Michigan Basketball: Grading Wolverines ugly loss to Illinois

Michigan basketball took a beating at the hands of Illinois on Tuesday night and here’s the report card, which isn’t going to be pretty. 

Just like the game itself, the box score between Michigan basketball and Illinois is ugly. At least for the Wolverines.

Michigan basketball attempted seven 3-pointers. The Wolverines shot 34 percent from the field overall, 35 percent on 2-point attempts and 28 percent from deep. U-M was also out-rebounded 40-24, as well as 11 to three on the offensive glass.

With the chance to clinch the Big Ten title, Michigan basketball laid an egg. It looked ready for its post-game celebration, while Illinois was there to prove a point.

The difference was stark, the difference in execution was even more stunning. Here are the grades.

Austin Davis: C

Davis scored nine points and was 4-for-4 from the field but he also had four turnovers and his 39 percent usage rate was way too high. That’s not his fault. For some reason, Michigan continued to try and play through the post, possession after possession. The offense was stagnant and in 13 minutes, Davis grabbed just three boards and wasn’t very effective, besides his offense, in the second half.

Hunter Dickinson: D

It was a rough night for Michigan’s freshman phenom. Kofi Cockburn held him to 1-for-8 shooting. He also got into foul trouble, so when Cockburn went out due to foul issues of his own, Dickinson wasn’t in the game to take advantage and Michigan got blown out. Defensively, Hunter forced two steals. He also grabbed five rebounds and you could see his presence missed on the boards when he was on the bench, even though that doesn’t excuse the rebounding issues.

Brandon Johns: C

I would have liked to see more of Johns in this game. He scored four points in six minutes but more than that, his shooting presence at the five could have changed the matchups a little. Illinois took away Michigan’s dominant post-up game. Without those double teams or Dickinson taking advantage of one-on-one’s inside, it was hard for Michigan to create open shots. Johns maybe could have opened some things up with his ability to shoot. At the very least, he could have used some minutes when Davis had to play some extended segments. It feels like his talent is wasted.