. Backcourt it is not even a contest.
December 9th, 2020 at 9:52 PM ^
Hopefully Davis is okay and returns; conflicting reports but if he's moving around that's usually a good sign. And it was nice for once to see the team just get hot early and stay that way; obviously the opponent had something to do with it but Michigan not having to dig itself out of an early hole was fun to avoid.
The defensive potential for this team is really impressive; with how switchable they are it feels like they can match up with anyone on the schedule reasonably well without having to sacrifice too much offense.
December 9th, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
They can't be THAT concerned if he was walking around after coming back out of the locker room. Maybe he will be held out for Penn State.
December 9th, 2020 at 10:12 PM ^
We can now say that the last time we played Toledo in one of the two major sports, we beat them.
We thank you, Juwan.
December 10th, 2020 at 12:09 AM ^
Thanks for bringing that up. Still trying to erase that memory of a interception returned 100 yards for a TD.
December 9th, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
Good effort
Nice Team
Lots of fun to watch
Looking forward to watching them develop.
December 10th, 2020 at 12:16 AM ^
Brooks had an incredible game and Dickinson was amazing.
The Davis injury was one of those weird BB how-the-hell-do-you-injure-yourself-just-by-walking plays that just seem to happen from time to time. Hope he isn't out long.
Penn State won at Crisler for the first time in a LONG time last year and I want revenge.
December 10th, 2020 at 1:01 AM ^
Davis was scoring too much, and his ankle couldn't take it.
Get well soon, Big Country.
December 10th, 2020 at 6:12 AM ^
I'm still curious what Juwan said to get the technical.
December 10th, 2020 at 7:24 AM ^
I sure hope Austin Davis doesn't have a high ankle sprain (it sure looked like it though). That injury can really hang around and haunt a player for a long time, similar to how an achilles tendon strain can. He means an awful lot to this roster.
December 10th, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Looked like it was closer to his knee or lower thigh area from the way he was holding it and how the staff worked on the courtside.
December 10th, 2020 at 7:32 AM ^
I love the contrast in the faces in the first picture. Dickinson is in full beast mode, and the Toledo player looks as if he's thinking "Wulp. What am I supposed to do about that?
Or, since it's the Italian dude, "O mio Dio."
December 10th, 2020 at 7:57 AM ^
More Chaundee please. +24 in 20 minutes.
December 10th, 2020 at 10:05 AM ^
There are a few good cats in that pic too, although they could be assholes, who knows.
December 10th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
Welp.
December 10th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
First game that I've been to watch. Obviously happy with Dickinson but I really like Brown's play off of the bench. Seems to be the epitome of what I think of as a "6th man." Tons of energy, knows their role and provides a spark. +23 in 20 minutes to lead the team.
Brown and Smith have been great additions with tons of experience. Loving the team so far.
Comments