Dug McDaniel, Michigan blow past St. John's, 89-73

Michigan Wolverines basketball put together another outstanding offensive performance in an 89-73 victory over St. John’s Monday night at Madison Square Garden. The Maize and Blue have now scored 85-plus points in three straight contests for the first time since 2012-13. They scored 1.2 points per possession and held head coach Rick Pitino‘s crew to just 36 percent shooting from the field.

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard led walkthrough earlier in the day but watched from the locker room, still working to get 100 percent after undergoing Sept. 15 heart surgery. Interim head man Phil Martelli is 3-0 in his absence, as the Wolverines continue to exceed expectations in the early going.

Here’s a recap of how the game unfolded.

First half

Michigan graduate guard Nimari Burnett kicked off a wild first eight minutes of action with a corner three-pointer. He kept the Wolverines in the game early on, scoring 15 of their first 16 shots behind a perfect 6-for-6 shooting clip, including 3 triples.

Sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel struggled out of the gate. He had a bad-pass turnover and a missed floater over two defenders, both of which led to St. John’s buckets, capping off a 7-0 run after Burnett’s first basket.

St. John’s fed off offensive rebounds and second-chance points, with 10 on 4 offensive boards in the first eight minutes. Despite the extra possessions, Michigan shot 8-for-10 from the field and held a 20-18 lead at the first media timeout at 12:25 after an opening sequence with a furious pace.

Michigan held a 22-20 lead at the 10:55 media timeout. The Wolverines already had 6 turnovers at that point, with some bobbles and deflected passes leading to 10 St. John’s points off turnovers.

Michigan’s half-court offense struggled after senior forward Terrance Williams II‘s dunk at the 12:40 mark. The Wolverines missed 5 of 6 looks in a row from the field, but McDaniel got going with 4 made free throws after being fouled shooting two separate floaters and a tough, contested mid-range jumper. That put the Maize and Blue up 28-25 with 7:29 to go in the half.

St. John’s tied the game at 28-28 with just over seven minutes left in the stanza, with more second-chance points, two free throws from Glenn Taylor Jr. after an offensive rebound. Burnett put the Wolverines back ahead on the next possession with 1 made free throw.

St. John’s took a 30-29 lead with an and-one put-back from center Joel Soriano. Almost like a hockey game, Michigan couldn’t get the ball out of its own zone. St. John’s corralled the offensive rebound after a missed free throw, got another offensive board and made 1 free throw to go up 31-29.

Burnett kept his hot half going with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field in less than 15 minutes of game time with a step-back triple at the 6:09 mark, giving the Maize and Blue a 32-31 advantage.

Graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua got on the scoreboard with a catch-and-shoot triple to make it 37-31 at the 4:05 mark. Michigan hadn’t turned the ball over in several minutes but was still sloppy offensively, connecting on only 4 of its last 16 shots from the field at that juncture.

Nkamhoua stepped into another three-pointer, this time off the bounce, to give Michigan a 42-35 edge with just over a minute and a half on the clock.

Michigan went on a late-half surge, going on a 9-3 run to close things out. The Wolverines recorded a whopping 1.4 points per possession in the first stanza, despite some early turnovers and sloppiness in the half court. Michigan shot 55 percent from the field to St. John’s 41 and had a 48-38 lead at the break.

Second half

Michigan kept its momentum going in the second half, with a stranglehold on the game it wasn’t willing to give up. The Wolverines continued to score at a high rate, with McDaniel being the catalyst. He scored 6 points in the first five minutes of the half and dished out 2 assists in the first seven minutes. St. John’s went with its press early in the half, but he completely controlled it and even went coast to coast for a layup past the entire defense on one play.

The Wolverines held a 64-46 advantage at the under-12 media timeout. Redshirt sophomore Will Tschetter gave some big minutes off the bench and ducked underneath for a dunk off a feed from Nkamhoua. On Michigan’s next possession, he hit a right corner triple on a pass from Burnett. Michigan held its largest lead to that point at 69-48 with just over 10 minutes to go. Tschetter had six straight points for the Maize and Blue.

McDaniel was grabbed from behind, an intentional foul, made a pair of free throws to put Michigan up 70-48.

“That’s the only way you can slow him down,” Fox Sports analyst Bill Raftery said on the broadcast.

The Wolverines retained possession, and Williams drilled a corner three to make it 74-48 after a 22-5 run.

Michigan was clinging onto a 76-52 edge at the 7:52 media timeout. McDaniel and Tschetter each had 8 second-half points at that juncture, and the Maize and Blue were getting to the foul line, shooting 7-for-9 from the charity stripe after halftime.

McDaniel came flying in for a made floater on the left side of the court with just over seven minutes to play, giving him 20 points on the night and 10 for the half. Michigan led 78-54.

McDaniel nailed a step-back three from the top of the key with over four minutes to play, providing an 81-57 lead. He checked out for a couple minutes shortly thereafter. It was his night, with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. He added another triple to make it 26 with 3:10 to go.

Michigan was able to go deep into its bench and close things out. Sophomore guard Youssef Khayat laid in the Wolverines’ final bucket with 35 seconds to go. St. John’s scored 5 in a row to end it, but Michigan walked away with the 89-73 road victory.