ANN ARBOR, Michigan— The Thursday night matchup between the 3rd ranked Michigan Wolverines (17-1) and the 9th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (17-7) was a heavyweight, Big Ten matchup. Two of the nation’s top big men faced-off, as National Player of the Year frontrunner Luka Garza went against the talented freshman Hunter Dickinson. For Michigan, a win against Iowa would cement them in the national title conversation along with the nation’s top teams, Gonzaga and Baylor.
Dickinson and the Michigan defense won the battle against Garza; they held him to a season-low 16 points as Michigan took a double-digit victory, 79-57. For Garza, it was clear the defensive effort by the Michigan big men had him frustrated. He shot just 6-19 from the floor and corralled just 4 rebounds. Dickinson, along with Austin Davis and Brandon Johns, fought hard to keep the dominant big man from easy looks. Davis and Johns were key when Dickinson had to sit with foul trouble.
“All hands on deck man. I was prepared for if there was foul trouble with any of our bigs, what is the second option and third option. Kind of like reminds me of when you talk to Navy SEALS when they go out there for a mission; they prepare for the first option, they also prepare for the second, third, fourth and, fifth,” said head coach Juwan Howard after the game.
On offense, Michigan was led by sophomore Franz Wagner. His efficient play was a big part of the dominant second-half performance from the Wolverines. He scored a season-high 21 points and added 4 assists, both leading the team. Isaiah Livers was lights-out from three, drilling 4 three-pointers and scoring 16 points. As a whole, the team shot 47.1% from the three-point line.
Michigan pulls away after halftime
Both teams battled hard in the first half, leading to a 3 point Michigan lead at halftime. Neither team’s offense seemed to be in rhythm, and early foul trouble helped keep it that way. Both Garza and Dickinson picked up two fouls in the first half, forcing them to the bench.
However, Franz Wagner and Michigan dominated the second half. After falling behind by 1, they used a 14-2 run to open up an 11-point lead. Wagner had 11 of his 21 points in the second half, and his aggressiveness was key to the offense gaining control. His fellow forward Isaiah Livers praised him after the game for getting the offense going.
“That second half, man, Franz Wagner came out of nowhere. No one wanted to stop him. You know Franz’s competitive nature, if he sees any type of gap, he will drive it,” said Livers.
As the Michigan offense gained momentum, the defense stood firm. After Iowa answered the run with a few quick buckets, Michigan would hold them scoreless over the next 4 minutes and 11 seconds of game time. In that stretch, Michigan pulled away, opening up a 16-point lead that they would never surrender. Michigan shot 54% from the field in the second half while limiting Iowa to just 30%.
Hard practices help prepare Michigan for a physical game
Coach Juwan Howard and his team knew that playing Iowa would be a physically draining game. Keeping a player like Garza contained while limiting good looks for Iowa’s shooters would be a challenge, so the team prepared for the long night they were in for. Dickinson said after the game that they had some physical practices leading up that helped him get ready for Thursday night’s matchup.
“We had a couple hard practices coming in. Coach really wanted to challenge us, make sure we were ready. Especially me, because I had a really tough matchup coming in. I think my body was a little taxed coming in,” said Dickinson.
As Dickinson described after the game, defending a guy like Garza is a unique challenge for big men because of how hard he works on both ends of the floor. Off the bench, Austin Davis provided huge minutes when Dickinson went to the bench. The draining nature of guarding Garza was limited by the effort that guys like Davis brought when needed.
“Usually with big men, they are posting up every other play or something like that, so not in the sense that you get to have a break some possessions. But he is such a physically imposing player, he just uses his body so well, I don’t know how he doesn’t get tired,” said Dickinson.
As the starters exited the game late, the physical nature of the game showed. Dickinson put his hands on his knees and bent over, trying to catch his breath. But Wagner said this team thrives when others would be tired.
“You can see a lot of teams get tired and need a timeout and stuff like that. I think throughout the course of the game, we get better and better as teams get more tired. That is when we really make our runs, the second half, and I think we did that again today. Obviously you are going to be tired, but coach always says, ‘you can rest tommorow’ so you just have to leave it all out there and live with the results,” said Wagner.
Up Next
Michigan @ Indiana, Saturday, February 27, Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, IN
Iowa @ Ohio State, Sunday, February 28, Value City Arena, Columbus, OH
social signals seo 2015
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