Michigan 87, Michigan State 70
On a night when Michigan desperately needed a win at home against a bitter rival to bolster their NCAA Tournament case, the Wolverines got it in resounding fashion. Hunter Dickinson posted a career high 33 points to lead a seemingly unstoppable Michigan offense that drowned Michigan State with outside shooting and pounded them inside via slicing passes and thumping dunks. The Crisler Center crowd was loud on Tuesday night and Michigan scored a massive victory, staying on the right side of the tournament bubble, downing Michigan State by a score of 87-70.
The first half started fast right out of the gate. Each team had 11 points on the board less than 3.5 minutes into the game, as neither defense seemed capable of making a stop. During that juncture, a seemingly foreboding development occurred: DeVante' Jones picked up two quick fouls and went straight to the bench. The collective Michigan Twitter existence said "oh no, we can't survive an extended run from Frankie Collins".
Turns out, "we" could. Collins would log 12 minutes in the first half and although didn't score, he dished out four assists and led an offense that functioned surprisingly well with a modified lineup on the floor. He also snagged two boards, and it was during the stretch with Collins in the lineup that Michigan began to clamp down on Michigan State defensively, while continuing to torch the Spartans on offense.
Michigan thrived in the Frankie minutes [Marc-Gregor Campredon]
In totality, Michigan shot 61% from the field in the first twenty minutes. Their team eFG% was even higher, at 70%. Hunter Dickinson played a big role, at 6/8 from the field for 12 points, but he got plenty of help from his friends. Terrance Williams II was the surprise hero, nailing all three of the three-point attempts he attempted, while Brandon Johns Jr. and Caleb Houstan were 1/1 from beyond the arc. Michigan was 5/8 from three, but they also found buckets inside with ease thanks to Collins' passing and simply poor defense from MSU. On the other end, Michigan State shot under 40% from the field and made only a lone three pointer. Malik Hall led the Spartans in the first half with a measly 5 points and MSU scored just 4 points total in the final 7:30 of the first half. The Wolverines led 44-28 at the break.
The primary objective for Michigan out of halftime was finding a way to maintain the lead and avoid any of those extended Spartan runs that could make this a competitive game. To accomplish the mission, they turned to Dickinson. MSU never opted to double team the Wolverine big man and against a variety of Spartan defenders, Dickinson feasted. He scored 21 points in the second half on 7/11 from the field. His most famous moments came matched up against Julius Marble II, who he tossed on the grill and char-broiled with silky spin moves towards the basket.
Michigan's outside shooting started to cool off, but they continued to get easy makes all across the floor. With Collins on the bench and the starter DeVante' Jones back in the game, Michigan played calm and steady basketball protecting that lead. Throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half, the lead oscillated between 15 and 22 points but never got closer. Michigan State finally mounted a surge around the midway point of the half, embarking on a 10-2 run to cut it to 64-51 with just over 9 minutes remaining. Jones followed it up with a three and the two teams played more or less to a draw over the next five minutes.
[Marc-Gregor Campredon]
The last chance for MSU to get back in the game came around the 4.5 minute remaining mark, when an ugly Jones turnover led to an easy dunk to cut the lead to 75-63. Dickinson came to the rescue, with another spin move bucket toasting Marble. Michigan State missed the front end of a one-and-one, Caleb Houstan added a layup, and then a Michigan State offensive foul gave Michigan the ball up 79-63 with only 3:20 to go. An Eli Brooks floater dropped on the ensuing Michigan possession and that more or less wrapped things up. Interim head coach Phil Martelli was able to deploy the garbage time squad in the last minute and the final score read 87-70 Michigan.
This was a complete and comprehensive offensive performance from Michigan. They shot a scorching 58% from the field, with an identical percentage from three as well. There was never a juncture where offense was difficult, and the reason the Spartans could never mount a run was because the Michigan offense didn't stop scoring. Dickinson will be the story, marvelous (and superb in the taunting department), but nearly every player was checked in offensively. Houstan scored 16 on 4/7 from the field and got to the line on several occasions. Jones and Williams both scored 9 and Eli Brooks added 8, while Moussa Diabate had 6 in semi-limited minutes due to foul trouble.
[Campredon]
Michigan State had a number of scorers get involved but found no one to be the lead dog. Their leading scorer was Gabe Brown with only 12 and though they shot 46% as a team from the field, it wasn't nearly enough to keep up. Three Spartans ended the game with four fouls, including big men Julius Marble and Mady Sissoko, who struggled to bang around with the Michigan bigs without hacking.
With the win, the Wolverines move to 16-12 overall, and 10-8 in the conference. Just two regular season games remain, a home game against Iowa on Thursday, and a road game @Ohio State on Sunday afternoon. One more win in the regular season would go a long way towards securing the Michigan tournament resume heading in to next week's B1G Tournament in Indianapolis. The Thursday game against Iowa is scheduled for 9:00 pm EST and is scheduled to be on FS1.
[Click the JUMP for the box score]
Anyone know if/when there'll be a rebroadcast or got a full game link? I missed the game due to superstition.
Matthew loves ball has the best recaps on YouTube for when I miss a video. 20-30 minutes, almost all the important action, in case you don't find it.
Nice to see Mel Tucker show up at the game. Hope he returns Friday to see the hockey team kick their ass, too.
Phil Martelli is 1-0 vs. Tom Izzo and MSU. He is now 1 Sparty win away from receiving a 10 year $95 million contract extension.
Phil comin'
Great performances by Hunter and Houstan! I enjoyed this result very much.
Great game by UM, especially Dickinson but also by the freshmen who stepped up. Houstan has been coming on and while Collins is still a trip offensively he's absolutely going to be a pain defensively for teams as he matures physically. And I'll admit to being wrong about Jones - I thought he couldn't hang in the conference as a PG but he clearly has found a way to be effective running the offense even if his ceiling isn't as high as we hoped given his shooting limitations. The team has a chance to make a bit of a run these next couple of games.
Also, I'd like to highlight yet again that Izzo is a baby and loves to throw his players under the bus or whine about the classiness/appropriateness of other players. He did it today with Dickinson giving the business to MSU and Izzo complaining to the refs, and he did it on the post game by blaming his upperclassmen. Now, I'd question the HC who thought anyone on his team could adequately guard Dickinson 1:1, but I guess that's why I don't have one national title that is old enough to drink and be a super-senior in college.
The year Izzo won a National Championship, UM’s quarterback was Tom Brady.
I won South Quad's floor-level NCAA tournament bracket that year by picking Sparty and I also registered for classes by using a rotary phone, to put in perspective just how fucking long ago that win by Izzo is.
I mean, credit to him for winning a title the same year the Eminem released "The Real Slim Shady" but it's crazy to me people talk about him like some historically great coach.
I don't like Izzo, but he's about to pass Bobby Knight in conference wins and has averaged one Final 4 every four years. He has one of the best coaching resumes in CBB history.
He's a very good coach but he's also coached at MSU for 27 years; Knight coached at IU for 29 years but also played shorter conference schedules and won at a 74% clip; Izzo is closer to 71%. And people treat him like he's one of the best coaches of all time and I just don't see him in the same group as guys like Coach K, Roy Williams, Calipari, Jay Wright, Bill Self, and similar contemporaries. Hell, Mark Few has done a really impressive job at Gonzaga building that program into a national power. But I don't feel like they're all treated in the same venerated tones (obviously Coach K is but how often do we talk about those other guys as truly great coaches?) as Izzo, a guy who's done pretty well but rarely fields truly elite teams.
The You Tube video of MSU’s run is all fuzzy. Box TV style.
The Flint kids were awesome but since then, meh. JB was more impressive in a much shorter time at Michigan.
What floor were you on? I would have been fifth floor at South Quad that year. I'm sure we would have encountered each other at some point.
I agree that Izzo doesn't deserve to be in the same category as coach K or Wooden, or the all-time greats, but he's probably somewhere in tier 2. He's kind of similar to the way I feel about Harbaugh right now - his teams' floors are extremely high (except in pandemic years or when Brady Hoke left a crater in roster talent in Harbaugh's case), and most years there going to be a top 10ish team, but not a team that can win it all. Hopefully I'm wrong about that for Harbaugh. Izzo I hope continues to wallow in coming up just short.
I got to go to this game, I was in the upper bowl in a very Michigan state filled section who started this massive green white cheer right after the national anthem and man it was so good to hear them slowly die off in volume, and numbers as hunter burned their bigs under the basket
Hunter Dickinson was amazing tonight. Such a mature, dominating performance!
Thank you Izzo for your genius decision to single cover him the entire game.
Huge props to Coach Martelli and all the coaches - terrific game plan. Michigan ran some beautiful sets, and took full advantage of Sparty's lack of D.
Great hustle, great job on the boards. All the guards played tough, smart basketball. Forwards hit some big shots, especially J Will.
That was a thorough thrashing - and boy it was fun!
Go Blue! Let's go dancin'!
I haz a big happy. Wow, huge game and victory. Thanks for showing up tonight Hunter.
I loved every minute of that game. Nothing better than beating Staee! Now just keep the momentum going and close out with at least a split and we should be in the dance.
That was fun. Man, when Hunter brings it he is sooooo good. Awesome job from everyone.
Izzo has some wild rotations for this late in the season. 11 guys played 7 or more minutes. Only one guy played more than 30. Bingham, who played well in the first game and had two blocks only played 9 minutes? He's really throwing things at the wall still.
Let's get the next two and then keep it going in the BTT.
Izzo always has to play 'weird guys'.
What stood out to me was Frankie Collins putting on a clinic on how to beat a high screen. Our PG position is in great shape for the next 2-3 years.
If Frankie can get stronger at finishing at the basket and improve his free throw shooting, he's gonna be really good. His PG skills and athleticism are there though
Hunter was obviously fantastic and his performance means we'll probably live and die by the 3 ball (or crisp ball movement creating open lanes) from here on out because nobody else is going to cover him 1:1 for an entire game after that showing. Collins did a great job facilitating too but could really improve by reeling in the occasional careless TOs. To be fair he's a freshman PG and overall has been pretty good.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but the taunting from Hunter has been happening all year and needs to be shut down. I dont know what Hunter said or who he was pointing at that set Izzo into a tizzy, and say what you want about Izzo, but he wasn't wrong (neither were the announcers) about Hunter taunting on the regular. Notice Martelli pulled Hunter for a quick chat right after Izzos tantrum. In the post-game when asked about Hunters performance Martelli joked about him missing 2 free throws and then immediately mentioned his "altercation with the opponent for no reason other than he's Hunter" before giving any compliments. Martelli gets it and wasnt pleased. Taunting, whining etc may not always get called directly, but it absolutely is noticed by the refs and influences calls throughout a game/season/tourney. To their credit the refs tonight handled that perfectly. Given what just happened with Juwan, seems like a great time to knock off the extra curriculars and show some class. Not a good look for the program. End rant.
I don't think Martelli was upset with him. Seemed to excuse it as Hunter being Hunter.
I would prefer he didn't do this, not just because of technicals but MSU beat Michigan down the floor a couple times off makes while he's looking over at the sideline instead of getting back.
But man, he really seems to use these personal games as effective motivation. Don't mind him playing like this!
Martelli didn’t seem to have that much of a problem with it. Definitely not as much of a problem as you, at least. He said the refs asked him to tell Hunter to settle down, so he told Hunter to focus less on the other team and more on himself with the celebrations. Then he joked that Hunter could have a career in WWE as a villain if basketball doesn’t work out. To me, that doesn’t sound like he was that worried about it. I do think he and the officials handled it well though.
Also, didn’t Donny Marshall say that him complaining about hunter’s taunting would be the pot calling the kettle black? I don’t know if your post will be unpopular as you say. It just reads as pearl-clutching to me, especially the “not a good look for the program” line. I’d tell Hunter to tone down the taunting towards the other bench if I was his coach, but it’s not that big of a deal. Izzo would’ve just worked the refs about something else. Hunter was dominating a rival and having fun doing it.
Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but since it was directed at Izzo and Sparty, I'll allow it.
Upvote for you. And I love the new avatar.
i noticed that last night. switched his avatar to a guy that has private parts the size of city buses. that's our vlady.
Signed in just to upvote you for the avatar swap (not that you need more upvotes!). Can't see the old one coming back.
Time for Hotel Zelensky?
If Izzo can yap the whole game with no repercussions, then Hunter should be able to talk his shit when he's sonning MSU
This ^^^
Besides, Hunter is 98% done with this college career you aint gonna change him now, and this seems to pump up his performance.
I guess Sparty knows who the real coach is now!
/S
I read Matt's article about Jimmies and Joes re: Illinois, but I still had a good deal of dread about this game.
A legendary performance by Hunter... best Michigan villain since Moe
And so many others stepped up in crucial bits here and there to keep them at arms length: Houstan, Brooks, Jones, Houstan, T Will, even Johns had a 3, an OR, and 2 FTs in only 6 minutes
Joyous victory, let's keep it rollin, it's fucking March baby!
+1 for the awesome GIF
So this means we lose the next game by 15?
If that means we turn around and win on Sunday by 15, I'm ok with that.
I watched Purdue @ MSU on Saturday (from the discomfort of my treadmill) and at the half Izzo said something to the effect, "we made a decision not to give up open threes, and live with single coverage on Edey/Williams" (He also complained about the officiating). It seems he rolled into Ann Arbor with the same strategy and Hunter Dickinson said, "Yes please'.
Always good to "have to" watch the Matthew Loves Ball replay...means Michigan won...I don't watch if they don't win.
Izzo used to be a very good coach-used to be being the operative words. He has run some very good teams into the ground in the past 20 years. I think he has developed a personality/character disorder.
Someone forgot to tell Izzo that it is March.
Or Izzo is just old and cranky cause he hasn't won shit in 20 years.
^^^^^
This and little man syndrome is catching up to him.....
While that may be the case, this MSU team is not a very good team. It is not a talented team. It is not a well constructed team. They were bad last year, lost their best player and replaced him with a very inconsistent freshmen having a bad season.
i think sparty is the same as us but different. each team has different strengths, but each has talent on its roster. and each is incredibly inconsistent, world-beaters one game, can't tie their own shoelaces the next. if there's any difference at all its that we are trending slightly up, while they are trending down.
They also added a grad transfer PG who has shored up that position somewhat (it was a glaring weakness for them last year and now is just average).
Even the Illinois game on Sunday was impressive offensively, result aside. They just happened to be slightly more unstoppable. Hopefully, we can make a surprisingly deep run in the B1G tournament (the announcers concurred they wouldn't be surprised if Michigan won it).
Whatever happens in the BTT, I hope Michigan can avoid Illinois as long as humanly possible. Can Michigan beat them? If they shoot well then yes, but if not they are toast (I know that principle holds in most any game, but its especially at a premium against the likes of Illinois). Illinois is the team I look at and say Michigan has the least likely chance to beat.
Not sure if its how the two teams match up, but Michigan hasn't beaten them since Howard showed up. Underwood just seems to know how to gameplan very, very well for them.
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