Fab Five: Takeaways from Michigan's win over Buffalo

Michigan basketball beat Buffalo, 88-76, Wednesday night at Crisler Center to open the 2021-22 regular season.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

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1. Buffalo Is A Formidable Opponent … NCAA Tournament Team?

It was a game of runs, exciting, entertaining … we’ll just call it ‘fun,’ especially with fans back at Crisler Center for the first time since the Wolverines took on Nebraska in March 2020.

Buffalo is no slouch, and that’s a huge understatement. The media picked the Bulls, a veteran squad that returned the fifth-most production in the country, according to Kenpom, to win the MAC for a reason.

We’ll talk more about what they did well when we break down a few things that went wrong for Michigan, but for now we’ll quickly focus on Buffalo.

Buffalo senior wing Jeenathan Williams caused all sorts of problems for Michigan, scoring 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting and adding eight rebounds and one assist. The 6-5, 205-pounder scored from inside and out, hitting big shots at both the end of the first half and beginning of the second stanza, when the Bulls cut the deficit to six and made it a game.

Senior guard Ronaldo Segu added 15 points, and senior forward Josh Mballa contributed 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, including three on the defensive glass.

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard said yielding 12 offensive rebounds was too high of a number, and he’s right — the Bulls, one of the nation’s top offensive rebounding teams from a year ago, grabbed 30 percent of their misses. Still, while Michigan could’ve been better, a tip of the cap to Buffalo is necessary.

It’s a tough squad that we’ll be keeping our eye on the entire season, and one that we wouldn’t be surprised to see still playing a couple weeks into March.

2. Defensive Lapses Were Frequent In The Middle Of The Game

Michigan fifth-year senior point guard DeVante’ Jones, who committed 3.1 fouls per 40 minutes at Coastal Carolina last season, picked up two quick fouls, forcing him to miss the final 13 minutes of the first half.

While Michigan hung in there for a while, amassing a 21-point lead, the Wolverines eventually began to struggle defensively, specifically guarding Williams and others on the perimeter. The Bulls got down hill and into the paint, collapsed the defense and hit open jumpers after kick-out passes or scored at the bucket with a cut.

In the last five minutes of the first half, Buffalo hit six of its last eight shots, all jumpers, and that fueled a 40-24 run that lasted from the end of the first half until there was 7:13 to play in the game.

That stretch helped the Bulls score 1.04 points per possession for the contest, including a total of 10 points on the team’s 10 pick-and-roll plays per Synergy.

Michigan shored a lot of that up in the second half, though Jones, who fouled out, continued to commit some bad fouls. It’s not a mistake that he wound up leading the team with a plus-14 rating. Jones’ presence is big, but he has to stay on the floor.

3. Hunter Dickinson Is Still The Best Player, And Go-To Scorer, On This Team

Freshman wing Caleb Houstan had a great start to his career, scoring eight points in the first five and a half minutes of action and finishing with 11, after nailing a clutch three late. Freshman forward Moussa Diabate made a splash with his athleticism on two dunks and some hustle plays early, before cooling off a bit.

But when Michigan needed somebody to step up — and it did — the Wolverines turned to sophomore center Hunter Dickinson, a 2021 second-team All-American, who looked still dominant but improved nonetheless in his season debut.

Fifteen of his 27 points came in the second half, many when Michigan needed a bucket to halt a run. Buffalo double-teamed him on just two of his 10 post-ups, which gave him room to work on the inside. He did it all, scoring nine of his points on post-ups, six as a pick-and-roll man, six on cuts and four on put-backs (two were credited to the ‘miscellaneous’ category on Synergy).

We didn’t see a ton of the improved right hand or perimeter shooting we heard so much about in the lead up to the season, but we didn’t have to. Dickinson did what he does, and it was more than enough.

4. Terrance Williams II Does ‘The Little Things,’ But Also Made Some Big Plays

Last season, when we’d talk about Michigan sophomore forward Terrance Williams II, we’d discuss his post-entry passes, rebounding and hustle plays.

That hasn’t changed. He did all of those things in this one, with his seven rebounds leading the team. In a ‘chippy’ game, Williams didn’t shy away from being the Wolverines’ enforcer and talking smack right back to the Bulls, getting in their face.

What did change, though, is a testament to the work Williams put in during the offseason. He lost 10 pounds, took a thousand jump shots per day and ‘bought in’ to the culture even more. His work paid off Wednesday, when he nailed two three-pointers on three attempts from deep and scored a career-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting overall. His shot to extend the Wolverines’ lead to eight points at 5:18 to go was a key moment before the team pulled away.

He’s not going to start games — at least for now — and he might not even finish most of them. But when he’s on the floor, he’ll still do the little things. Now, though, he has much more in his arsenal and can be an X-factor going forward.

5. Not Many Three-Point Options

Michigan lost four of its top five three-point shooters, in terms of attempts and percentage, from last season. And the Wolverines aren’t necessarily ‘plug and play’ when it comes to perimeter shooting.

Fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks is a plus shooter, and so is Houstan, but that’s about it. Others can make shots, but it’s not their calling card. That’s an adjustment for Howard and Co. in what they’ll ask their players to do. Michigan shot more than 19 threes per game last season and attempted just 15 against Buffalo. We’re willing to bet that, by the end of the season, that average is closer to 15 than it is 19.

The Wolverines were an efficient 6 for 15 from deep (40 percent). But what if one of those triple tries didn’t go? They’re at 33 percent, a much more disappointing number.

It’s something to watch, for sure, but so are the Wolverines’ numbers in the paint. Michigan scored 42 of its 88 points in the lane, and made 11 of its 12 layups. Building its offense around Dickinson, Michigan will be able to score on the inside but also create space for open looks on the perimeter for Houstan and others. One game isn’t nearly enough of a sample size, and we’re not worried yet.