Hunter Dickinson helps Michigan basketball respond with 72-58 win over San Diego State

Just in case Michigan basketball needs a résumé-builder for a possible NCAA tournament at-large bid down the road, Saturday’s non-conference 72-58 victory over San Diego State at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor was a step in the right direction.

The Wolverines (5-3), who start their rugged Big Ten schedule Tuesday at Nebraska, responded following blowout nonconference losses to North Carolina and Arizona, along with a homecourt setback to Seton Hall.

Hunter Dickinson, the Wolverines' 7-foot-1 center who had taken just 21 shots in Michigan’s three previous games, turned in a much-needed double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds against the Aztecs (5-3), a perennially strong opponent from the Mountain West coached by former U-M assistant Brian Dutcher.

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“I was trying to be more engaged,” said Dickinson, who had three assists and three steals. “I wanted to come out and just be more active out there and that is what coach has been preaching to me. I just tried to affect the game from the start and not trying to play from behind like we have been. And I think we did a good job with that today.”

Dickinson, who also hit all three of his 3-point attempts after entering the game with one make for his career, got support from freshman forward Caleb Houstan (17 points), and fifth-year senior Eli Brooks, despite some cold shooting spells, added 10 points.

“I’m been working on it a lot, I want to give a shout-out to our managers, Alex Assad and Andrew Wolfe,” Dickinson said. “They’ve been in the gym with me all summer. And even during the season they’re always available for me ... so, I give a lot of credit to them for helping me out and finding success.”

Michigan coach Juwan Howard said Dickinson was ready to compete from start to finish. In the loss to UNC, Dickinson got into early foul trouble, played just 17 minutes and scored four points.

“In the second half, I think his defensive intensity, just his disposition, was a lot different than it was in the first half,” Howard said. “And that’s what really keyed our victory for us. Having the big fella on both ends of the floor, we’re just a better ball club. It’s that simple.”

Michigan, hampered by miscues handling the ball and poor outside shooting of late, cured its recent woes by hitting 11 of 20 from beyond the arc (55%) and committed 13 turnovers.

San Diego State, which went ice-cold in the second half (9-for-27), got a team-high 22 points from senior guard Matt Bradley, who was the only Aztec to score in double figures.

The Aztecs were missing sophomore guard Lamont Butler, the team’s top ball-handler, who broke his left wrist in Tuesday’s 72-47 win over Long Beach State.

After leading at halftime, 36-34, Michigan went up, 49-43, on Dickinson’s putback with 14:01 remaining. The Wolverines stretched their lead to 57-43 with an 8-0 run thanks to a jumper by Terrance Williams II.

U-M increased its advantage to 61-43 on a Brooks 3-pointer from the wing with 7:39 to go and coasted home for the victory.

After a slow offensive start to the game by both teams, San Diego State led 10-7 on a steal and layup by Keith Dinwiddie with 11:13 left in the half.

But U-M answered with a 13-3 run to take a 20-13 advantage at the 10-minute mark thanks to 3s by Houstan and Brandon Johns Jr., along with four points off the bench from freshman guard Frankie Collins.

The Aztecs fought back with a 9-2 run on Bradley’s layup with 3:40 remaining to force Howard to burn a timeout while holding a 30-27 lead.

After San Diego State took the lead briefly on a jumper by Bradley, Dickinson gave the Wolverines their halftime advantage on a 3-pointer from the right wing with four seconds remaining, Michigan’s sixth of the half.

Dickinson had a team-high 12 first-half points, while the 6-8 Houstan added nine points. Michigan committed six turnovers in the half.

Freshman starter Moussa Diabate played seven first-half minutes (two points) and exited to the locker room after reportedly feeling ill. Diabate, who made his first career start in Wednesday’s 21-point loss at North Carolina, did not return.

“There’s illness man, and unfortunately on our campus a lot of our student-athletes and students in general are getting sick,” Howard said. “Some are catching the flu bug — and I’m not saying that what he has — but I knew his temperature was a little bit high coming in. And he’s such a competitor and he wanted to be out there for his teammates and he tried the first seven minutes of the ball game. ... I just hope he gets better.”

Collins, a freshman guard from Sacramento, California, gave Michigan a huge lift.

He played 24 minutes and contributed eight points and three assists. The only negative was his free-throw shooting (2-for-6).

Plenty of film study the past few days proved to be a big help.

“It just showed the spots where we could be more aggressive on the ball ... just make the other team more uncomfortable because some teams try and make us uncomfortable, and today, we did a good job of controlling the speed of the game, our tempo and just being aggressive,” Collins said.

And with the conference season around the corner, Collins could be a key component toward Michigan’s success.

“Everything we did today is what we have to do coming into Big Ten play, just being aggressive defensively, rebounding the ball, taking care of the ball,” Collins said. “I can work on my free throws because I missed a lot of free throws.”

Saturday’s game marked the return of the 62-year-old Dutcher, who served as a Michigan assistant under Steve Fisher from 1989-98. Dutcher then joined Fisher as his top assistant at San Diego State before taking over the head coaching duties in 2017.

As a young assistant, Dutcher recruited Howard to Ann Arbor in 1991, when he became part of the Fab Five. Howard said the experience being on the court with his former coach was “surreal.”

“Dutch is family and one of the main reasons why I chose Michigan,” Howard said. “Everything he sold me on Michigan was true. He said, ‘Michigan is going to change your life.’ It’s going to be the family the you’re looking for that you’re going to be missing back at home when my grandma passed away. He also said, ‘Michigan is going to give you a great education,' and made sure of the promise that I made to my grandmother that I get that degree. If it wasn’t for coach Dutcher, I wouldn’t be able to have that University of Michigan maize and blue within my blood.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hunter Dickinson ignites Michigan basketball past San Diego State