Maryland welcome Michigan to College Park and in what would be a tense, emotion-filled game, the Terps fell to the Wolverines 84-73.
The game saw four techs giving out in the first 20 minutes of the game. Both benches received a technical plus Maryland’s head coach, Mark Turgeon, got a tech along with Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson.
That might’ve been the only thing that went wrong for the big-man all night and I don’t know if he would classify tech as a bad thing. In the first half, Dickinson hit a jump hook and then felt a need to tell the Maryland bench about it. “The ref thought I said something,” Dickinson said. “I opened my mouth to say something, but I was like, nope, and closed my mouth real quick. I guess he anticipated it. It’s all right.”
The 7’1″ big man has always played with a chip on his shoulder so it wasn’t shocking that tonight’s excuse for having one was Maryland not recruiting him or, at the very least, not recruiting him hard. Believe me, even if they did, Dickinson would’ve conjured up another reason to feel snubbed.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Michael Jordan could invent a snub quicker than he could break the will of the New York Knicks.
In Dickinson’s 26 point, 11 rebound performance, he performed an MJ-like heart breaking performance. Fifteen points and eight rebounds came in the second half after Maryland rallied to take the lead. He finished the game shooting 10-11 from the floor and 6-7 from the free throw line. “Dickinson, he was a man possessed tonight,” said Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon.
What makes it even more impressive was Dickinson wasn’t piggy-backing off of an Isaiah Livers big performance. Livers would finish with 7 points on 1-5 shooting. Dickinson was dominant enough to open up the floor for Franz Wagner. Wagner would finish with 19 points on 8-14 shooting.
Even in an empty gym, Dickinson was motivated to have a big night. “I wish we had fans, I could’ve gotten a real welcome home from the Maryland fans.”
The night belonged to the freshman making his homecoming to play the local team that may or may not have recruited him.
Photo Credit: Nick Wass, Associated Press
