Michigan Basketball: Grading Wolverines against Minnesota
By Max S.
Michigan basketball continues to roll with yet another win over a ranked opponent. The Wolverines steamrolled Minnesota and here are the grades.
Michigan basketball fans, how fun was that game to watch? For the third consecutive game, I am confident saying that Michigan played its best game of the season in an 82-57 win.
Behind a career-high 28 points from freshman Hunter Dickinson, Michigan dominated the Golden Gophers in the second half to pull away and win handedly. Here is how each player graded out in the win.
Guards
Mike Smith: B
Mike Smith had a very nice night for Michigan. The offense ran smooth when he was out there and he really held his own on the defensive end of the floor. Smith finished with seven points and six rebounds and the only thing keeping him from getting an “A” was his six turnovers.
Michigan basketball continues to be a better team when he is running point guard compared to when Brooks is asked to run the show. Smith also has improved on the defensive side game by game and seems to have bought in.
Eli Brooks: A-
To the casual fan, Eli Brooks probably seemed like he had a quiet night for Michigan basketball. After all, he only finished with two points, two rebounds, three assists, and one missing tooth. So why did he get an A- from me tonight? It was because of his stellar work on defense.
Brooks held Marcus Carr to 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Carr is one of the most explosive guards in the country so that was a heck of a performance by Brooks on defense.
Chaundee Brown: B
What more can you ask out of a 6th man? Chaundee Brown comes in every game and provides instant energy and lock down defense to the Wolverines. In 21 minutes tonight, Brown was pretty quiet.
He finished with only five points on 2-of-6 shooting but similar to Brooks, his grade is based off of his defensive performance. He was also tasked with defending Carr and he held his own.
Chaundee Brown is cementing himself as one of the best 6th men in the Big Ten and will continue to be an important piece to this Michigan basketball team.
Zeb Jackson: B-
It was nice to see Zeb Jackson get some meaningful minutes tonight. When Brooks was forced to leave the game after losing his tooth, Jackson got the opportunity to play eight second half minutes.
He hit a beautiful step back jumper which was nice to see. Jackson still looks like he’s a step slow on defense but he is still only a true freshman. Zeb finished with two points and two rebounds but overall looked comfortable. I hope we get to see him play more minutes as the season goes on.