Michigan basketball without Hunter Dickinson, Brandon Johns at Illinois
Michigan already faced an uphill battle playing at Illinois Friday night. It’s gotten even harder for head coach Juwan Howard’s team with the announcement that Hunter Dickinson and Brandon Johns will miss the contest.
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Both Dickinson and Johns traveled with the Michigan team but won’t dress tonight.
“The Wolverines will not have Hunter Dickinson and Brandon Johns Jr. for tonight’s game at Illinois due to medical reasons,” team spokesman Tom Wywrot confirmed.
Dickinson, a second-team All-American last season, is Michigan basketball’s leading scorer. He’s averaging 16.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per contest, along with 1.9 assists and 1.0 blocked shots.
Johns Jr. missed a Jan. 4 loss at Rutgers after being sidelined due to COVID protocol. He’s averaging 5.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He’d lost his starting job to freshman Moussa Diabate but was a key component off the Michigan bench.
Howard said this week team health was improved, but he added nothing was certain.
“We’ve had some improvement health-wise with some of our staff members,” the Michigan coach said. “We’ve had one guy from the staff return; another guy still out. We also have a couple players that have returned to practice, which was good to see. We’ve also had some guys come out of quarantine. It was good to see some beautiful faces, some smiles on some guys’ faces.”
Michigan coaches were expected to know Friday if anyone would be out. As of Thursday, though, they had enough to make the trip.
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Michigan had the last two games, home against Michigan State and Purdue postponed, due to COVID protocol.
“You never know how it can change tomorrow … just never know,” Michigan coach Howard said. “You put your head down, lay on the pillow and before you lay on the pillow, say a nice, beautiful prayer for everyone — which I love doing, and I feel it’s the right thing out of my heart to do. And then you wake up in the morning, you get the text from the trainer or call from a trainer as far as what we have available and who’s ready to go.”
Michigan was a 9.5-point underdog heading in even before the absences were announced. They’ll face an uphill battle to hang with the 12-3 and No. 25 Illini.
Terrance Williams, who also missed the Michigan game at Rutgers, will start at forward. Diabate moves to center for the game.
