Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from a concluding loss to Rutgers

Rutgers officially eliminated Michigan basketball from the Big Ten tournament with a strong defensive second-half performance.

The Wolverines were in control mode in the first half by leading for most of the period. Hunter Dickinson had 13 of the 28 and they were up by three at the break. Rutgers came out hyped for the opening minutes of round two and gained their first lead of the day. They extended it to double digits as Michigan basketball went cold after intermission.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. Nobody did anything besides Hunter Dickinson

24 points from Dickinson and 26 from the rest of the team is absolutely hideous. Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin were 5-16 combined. Howard’s only points came from two made 3-pointers. When they were needed the most the two of them went silent and headed home early from the Big Ten tournament for the second straight year.

The two other starters were 0-5 with two points. Credit does go to the Rutgers defense for holding Michigan basketball to such a poor showing and shutting them down in the second 20 minutes. They let Dickinson have his way in the first, but not in the second. They came out with more urgency than Michigan did and it was obvious.

For Juwan Howard’s sake that is not the way, you want your team to respond especially when the critics are chirping about your job status in the first place. Howard, Bufkin, and Dickinson will have decisions to make, even though none of them should be ready to move on yet, and the outcome will decide if they have an experienced team returning or if they’re in for another rebuilding year in 2023-24.