The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/122487
michigan basketball considerably in the wake of the Final Four. And why not? He stepped up to connect on a pair of clutch three-pointers in the national semifinal against Syracuse, helping boost Michigan into the championship game. Once there, Albrecht executed one of the most jaw-dropping halves of basketball by a relatively unheralded rookie in tournament history. In the absence of foul-plagued National Player of the Year Trey Burke, Albrecht bombed in all four of his three-point attempts, slashed to the basket for more buckets, handled the basketball superbly and created a huge buzz on his way to 17 points at the half. "I have so much trust in that young man and the roll he's been on," U-M head coach John Beilein said. "In the early-season practices, Spike's team always won. They always won … "I have so much confidence in him, I don't have to tell him anything. He and I must think a lot alike, because he's got so much confidence." The first-half surge against mighty Louisville certainly didn't do anything to dent his confidence. Even though he didn't score after halftime, and even though the Wolverines came out on the short end of the final score, Albrecht admitted feeling good about his contribution to Michigan's final effort. "That was probably back to high school days," Albrecht admitted. "Trey, with two fouls — Coach Beilein doesn't play guys with two fouls in the first half, so I knew I was in the rest of the half. I was just fortunately hitting shots. Teammates were finding me." Albrecht was finding the basket, just like he'd done the entire tournament when given a shot. No one had come off the bench to score as many as 17 points in an NCAA championship game since 2004 (Louisville's Luke Hancock left the bench to unleash 22 in this one as well). Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Albrecht had scored 48 points his first season with the Wolverines. The rookie out of Crown Point, Ind., fired in 36 in the tournament, including 17 in the championship contest. The latter mark destroyed his career high, which stood at seven points, from the Jan. 13 Ohio State game. Albrecht also went 9 of 9 on threepointers in the tournament before missing his final attempt in the Louisville game. He'd knocked down nine three-pointers on the entire season prior to The Big Dance. Despite disappointment in the loss, teammates hailed what Albrecht gave to the effort. "If there was a point guard I want coming off the bench, it's Spike Albrecht," Burke said. "Each and every game he's going to give you 110 percent effort. He's going to make plays for you. He may not win the look test, but he's going to make plays for this team. "He has a bright future ahead of him. I wasn't surprised by his performance today. We see him do things in practice a lot. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it done today as a team." Albrecht tried to shift the focus off