Hunter Dickinson grades performance in season-opening win over Buffalo

Michigan basketball hung a banner for its 2020-21 Big Ten Championship on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor. After that, it was all business in an 88-76 win over the Buffalo Bills, one of the favorites in the Mid-American Conference.

Sophomore center and All-Big Ten performer Hunter Dickinson led the way for Michigan with 27 points and six rebounds. The Wolverines were up 46-25 at one point, but Buffalo trimmed the lead to five with six minutes to play.

Dickinson’s strong effort helped Michigan pull away.

SITE MOVE SPECIAL: Join TheWolverine.com for $1 for your first year!

RELATED: Wolverine TV: Juwan Howard, Michigan players break down win over Buffalo

“You don’t want to lose the lead and make it close,” he said after the game. “(Juwan Howard) probably got a couple more gray hairs from that. It was a good test for us and a good showing of resilience because we are a younger team. I feel like things like that will help us down the stretch in terms of the tournament and later in the Big Ten season. A game like this will help us prepare for the adversity to come.”

Buffalo never went away and put pressure on Michigan throughout much of the second half. Dickinson saw a team on Wednesday he believes prepares them for March challenges and chippy battles down the road.

“They’re a good team,” he said. “Good teams are going to make runs. They are a very underrated Division I team. They’re going to make some noise in March. For us, coach was saying it’s a game of runs and we’re going to make our run. We did. Fortunately for us, trying to minimize their runs as much as we can and maximize ours.

“It was a fun, hard-fought game. They’re not our friends out there. We’re not their friends. It can happen. It makes the game fun. After the game, we all dapped up and there was mutual respect. Nobody was trying to fight each other. It was mutual respect.”

Despite the effort, there is a lot for Michigan to improve on. There will be an emphasis at improving on the free-throw line after an 18-for-30 (60%) performance.

“I don’t think we played a perfect game,” Dickinson said. “It would probably be the biggest area I think we can improve on, especially for myself. That’s something we’re going to work on.

“It’s game one, so we’re not too worried about it. That’s the one thing we can definitely improve on and something that I’m going to work on tomorrow. We have a team of workers and guys that love getting better, so that’s something we’ll improve.”

Michigan basketball gets breakout from Terrance Williams

Sophomore Terrance Williams scored a career-high 14 points on Wednesday night. He was also on the floor in closing time for Michigan. Dickinson knew his teammate had this in him.

“Last year, he was a really good defender but offensively… I wouldn’t say shy, but less aggressive,” Dickinson said. “He knows he needs to be more aggressive for us because we don’t have the scoring from Isaiah (Livers) and Franz (Wagner). For us, we’re excited he’s being aggressive because he’s such a smart and savvy player. He’s a guy you love playing with and he makes his teammates better. This year he’s going to have a good role on the team and the rotation.”

Dickinson and Williams have played a lot of basketball together at different levels as DMV natives. What we saw on Wednesday was a player Dickinson is plenty familiar with.

“He’s a good player,” he said. “That’s what he does. He’s a clutch player. You know what you’re going to get from him and you’re not going to get too many mistakes out there. He’s a high IQ guy. He’s somebody that coach relies on in the clutch and can depend on. That’s something I’ve seen from him since we were eight years old.”

Moussa Diabate, Caleb Houstan shine in debut

Nobody forgot that the Wolverines have a pair of former five-star recruits on the roster.

Michigan has a moldable ball of clay in gifted freshman big man Moussa Diabate. The full sampling of what he brings was on display on Wednesday night. Diabate finished with seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 16 minutes.

Dickinson got to play alongside him for the first of many times this season.

“He’s just so active out there,” he said. “Really great defender and offensively he’s so gifted. He’s a mismatch problem for a lot of teams and he’s able to guard one through five. He’s a special piece for us that as the season goes on is going to keep getting better. I can’t wait to see him at the end of the season for how good he is.

“He’s such a freak of nature athletically. He’s got so much potential. I don’t think he knows how much potential he has. We’re trying to show what he can do and how good he can be. The sky is the limit for him and he’s going to keep getting better as the season progresses.”

Caleb Houstan got the start on the wing for Michigan and showed the type of skillset he brings, as well. He had 11 points, six rebounds, and two assists in 27 minutes. Dickinson and Diabate will help open things up for the savvy three-level scorer.

“It’s easy for him because he’s just a couple of shots away from heating up,” Dickinson said. “He’s a great shooter. The way our offensive is designed, the pressure we put on those low guys, he’s going to have open shots. He’s going to knock them down for us. He’s going to have a great opportunity this year to score a lot and turn him into a good two-way player. It’s going to take time, but right now he’s a good offensive player and helps us out a lot.”