The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN BASKETBALL BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK • Michigan's 77-66 win over Bradley at Crisler Arena on Dec. 22 gave the Wolverines a 6-1 all-time series record against the visi- tors. John Beilein's son, Patrick, serves as Bradley's director of basketball operations, and the game marked the first time the two of them were on opposite sides of a basketball contest. • The Wolverines established a season high with 25 assists in the victory over Bradley. They also committed a season-low six turnovers, improving on their previous best of nine in the loss to Duke on Nov. 22. • Sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz knocked down a career-high five three-pointers in the win over Bradley. He topped his previous best of four triples, set in Michigan's December victory over Oakland University. He also tied his career high with 20 points, matching his total against Oakland. • Sophomore forward Tim Hardaway Jr. tied a career high with five assists against Bradley. Senior Stu Douglass notched a season-high six assists in the win. • Senior Zack Novak started the 100th game of over the Badgers, while Douglass tied a career high with five steals. • Michigan won its first overtime game of the year in taking down Northwestern, 66-64, at Crisler Arena on Jan. 11. The game bumped Beilein to 7-2 in overtime games in his Michi- gan career, and the Wolverines to 104-56 in the all-time series against the Wildcats. • Douglass recorded a pair of steals against the Wildcats. That gave him 100 for his career, the senior becoming only the 19th player in Michigan history to hit that mark. • The Wolverines connected on a season-low 33.3 HARDAWAY his career against Bradley. Only 18 Michigan players have ever reached triple digits in starts. • Michigan's 71-53 win over Penn State on Dec. 29 marked U-M's first victory in a Big Ten opener since the 2006-07 cam- paign, when the Wolverines led off with a home triumph over Illinois. Michigan now leads the all-time series between the schools, 26-11. • The Wolverines put away the Nittany Lions in part by con- necting on 86.7 percent from the free throw line. The last time U-M proved that consistent at the stripe was in last year's NCAA Tournament, when it went 10 of 11 (90.9 percent) against Duke. • Michigan moved to 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time under Beilein with its 61-56 win over Minnesota on Jan. 1. The Wol- verines upped their all-time advantage over the Gophers in the series between the two teams to 84-65. • Freshman guard Trey Burke scored a career-high 27 points in the win over the Gophers. He also established a career best by connecting on nine free throws, and tied his career mark with eight made field goals. • Redshirt sophomore Jordan Morgan pulled down a ca- reer-high 12 rebounds in the win over Minnesota. The dozen boards represented the most by any Michigan player in a game this season. • Michigan fell to 55-101 in the all-time series with Indiana, following a 73-71 loss in Bloomington on Jan. 6. While Beilein is a respectable 3-4 against the Hoosiers, Michigan stands 12-63 in contests played at Assembly Hall. • Hardaway tied a career high with three steals against the Hoosiers. Burke established a career high with seven rebounds in the contest. • The Wolverines upped their all-time record to 90-64 against Wisconsin, with a 59-41 victory at Crisler Arena on Jan. 8. Beilein nailed down the first win of his career against the Badgers. • The 41 points Wisconsin scored proved well off its average of 68 coming into the game. It also represented the lowest total by a U-M opponent since Minnesota scored only 40 in the opening round of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament. • Hardaway tied a career high with 10 rebounds in the win percent (22 of 66) from the field in the Northwest- ern contest, but managed a season-high 93.8 per- cent (15 of 16) at the free throw line. They went 8 of 8 at the line to salt the game away in overtime. Michigan also caused Northwestern to commit a season-high 16 turnovers. • Michigan's 6-0 effort in December represented the first time since 1989-90 that the Wolverines did not lose a game in that month. That year, coming off a national championship, U-M went through the month at 8-0, including beating Duke, 113-108, on the way to a 23-8 overall record and a 12-6 (third-place) finish in the Big Ten. • The Wolverines had won six straight games over Iowa prior to losing, 75-59, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 14. The Wol- verines stand 89-58 in the all-time series against the Hawkeyes. • Through games of Jan. 15, Hardaway stood seventh in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game. Burke checked in at 12th in the conference, averaging 14.3 points per contest. • Smotrycz made it to mid-January No. 6 in the Big Ten in rebounding, averaging 6.3 per game. Morgan was 10th in the league, averaging 5.7. Morgan also ranked second in field goal percentage, at 64.8, while Novak was 15th at 49.2. • Burke stood third in average assists in the Big Ten, doling out 4.9 per game. That trailed only Penn State's Tim Frazier (6.6) and Ohio State's Aaron Craft (5.3). Burke also represented the only Michigan player in the league's top 15 in free throw percent- age, standing No. 12 at 76.2 percent. • Despite recent struggles, Smotrycz reached mid-January fifth in the Big Ten in three-point shooting, at 45.8 percent. Hardaway tied for 10th in the conference in three-pointers made on average (1.7 per game), while Burke stood 13th (1.6) and Smotrycz 15th (1.5). • Burke ranked No. 6 in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio, at 1.9. Northwestern's Dave Sobolewski (4.2) led the confer- ence. U-M's freshman point guard also stood fifth in the league in average minutes played (34.3), while Novak tied for eighth (32.9). • Michigan's "Maize Rage" student section is one of 79 such across the nation competing for the inaugural Naismith Stu- dent Section of the Year Award. Fans can vote for the student section of their choice by visiting www.facebook.com/Ilove- CollegeHoops. The winning student section will be determined via two rounds of public votes, combined with a Naismith Awards Board of Selectors' scoring of the finalists. The board will con- sider the section's name and attendance, photos, video and a written submission by the nominating school. FEBRUARY 2012 THE WOLVERINE 57