Michigan Basketball: Grading Wolverines ugly loss to Michigan State
Handing out grades for Michigan basketball’s lackluster showing against Michigan State on Saturday.
Just when you thought that Michigan basketball had turned a corner, the Wolverines went out and played as poorly as they have all season against Michigan State.
While the first half was competitive, the Spartans beat down the Wolverines in the second half, and with about 10 minutes to go, the competitive portion of the game was all but over.
Michigan struggled on both ends of the floor. The Wolverines only made three 3-point attempts in the game and outside of Hunter Dickinson, couldn’t do much offensively.
The defense was bad too. Michigan basketball gave up 28 points in transition and despite dominating on the boards, managed just 10 second-chance points.
Michigan allowed MSU to make 9-of-18 attempts from beyond the arc and the Spartans scored 1.13 points per possession while Michigan scored just 0.91.
All in all, it wasn’t pretty and leaves Michigan squarely on the bubble with 12 Big Ten games left (assuming the other MSU game is rescheduled), and here are the grades.
Bigs
Hunter Dickinson: B
Dickinson was good in this game, not great. He scored 25 points but he was 8-of-19 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. He was Michigan’s only offense but he didn’t do so much damage that Michigan State couldn’t guard him one-on-one. While he scored points, he was inefficient and he wasn’t good enough to force double teams which leads to open 3-pointers.
Moussa Diabate: B
Along with Dickinson, Diabate was Michigan’s most effective player. He scored 11 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and blocked three shots. Like Dickinson, he was especially effective on the offensive glass but couldn’t convert on second-chance opportunities. It was a solid effort all around and he continues to improve but is a work in progress on offense.
Brandon Johns: F
In his first minute or so on the floor, Johns had an easy layup but let a catchable pass go through his hands and out of bounds. He followed that up with an airball on a contested 3-pointer he should not have attempted and in nine minutes, he scored zero points and grabbed three boards. He’s just not bringing anything of value to the floor when he plays right now.