Three takeaways: Michigan basketball vs. Pittsburgh
Michigan was one of four teams invited to the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Wolverines first test was the Pittsburgh Panthers.
It wasn’t much of a test though. Michigan was up, 38-32, at halftime but outscored Pittsburgh, 52-29, in the second half to win, 90-61. The Wolverines were able to get 12 players game action and 11 players scored
Michigan had four players in double figures on Wednesday night. Jett Howard led the team with 17 points, and Kobe Bufkin and Joey Baker both finished with 14. Hunter Dickinson completed the group, scoring 11 points. Freshman Dug McDaniel was big off the bench dishing out eight assists.
The Wolverines (3-0) will play again on Thursday against the winner of Arizona State and VCU.
Here are our three takeaways from the game.
Michigan dominated the paint
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Michigan made a living in the paint on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh.
The Wolverines finished the game with 38 points in the paint but what was the most impressive was the number of layups Michigan was able to get. The maize and blue finished with 22 layup attempts and the Wolverines were able to finish 17 of those for makes.
Hunter Dickinson had an off night by his standards, scoring 11 points and only shooting 5-for-11, but he was able to get his points early. The big man once again had a good left hand against the Panthers.
Michigan did a great job of cutting to the lane and maximizing its opportunities against a lowly Pittsburgh defense.
Great team effort
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During the first two games of the season, at times, Michigan would look like it was forcing the basketball. The Wolverines would take poor shots and force passes that just weren’t there.
But on Wednesday, Michigan looked like it was having fun and it looked as if this group had played with each other for an entire season — not only three games.
More on this later, but the Wolverines had a game plan in which Hunter Dickinson touched the ball on most possessions and the offense flowed within that. Dickinson could either get a good look in the paint, or he would dish it to an open Wolverine behind the arc.
Once Michigan had a good flow to its offense, we saw not only the starters playing smoothly, but the Wolverines’ bench had an excellent game and played within the offense.
Michigan finished with 21 assists and six turnovers while shooting an excellent 58% from the field. The maize and blue also had a stellar performance from their bench, which finished with 34 points.
The inside-out game opened up the 3
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It’s amazing what happens when you have a player such as Hunter Dickinson on the roster. Dickinson, a former All-American, draws attention; given his abilities in the paint, teams have to double him.
Michigan stuck with the plan to make sure the big man touches the ball when he is in. He started the game scoring down low. Once Pittsburgh doubled him, he started doing what he does well — passing the ball.
Dickinson not only finished with 11 points but also five assists. And most of those were on passes outside that were finished with 3.
The Wolverines struggled from 3 in the first half, shooting just 18% from outside. But the second half was a totally different story.
Michigan shot 77% from 3 in the second half to finish the game shooting 45% from outside. A lot of those shots came because of the fantastic post play from the Wolverines.
Joey Baker led the Wolverines shooting 4-for-5 from 3 and finished with 14 points. Jett Howard made two 3s of his own and had 17 points.
