Michigan Basketball: Grading Wolverines against Northwestern
Bigs
Hunter Dickinson: A
Dickinson makes things look so easy and even though our Wolverine Corner wrote about how he doesn’t think he will be a one-and-done, every dominant performance makes you worry. Still, we have a long ways to go this season for the best Michigan basketball freshman since Trey Burke.
Northwestern attacked Dickinson differently, knowing it couldn’t match up with him and used a zone defense to keep the ball out of his hands. It opened up some other open looks and after Michigan made a bunch of treys, Dickinson was able to get the ball inside. He scored 19 points in 27 minutes and was 8 of 12. He only grabbed three rebounds but his passing, even with just one assist was a big key and it’s what allows him to be dangerous even when he doesn’t score.
Brandon Johns: B
You can only judge guys based on what they did and in his nine minutes on the court, Johns was effective with five points and three rebounds. He hit a 3-point shot and he always seems to have a good night when that happens. The one negative were the three fouls as in a foul per three minutes. That needs to change but his plus/minus was fourth-best out of the top eight guys.
Williams is the kind of guy you love to have on your team and he’s going to be valuable for Howard these next four years. Against Northwestern, he played 13 minutes, was solid defensively and grabbed six rebounds. He actually had the second-best rebound rate on the team but only attempted one shot. Howard has already shown a willingness to play him in crunch time because of how he can rebound and defend and once he gets more confidence shooting the ball, he’s a got a high ceiling.