The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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34 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JUNE/JULY 2023 BY JOHN BORTON T he last two seasons provided the perfect do/don't do di- chotomy for new Wolverine Tray Jackson, according to one who watched his game up close. The 6-foot-10, 210-pound junior from Detroit fits a certain role, said Jerry Carino of the Asbury Park Press. Ca- rino covers both Seton Hall — Jackson's home the past three seasons — and Rut- gers, giving the reporter extensive Big Ten knowledge. Carino insists Jackson represents a spot-up, three-point shooting wing, creating mismatches with his consider- able length. He's seen it work. "He came to Seton Hall and he sat the COVID year," Carino recalled. "He played two years ago, and Kevin Willard — the coach at time, now at Maryland — used him off the bench as a three, sort of a wing guard, wing forward, strictly as a spot-up shooter. He's a guy who could get buckets from deep and create mismatches. "He played really well at Michigan. There were three or four games that Tray came in and did well. Creighton was one of them, Michigan was one of them. Tray came in and completely changed the game. He made 3 or 4 threes." Jackson certainly grabbed Juwan Howard's attention in the 2021-22 non- conference game against Seton Hall. At Crisler Center, Jackson dropped a per- fect 3 of 3 from beyond the arc on his way to 13 points and 6 rebounds in the Pirates' 67-65 win. That same season, Jackson's 21 points, 5 threes and career-high 7 rebounds helped Seton Hall in a Big East battle against Georgetown. His 16 points and 4 triples stood out against Villanova. "You couldn't match up with him," Carino noted. "He's 6-10 and he's got a great shooting stroke. They'd have two guards and wings out on him, and he'd shoot over them. When he got hot, it was huge points off the bench. "He was really successful in that role. That's what they needed him for, and he'd play however many minutes a game. Sometimes they didn't need much. But when they needed instant offense and a mismatch on the perim- eter, they'd bring him in. "He was good at that. It was a suc- cessful use of him — an off-the-bench mismatch three guy. He was a spot-up shooter. That's what he did." That's what he did until last season, when new Seton Hall head coach Sha- heen Holloway got caught short — liter- ally — on personnel. Holloway found himself with two bigs on the roster. One of them blew out a knee, and Carino described the rest of the roster as "miniscule." That didn't bode well for a 6-foot-10 spot-up shooter. "They had him playing backup cen- ter," Carino said, " because they only had two guys taller than 6-foot-6 on the team. You can't really survive the Big East that way. Somebody had to guard the paint. "He had Tyrese Samuel, who is really a power forward, as his starting center, then Tray, who's really a three, as the backup. It was not a good situation." Jackson averaged 6.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 29 contests, but clearly proved a fish out of water in a big man role as a senior. In all likelihood, that is what led to him looking around after the season and throwing in with Howard & Co. at Michigan. "Part of it is, he was miscast," Carino said. "Part of it is, Tray wanted no part of the position." INSTANT OFFENSE Tray Jackson Can Create Mismatches On The Perimeter Jackson averaged 6.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest last season for Seton Hall. The 6-foot-10 wing man shot 38 percent from three-point range in two seasons with the Pirates. PHOTO COURTESY SETON HALL ATHLETICS 2023 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE