The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1351834
HOW SWEET IT IS During his time at Columbia, point guard Mike Smith started 91 of the 92 games he appeared in and finished among the program's top 10 in several career catego- ries, including second in assists, field goal attempts and three-point shots, and fifth in scoring average. However, he played on four teams that had a com- bined record of 35-77 and a mark of 16-40 in Ivy League action. Smith had never been on a team with a winning record, and because only the top four teams in the conference qualify for its end-of-season tournament, he had never played in a postseason game before coming to Michigan. That made U-M's regular-season Big Ten title extra special for Smith, who also shined in his first postseason opportunity. Against Maryland, who put Big Ten Defen- sive Player of the Year Darryl Morsell on U-M's graduate transfer, Smith set a Big Ten Tournament record with 15 assists, in addition to scoring a team-high 18 points and not recording a turnover. Smith either scored or assisted on 57 of his team's 79 points (72.2 percent) and led the Wolverines to a 79-66 victory in the quarterfinals. "The little point guard was terrific," Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said. "He was terrific the whole game. He totally controlled the game." PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL