Coming into the season, there were high expectations for Hunter Dickinson.

After all, he was the top-ranked recruit in the top-ranked recruiting class in the Big Ten.

Dickinson's play has raised those expectations at almost every turn and pretty darn frequently.

He took over in his second collegiate game and willed the Wolverines past Oakland in overtime.

He was perfect from the field two games later in a win over a really good UCF team.

That win has aged very well.

He seamlessly joined the starting lineup after Austin Davis's injury and put up 20 points in that first start,

his Big Ten debut at home against Penn State.

Then, of course, Dickinson returned home-ish on New Year's Eve and put up 26 points on 10 of 11 from the floor against Maryland.

Honestly, I could have mentioned every game and given you a tidbit, but you get the idea.

The main storyline entering Wednesday's game was the battle inside.

Hunter Dickinson, a four-time

Big Ten freshman of the week against Liam Robbins, the reigning Big Ten player of the week.

Another measuring stick, another chance to reach and potentially exceed high expectations and

increased expectations. I mean, after all, last week, Robbins averaged 19 points and almost 11 rebounds, a game in three different contests, all against ranked foes.

He was rolling.

So what did Hunter and the Wolverines do?

Well, they out rebounded the gophers by nine.

They outscored the gophers by 26 in the paint,

and they held Robin scoreless after he came up with the first five gopher's points.

Oh, and by the way, Dickinson scored 2814 more than any other player in the game.

It was a team effort. We'll get into that here at a bit. The first 10 games

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