Hunter Dickinson wasted little time putting on a show in his return to the nation’s capital.
The sophomore center scored the first seven points of the game and set the tone for No. 6 Michigan’s 77-49 win over Prairie View A&M Saturday in the inaugural Coaches vs. Racism event at Entertainment & Sports Arena.
Dickinson tallied his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan (2-0), which shot 45.5% (25 for 55) from the field and made 10 3-pointers but struggled at the line again by missing 15 of its 32 free-throw attempts.
Fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks led another balanced attack with 15 points. Freshman forward Caleb Houstan added 13 points and grad transfer guard DeVante’ Jones had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists as Michigan led by at least 22 points over the final 17 minutes of the game.
Dickinson used his size advantage and showed off his expanded repertoire during his quick start, scoring on an offensive tip-in, throwing down a dunk and beating the buzzer with a 3-pointer on Michigan’s first three possessions. The deep ball was the first of his career after going 0 for 4 from beyond the arc as a freshman.
Dickinson, though, received plenty of help as Michigan had no problems with Prairie View A&M. The Wolverines ripped off a 15-2 run over a five-minute stretch that was fueled by freshmen Moussa Diabate and Houstan to take control.
Diabate was a menace on the glass and at drawing fouls, grabbing an offensive rebound and converting a three-point play to kick off the flurry. Houstan scored on an offensive putback and drained a 3-pointer in transition. By the time Diabate ended the spurt with a hook shot and another free throw, Michigan held a 28-9 lead with 8:57 left in the first half.
Dickinson went back to work late in the half. He corralled an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and cashed in a second-chance layup. Then following a steal by Jones, he scored another bucket in the paint to cap an 8-0 run that widened the gap to 42-16 at the 3:30 mark.
After a sloppy closing stretch allowed Prairie View A&M to cut the deficit to 42-23 at the break, Michigan used back-to-back 3-pointers from Houstan and Brooks and held the Panthers to one made field goal over the first four minutes of the second half to push the lead back over 20, at 51-26.
From there, the misses piled up for both teams. Yet, despite going nearly seven minutes between made field goals, Michigan made enough free throws to maintain a big lead until freshman guard Kobe Bufkin snapped the drought with a driving layup at the 7:32 mark.
Bufkin followed that up with a 3-pointer to give Michigan its largest lead, 68-41, with 6:15 remaining before the Wolverines emptied their bench and coasted to the finish line.
William Douglas scored 15 and Jeremiah Gambrell 11 for Prairie View A&M (0-3), which shot 27% (17 for 63) from the field, was outrebounded 52-32 and made just seven shots in the second half.
