Bob Wojnowski: Sizzling Wolverines roll on, from Hunter now to the hunted
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Feb. 26—So many weapons, so many ways. Michigan can beat teams inside and outside, upside and downside. And then, when presented with an especially sizable challenge, they can do something else. They can chop it down to size with a fierce, disciplined defense.
As good as the Wolverines have been the past decade or so, we haven't seen anything quite like this, with furiously motivated seniors and one rare 7-foot sprouting star. It's no longer a question of whether they have the pieces to win the national championship — they absolutely do — but whether they can stay healthy and hungry, as they turn from Hunter to hunted.
Freshman Hunter Dickinson faced his biggest test in Iowa's imposing Luka Garza, and the result was surprising only if you haven't been paying attention. Dickinson and the Wolverines stuffed Garza and high-scoring Iowa 79-57 Thursday night at the Crisler Center, showing all their impressive wares in the process.
Safe to say, the rest of college basketball is fully aware. The Wolverines are 17-1 and ranked third, and very little separates them at the moment from the top two, unbeaten Gonzaga and Baylor. They're 12-1 in the Big Ten, three games ahead of Illinois with four games left, on the verge of clinching the program's first Big Ten title since 2014.
Juwan Howard always waves off credit and points to his players, but what he's done in his second season is remarkable. Yes, it's the players, but it's also the positions Howard and his staff put them in. Here was Dickinson, a revelation in his first season, going up against Garza, who averages 24.7 points and 8.5 rebounds and is a leading Player of the Year candidate. In two games against Michigan last season, he scored a preposterous 77 points.
Taskmaster
So what did Howard do? He let Dickinson handle Garza one-on-one, with only an occasional double team, in an effort to shut down Iowa's lethal 3-point shooting. And it appears Garza, a 6-11 senior, isn't quite the same when picking on opponents his own size. He was held to 16 points, while No. 9 Iowa (17-7) was held to its season-low point total. Dickinson finished with 14 points and eight rebounds (to Garza's four) and battled his buddy — they were friends growing up in the Washington, D.C., area — to a standstill. He also battled foul trouble and utter exhaustion.
"I did the best I could to take on the one-on-one challenge," Dickinson said, still sweating 20 minutes after the game. "He's obviously a great player, best in the Big Ten and probably the country. I strive to be one of the most competitive players. I get that from the rest of my teammates, the fiercest competitors I've played with."
He's so competitive, Dickinson literally and figuratively slapped himself in the head a few times. He walled off Garza right from the first possession and didn't let up, but was annoyed that he whiffed on an assignment in the second half — when a three-point halftime lead was turning into a blowout — and grumbled it was a "lazy play on my part."
That's the defining trait of this Michigan team. Their ambitious spirit comes from the famously competitive Howard, and the players accept all that it brings. It means no practices off, no games off. It means no plays off, which is how the Wolverines have beaten good teams on the road — Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue — and destroyed teams at home by margins of 19, 25, 23, 24 and 22.
This team was going to be good once it added senior transfers Mike Smith and Chaundee Brown, and seniors Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner opted to return. It helped that senior guard Eli Brooks developed into a premier defender, but it needed a revelation like the 7-1 Dickinson to be special.
The Wolverines have composure and astounding balance, capable of scoring from all five positions, and have bench guys — Austin Davis, Brown, Brandon Johns — who bring energy. They never, ever seem satisfied, and if you don't play defense, you don't play.
That's produced a major change in Wagner, the gifted German who grew a couple more inches to 6-10 and added a few more pounds of muscle in the offseason, and now is a driving force and a defensive force. It was his burst early in the second half Thursday night that turned the game, and he finished with 21 points on nine-for-12 shooting and four assists.
"When Franz is locked in, we definitely have the best team in the country," said Livers, who had 16 points. "That's multiple guys who can take the ball to the paint, find the open guy, then turn around and be a two-way player. We have nothing but two-way players on this team. When Franz is aggressive, we're unbeatable."
And aggressiveness doesn't just mean shooting. It means attacking and swarming. That's what Dickinson and his backup, Davis, did to Garza, who grew increasingly frustrated and shot six-for-19.
Culture club
"A lot of guys can be selfish, looking at their stats, but we don't have that here with Michigan basketball," Livers said. "When we all win, we all shine. Everyone has bought into the culture, we don't talk to outsiders, don't have people in our ears. We don't have one selfish player on our team. When everyone buys into that, you're gonna raise banners and that's what we're trying to do."
They virtually could clinch the Big Ten title Saturday at Indiana, but good luck trying to ask Howard about the possibilities ahead.
"One game at a time, man, one game at a time," Howard said, shaking his head. "Focus on what we did tonight, it was special. And when we wake up tomorrow, focus on Indiana."
That's always a coach's mantra but the Wolverines actually live it. They won in scintillating fashion at Ohio State 92-87 last Sunday but Howard was stewing. He didn't like the defensive effort, and in two tough practices, he let them know. Defense was the way to beat the Hawkeyes, who shoot 40% percent on 3-pointers as players scatter around the perimeter if Garza gets double-teamed.
Howard trusted Dickinson to handle the big fella and the outside defenders did the rest, holding Iowa to 6-for-19 long-range shooting.
"Yeah we got a 'W' in Columbus but our defensive numbers were terrible, we all just shook our heads because that's not us," Livers said. "We knew Iowa was the highest-scoring Big Ten team and it was the perfect challenge. We stayed disciplined. This is how our defense works, we all trust one another."
They trust Howard's plan, and each other, and their defense. They also trust and embrace Hunter, and more important, the thrill of the hunt.
Twitter: @bobwojnowski
