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Michigan 102, Nebraska 67 Comment Count

Seth December 7th, 2021 at 9:44 PM

Juwan Howard did his Dickie V impersonation while his team did their best impression of a Nik Stauskas outfit, hitting the century mark with enough time left that the (highly enjoyable) announcers started looking for new ridiculous stats. They finally realized Michigan was one three-point shooter away from a record nine players scoring beyond the arc, but couldn’t relay that to Frankie Collins, who didn’t yet have one, as the freshman guard dribbled out the last 20 seconds of a laugher to open Big Ten play.

As a team Michigan made 15 of their 32 three-point attempts, a feat made less remarkable by the fact that Nebraska didn’t contest 30 of them. I know we’re going to get to a box score here but this is the kind of stat line that needs to be near the lede:

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It’s good.

Brandon Johns, starting in place of Moussa Diabate (illness), came out with renewed vigor. A Devante’ Jones drive on Michigan's first possession set up Johns at the top of the arc for a buried three, and the mercurial forward added another two tough buckets to get to 7 points before the first commercial break. Johns also played his best defense of the season so far, helping to hold Nebraska’s five-star freshman Bryce McGowens to just four points on the floor, and the frontcourt of Derrick Walker and Lat Mayen to five points total. Johns did his best offensive work around the basket, putting two fouls on Husker center Derrick Walker in the first half while pushing his own scoring to 16 points as the Wolverines went into halftime already up 51-32. By that point they were scoring at a cool 1.4 point per possession clip.

With Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga canning a few early unlikely/incredible threes, Michigan’s offensive revival was only keeping pace until Hunter Dickinson canned his fourth three-point attempt in a row (going back to his 3/3 night versus SDSU) between two excellent defensive possessions by the big man. That plus a Dickinson backdown against a late double-team staked Michigan to a 21-15 lead by the Under 12 timeout. Michigan continued to push that lead out in the next segment as Nebraska got more serious about doubling Dickinson, and his friends were able to pay off more of his good passing, specifically his oldest pal on the team Terrance Williams II, who nailed a three off a post double pass, then another when his man was sucked into the paint by Hunter’s gravity. Williams finished the night with 22 points, while Johns tied his own career high at 20.

The scoring continued, as did the weirdness of doing it all with Eli Brooks, their best shooter coming into the game, going cold on his first six outside attempts (all wide open). But he would nail three of his last four, including a final contested heat check to cue Kenpom time. Caleb Houstan managed to find his range at a consistent pace all game, Jones got one to rattle in for his only field goal of the night, and then Kobe Bufkin and Zeb Jackson added theirs off the bench.

That bench was unleashed before the first half was over, with Zeb Jackson bursting onto the court late in the frame with a gorgeous drive and dish assist and a buried three. More eye-opening was his improved defense, an issue in spot appearances thus far, as Jackson used his length to provide the first pushback all game to Nebraska PG Alonzo Verge’s frequent trips through the lane. Verge scored 31 on 24 shot equivalents, regularly abusing Devante’ Jones and Frankie Collins. But he had little help; Tominga’s missed eight of his next nine attempts as Nebraska finished 5/35 from outside, 30 of those contested or from so deep they got a gravity assist.

Other than that whole unresolved “tall lanky guards can take ours off the dribble” situation, the only complaint from Michigan’s night was that turnovers came back early; Michigan had six in each half, most of those on sloppy pass receptions until Bufkin and Jackson added a pair each on ill-conceived drives. They made up for it defensively, generating seven steals from a Hoiberg outfit that emphasizes ball security as much as Michigan used to. As Michigan’s runs started to resemble the last Big Ten football game, Huskers marched to the free throw line, with Nebraska in the bonus before five minutes had elapsed in the second half.

If those slowdowns helped Michigan crown the century mark, more’s the better. For a team that started the year frigid from the arc, the shooting was the main transmittable takeaway. I’m already refreshing Kenpom to see if their offensive stats have come back to the realm of reasonably good, because the idea of a bunch of guys who can shoot around Hunter Dickinson remains the shape of our hopes for a deep tourney kind of year. Michigan gets their next Big Ten warmup game at home this Saturday when a bunch of strangers in Minnesota clothing come to Crisler. This squad still has a long way to go to answer a lot of the questions exposed in November, but settled one: they can shoot.

[A box score after THE JUMP]

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Comments

Wolverine In Iowa 68

December 7th, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^

Ok, I'm man enough to eat a plate of crow.  I was dogging Jones for needing all the cyan in the preview, but he had a good game....8 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and ZERO turnovers....very well done.  Maybe he's turned a corner too?

Joined: 07/16/2015

MGoPoints: 55986

TrueBlue2003

December 7th, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^

I'll come get mine too. I was dogging Williams for a horrible game against UNC (minus 17 in 11 min) but he was obviously very good tonight.

Just when it seems like a rotation is solidifying, someone plays out of their mind to come knocking back on the door.

I don't think it's sustainable to go 10+ deep into February and March but Zeb and Williams aren't going quietly into the night.

Joined: 01/05/2010

MGoPoints: 38075

L'Carpetron Do…

December 8th, 2021 at 9:31 AM ^

Yes - even in the UNC game, Jones had started to play within himself a little more (unfortunately, during the UNC game he played very passive and didn't take any risks because he didn't want to make a mistake).  It took a while but I think he has now realized he doesn't have to be so aggressive and do everything for this team.  He was playing very hair-on-fire to start this season but if he can continue to settle down he'll be a strong asset to this team.  

Joined: 03/15/2010

MGoPoints: 8551

cheesheadwolverine

December 7th, 2021 at 10:12 PM ^

I was working so only half watching, but Nebraska looked terrible (which I expected) but also poorly coached, disinterested, and lazy (which I did not).  Not sure Hoiberg is going to work out, it's year three.

Joined: 10/25/2008

MGoPoints: 7515

bronxblue

December 7th, 2021 at 10:31 PM ^

I said this in the other thread but Nebraska is bad but still "competitive bad" in its other games this year.  UM housing them on the road wasn't expected, and how they did it feels somewhat repeatable and opponent agnostic is Johns can use this as a jumping off point.  

Still early but for all the concerns they've played 9 whole games and are getting better in each.  I'll take that for now.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171742

Hotel Putingrad

December 7th, 2021 at 10:51 PM ^

I only saw the last few minutes and am now watching Villanova-Syracuse at the Garden.

Way back time machine, old Big East style.

Also caught the full replay of the Jimmy V Espy speech. Still have a lump in my throat.

Joined: 12/10/2014

MGoPoints: 212089

AC1997

December 8th, 2021 at 12:19 AM ^

Good write up Seth.....but saying they can shoot after that type of defense is like saying I can compete in F1 because I drove a car on a racetrack once.  What happened to Fred Hoiberg??  He used to be a respected coach.  

Obviously the team looked great when Johns/Williams channeled Duncan Robinson, but can it last is the question.  I think Houstan. Is figuring it out and I think Hunters outside shot is legit (his second one was halfway down).  Otherwise the stink of Nebraska masks any true takeaways from this one.  

Joined: 09/19/2008

MGoPoints: 13809

rice4114

December 8th, 2021 at 12:23 AM ^

I cant tell Zeb And Coby apart sometimes. Saw potential in both tonight. I think Kobe needs bulk minutes. In some flashes I think he looks as good as Freshman Jordan Poole. Williams can shoot damnit. He is Junkyard Livers. 

Joined: 08/26/2010

MGoPoints: 47270

Big Brown Jug

December 8th, 2021 at 12:40 AM ^

For as dismissive as everyone has been of Minnesota, they’re currently undefeated with two  true road wins over P5 opponents. We’ll find out a lot more about them tomorrow night vs. MSU, but they’ve looked like a real team so far. 

Joined: 06/10/2009

MGoPoints: 980

L'Carpetron Do…

December 8th, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^

I know this was against a weak opponent and this Nebraska team played poorly even for them, but this game - and the W over San Diego State - are a million times better than what we saw in recent weeks. The second half of the Arizona and UNC games were complete nightmares (and if Diabate didn't go off against the Heels, it would've been a full-game blowout because the rest of the team looked awful that night).  But now they're back and looking like a real Juwan Howard-coached Michigan team: feeding the post, hitting 3s and playing defense. And more importantly: proper spacing, excellent ball movement and playing with a sense of urgency.

I was worried there for a bit because they were unrecognizable for a few days, which is very uncharacteristic of them. But, I think Jones will settle down, Johns will bust out of his funk and Zeb will really come on strong. And if Diabate was going to be out for any stretch of time this season, you would want it to be against Neb, Minn, So Utah, Purdue-FW, UCF and Rutgers.  Get well, Moussa. Rest up for that Jan. 8th game vs. State. GO BLUE!!!

Joined: 03/15/2010

MGoPoints: 8551

dragonchild

December 8th, 2021 at 10:25 AM ^

MGoBlog hyped the newcomers as refined, and after watching Dickinson as a freshman, I'll admit I was surprised by their early troubles.  But once it was there, I knew not to panic.  Howard's track record at player development is renowned, and it was evident he was preparing for the end of the season, not the beginning of it.

Sure, he could've simplified things for the short term, but what would that have accomplished?  If he just stuck to simple stuff, it would've been scouted out and the entire off-season of prep would've been useless by conference play, all just to be somewhat more competitive in some early OOC games.  I'm no basketball expert but just by looking at the team's trajectory, I think he went straight to stuff that was tough to pick up but more sustainable, and knew they might not figure it all out by the start of the season.  So, we got to watch some of the sausage-making.

Learning -- real learning -- is ugly to behold.  If whatever you're learning is something you can just pick up in a web tutorial, you're learning skills anyone can replace you with in two weeks.  Anything worth learning is frustrating, embarrassing, and chaotic until the brain re-wires itself.  You're literally altering your brain, and that just takes time.  If the circuits aren't ready then the brain can't process information fast enough; the shortcuts aren't there.  You're reacting to everything instead of anticipating, the openings are long gone by the time you see them, and if that wasn't bad enough, the signals to the body go out a beat late.  Howard's having you learn sets, reads, defenses, and oh, also yelling in your face about twenty different things you're doing wrong with your crappy technique.  Your brain is trying to read, analyze, and correct a hundred things every second, and that is literally impossible to do at game speed.  Everything's out of sync, when windows close you're forced to improvise, and when you have multiple players fumbling through brain-body latency, it's a hideous shitshow.  Imagine listening to a band, except every single instrument is playing at a different tempo and constantly making mistakes.  You could be listening to generational talent, but you wouldn't know it by attending practice.

I don't know if we're past the turning point, but as their brains catch up, I think we'll see the team morph from a lunatic clownshow to kaiju ballerinas very rapidly.  Once everyone plays at the same tempo, cacophony will change to music.

Joined: 10/13/2011

MGoPoints: 60910

dragonchild

December 8th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^

I'm not convinced the team can "shoot"; not after one game against a bad Nebraska team.  This can go one of two ways.

Optimistically, I've been saying the team's problems are mental; they're young men being trained by a former NBA coach.  It'll take a while for everything to snap together.  Shooting is very much a mental thing; confusion on defense or in offensive sets will also throw off shooting accuracy.  So as they start putting everything together and gain confidence, they'll reach their potential in shooting as well.  HOWEVA, this one night still may count as an anomaly, and they'll fall back to earth next game.  These kinds of things are neither fast nor consistent.  It'll be progress in fits and starts.

Pessimistically, mediocre three-point shooters aren't consistent either.  They're streaky as all hell.  Some JaS averaging 30% from 3 isn't necessarily good for going 1/3 or 2/7.  Oh, sure, they'll do that, but it's more the norm that they'll shoot 2/8, 0/6, 1/7, and then go on a 7/9 tear where they could be triple-teamed and blindfolded and still hit half-court shots by chucking it up with back to the basket.  Usually against Michigan, but last night could've been M's turn.

I maintain the team has 1-seed potential, but I don't think anyone knows exactly what that looks like yet.  As for shooting, it's too early to tell whether this is a sign they're putting it together or just mediocre shooters getting hot for a night.

Joined: 10/13/2011

MGoPoints: 60910

Basketballschoolnow

December 8th, 2021 at 10:40 AM ^

Nebraska was awful.  As was pointed out on the broadcast, it looked like a pickup game (more accurately like Juwan took his team over to the IM building to challenge the best team there).

So, a great way to kick off the Big Ten season, but may not tell a whole lot about how M will fare against a real team.  It does show the potential, though.

Joined: 10/14/2019

MGoPoints: 890