Michigan basketball finds its stride, hammers Nebraska, 93-72, for third straight victory

Michigan basketball sharpshooter Joey Baker didn't quite have a Steph Curry moment, but he was close.

His latest 3-point attempt had barely gone through the net Wednesday night before he looked away, jogged down the court and pretended to stir the pot in front of him. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg called a timeout. Baker was mobbed by his teammates. And the Crisler Center crowd rose to its feet.

The Wolverines' lone healthy senior's 3 from the corner punctuated a personal 8-0 run and put the cap on a 30-5 stretch in the middle of the first half as U-M made a season-high 14 3-pointers and dominated Nebraska, 93-72, for its third consecutive victory.

"They were in a zone," Jett Howard said with a laugh on how Michigan was able to shoot so effectively. "I think they saw how other teams beat us in zone, our terrible loss to Central Michigan, so they probably thought it was a good idea to do that.

"But we were making shots today and we made them pay for it."

Six Wolverines scored in double figures, including all five starters.

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Jett Howard had a team-high 22 points, followed by Hunter Dickinson's 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, his second in as many games. Dug McDaniel scored 14 points, Kobe Bufkin finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Baker scored 11 and Terrance Williams II chipped in 10.

"It's nice to have great balance from your starting group," coach Juwan Howard said.

For Michigan (14-10, 8-5 Big Ten), it's the first three-game winning streak since its three-gamer to open the season in November. Ten days ago, U-M was one game above .500 overall, 5-5 in the league and had no Quad 1 wins.

Now, Michigan is 2½ games out of first place in the conference, has two Quad 1s and is playing as well as it has all season entering its next game, at home Saturday against Indiana at 6 p.m. (ESPN).

"I think we always had it in us, we just didn't buy into the details," Jett Howard said. "We just thought we could roll in there and beat teams without really sitting there respecting them, not cheating the game. I feel like once we decided to buy in on the defensive end, good results happen."

Juwan Howard was less appreciative of the Wolverines' defense, saying Michigan "didn't meet our goals" while allowing Nebraska to shoot 48% from the floor and 35% on 3s, but only two Huskers finished in double figures: Keisei Tominaga had a game-high 24 points for Nebraska (11-14, 4-10) and Derrick Walker had 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Michigan's hot shooting carries the day

McDaniel hit a long 2-pointer as the shot clock ran low on the opening possession to set the tone for the Wolverines. Jett Howard took the next three shots, all 3-pointers, and made one before the team truly got cooking.

U-M made 13 of its next 16 shots to open the game an impressive 15-for-20 from the floor.

It started when Williams and Howard hit consecutive 3-pointers. After Bufkin missed on a long ball, Williams hit a mid-range jumper to put Michigan ahead by one before an up-and-under layup made it 15-12 U-M.

Bufkin and Tarris Reed Jr. sandwiched layups around a 3-pointer by Baker, before another Bufkin layup — Michigan's sixth consecutive make — made it 25-12.

Jace Howard joined the party with a corner 3 moments after he entered the game, before Reed missed a layup with 9:43 in the half — the Wolverines' first miss inside the arc. After McDaniel hit a deep 3-pointer, Baker went on his run.

He hit a mid-range jumper before consecutive 3-pointers, one from each corner, ended U-M's 30-5 run.

"It was great to see offensively we made plays," Juwan Howard said. "We were playing unselfish. Our defense generated a lot of our offense starting with our second unit. Tarris Reed, Jace, Will and Joey.

"They were very active defensively, (getting up 41-17) is 'cause of defense."

Nebraska was just 2-for-8 from the floor with five turnovers during the stretch.

Nebraska refuses to go away

Despite what seemed like a haymaker from the Wolverines, Nebraska didn't fold.

Walker hit a layup and Tominaga hit a 3-pointer followed by Jamarques Lawrence's three free throws to score eight straight for the Cornhuskers. Tominaga and Walker each hit another layup and Sam Hoiberg hit a layup and a 3-pointer as the Huskers closed the half on a 17-5 push.

Walker made a layup on the first play out of the break, then had another dunk and split a pair of free throws to get Nebraska inside of 10 points, 48-39, with 18:01 to play.

Michigan's top two close it out

But Michigan's top two scorers, Dickinson and Jett Howard, answered the call. The duo scored 16 of 18 points to open the second half as U-M took a 64-45 lead with 12:52. A McDaniel jumper and two Reed free throws extended the lead to 21.

"It shows how much grit and toughness we have," McDaniel said. "I feel like that’s become our identity."

Nebraska had one last push. Sam Griesel scored seven straight before C.J. Wilcher added consecutive buckets to get within 10. It never got closer than that after a Dickinson three-point play with 8:15 to play.

Dickinson had 14 points and nine rebounds in the second half after putting up two points and one rebound in the opening 20 minutes.

"Hunter, he's been sick for the past two days I think," Jett Howard said. "Coming in, I just (tried) to understand we might have to pick our game up today because it's hard to put it all on Hunter."

U-M assistant coach Phil Martelli and trainer Chris Williams both missed the game with COVID-19. Isaiah Barnes had the flu and was out, too. A spokeman said it was similar to what kept Tschetter out of the previous two games.

Following Dickinson's bucket, the two sides split the next eight baskets, four apiece, before Michigan put together a 15-5 run to close the game.

The Wolverines shot 57.6% from the floor (34-for-59) and 53.8% on 3-pointers (14-for-26). Michigan also dominated on the glass with a 35-23 edge as it allowed just five offensive rebounds.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

Next up: Hoosiers

Matchup: Michigan (14-10, 8-5 Big Ten) vs. Indiana (17-7, 8-5).

Tipoff: 6 p.m. Saturday; Crisler Center, Ann Arbor.

TV/radio: ESPN; WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball hammers Nebraska, 93-72, for third straight win