Michigan basketball stays hot, earns key win at Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Midway through the season, Michigan is starting to look like the team it thought it could become.

The Wolverines won at Indiana on Sunday 80-62 behind hot shooting and sound defense. Based on the NCAA’s NET rankings, it was Michigan’s most impressive win of the season, its first Quad 1 victory.

Michigan has won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 7 and improved to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten.

Hunter Dickinson scored a game-high 25 points, Caleb Houstan added 19, and Michigan outscored Indiana from the 3-point line 33-15.

Michigan went up double digits early and led by eight at half and by 16 with six minutes left. They beat Indiana for the ninth straight time. The Hoosiers were 12-0 at home this season. Their last loss at Assembly Hall? To Michigan, on Feb. 27.

Indiana entered the game holding opponents to 37 percent shooting, the fifth-best mark in the country. Michigan played through Dickinson, who scored inside and out and passed out of double teams, to finish 57 percent from the field.

The Wolverines shot 11-for-17 from 3 (compared to Indiana’s 5-for-19 mark). Houstan was 5-for-7 from deep. Dickinson was 3-for-4, taking pleasure in each make.

Michigan was back to full strength following a COVID-19 outbreak within the program. Brandon Johns Jr. returned for the first time since Dec. 30. He’d missed the past three games but played 10 minutes off the bench on Sunday, scoring five points.

In Johns’ absence, the Wolverines lost at Rutgers and at Illinois before beating Maryland on Tuesday. They followed it up with another strong performance on Sunday, a sign that their season is starting to turn for the better.

Michigan always had an answer for Indiana’s runs. After Indiana missed from point-blank range, Dickinson threw an oulet pass to Jones, who flipped in a bank shot despite a foul. His free throw made it 45-34 two minutes into the second half. Houstan followed with a 3. He hit another jumper, with a toe on the line, that made it 52-36 with 15:54 left. Houstan apparently indicated it was a 3 and received a technical foul as a result. Indiana missed the resulting free throws, but still put together a 7-0 run. Dickinson stopped it with a 3.

A chaotic sequence of deflections, wild shots, and fast breaks ended with a Houstan corner 3 -- his fourth triple -- that made it 58-45 with 10:45 left. The lead went to 14 on Dickinson’s third 3. Brooks’ first basket pushed it to 63-47 with 7:55 left.

Shortly after, Dickinson’s baseline spin and powerful dunk, plus a foul, was yet another highlight for Michigan.

Indiana started 2-of-13 from 3, but Parker Stewart made three late to keep the Hoosiers in contact.

Trayce Jackson-Davis led the home team with 17 points. Xavier Johnson added 14 for Indiana, which fell to 14-5 (5-4).

Michigan withstood a couple of highlight baskets early and took an early 11-4 lead on DeVante’ Jones’ layup. Houstan’s second 3 made it 14-5. Dickinson swished a straightaway 3 to push the margin to 10. Michigan, showing a lot of zone defense, held Indiana to 4-of-16 shooting to start the game.

Diabaté's driving and-one, despite the missed free throw, made it 21-9 with 10:42 left in the half. A couple of minutes later, Johns buried a 3 from the left wing, Terrance Williams II followed it with a 3 from the right wing, and Michigan led 29-13, prompting an Indiana timeout with 7:09 left in the half.

Indiana answered with a 9-0 run, with Johnson’s aggressive drives to the basket causing problems for Michigan. Williams quieted the loud crowd with a baseline step-back jumper, ending Michigan’s three-minute drought. He scored again, on a corner 3, to put Michigan ahead 34-22. Indiana answered with its first made 3 (after seven misses), then got an and-one from Trayce Jackson-Davis following a scramble underneath the basket. Just like that, the Hoosiers were within six.

Michigan shot 52 percent and made six 3s in the first half, taking a 38-30 lead into the locker room. Williams scored the final points of the half to give him 10. He was held scoreless in the second half.

+ This is the Caleb Houstan high school recruiting analysts (and NBA draft experts) expected to see. After shaking a slump with a 6-for-7 shooting performance against Maryland, Houstan stayed hot against the Hoosiers. He shot with confidence from all over without forcing anything. Michigan will need him to continue to take pressure off of Dickinson and Eli Brooks offensively.

+ Freshman point guard Frankie Collins turned 20 on Sunday. He played nine minutes off the bench on his birthday, including the final 5:30 of the first half with DeVante’ Jones on the bench with two fouls. Collins scored the final points of the game on a driving layup.

+ Too much had fallen on Eli Brooks’ shoulders, but not the last two games. Instead of being relied on to score and facilitate (and defend the opponent’s best perimeter player), Brooks has operated within the flow of the offense this week. Michigan is better for it. He’s still capable of a 20-point game, but such a performance no longer seems necessary to get a win. He attempted just four shots on Sunday.

+ It had been quite a week for Indiana, which snapped an eight-game road losing streak on Monday (at Nebraska) and a nine-game losing streak against its rival Purdue on Thursday. The Hoosiers could not end their long drought against Michigan, however.

+ The Wolverines have a chance to keep rolling on Wednesday when they host Northwestern (2-6 in the Big Ten). It wouldn’t be a marquee victory, but Michigan needs all the wins it can get to bolster is lackluster NCAA Tournament résumé.