The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/763983
JANUARY 2017 THE WOLVERINE 49 MICHIGAN BASKETBALL shot. He's also starting to learn where to go on the court. "Defensively, I think I'm still in progress," Wagner said. "There's a lot to improve. But I've been work- ing on it … we've been working on it very intensely. I'm giving my best, and communicating is a big part. "I'm getting there. Most of the time I know where I am, but the coaches want me to be somewhere else. That's the problem most of the time … but I'm getting a lot more comfortable." He's learning how to block shots for the first time in his life, Beilelin said. "He's learning when to leave his feet and when he shouldn't and to be a bigger presence at the rim, so I'm re- ally pleased with his development," Beilein said. "He'll ask me questions — we joke about the language barrier, but there's a lot going on in that huddle that is English. He's very good in Ger- man, but I think we take it for granted. "He misses some things here and there that I'm picking up more on. We've got to explain it more." It's coming, though, slowly but surely. REDSHIRTS ARE PERFORMING WELL IN PRACTICE Michigan's two players redshirt- ing this year, freshman center Austin Davis and redshirt freshman wing and Kentucky transfer Charles Mat- thews, are playing very well in prac- tice, head coach John Beilein said in early December. "Austin continues to have tape delay for a freshman, just like every other freshman. It's typical of every freshman," Beilein said. "Charles has been not a pleasant surprise, but just a pleasure to coach every minute. He's so driven. On game day he does his lifting, Charles is in with [assistant] Billy [Donlon] and Austin working on his ball screen development. "We do a lot of things through Zak and Derrick right now, and that's go- ing to be a void. We need Charles to come in and play that role [next year]." ❏ MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Redshirt sophomore forward D.J. Wilson notched his first career double-dou- ble (10 points and 12 rebounds) in Michigan's 2K Classic victory over Marquette in Madison Square Gar- den Nov. 17. • Senior for ward Zak Irvin earned 2K Classic Championship Round MVP honors after scoring 16 points in the both the semifinals and the final in Madison Square Gar- den. Senior guard Der- rick Walton Jr. and junior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman joined Irvin on the all-tourna- ment squad. • Michigan fell to 7-9 all time in the ACC-Big Ten Tournament after losing to Virginia Tech at Crisler Center Nov. 30. The Wol- verines are 4-4 at home in those games. • T h e W o l v e r i n e s ' 27-point win over Ken- nesaw State at Crisler Center Dec. 3 marked its largest margin of victory over the season. • Walton recorded a season-high eight assists in the Dec. 3 win over Kennesaw State, while the Wolverines shot a season-high 56.6 percent (30 of 53). • Redshirt junior forward Duncan Robinson reached the 1,000th point of his college career versus Kennesaw State. He scored 548 points at Williams College before coming to Michigan, where he has netted an additional 492 through the first 11 games of this season. • Michigan scored its first 18 points from three-point range in its 102-84 loss at UCLA Dec. 10. The teams combined to connect on 22 three-pointers in the first half, a season high by the Wolverines and an opponent. • U-M established new season highs in three-point shooting (53.8 percent, 14 of 26) and free throw shooting (92.3 percent, 12 of 13) in the loss at UCLA. Irvin notched a season-high four three-pointers in that game. • Freshman center Jon Teske grabbed a career-high three rebounds in Michi- gan's Dec. 10 loss at South Carolina. • Freshman forward Ibi Watson scored a career-high four points in Michigan's Nov. 17 win over Marquette. MICHIGAN BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2016-17 Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time Nov. 4 Armstrong State! W, 77-49 Nov. 11 Howard* W, 76-58 Nov. 13 IUPUI* W, 77-65 Nov. 17 vs. Marquette^ W, 79-61 Nov. 18 vs. SMU^ W, 76-54 Nov. 23 at South Carolina L, 61-46 Nov. 26 Mount St. Mary's W, 64-47 Nov. 30 Virginia Tech# L, 73-70 Dec. 3 Kennesaw State W, 82-55 Dec. 6 Texas W, 53-50 Dec. 10 at UCLA L, 102-84 Dec. 13 Central Arkansas W, 97-53 Dec. 17 Maryland E. Shore (BTN) 3 p.m. Dec. 22 Furman (BTN) 7 p.m. Jan. 1 at Iowa (BTN) TBA Jan. 4 Penn State (BTN) 8:30 p.m. Jan. 7 Maryland (ESPN2) 3:15 p.m. Jan. 11 at Illinois (BTN) 9 p.m. Jan. 14 Nebraska (BTN) 2 p.m. Jan. 17 at Wisconsin (ESPN) 8 p.m. Jan. 21 Illinois (BTN) 2:15 p.m. Jan. 26 Indiana (ESPN2) 9 p.m. Jan. 29 at Michigan State (CBS) 1 p.m. Feb. 4 Ohio State (ESPN2) 6 p.m. Feb. 7 Michigan State (ESPN/2) 9 p.m. Feb. 12 at Indiana (CBS) 1 p.m. Feb. 16 Wisconsin (ESPN/2) 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at Minnesota (CBS or BTN) TBA Feb. 22 at Rutgers (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Feb. 25 Purdue (ESPN/2) TBA Mar. 1 at Northwestern (BTN) 7 p.m. Mar. 5 at Nebraska (BTN) 8 p.m. March 8-12 Big Ten Tournament$ TBD ! Exhibition; * 2K Classic Ann Arbor regional; ^ 2K Classic championship round at Madison Square Garden in New York; # ACC-Big Ten Challenge; $ at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Senior forward Zak Irvin earned 2K Classic Championship Round MVP honors after notching 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the wins over Marquette and SMU at Madison Square Garden. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL