Instant Recap: Michigan Basketball Handles Wayne State, 87-54
DETROIT — Juwan Howard’s Michigan basketball team picked up where it left off last year Friday night. The Wolverines, coming off a Big Ten title, smothered Wayne State at WSU Fieldhouse, the first game in the school’s new arena, behind big men Hunter Dickinson and Moussa Diabate. Both scored 14 points in victory.
It was a solid start in a game in which head coach Juwan Howard went to his bench early and often. Senior Adrien Nunez, in fact, was first off the bench — that probably won’t be the case during the season — he hit a triple, but airballed a step-back in the first 10 minutes.
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Senior forward Brandon Johns scored four early points for the Wolverines to help lead U-M to an early 9-6 edge, but second chance points and triples kept the Warriors close for a while. Sophomore Terrance Williams gave Michigan a 20-14 lead midway through the first half, its biggest, after a triple; Dickinson’s finish with the right hand at 7:00 with a half-hook made it eight.
Wayne State was up one on the Wolverines on the glass at that point, 18-17, the most disappointing part of the first half for Howard’s team.
But U-M continued to work inside. Dickinson scored eight straight inside, and a transition layup by guard DeVante’ Jones made it 34-19 and forced a Warriors timeout at 4:31.
Dickinson kept scoring in the paint before a Brooks triple made it 43-19 at 1:50. A pair of transition buckets by freshman Houstan ignited the Wolverines’ transition offense in the last few minutes of the half.
Johns’ triple made it 49-19, and the stanza ended 48-21.
U-M’s length defensively made it tough on the Warriors, its work inside and in transition leading to 18-0 and 31-7 runs. Dickinson led the wolverines with 12 at the break.
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Michigan didn’t let up after the break. Transfer DeVante’ Jones, U-M’s starter at the point, hit his first triple, a free throw and a finish off a steal to open it up to 58-27 at 16:00.
U-M continued to score inside and out. Brooks hit his fourth triple in four attempts to push the lead to 71-34 at 9:35, followed by freshman Kobe Bufkin’s first three-pointer. Howard encouraged his team to push the tempo on every possession, and it continued to pay off — to a point. The Wolverines turned it over too often, up to 16 at the 4:34 mark, and finished with 17.
Frosh Diabate’s thunderous dunk in transition silenced a Wayne State mini-run, making it 80-48 down the stretch. He was also active on the glass with five rebounds.
Brooks notched 12 points and four assists, Jones 10 and seven for U-M, which will open its season next Wednesday against Buffalo at Crisler Center.
