Kornacki: Dunston's Rebounding, Passing Make Her a Most Valuable Wolverine
12/13/2017 1:08:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- How many power forwards win their team's baseline-to-baseline sprints?
Few, if any. But University of Michigan women's basketball senior Jillian Dunston does that.
How many 5-foot-11 major college players have any chance of approaching their school's career rebounding record?
Not many. But Dunston is on pace to do that.
How many "bigs" occasionally pop out to the perimeter to run their team from the point?
Next to none. But Jillian Dunston, or "Jillie," as Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico calls her, is now doing that, too.
Dunston, who is the heart and soul of the Wolverines, tied her career high with 15 rebounds in Tuesday night's (Dec. 12) 79-34 win over North Florida. She also made two of three shots for four points and dished out four assists.
"We talk about in the locker room all the time about how to the rest of the world the MVP is Katelynn Flaherty or Hallie Thome because they're putting up the most points," said Arico. "But at the end of any given night, I don't know that I couldn't say that Jillian Dunston is our MVP.
"So, that's what she means to our team."
Dunston created the "hardest-working team in America" mantra for the Wolverines.
"She brings so many things to the team that she is just invaluable," said Flaherty, Michigan's career scoring leader. "I don't think anyone else on the team is like Jillian, and she will be a big loss next year. No matter how the game is going, she's always positive, always enthusiastic. It's something myself and rest of my teammates really look up to."
Dunston has 674 career rebounds and is 17 from passing Cyesha Goree for 12th place on the Michigan list. Dunston was a freshman when Goree, nicknamed "Bird", grabbed 20 rebounds at Minnesota -- and Dunston wants to surpass that, too.
"I'm going after the 'Bird,'" Dunston said with a smile. "I'm really trying to beat her 20-rebound game. She showed me what it took to be successful. Even though she had incredible skill, she still busted her butt every day. She set a pathway for the work you need to put in."
"I like the fact that our kids, whether it's Hallie, Katelynn, Jillian or Nicole (Munger), they set goals for themselves and they really go after them," Barnes Arico said. "I love the fact that our kids are really challenging themselves. That's really pushing them and motivating them.
"Jillian is playing at an incredibly high level in terms of defense, taking care of and valuing the ball and rebounding. I wish some of that would rub off on some of our other players because I think sometimes we defer to her. Like we defer to Katelynn making a shot, we defer to Jillian getting the rebound instead of getting aggressive and getting in there."
Dunston, from Silver Spring, Maryland, and Academy of the Holy Cross, would have 851 rebounds if she matched the 286 she had last season. That would put her tied for second at Michigan with Stacey Thomas (1996-2000), who went on to play six years in the WNBA.
The record of 928 rebounds is held by Trish Andrew (1989-93), who played professionally in Greece. That's probably going to take some doing, but Dunston is averaging 9.9 rebounds (fourth in the Big Ten) for an improvement over last season's 7.7.
"I think half the game of basketball is heart," said Dunston. "Even if people can out-jump you, you can't let them think they can out-jump you. You need to show your fight at all times, and that's a lot of rebounding."
"She has an incredible, incredible motor to the basketball and great strength. Sometimes the ball gets knocked out of Hallie's hands, and she's going to get better at that," Barnes Arico said. "She's young. But the ball never gets knocked out of Jillian's hands. She has a toughness and a strength about her.
Jillian Dunston handles the ball well for a power forward and head coach Kim Barnes Arico uses it to the Wolverines' advantage. "Jillie rebounding the ball can ignite our offense. ... The guards can just fly down the court and Jillie can initiate the offense," she said.
"But also, for as big and strong of a kid as she is, she's the fastest kid on our team and in the best shape of anyone on our team. So, she has an incredible motor. When other kids are resting or just going after the ball with two hands, Jillie is flying in there grabbing it with her strength."
It is something that a power forward goes faster, baseline to baseline, than any guard on the team.
"It's incredible," said Barnes Arico. "She's the fastest. And in terms of endurance, if we had to do eight, she'd win that, too, against all our guards. She played soccer in high school and is a phenomenal, phenomenal athlete."
The coach said no one on her team buys into her role more than Dunston, who also averages 3.5 assists and 3.1 points. Dunston averaged 5.8 points last year with a career high of 15, and scoring is not a strength.
Still, she took a shot Tuesday from well beyond half court just before the halftime buzzer that hit the back of the rim. It was her second close call on such an attempt this season.
"She'll make that shot one day," predicted Flaherty.
Dunston, though, rebounds and passes as a combo with anyone in the Big Ten. She's tied with point guard Flaherty in assists and they're tied for 15th in the conference.
"She took every shot for her team in high school (exceeding 1,000 points)," said Barnes Arico, "but she came here and said, 'I'm going to be the best rebounder, and I'm going to make extra passes and be the best defender, and I'm going to get the ball to Katelynn and Hallie because they are incredible scorers.'
"So, just her whole mentality, and how she embraces her role and is all about the team is phenomenal. She's a special kid."
Flaherty, after scoring 27 points against North Florida, said of her classmate, Dunston, "She gets 15 rebounds, sets screens for me, finds me. She just knows the game so well, and we would not be anywhere near as successful as we are without her."
Dunston also helps take the pressure off Flaherty in double-teams.
"Her growth has been tremendous," said Barnes Arico. "She has always had a burst with the ball in her hands, but sometimes it was like, 'Oh, boy!' You didn't know what was going to happen. But now, I've got the confidence to say that if they are pressuring us or running two people at Katelynn, give her the reverse pass and let the offense run through Jillie at the four spot.
"That's just one other thing that she has taken on her shoulders."
Dunston does not have to make an outlet pass after rebounding.
"Jillie rebounding the ball can ignite our offense," said Barnes Arico. "It's because it gives our guards an opportunity to go when she rebounds. The guards can just fly down the court and Jillie can initiate the offense."
Barnes Arico pointed out that Dunston was the lone Wolverine in the top eight in minutes played without a turnover. Her assists-to-turnover ratio of 39-to-14 (2.8 to 1) is far better than anyone on the team, and sixth in the Big Ten.
"I don't feel pressure up top," said Dunston of playing the point. "It kind of helps me get into the flow of the game."
She said the run to the WNIT championship last year helped her confidence.
"Oh, yeah," said Dunston. "That built up a lot of our confidence for the team and our goals."
The Wolverines (9-2), ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll, are shaping up as an NCAA Tournament team. Dunston and Flaherty have never played in that showcase event and are motivated to reach it.
And make no mistake about it. This is Dunston's team as much as it is Flaherty's or Thome's. The coach made that quite clear.
