Five takeaways: Michigan basketball routs St. John’s in Gavitt Games
Now 2-0 on the season, Michigan basketball has surprised many by looking much better than the preseason expectations. However, on Monday evening, the early tests against 2022-23 tournament team UNC-Asheville and Youngstown State gave way to a tougher one against a Rick Pitino-coached St. John’s team in the Gavitt Games.
It didn’t take long for the Wolverines to realize they were in a fight.
The game was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams surging and ebbing. Just before the half, Michigan surged, taking what was a meager advantage into a 10-point halftime lead. But what would the second half hold?
The Wolverines stayed aggressive in the second half, pushing the lead to as much 18 in the first eight minutes. Then the tout was on thanks to a 22-5 run.
That would be too much for Pitino’s Red Storm, as Michigan beat St. John’s, 89-73. Here are our five takeaways from the game.
Another transfer comes up big
Two words: Nimari. Burnett.
The former Texas Tech and Alabama guard didn’t take long to put his stamp on the game. Though the Wolverines were going tit-for-tat with St. John’s, it was Burnett who answered with frequency against the Red Storm. Whether it was in the lane or from beyond the arc, it was as if Burnett couldn’t miss.
Before even the under-eight media timeout in the first half, Burnett had 15 points — by far the leading scorer for the maize and blue. He was quieter in the second half, but finished with 21.
Nkamhoua was quiet in terms of the scoreboard thanks to foul trouble, but he was active when it came to dishing out assists when he was on the court. Tray Jackson provided a good spark off the bench.
Return of poor perimeter defense
St. John’s showed a lot of patience in the game and moved the ball well. But it didn’t always take ball movement for the Red Storm to get good open looks from 3. It wasn’t that St. John’s was draining everything from beyond the arc, but it got a plethora of of looks from deep, with the maize and blue seemingly uninterested in covering the 3-point line for long stretches of the game.
The second half was a better effort in that regard, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
Offensive rebounds kept St. John’s alive
The biggest factor for Michigan basketball was the inability to stop the Red Storm from second-chance opportunities. St. John’s had a lot of sequences where it crashed the boards on the offensive side of the court, which allowed for it to stay in the game.
The home team wasn’t shooting the ball particularly well, but hitting the offensive glass gave them an edge in this one in the early going. Michigan clamped down as the game wore on, but the Red Storm still had the edge on that front (27-14) once the contest was in the books.
This team has shooters
The knock on last year’s team was (and maybe even the year before) was that the Wolverines didn’t have a squad that could rely on any one person to hit the big shot. However, this team feels different. It can hit shots.
In this game, it was obviously Burnett who set the tone, hitting just about everything, but Dug McDaniel also came up big in this one, taking over in the second half, and leading all scorers with 26 points.
McDaniel wasn’t necessarily hitting traditional shots as much as he was slashing and cutting to the basket, showing himself to be the fastest point guard Michigan basketball has had in eons.
Either way, the Wolverines are in good hands and have multiple options they can rely upon.
Defense is still hit or miss, but improved
Last year, the Wolverines were a defensive liability. While there are still moments where that holds true through three games, it’s moments — not whole games.
This group is much improved in that regard, but as we mentioned earlier, there were too many open looks from deep, and too many random breakdowns. When set and aggressive defending the perimeter, this team is difficult to be scored upon. But about a third of the time, Michigan appears disinterested in doing what it does the other two-thirds of the game.
Should Michigan find a way to be consistent throughout a whole game on the defensive side of the court, this could be a team that makes some real noise this year.
