Hunter Dickinson and Michigan Basketball faces Florida State’s depth and size
By Adam Childs
2. Knockdown threes
Michigan led the Big Ten in three-point percentage this year but has struggled since Livers went out. They need to find their stroke again as they did in the second half against LSU.
The Wolverines like to dump the ball into Dickinson and playing inside out. When the Wolverines are hitting shots this works great because teams can’t double down as much. But when they are struggling from the outside it stunts their offense.
Teams have been relentless in doubling down on Dickinson and for most of the year, he has been a great passer out of those doubles. It has gotten the Wolverines lots of open shots and they have been good at knocking them down.
Without Livers, though, the makes have slowed down. Chaundee Brown came up big against LSU as did Brooks, but Smith and Franz Wagner have been off. If they can start knocking down those shots the double teams will be less for Dickinson and will allow him to do work inside.
The Wolverines need to hit those outside shots for their offense to work. They don’t revolve around it as much as they did when John Beilein was the head coach, but it is still a big part of their game.
Michigan can beat the Seminoles on the inside but they have to hit their open outside shots to make that easier. If they knock down their threes early and often the Seminoles are in a world of trouble.