Hunter Dickinson breaks down matchup against Micah Shrewsberry, Penn State
As Michigan prepares to square off with Penn State on Wednesday, Wolverines star center Hunter Dickinson previewed the matchup. Starting with speaking about Nittany Lions second-year head coach Micha Shrewsberry, who Dickinson has nothing but respect for.
“I’ve talked about this on my podcast, I’m a really big fan of coach Shrewsberry, like I think he’s one of the best offensive minds in the country. I’ve got nothing but great things to say about him, I’m a big fan of him,” Dickinson said.
Dickinson may be a fan of Shrewsberry’s offensive scheme, but not so much on the defensive end of the floor, due to coach Shrewsberry’s strategy of defending him.
“I will say he didn’t have me as a Curry closeout, so their scouting report they have levels, I think it’s like a Rondo close out, somebody who can’t shoot, and then another type of closeout, and then a Curry closeout is like a shooter,”Dickinson explained. “And I was kind of heartbroken to realize that I’m not a Curry, I wasn’t Rondo either so it wasn’t disrespectful, but I wasn’t a Curry.”
Dickinson searched for answers and found them, sharing a moment he had with Shrewsberry which explained why the Wolverines don’t see him as much of a shooting threat.
“So during the the Big Ten media day I asked him, I was like coach what’s it going to take for me by the time we play you to be a Curry closeout, I think it’s like you’ve got to shoot like 40% on two attempts and I’m not there yet so I probably won’t be,” Dickinson said.
Dickinson may not quite have the shooting prowess of a Stephen Curry, but he makes up for it in other parts of his game, as the 7-footer leads the Wolverines in scoring, rebounding, and in blocks per game. He’s fresh off of his most dominant performance of the season, scoring a season-high 34 points against Maryland and being named Big Ten of the week for the second time this season.
Dickinson is a stat sheet stuffer, but the Nittany Lions have one of their own in guard Jalen Pickett, who leads the team in points, assists, rebounds, and steals.
“But Penn State’s a really good team, they’ve got Pickett, the head of the snake who is obviously a great player. He’s averaging damn near a triple-double and that’s super impressive in itself, but I think they’ve got a really good just old team, they’re starting senior, senior, senior, grad senior, and then a freshman but then they’re bringing in a grad senior off the bench as a sixth man,” Dickinson said.
Penn State is on a five-game winning streak and will be looking to keep it going in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, as the Wolverines seek to remain undefeated in conference play.
“So they’re a really experienced older team that’s gonna really test our habits and test our willingness to be bought into the game plan in detail, so I think it’ll be a great challenge for us and it’s gonna be a big test for us because if we go into this game and win we’re 3-0, we’re first in the Big Ten, we’ve got a lot of momentum going in a big weekend for us so this is a really important game coming up against a really good team,” Dickinson said.
This matchup has no shortage of great coaches and star power and will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday and air on Big Ten Network.