The Wolverine

April 2019

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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APRIL 2019 THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANDREW HUSSEY A fter finishing the regular season third in the Big Ten, Michigan had five Big Ten honorees — the most by the program since the 1984-85 season. Forward Ignas Brazdeikis was named the Big Ten Fresh- man of the Year by both the coaches and the media, and also earned a spot on the All-Big Ten second team from both the media and coaches. He is the seventh Wolverine to earn the Freshman of the Year award and the first since Trey Burke was a co- recipient with Indiana's Cody Zeller in 2012. The other Wolverines to win the award were Daniel Horton in 2003, LaVell Blanchard in 2000, Maurice Taylor in 1995, Chris Webber in 1992 and Gary Grant in 1986. "It is an absolute honor to earn the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year award," Brazdeikis said in a statement released by U-M. "I cannot thank Coach [John] Beilein, the staff and my teammates enough for helping me throughout this first year and to get into a position to be considered for this award. "We have had a lot of success, but we aren't done just yet." Brazdeikis was Michigan's leading scorer during the regular season with 15.0 points per game, and he shot 46.6 from the field and 41.7 percent from deep. In addition to Freshman of the Year honors, he was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team — the first Wolverine to do so since Derrick Walton in 2014. Junior point guard Zavier Simpson was also named sec- ond-team All-Big Ten by both the media and the coaches. He started all 31 regular-season games this season, and averaged 9.1 points, 6.3 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest. Simpson, who is a semifinalist for the Naismith De- fensive Player of the Year award, also was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team by the coaches. It was just the third time in program history that a U-M player had earned a spot on that squad. The other two Wolverines to do so were Ekpe Udoh in 2008 and Jordan Morgan in 2013. Sophomore guard Jordan Poole and junior center Jon Teske were named honorable mention All-Big Ten by the coaches and the media, while redshirt junior guard Charles Matthews received honorable mention accolades from the media. Poole started all 31 regular-season games and was sec- ond on the team in scoring with 13.0 points per outing. He shot 38.0 percent from three-point range and his 65 made treys were the most on the team. He also was second on the team with 64 assists, behind only Simpson (194). Teske also started in every game this season and was fourth on the team in scoring with 9.7 points per contest. He was the Wolverines' leading rebounder at 6.7 boards per game and had the best field goal percentage (51.8 per- cent) among U-M's key contributors. Matthews averaged 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game during the regular season, to go along with his stout defense. Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers was U-M's Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree. He played in 29 games during the regular season, and started the last three with Mat- thews out due to injury. Livers averaged 7.5 points per game and shot 43.0 percent from behind the three-point arc and 47.4 percent overall. ❑ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Five Wolverines Earn Big Ten Honors Forward Ignas Brazdeikis became the seventh player to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors for the Wolverines, and he also was tabbed as a second-team all-league selection. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL

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