Hunter Dickinson embraced court storm following signature victory over Purdue
Michigan basketball needed a signature victory in the worst way and found one on Thursday night in a 82-58 blowout win over No. 3 Purdue. The victory breathed new life into the stretch run of the season, a feeling that carried over into the postgame celebration.
When the clocks hit zero at Crisler Center, fans emptied their seats and made their way to the floor to celebrate with the team. The merits of whether Michigan is a court storm-worthy program can be debated, but is was every bit the relief to the players as it was to the fans.
“We were thinking about it before the game if they were going to storm the court,” sophomore center Hunter Dickinson said. “I had mixed feelings about it before the game because if you storm the court, it means you aren’t expected to win. We felt like we had a really good shot out there to win the game. Felt like a couple of adjustments on defense that we didn’t do in the first game led to them getting away from us. Coming into this game, we all felt really confident in ourselves and in the game plan.
“But shoot, if they are going to storm the court I may as well in get in there too.”
The victory over the Boilermakers was one of the few times to that point in the season where the Wolverines have looked like the preseason top-five team they were expected to be. Those expectations were lofty in hindsight, but the win provided a look at what could be for both now and the future.
“There’s that built-in excuse that we are super young compared to last year,” Dickinson said. That’s the honest truth is that some guys took a little more accustomed to college basketball. It is not easy. There is a lot of highly-touted freshman that cannot make that transition right away. For us, it was always a matter of time until those pieces start clicking. So you saw a total team effort of everyone stepping up and playing to their ability.”
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Michigan’s revenge against the Boilermakers
The showdown with Purdue came just five days after an 82-76 loss in West Lafayette on Feb. 5. The game in Ann Arbor was originally scheduled for Jan. 11, but postponed due to COVID-19 within the Michigan program. The rescheduled date provided an opportunity for quick revenge.
“It didn’t matter if we were playing them a day after or two weeks after. We really were looking forward to playing them. We felt like it slipped away from us in that we had them but there were some possessions on defense we couldn’t capitalize on and get stops when we needed. Today, I felt like we got stops the entire game. For us, we just played a full 40 minutes of Michigan basketball. There were no lapses out there for more than a minute or two. It was a matter of playing a full game and everyone stepping up.”
Dickinson hopes a win like that can spark this group during the stretch run.
“We’re running out of games [to turn this around]. This was a big win for us and one we really needed. Hopefully we can use this momentum to carry on to the last remaining games of the season and into the Big Ten Tournament.
The next chance for a win comes Saturday evening at Crisler Center when Ohio State comes to town. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on ESPN.
