The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1433691
36 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2021 Michigan has been battle-tested in the early going, having played four good teams. "It's good that we played these teams early, because that's going to prepare us for the rest of the season," Howard said. PLENTY OF POTENTIAL And it is still early, Howard noted, with plenty of time for improvement. November college hoops is for finding the right combinations and tinkering with lineups, and as the coach likes to say, they'll get back to the lab to figure things out. Finding ways to get sophomore cen- ter Hunter Dickinson more touches will likely be a priority. Teams are collapsing on him and daring U-M to shoot, and he's been frustrated on occasion. He came up big with three buckets down the stretch against Tarleton State, but he needs to be more involved. Senior Brandon Johns, meanwhile, was struggling at power forward through six games, averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting only 12.5 per- cent from three-point range. Dynamic freshman Moussa Diabate will continue to push for time there. The rookie was averaging 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds through six contests, and keeps getting better defensively while adding more minutes to his load each game. He and his teammates vowed not to get frustrated after the early-season ups and downs. "I think it's better to have [struggles] right now than at the end of the year when it's really going to count," Diabate said after scoring 14 points against Tar- leton State. "I'd rather go through the tough times and learn from it and keep going. "… We're learning and we're getting better. We're not even at the bottom of the potential, so we've got to keep on going, keep on digging and keep on get- ting better." They'll get better the more they play together and learn the pace of the game, Houstan added. "I think we've got to play a little bit slower in terms of not rushing every- thing and trying to make the home-run play," Houstan said. "Just make the sin- gle pass, the easy pass. "We know we have things to improve Head coach Juwan Howard has told freshman wing Caleb Houstan, who shot just 34.7 per- cent from the floor and 25.8 percent from deep through six games, to "keep shooting it." PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL