Michigan Basketball: Takeaways from Wolverines win against St John’s

Michigan basketball quietly makes their case as an impressive dark horse with a new look as they comfortably defeat Rick Pitino’s St John’s Red Storm.

The unranked Michigan Wolverines came into the legendary Madison Square and took care of business in their 89-73 victory. Although there is work to be done, Red Storm head coach Rick Pittino has his team heading into a good direction, so this victory was a testament to what Michigan has in their rotation.

Another important note is that the Wolverines are without head coach Juwan Howard as his thankfully recovers from a heart surgery and we wish him well in his recovery.

So what is there to make of all of this with a team that lost Hunter Dickinson to Kansas in the middle along with arguably their other two biggest producers offensively in Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard to the NBA. So many were wondering what this team would have, and after tonight especially, it’s safe to say we know. Keep reading to see the key takeaways coming out of this game for the Michigan Wolverines.

1. The starting lineup is a productive set

Tarris Reed, Terrence Williams, Dug McDaniel, Olivier Nkamhoua, and Nimari Burnett all had a great start to the season which did not change tonight. Burnett especially had a hot start going 7-7 to open the game and finishing with 21 points on he night. Another piece that is overlooked is the glue that is Dug McDaniel. He finished as the games leading scorer with 26 points while still distributing beautifully with 7 assists and is the core of this rotation. His ability to facilitate and push the tempo is huge in this year’s team and was on display here. The Wolverines also shot a respectable 42% from three which was a bit of an issue in previous seasons.

2. Tempo and play style 

Now Michigan has gone through some modest changes between last season and now. The most talked of which is the departure of Hunter Dickinson, one of the most notable and sometimes polarizing player to cross through Ann Arbor. With the center’s absence, the team now plays at a bit quicker of a pace. This really works well with the athletic guard play that Juwan has built with them and plays into their strengths. Another overlooked departure is the absence of Jett Howard who was the crux of the scoring attack last year. Howard was a great guard and did a lot, but with the option to now have to look across the rotation for points, it helps spread the floor and create open looks for other guys. Against St John’s, it showed that their ability to push the tempo allowed them to get that massive breakaway at the end that sealed the deal.

3. Outside of the starters

Will Tschetter is an exciting player to have coming off the bench with great size and the ability to attack the rim quickly. Beyond Schetter there is the anticipated return of guard Jaelin Llewellyn who is nearing return. This gives the Wolverines some depth, but the question will be how does Llewellyn fit into the rotation with the current starting lineup looking pretty solid. The other question with this is who else can provide quality minutes of the bench beyond Schetter.

Michigan returns home to the Crisler Center to face Long Beach State this Friday before hey head to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament where they will first face a great team in Memphis for what should be a great matchup. So look for them to tune up some things back home and continue a lot of the great production we’ve seen so far. The Memphis game should be very telling of where this team is at.