The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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BASKETBALL RECRUITING with 26 points in a 67-66 win. The reigning D-I State Player of the Year was critical down the stretch. "We found out who could guard," Spartans coach Quincey Simpson, Xavier's dad, told The Toledo Blade of his team's rally. "We found who had some fight. We found out who could collectively do things the right way." Simpson was one of them. He scored 14 of his 26 points over the final 11 minutes after St. John's had built its 17-point lead. "Xavier is real good," St. John's coach Ed Heintschel said. "We've played against some great guards, and he's among the very best. He just makes things happen. "He gets to the lane and gets in- credibly easy shots. We were work- ing hard to defend him, but he just makes it difficult." AUSTIN DAVIS, 6-10 PF Onsted (Mich.) High Rivals.com three-star prospect nationally Davis and his team got off to a good start Dec. 8 with a 61-35 road win over Napoleon (Mich.) High in Onsted (Mich.) High's first game. Davis tallied 23 points on nine field goals and posted 11 rebounds. "It's always a tough place to play," Onsted coach Brad Maska told MLive.com. "We didn't get going in the first half, but Austin got us going and the defense played to their capa- bilities in the second half. It's a good start to the season. "We expect him to lead the way, but the good thing tonight is we had others complement him." Davis has lost more than 50 pounds since last year and is down to 232 on the scales. JORDAN POOLE, 6-3 SG Milwaukee Rufus King Rivals.com four-star prospect, No. 104 junior nationally Poole got his season off to a great start, scoring 25 points and going 12 of 14 from the free throw line in an 82-59 win over West Allis (Wis.) Cen- tral Nov. 27. He made two straight hoops after Central cut a big lead to 60-55. "Our guys don't play together all year, except during the season, so they're trying to find out what niche Poole, who is rated as the No. 104 overall prospect in the class of 2017 by Rivals.com, averaged 19.8 points per game to propel Milwaukee Rufus King to a 4-0 start. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM