Many people have watched the Michigan basketball team this year and wondered how the point guard situation will shake out. DeVante’ Jones, Frankie Collins, and Kobe Bufkin all have split time at the position with DeVante’ starting all of the games this year. This game against Southern Utah showed how much the point guards have improved in a variety of ways.
DeVante’ Jones Shooting Confidence
So far this year, teams have not played DeVante’ Jones as a shooter. Even though his stats indicate he is an accurate shooter, Seton Hall, Minnesota, and Arizona dared the graduate transfer point guard to take three-point shots to force other players to score rather than Hunter Dickinson.
As shown below, the Wolverines set a lot of ball screens to get players open and force the help defense to react to the screening actions. However, defenders guarding DeVante’ go under ball screens to make him shoot. Going under screens also makes it harder for other players to get open because an extra defender now stands in the paint. DeVante’s creation ability as a point guard becomes restricted when his rim attack is cut off.
(Maize: Michigan) (White Lines: Southern Utah)
In one of his first ball screen opportunities in this game, DeVante’ faced a similar decision. The defender goes under the ball screens as detailed above, and DeVante’ was left wide open at the top of the key. In prior games, he hesitated and often would not take the open shot. However, in this game DeVante’ shot the ball with confidence.
With this space, Jones has to make teams respect him as a shooter which could affect Michigan’s offensive capabilities throughout the remainder of the season. Opponents will need to adjust accordingly. Michigan has been most successful when they put pressure on help defenders and force the defense to make tough decisions on who to guard. Caleb Houstan, Eli Brooks, and Moussa Diabate will all benefit from DeVante’s increased confidence.
Frankie Collins’ Playmaking and Activity Defensively
When Michigan struggles shooting, they often fall behind in games quickly because they cannot get easy baskets. While some attribute the offensive struggles entirely to shooting, I believe Michigan could score more easily if they became more active defensively. Michigan’s points per game defense has been solid this year with 64.5 points allowed per game; however, they rank 335th out of 358 teams in turnovers forced per game at 10.27. Forcing turnovers results in easier transition baskets, and I believe Frankie Collins has proven he can improve Michigan’s defense.
Frankie Collins has been an incredibly dynamic player off the bench as a freshman for Coach Howard. In this game against Southern Utah, he displayed his playmaking ability with 3 assists and defensive activity in his 14 minutes off the bench. Frankie Collins proved he could become a pesky off-ball defender with his presence in Michigan’s gap defense. He created multiple turnovers when Southern Utah players drove to the lane, and these turnovers resulted in easy layups for Kobe Bufkin. I have detailed a play that resulted in a transition play for Michigan below.
In this image above, the Southern Utah guard brought the ball all the way down the court in a fast break. Michigan built a wall defensively; I circled Frankie Collins to show his positioning on this transition drive. His positioning in the space between the ball and his defender creates hesitancy in opposing offenses. The Southern Utah guard sees a wall created by Frankie’s presence and he decides to try to pass the ball to the man Frankie guards.
Frankie, after deterring the drive, closes out to his defender to prevent the easy pass. His high hands as well as his timing allowed him to deflect the ball and create the turnover. Michigan needs this activity defensively if they wish to challenge the top teams in the Big Ten.
Kobe Bufkin’s Transition Scoring and Offensive Aggression
Kobe Bufkin played an impressive game against Southern Utah and showed that he can be a threat in transition with his athleticism. He had two impressive finishes at the rim, showing he can take contact as well. This additional layer of off-ball scoring could be key against teams in the Big Ten. Michigan employed multiple three-guard lineups against Southern Utah with Zeb Jackson, Frankie Collins, and Kobe Bufkin each playing 14+ minutes. Bufkin in 18 minutes shot 4-9 from the field with three rebounds. These three-guard lineups may take away from Bufkin’s point guard skills; however, his off-ball presence creates quickness and aggression not seen in other lineups.
Below I have shown a transition opportunity that Bufkin finished with a layup on the other end.
Bufkin, at the bottom of the screen, identifies that Frankie Collins has secured the rebound and immediately takes off down the floor. His reaction time as well as his first few steps create a huge gap between him and his defender. This allows Frankie Collins to make an easy read.
Bufkin’s initial sprinting speed created a huge gap. In addition, his speed caught the Southern Utah defense off guard and they seemed stuck in the middle of the court. Bufkin’s off-ball awareness impressed me when watching this game, and he could make Michigan a more threatening transition team.
