Michigan basketball seems to be hanging by a thread with tough schedule, more injury woes

If Michigan basketball’s season is on the brink, it would have been hard to tell Sunday based on the reaction of the team’s best player.

Relaxing in a chair inside Crisler Center, Hunter Dickinson exuded an air of nonchalance after the Wolverines tussled with the Big Ten’s worst team during a 40-minutes slog before holding on to a 60-56 victory over Minnesota. The junior center seemed more preoccupied with the fate of the Buffalo Bills, his favorite NFL team that would eventually fall to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round.

“Really concerned,” he said, “if they lose it.”

In that moment, Dickinson felt as helpless as any fan, with no ability to influence the outcome. But he may soon find he also doesn’t wield enough power to change the fortunes of his own team, whose NCAA tournament chances seem dubious near the midway point of the conference schedule with only one win over an opponent ranked in the top 50 of the RPI. Dickinson, never one to concede anything, was reluctant to acknowledge that uncomfortable reality.

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“We’re 5-3,” he said, mentioning Michigan’s conference record. “We’re still right there.”

That’s true for the time being. But from their current third-place perch in the league standings, the Wolverines appear to be hanging by a thread. The fabric binding this 11-8 team, after all, continued to tear Sunday when freshman wing Jett Howard hurt his left ankle late in the first half. Howard was helped off the court, examined on a nearby training table and was later was fitted with a walking boot. His prognosis is uncertain, which only further clouds Michigan’s hazy outlook.

The possibility of losing him for an extended period could derail the Wolverines’ ongoing effort to divert defensive attention away from Dickinson. With his length, athleticism and shooting ability, Howard had emerged as the team’s perimeter dynamo and second-leading scorer. From the moment he stepped on the floor, he was quick to pull the trigger, launching almost a third of the team’s 3-pointers. He has also routinely created opportunities for his teammates when he attacked the rim by opening valves near the basket.

“We miss a guy who can create for the team,” said redshirt freshman forward Will Tschetter.

Michigan coach Juwan Howard called his son a “playmaker” who can manufacture offense when he has the ball in his hands.

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There really is no one like him on Michigan’s roster. While Kobe Bufkin and Dug McDaniel are serviceable guards, they don’t pose the same kind of threat that Howard does. Much is lost when he’s not on the floor. That was seen Sunday, when the offense ran through Dickinson for much of the second half and the Wolverines were forced to generate their production inside the arc. Over the final 20 minutes of the game, Michigan converted only one 3-point attempt, leaving Dickinson to carry the load. He scored 15 off his game-high 23 points after the break, sinking four field goals and seven free throws while tormenting Pharrel Payne, Minnesota’s smaller and far less experienced forward, in the post.

But come Thursday, Dickinson will have a much stiffer challenge. That’s when he will match up with the towering 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey, the centerpiece of a Purdue squad that just climbed to No. 1 in the coaches poll. If Howard can’t play, Dickinson will be faced with the tallest of tasks.

“Obviously that changes the dynamic,” Dickinson said. “He’s a really good player. And he’s somebody we lean on a lot to get buckets when we need them.”

Who becomes that guy in Howard’s absence?

It’s a question his father hasn’t been forced to contemplate until now, and it appears he has yet to come up with a definitive answer, knowing it may never arrive with the toughest games still to come.

“Collectively, guys are going to have to step up,” Juwan Howard said. “We’re not going to get the same…”

Scoring punch?

Impact?

The counterbalance Dickinson needs?

Howard trailed off before completing the sentence. But it appears as if he has resigned himself to going back to the drawing board again during a season when his best-laid plans have been mapped out on an Etch-a Sketch. The ACL tear that sidelined starting point guard Jaelin Llewellyn caused him to wipe the surface clean in December. Now, with the final month of the regular season approaching, Howard may have to erase it again and begin twisting the dials some more.

“It just goes to show how our season is panning out,” Howard said. “We have so many built-in excuses for injuries.”

In that moment, Howard seemed to acknowledge that it all could be slipping away. Maybe Dickinson senses that, too.

Perhaps that explains his eagerness to shift his focus away to a different team and another sport instead of savoring Michigan’s latest win.

“What I’m thinking about is this Buffalo game,” he said, before glancing at his phone.

The Bills had already fallen behind by then and were headed toward a depressing denouement.

The question is whether Michigan, squeezed by mediocrity on one side and adversity on the other, will eventually suffer the same fate.

Contact Rainer Sabin: rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin.

Next up: Boilermakers

Matchup: Michigan (11-8, 5-3 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Purdue (19-1, 8-1).

Tipoff: 9 p.m. Thursday; Crisler Center, Ann Arbor.

TV/radio: FS1; WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: It seems like Michigan basketball is hanging on by a thread this year