Fran McCaffery shares what makes Michigan difficult to stop

Michigan is off to a hot start in Big Ten Conference play, and it looks to continue that momentum as they travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes Thursday night. Fran McCaffrey previewed the matchup by running down the roster and noting the players that stand out to him.

“They have a really good team. They have depth. There’s a lot of different pieces that are fitting,” McCaffrey said postgame. “I think Jett Howard is one of the premier players in our league. I think we’ve seen that. I think [Kobe] Bufkin is a guy who was pretty good last year, but now I think he’s really taken a big step.

“They have a different point guard than they thought they were going to have at the start of the year, but he doesn’t play like a freshman. He has a very aggressive mindset. [Terrance] Williams is good.”

McCaffrey continued to rave about Michigan’s lineup, including some of Juwan Howard’s reserves – but it always comes back to one player.

“They have guys coming off the bench — Tarris Reed is really good. Then you get a guy like Joey Baker, a transfer from Duke, that’s a piece that’s really helpful with a team that has some new guys that they’re trying to fit. They lost some guys last year that were integral parts of that team, but like you said, it all starts with [Hunter] Dickinson. He’s one of the best players in the game right now.”

There’s pretty much no great way of getting around Dickinson’s freakish 7-foot frame around the rim. More often than not, he’ll get to the basket if he really wants to and Iowa doesn’t have a player that matchups up well with him on paper.

So what can they do? Take Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo’s approach – create pressure and make him work for his shots. That was the gameplan Izzo revealed after the Spartans’ 59-53 win over the Wolverines. Dickinson still finished with 18 points, but frequent double teams and constant physical defense led the way for victory.

McCaffrey might need to take a page out of Izzo’s book if he wants to slow down the UM star bigman. If not, Iowa better hope their offense shows up against the Wolverines. Tip-off is scheduled for Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN2.