Michigan basketball crushes Nebraska by 35 points in Big Ten opener, 102-67

LINCOLN, Neb. — Legions of red-and-white clad fans inside Pinnacle Bank Arena filed for the exits when Michigan basketball stretched its lead to 22 points with nearly 12 minutes remaining, streaming from their seats following an uncontested, hit-ahead layup by Caleb Houstan on a fast break. The latest example of defensive ineptitude from Nebraska had prompted coach Fred Hoiberg to wander halfway across the court just to signal the merciful timeout.

Whatever percentage of Cornhuskers remained in the building was halved again barely four minutes later as center Hunter Dickinson, who proved to be a thorn in their side all evening, corralled his own miss for a second-chance layup that widened the margin to 30. The ensuing media timeout ushered droves more spectators toward their cars.

So thorough was Michigan’s stomping of Nebraska that coach Juwan Howard inserted a walk-on with nearly six minutes remaining in a game his team had long since won. On the heels of a terrific offensive performance against miserly San Diego State on Saturday — an effort that righted the ship following an embarrassing loss to North Carolina three nights earlier — the Wolverines parlayed one successful outing into a second by wiping away the Cornhuskers in the first half and rolling to a 102-67 win.

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Their crisp execution produced five players in double figures, led by 20 points and five rebounds from Brandon Johns Jr., who was inserted into the starting lineup when Moussa Diabate remained in Ann Arbor due to a non-Covid illness. Terrance Williams II chipped in 18 points off the bench, while starters Hunter Dickinson, Caleb Houstan and Eli Brooks combined for 41 points and 21 rebounds. The Wolverines shot 51.3% from the floor and 46.9% percent from 3-point range to dominate the game’s final 30 minutes.

Michigan broke the game open in the last 12 minutes of the first half with a 20-5 run featuring near-flawless offensive execution from a variety of contributors as Howard receiving meaningful contributions from his bench. Their run began with a feed to Dickinson on the left block, where he was guarded by freshman big man Wilhelm Breidenbach. Dickinson flipped a soft hook up and over the defender and then held his right hand at knee level while jogging down the court to indicate Nebraska lacked the size to defend him in deeper positions.

An offense that found it difficult to funnel the ball to Dickinson in losses to Arizona and North Carolina suddenly made him a focal point. He scored again on a hook shot from the right block two possessions later and then kicked the ball diagonally across the court for a triple by Terrance Williams II that pushed the lead to double digits for the first time at 26-15. It was the second time the Cornhuskers had doubled Dickinson on the left block — his earlier cross-court pass helped facilitate a layup for Caleb Houstan — and the second time he’d made them pay.

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The 3-pointer from Williams ignited a flurry of points from reserves that helped the Wolverines carry a 13-4 edge in bench points into the break. Backup guard Zeb Jackson, who made his season debut against the Tar Heels after a prolonged illness, dropped a nifty dish to Williams for a layup and splashed a triple on the next possession that forced Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg to call a timeout just 36 seconds after the last stoppage in play as the U-M lead ballooned to 16.

A gulf in 3-point shooting captured arguably the biggest disparity between the two sides. The Wolverines entered Tuesday’s game ranked 188th in 3-point shooting percentage (32.9%) with their shooting woes in lopsided losses well-documented. The Cornhuskers, however, have been marred by another level of futility that placed them 329th out of 358 teams in Division I with a 27.1% clip from beyond the arc.

Jackson’s triple gave way to additional 3-pointers by DeVante’ Jones, Houstan and Johns in a span of three minutes to push Michigan’s lead over 20 as the Nebraska faithful sulked. The Wolverines shot 9-of-22 from beyond the arc in the first half for a plus-18 edge in that category after the Cornhuskers connected just three times from long range. U-M took a 51-32 lead into the break due in part to ruthless execution reflected by an average of 1.38 points per possession.

From there, the lead continued to swell — from 20 to 25, from 25 to 30, and from 30 to 35 in the final minute of the second half in a game Michigan never trailed.

Contact Michael Cohen at mcohen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball crushes Nebraska by 35 in B1G opener, 102-67