While Michigan fans awaited word from a judge both basketball and hockey were playing at home. Alex got the night off to see the icers take on Minnesota, so I've drawn the cagers against a YSU team about half as good as them. That means watching Dug McDaniel pick apart a defense, Olivier Nkamhoua run one, and Will Tschetter hit bucket after bucket after bucket.

We'll start with Dug, who broke down the Penguin defense from the start by finding his way into the lane. YSU was okay letting him get to the rim, and Dug used that to show off the shots he's been working on for such occasions. The floater featured, but the highlight was this cross-up.

There was another with a Zavier Simpson hook at the end.

[after THE JUMP: more basketball description]

By the end of the first half, Michigan had doubled up on the Penguins 46-23. Dug stuck around another 10 minutes into the 2nd half before sitting with 16 points on 14.5 shot equivalents and 4 assists to 2 turnovers.

Arguably more important than Dug's development has been the addition of Nkamhoua, particularly on the defensive end. The transfer captain put up a double-double, with 17 points and half of his 10 rebounds on the offensive end. Less noticed but no less important was his passing; Nkamhoua started drawing attention whenever he drove, and turned in four assists, spreading the ball to Reed, Terrance Williams, and freshman George Washington III. His defense was the most effective.

Pairing Nkamhoua with Tarris Reed at center, Michigan was able to switch on every YSU player with their main lineup, and spend a lot of time with Will Tschetter on the court without exposing his athletic deficiencies. Nkamhoua also dominated offensively, stretching the court as a four for most of the game to give the Wolverines a five-out look when Tschetter was at "center" and a forest of long arms when paired with Tarris Reed.

That meant enjoying all the benefits of the most incredible scoring streak in college sports. Tschetter followed up 8 points on 5 FG last game with a perfect 8/8 from the floor, including another four triples. The last was a heat check four feet behind the arc. There was also a runout dunk-that-almost-looked-like-he-couldn't set up on the run by a perfect Tray Jackson bounce pass. The low-ups, high-energy forward finished with 20 points on 8 shots and 1 personal foul in 18 minutes. He also took a charge while helping Michigan get to Kenpom time in the second half.

Another defensive star of the game was Nimari Burnett. Dug sat around the Under-8 timeout and the offense bogged down with Burnett on the ball. Those minutes were hardly unproductive, as YSU only managed to cut Michigan's lead by two against the suffocating defense of the athletic Bama/Texas Tech transfer. Burnett finished without a point, and while it's not actually true that the guys he was guarding did as well, it's spiritually true.

Of course those defensive efforts were helped by YSU playing the middle 20 minutes of the game without starting PG Bryson Langdon, who took an accidental shot to the head from Washington that drew blood. The ultimately 3-point play got the Penguins within 8 points before the first half's under 8 timeout; by the time he returned YSU had scored just five points in about 10 minutes of gameplay, and the rout was a fait accompli.

Burnett did have five assists while playing the two. Michigan's scorer might be trending in the direction of MSU/Northwestern folk who hand those out more liberally, as one of those assists was a shovel pass to Tschetter, who gave YSU's center a jab step then knocked in a three to cap a 13-0 Wolverines run at the end of the half. Tschetter then gave the Shooter McGavin fingers, presumably to us for ever doubting.

I know you hate this movie Brian. [Campredon]

Coming out of the half, the run stretched to 17. Soon after it ended, Nkamhoua blocked a drive from YSU's Brandon Rush, Williams threw the ball up to a streaking Dug McDaniel, and Dug found Nkamhoua on the other end for an alley-oop. A minute later, Williams drove the lane, went down with hard contact, and made one of two free throws to mark the winning point.

Dare I check the hockey game?

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