Michigan center Hunter Dickinson: Every game a 'must win' now
Michigan Wolverines basketball is 10-8 on the season and 4-4 in Big Ten play, after falling to Michigan State Saturday afternoon, 83-67.
The Maize and Blue have a home date with Nebraska Tuesday evening, which is one of only three remaining games that aren’t against a team that currently ranks top 30 on Kenpom. Michigan still has a 64.4-percent chance to make the NCAA Tournament, but a bid won’t come without stringing together plenty of wins down the stretch in February and March — and the Wolverines know it.
“Just prepare for the next game,” sophomore center Hunter Dickinson said when asked what the team’s mindset should be moving forward. “Coach said every game from here on our is, more or less, a must win for us. There’s very little gray area for us to have these hiccups that we’ve had.”
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And, Dickinson added, winning games at a better clip won’t come without improvement. The Wolverines are young, with six freshmen, and are focused on growth — even though there’s frustration about not living up to expectations to this point.
“Obviously, we’re where we want to be right now. Whatever our record is, it’s not where we expected it to be at this point of the season,” Dickinson said. “There’s not much else you can do but continue to come in each and every day, continue to grind and just try to get one percent better by yourself and as a team. I think that’s the mindset we’re going to have to go with every day in practice.”
The Wolverines were ranked No. 4 in the country in the preseason and were picked as the favorite to win the Big Ten. At this point, though, it appears unlikely that Michigan could compete for a second-straight title. Dickinson was asked how it feels being in the spot they’re in after all the hype coming into the year.
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“We have a young team with high expectations,” Dickinson said. “Sometimes, you have to temper your expectations for the beginning of the season. Especially with Division-I high major college basketball — it’s hard, it’s not easy. There is a reason why not everyone can succeed in it. Some of the guys are finding it’s a lot harder than they thought.
“As a team, we need to continue to buy into what [head] Coach [Juwan] Howard and the rest of the coaching staff is saying into teaching us. Just continue to play together and play for 40 minutes.”
As for the Michigan State game, Dickinson said he enjoyed playing in front of the crowd at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center, and that he’s confident the Wolverines will get another shot at the Spartans, with the previously postponed matchup having not yet been rescheduled.
For now, Michigan’s focus is on Nebraska, the Wolverines’ Tuesday night opponent. Dickinson revealed that the team will hold Sunday and Monday practice, getting right back to work.
