The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/629217
MICHIGAN BASKETBALL block a shot and keep my man off the boards. I do the little things to help our team win. When you have good games, your confidence builds, you build off of that." The Wolverine: The team seems to be further along at this point than it was last year, even without senior shooting guard Caris LeVert. What do you attribute that to? Donnal: "Some things, last year, we weren't necessarily picking up as quickly as we have this year. I think that kind of comes with experience. Some guys are just adapting to the game a little bit better, learning things and processing things more quickly … "We have a 'next man up' mental- ity. Mo [sophomore Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman] has done a good job [starting for LeVert]. We are looking forward to Caris being back, but until then it's next man up." The Wolverine: You look much more comfortable now than you have at any point in your career … Donnal: "Yeah, I'm just trying to go out and play my game. It comes with experience, I guess. I've learned from my mistakes in the past, am playing my role, doing what I can do for the team. I think it's shown against some premier competition, against Purdue and a good Maryland team. "My role has stayed the same throughout the year. I'm just trying to embrace that and do the best I can to do my job." The Wolverine: Is it that you have more confidence or that you've gotten more opportunity to show what you can do on the floor? Donnal: "Definitely a bit of both — more confidence and more oppor- tunity. When you have the outside shooters we do, it kind of opens up the inside. [Redshirt sophomore] Dun- can Robinson and [ junior] Zak Irvin have thrown me good passes down low … teammates are just finding me, and I'm trying to be in good position to finish around the basket. They are finding me and I'm getting easy buck- ets. "It's always good to see the ball go in the basket. Once that first basket goes in, the confidence gets going." The Wolverine: What does the win over Maryland do for this team? Donnal: "It shows we can play with anybody, which we kind of knew be- cause we were close in a lot of games, even last year. This year we're showing how special this team is — that we can hang with the top-ranked teams in the nation." BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK • Michigan surrendered just 33 points in a rout over Delaware State Dec. 12 at Crisler Arena, with the Wolverines scoring 80 themselves. The 33 points allowed marked the lowest total given up by John Beilein's crew since Ferris State man- aged 33 in the opening game of the 2011-12 campaign.