Michigan basketball’s win against Michigan State by the numbers

Tuesday, the Wolverines took care of business at home when they beat Michigan State 87-70 at the Crisler Center. Though this much-needed Michigan basketball win was led by sophomore center Hunter Dickinson, plenty of Wolverines showed up to have one of their better games of the season.

Here is a look at Michigan basketball‘s dominant win over the Spartans by the numbers.

87

The Wolverines’ scored 87 points against Michigan State which is their second largest number of points scored in conference play, only behind the 102 points they scored in their first Big Ten matchup against Nebraska. Prior to this matchup, Michigan Basketball averaged 72.7 points a game.

58.3

Michigan shot 58.3 percent from three, despite only four Wolverines making at least one shot from beyond the arc. They also shot 58.2 percent from the field — both of these percentages being larger than the 57.9 percent that the Spartans shot from the line.

33

Hunter Dickinson had a career high 33 points against Michigan State, the first time that he has ever eclipsed the 30 point mark. Dickinson shot 68.4 percent from the line and also led the Wolverines in rebounds with nine. Additionally, he had all of Michigan’s four blocks against the Spartans.

22

The Wolverines led by as many as 22 points against their in-state rival, a lead that could not even be cut in half by Michigan State. Even when the Spartans began to answer many of Michigan’s second-half shots, they were unable to get an actual run going, only being able to get within 12 points after the 22-point lead.

16

Caleb Houstan scored 16 points against Michigan State, his third straight game in double digits after not scoring above six points in the three games before this. Houstan is finally starting to look like a go-to guy for the Wolverines after having a shaky middle of the season.

14

Freshman guard Frankie Collins played 14 minutes against the Spartans, replacing DeVante’ Jones who went out early in the first half with two fouls. Though he did not contribute any points to Michigan Basketball’s win, he was very present in other areas. Collins led the team with four assists and two steals. Additionally, he picked up three rebounds for the Wolverines.

12

Michigan State’s leading scorer was senior forward Gabe Brown who only had 12 points. Junior guard Tyson Walker was the only other Spartan in double digits with 11 points. Though it is common for many Michigan State players to split the teams’ total points, usually at least one player has a breakout game, which was not the case against Michigan.

9

Graduate guard DeVante’ Jones scored only nine points against the Spartans, however, he went perfect from three and shot 80 percent from the field. Additionally, he picked up four rebounds against Michigan State and tied Dickinson for the largest number of assists with three. Jones’ presence was definitely felt by his teammates, specifically in the second half where he played most of his minutes.

5

Michigan had five dunks against the Spartans — four from Dickinson and one from freshman forward Moussa Diabate. Michigan State on the other hand was only able to come away with two dunks — one in each half.  These five dunks by the Wolverines exceeded the four blocked shots that the Spartans were able to pick up.

3

Sophomore forward Terrance Williams II made a season high three three-pointers against Michigan State. Williams also was in the game for 22 minutes — his largest amount of gameplay since his his start against Illinois earlier this season. Williams only made 12 of his 37 previous attempted 3-point shots this season.

2

Michigan State’s largest lead of the game was by two points and their final lead was with 16:33 left in the first half. The Spartans simply could not knock shots down against the Michigan defense, and when they did, were unable to stop the Wolverines’ offense from answering.

Author’s Take

Michigan Basketball looked like a completely different team Tuesday against Michigan State than they did in their previous matchup with the Spartans. With players like Houstan and Diabate consistently stepping up, the teams’ positive sloping gameplay is starting to appear more universal and not completely determined by how Dickinson is playing.

If they can keep this new found momentum going in their final two regular season games and during the Big Ten tournament, there will be no doubt that the Wolverines will be NCAA tournament bound.