Michigan basketball finds its stride, hammers Nebraska, 93-72, for third straight victory
Michigan basketball's sharpshooter Joey Baker didn't quite have a Stephen Curry moment, but he was close.
His latest 3-point attempt had barely gone through the net before he jogged down the court and pretended to stir the pot in front of him. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg called a timeout. Baker got mobbed by his teammates. And the Crisler Center crowd rose to its feet.
The Wolverines' lone healthy senior's long ball from the corner punctuated a personal 8-0 run and put the cap on a 30-5 stretch in the middle of the first half as U-M dominated Nebraska, 93-72, for its third consecutive victory.
Six Wolverines finished in double-figures, including all five starters.
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Jett Howard had a team-high 22 points, followed by Hunter Dickinson's 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, his second in as many games. Dug McDaniel scored 14 points, Kobe Bufkin finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Baker scored 11 and Terrance Williams chipped in 10.
For Michigan (14-10, 8-5 Big Ten), it's the first three-game winning streak since it won three games in a row to open the season. Ten days ago, U-M was one game above .500 overall, 5-5 in the league and had no Quad I wins.
Now, it's just 2.5 games out of first place in the conference, has two Quad I and as much momentum as any point all year heading into its next game, on Saturday vs. No. 24 Indiana at 1 p.m. on CBS.
Keisei Tominaga had a game-high 24 points for Nebraska (11-14, 4-10) and Derrick Walker had 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Michigan's hot shooting carries the day
The tone was set when McDaniel hit a long 2-pointer as the shot clock ran low on the opening possession. Jett Howard would take the next three shots, all 3-pointers, and make one of them before the team truly got cooking.
Michigan would make 13 of its next 16 shots to open the game an impressive 15-for-20 from the floor on the night.
It started when Terrance Williams and Howard hit consecutive 3-pointers. After Bufkin missed on a long ball, Williams hit a mid-range jumper to put Michigan ahead by one before an up-and-under layup made it 15-12 U-M.
Bufkin and Tarris Reed Jr. sandwiched layups around a 3-pointer by Baker, before another Bufkin layup was Michigan's sixth consecutive made bucket and eighth in nine attempts to make it 25-12.
Jace Howard joined the party with a corner 3-pointer just moments after he first checked in before Reed missed a layup with 9:43 in the half − the Wolverines' first miss on 2-pointer all night long. After McDaniel hit a deep 3-pointer, Baker went on his run.
He hit a mid-range jumper before consecutive 3-pointers, one from each corner, ended U-M's 30-5 run.
Nebraska was just 2-for-8 from the floor with five turnovers during the stretch.
Nebraska refuses to go away
Despite what seemed like a haymaker from the Wolverines, Nebraska didn't fold thanks to Keisei Tominaga and Derrick Walker.
Walker hit a layup and Tominaga hit a 3-pointer while Jamarques Lawrence hit three free throws to score eight straight for the Cornhuskers. Tominaga and Walker each hit another layup while Sam Hoiberg hit a layup and a 3-pointer as the Huskers closed the half on a 17-5 push.
Walker made a layup on the first play out of the break, then had another dunk and split a pair of free throws to get Nebraska inside of 10 points, 48-39, with 18:01 to play.
Michigan's top two scorers, Dickinson and Howard, answered the call. The duo scored 16 of 18 points to open the second half for U-M to go ahead 64-45 with 12:52 to play before a McDaniel jumper and two Reed free throws made it 68-47 with a 20-8 run.
Nebraska had one last push. Sam Griesel scored seven straight before C.J. Wilcher added consecutive buckets to get within 10. It would never get closer than that after a Dickinson And-1 finish.
The two sides would exchange the next eight baskets, four a piece, before Michigan put together a 15-5 run down the stretch to close the game.
The Wolverines finished the game shooting 57.6% from the floor (34-for-59) and 53.8% on 3-pointers (14-for-26). Michigan also dominated on the glass with a 35-23 edge as it allowed just five offensive rebounds on the night.
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball hammers Nebraska, 93-72, for third straight win
