The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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28 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2021 MICHIGAN BASKETBALL wrong and should have taken a bet- ter approach. "I want to first apologize to my team, and I did in the locker room, for my actions. That's not the way you handle situations like that in ad- verse moments," he said. "You can't let your emotions get the best of you. "I love the fact that all our guys stepped up and supported their coach. They know I always support them. But I'm always going to take ownership when I'm wrong and ad- mit when I'm wrong. That's not the right way to handle that situation." The Wolverines supported their coach by winning the game, and they supported him while speaking pub- licly afterwards, saying they appreci- ate his passion and the way in which he sticks up for his players. "Coach is a competitive guy and it got competitive," fifth-year senior guard Mike Smith said. "We knew we had to have his back." "We wanted to do it for him," senior guard Chaundee Brown Jr. added. "He has our back and we have his. We bonded as a team — even the bench guys, we were all in it together. "I don't know what was said be- cause we were all so locked into the game. We just knew we had to have our coach's back." — Clayton Sayfie MIKE SMITH SHINES IN POSTSEASON DEBUT Michigan fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith, a Columbia grad- uate transfer, had played college basketball for nearly five complete seasons before appearing in a post- season game. Due to the nature of the Ivy League, which holds a four-team playoff instead of a traditional con- ference tournament, and the fact that Columbia had a losing record each of Smith's four seasons with the pro- gram (and 35-77 mark overall), he never got the opportunity to play for something bigger than a regular- season contest. That changed March 12, when U-M beat Maryland in the Big Ten Tourna- ment quarterfinals, 79-66. Smith left his mark in his postsea- son debut, scoring 18 points on 6-of- 14 shooting from the field, including makes on both of his three-point at- tempts, and dishing out a Big Ten Tournament-record 15 assists. He didn't turn the ball over and finished with a plus-23 plus/minus rating, with his point total one off the game high. "I wanted to take it all in," Smith said after the historic performance. "I walked into the stadium and it was just a blessing to play here in the Colts' arena at Lucas Oil Stadium, and have fans here. "Shout out to the fans who sup- ported Michigan today. I've never had the opportunity to play in the postseason." While he did lead the Wolverines in scoring against the Terrapins, scor- ing hasn't been his primary focus this season, after topping the Ivy League in points per game a year ago (22.8). He attempted 19.3 shots per contest with the Lions but has transformed his game and morphed seamlessly into the role of facilitator head coach Juwan Howard has asked him to play for the Maize and Blue. Coming out of the Big Ten Tournament, Smith was leading the league with 5.4 as- sists per outing on the season. "It says a lot about Mike's charac- ter and about how he wants to accept winning and put winning first and put the team first before his own in- dividual stats," Howard said. With senior forward Isaiah Livers out indefinitely with a foot injury, his role as a playmaker is likely to expand even more. — Clayton Sayfie U-M EARNS NO. 1 NCAA SEED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE JUWAN HOWARD WAS A PLAYER Even though head coach Juwan Howard hadn't coached in an NCAA Tournament game until this season, after last year's postseason was can- celed, he knows what it's like to be a No. 1 seed. In the sophomore season of his All-American career in Ann Ar- bor (1992-94), the Wolverines were on the top line before eventually ad- vancing to the national championship game and falling to North Carolina. "It made me feel great. I was ex- cited to see that we were seeded No. 1, because it proved that this team — and I repeat, the team, the players, the staff — worked so hard to get to this point the entire year," Howard said on Selection Sunday. "It's been a very long journey. At times, it's been stressful, but there have been a lot of highs outweighing the lows." While there's certainly excitement about the accomplishment, he admit- ted he's a bit more subdued about it as a coach than he was as a player. Even after a regular-season Big Ten championship and plenty of winning throughout the year, he pointed out that the ultimate goal of being na- tional champions is what he came back to U-M to accomplish. "There are a lot of different emo- tions going on as a player," Howard explained. "You feel really excited, you worked so hard leading up to this point, and every college basket- ball player wants to get to the tourna- ment because you want to win — the ultimate goal is to win the champion- ship and cut down the nets. "Now, as a coach, I get that oppor- tunity again. I will never forget, go- ing back to my [introductory] press conference, when I said [I had] 'un- finished business.' This is the unfin- ished business." — Clayton Sayfie 2020-21 U-M MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Results/Time (ET) Nov. 25 Bowling Green W, 96-82 Nov. 29 Oakland W, 81-71 (OT) Dec. 2 Ball State W, 84-65 Dec. 6 Central Florida W, 80-58 Dec. 9 Toledo W, 91-71 Dec. 13 Penn State* W, 62-58 Dec. 25 at Nebraska* W, 80-69 Dec. 31 at Maryland* W, 84-73 Jan. 3 Northwestern* W, 85-66 Jan. 6 Minnesota* W, 82-57 Jan. 12 Wisconsin* W, 77-54 Jan. 16 at Minnesota* L, 75-57 Jan. 19 Maryland* W, 87-63 Jan. 22 at Purdue* W, 70-53 Jan. 27 at Penn State* Canceled Jan. 30 Indiana* Canceled Feb. 3 at Northwestern* Canceled Feb. 14 at Wisconsin* W, 67-59 Feb. 18 Rutgers* W, 71-64 Feb. 21 at Ohio State* W, 92-87 Feb. 25 Iowa* W, 79-57 Feb. 27 at Indiana* W, 73-57 Mar. 2 Illinois* L, 76-53 Mar. 4 Michigan State * W, 69-50 Mar. 7 at Michigan State* L, 70-64 Mar. 11 vs. Maryland^ W, 79-66 Mar. 12 vs. Ohio State^ L, 68-67 Mar. 20 vs. Mount St. Mary's/ Texas Southern$ 3 p.m. Mar. 22 vs. LSU/St. Bonaventure$ TBD * Big Ten game; ^ Big Ten Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; $ NCAA Tournament first and second rounds in West Lafayette, Ind.