Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from beat down of Maryland

The Michigan basketball team picked up its win since December by taking it to Maryland from the tipoff. Here are three takeaways from the Wolverines win. 

The Terps were no match for a desperate Michigan basketball club that went wire-to-wire in leading and eventually defeating Maryland.

The Wolverines shot almost 60% from the floor, while four of the five starters notched double-digits in the scoring column. Hunter Dickinson returned in a big way, but the emergence of Caleb Houstan playing as he did in this one is crucial moving onward.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. Michigan’s defensive effort is beginning to surge in dire times

For the second straight outing, Michigan has held its counterpart to under 70 points. It’s not much to get riled up about, but it’s one of the reasons that they are where they are midway through the schedule. In the eight wins, they are allowing 60 a game, while giving up 75 a contest in the seven losses.

Michigan basketball outrebounded Maryland by a dozen, including 23 of them coming on the defensive end. It gave way to 19 assists on the offensive side of the ball, six of which came by the hand of Hunter Dickinson. In the postgame press conference, DeVante’ Jones said “I feel like he’s the best big man passer in the country.”

Michigan notched five steals as well. The Wolverines had seven in the Illinois loss, so even though it is a small sample size, they are trending in the right direction on the defensive side of the court and that may be just what the doctor ordered in terms of seizing the momentum of the season. Add in five fewer turnovers than the Terrapins and Michigan is striking when the iron is hot.