Three takeaways from Michigan's win over Pittsburgh in Legends Classic
The Michigan men's basketball team traveled to New York this week to compete in the Legends Classic along with Pittsburgh, VCU and Arizona State. The Wolverines won their first matchup, as they defeated Pitt, 91-60. Here are three takeaways from the victory.
If he hadn't already, Jett Howard has arrived
Jett Howard showed great signs of skill in Michigan's exhibition win, and in its season opener, and although Howard was held to a nine-point game against Eastern Michigan, the freshman once again showed out in the win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Howard had 10 points in the first half of the game, and the 6-foot-8 star came out on a tear to begin the second half.
Howard scored seven quick points in the second half, including a four-point play. Although the freshman picked up his second, third and fourth fouls early in the second half, his footprint had already been placed on this contest.
The rising star has already established himself as one of the best players on this Michigan team, and it should be pretty fair to say that, through three regular season games, the freshman has outperformed expectations by a long shot. Michigan fans should be excited to watch Howard play this season.
Michigan can beat you many different ways
Hunter Dickinson wasn't overwhelmingly dominant, and Michigan still won this game by a sizable margin. The Wolverines led by only six at halftime, but they extended their lead to more than 20 points with 10 minutes to play in the game. Dickinson finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, but a solid team effort from the rest of the Wolverines helped them to the championship game of the Legends Classic.
Howard finished with 17, Kobe Bufkin and Joey Baker added 14, Jaelin Llewellyn and Dug McDaniel each had eight, and Terrance Williams finished with seven. Dickinson isn't going to score 30 every night as he did against Eastern Michigan, and Michigan showed that it has other forms of offense.
Dickinson was able to rest most of the second half, which normally wouldn't be something to write home about, but Michigan will take the floor in just about 24 hours to take on the winner of VCU and Arizona State, and Dickinson — and all the other starters — staying as fresh as possible is critical. Michigan was able to pull away and let its younger players get some valuable experience.
Bench production has increased
One of the takeaways from Michigan's win over Eastern Michigan last week was that the bench production was quite poor. The starters combined for 79 of Michigan's 88 points on Friday night against Eastern Michigan, and the bench was practically nonexistent.
On Wednesday night, though, Michigan's bench came to life. Now, to be fair, the bench players got to see a lot more of the floor in Wednesday night's game compared to Friday, but the performances were very convincing.
The bench combined for 34 of Michigan's 91 points on Wednesday night in the Wolverines' rout of the Panthers. It was a much better showing from players like Baker and McDaniel, specifically. Going forward, Michigan's bench will need to step up, not only in blowout games, but also in close contests. The Wolverines could have used a little more scoring from its bench players last week, but, they improve to 3-0 with a statement win over Pittsburgh.
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