The Wolverine

March 2012

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/70101

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 86 of 115

S connected on a lot of clutch shots in his basketball career, from Nerf ball flings as a kid to a four-point play helping the Wolverines sink Michigan State at Crisler Arena this season. He's just never ranked the top five tu Douglass pondered the question intensely and delib- erately, having never fielded this particular inquiry. He's BY JOHN BORTON makes. "It's hard," he admitted. That's good, because it means there's a broad selection. He's been knocking them down for a long time, and now as a senior captain — a handful of games removed from his third NCAA Tournament in four years — it's time to start sorting ev- erything out. The fifth-most prolific three-point shot maker in the history of Michi- gan basketball has bigger fish to fry, of course. There's the fight for the upper reaches of the Big Ten, the conference tournament and the final crack at The Big Dance. In other words, Douglass hopes his biggest and best shots have yet to be taken. But he played along, taking a brief Michigan fan remembers this one. The Wolverines hadn't won at the Breslin Center since 1997, making Jan. 27, 2011, one intense evening. The Wolverines clung to a tenuous 57-55 lead in the final minute, amid the raucous shrieks of those begging for a collapse. Douglass didn't let it happen. He let fly from the right side, extend- ing to launch the history-making shot over MSU's lunging Draymond Green. It made the net dance with 22 seconds remaining, and Michigan basketball fans began dancing along. After a 1-6 start in Big Ten play, Michigan embarked on a mission, all the way to the NCAA Tournament. "It just seemed to spark us, that whole win," Douglass said. "I don't know if it was responsible for us Douglass has matured into a team leader, and is the Wolverines' best on-ball defender and a constant three-point threat. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL timeout from the push toward the finish to consider what's happened along the way. The makes he'll never forget are as follows: 1. Spartans Speared — Every winning the game or not. You can't necessarily call it a game-winning shot, but it was a turning point for the season. "Coach B.A. [Bacari Alexander] and Coach [Jeff] Meyer like to joke that I'm the reason they still have their jobs." 2. Bruins Beater — Douglass was a SENIOR SAVVY mere freshman when the Wolverines took on No. 4 UCLA in the Coaches vs. Cancer championship game in New York's Madison Square Garden. U-M trailed in the closing moments, but Douglass' clutch three provided a 49-47 lead the Wolverines wouldn't relinquish in a 55-52 win. one's more of a sequence, but Dou- glass canned a deep three and right afterward threw down a rare dunk in Michigan's 75-45 humiliation of Tennessee in last year's NCAA Tour- nament. Some predicted the highly athletic Volunteers would roll over the Wolverines, but that notion didn't last a half. Stu Douglass Is Ready For Career Home Stretch den is something you can't really replicate anywhere else," he admit- ted. "There are a lot of great places to play in the Big Ten, but Madison Square Garden is special. I've always wanted to go back there. "I remember playing with a lot "Playing at Madison Square Gar- everybody on ESPN say, 'There's no way they're going to be able to beat Tennessee. We feel bad for Michigan. Tennessee has so much motivation,' and all that stuff. "Then we end up beating them by Douglass recalled: "You'd heard of confidence. I don't know why I was so confident, being a freshman and playing UCLA. People probably didn't expect it when I hit that big shot. It was pretty deep, from NBA range. It felt good, especially to see it on the SportsCenter highlights for the first time." 3. Prep Days — Douglass was only a sophomore when his Carmel, Ind., squad took on future Indiana University star Eric Gordon and prep powerhouse North Central in the state sectionals. Carmel dug a hole and couldn't scramble all the way back, but Douglass' five three- pointers in the second half made it a game, and one proved especially memorable. "I was coming off a double stack the largest margin of victory for the seed difference. I felt that sequence kind of put the nail in their coffin. It just felt good. "In film the next day, Coach [John Beilein] showed it. He'd been harp- ing on me about scooting in, scooting in, raising my percentage by getting closer to the line. I shot it from re- ally deep, past the NBA line. Usually he'll go over a play like three or four times. It will take forever, because he's going over the play evaluating it. We watched that once. He didn't say anything, and when the shot went in, he said, 'Scoot in,' and then went to the next play. "It was kind of funny. Everybody laughed." 5. Middle-School Madness — on the left side, and Eric was guard- ing me, trailing the screen," Doug- lass recalled. "I caught it a few feet beyond NBA range. I just turned and flicked it up like I was Kobe [Bryant], shooting a fade-away. Hitting it over Gordon and seeing it drop — that always stuck in my mind. Channel 4 News in Indianapolis highlighted a "Play of the Week" in its broadcasts, drawn from sub- mitted videotapes. Douglass' first head-shaking make occurred before he ever hit high school. "One day, we were winning the game by about eight with a minute left," Douglass recalled. "It was de- MARCH 2012 THE WOLVERINE 87 little kid was guarding me, one of their seniors. He was telling me he was going to shut me down. At the end of the game, he said, 'Hold your head up high. You're the only reason you were in the game.'" 4. Involuntary Destruction — This "At the beginning of the half, this

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Wolverine - March 2012