6A — Thursday, December 8, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wagner rises to occasion during winning time

Michigan coach John Beilein 

wanted to take Moritz Wagner 
off the floor.

In crunch time against Texas 

on Tuesday, Beilein thought 
senior forward Mark Donnal 
would 
be 
the 
more 
viable 

defensive option to prevent the 
Wolverines from suffering their 
second heartbreaking loss in 
seven days.

But 
assistant 
coach 
Billy 

Donlon had a different idea. 
Donlon convinced Beilein to 
keep Wagner in the lineup 
down 
the 
stretch 
because 

the sophomore forward was 
hedging the ball screen well.

In return for his confidence, 

Beilein received the ultimate 
payoff.

Down one, the Longhorns 

inbounded the ball to Eric Davis 
Jr. on the right wing with 9.5 
seconds left. He dribbled around 
the arc and down the lane and — 
as he revealed after the game — 
expected the play to give him an 
open layup.

He was met by Wagner 

instead. Rather than sticking 
with his original man, Shaquille 
Cleare, Wagner switched onto 
Davis after noticing the Texas 
guard wasn’t even looking in the 
direction of his rolling big man.

Wagner let Davis pull up 

for the contested shot, waited 
for gravity to start pulling him 
down and then blocked the 
attempt with just under six 

seconds left.

At the end of it all, Beilein’s 

faith in his assistant’s advice put 
Michigan on the right side of a 
nail biter. 

And 
his 
faith 
didn’t 
go 

unnoticed by Wagner either. In 
a young season where Wagner 
is still working on his defensive 
game, calling his block an 
“instinct play” in the postgame 
interview was a sign of progress. 
After all, his play on the 
defensive end has essentially 
been the only reason he isn’t 
averaging more than his 18.8 
minutes per game.

“Obviously it takes a lot of 

experience, and it helps me a 
lot that I know that people trust 
me out there,” Wagner said 
Tuesday night. “And that not 
every mistake (means) I’ve got 
to think about everything, that I 
can play with my instincts. That 
helps me a lot.”

Once 
junior 
guard 

Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-

Rahkman had secured the ball 
and earned a trip to the charity 
stripe 
after 
the 
block, 
the 

Wolverines had all but put the 
game on ice. Wagner wasn’t shy 
about his excitement.

The 
6-foot-11 
forward 

marched to the scorer’s table 
like a man possessed, fist-
pumping and chest-pounding 
his way down the sideline as 
he screamed toward the Maize 
Rage section that had just 
erupted into pandemonium.

The exuberant enthusiasm 

is nothing new from Wagner, 

though 
the 
moment 
felt 

different given that he was the 
hero of the night. But to him, it 
was a lot simpler than that, and 
to Beilein, this team is going to 
need that spark.

“I’m just so happy when we 

win,” Wagner said with a smile. 
“I can’t really control that.”

Added Beilein: “This is a team 

that their personality does not 
exude that type of excitement. 
We’re a little bit laid back. We 
don’t want it to show. … Zak 
Irvin gives us a lot of that. But 
after that, there’s a big dropoff of 
guys that it’s not natural to them. 
Moe, it’s very natural to him, and 
it’s very helpful to the team.”

And in case the energy and 

game-clinching 
block 
weren’t 

enough, Wagner put on the same 
offensive show that has been in 
his arsenal since his freshman 
year to win the game for Michigan 
on the other end as well.

With 25.2 seconds on the 

clock, and the Wolverines down 
one, senior wing Zak Irvin got 
the ball at the top of the key. 
Wagner set a screen and rolled 
to the rim as Irvin dribbled to 
the right block and went up for a 
doubly contested reverse layup.

The ball bounced off the 

backboard, but Wagner had 
been wedging his man the entire 
time. He corralled the rebound 
and kissed the ball off the glass 
as he was falling under the 
basket, giving Michigan its final 
lead with 20 seconds remaining.

“I got the rebound and didn’t 

really see the basket to be 
honest,” Wagner said. “Trusted 
myself a little bit, and it went in.”

After the game, Texas coach 

Shaka Smart praised Wagner’s 
versatility on both ends of the 
court, even going so far as to call 
him the best player on the floor.

But in reality, the best player 

on the floor almost sat out 
the final minutes in the first 
place. Without Donlon’s advice, 
it would have been Donnal 
checking in during crunch time.

Maybe Donnal would have 

hit the go-ahead basket and 
rejected Davis’ shot, too, but 
there’s no way for Beilein to 
know.

What he does know, though: 

he finally went with Wagner 
in winning time, and boy, did 
it look like he was meant to be 
there. 

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Sophomore forward Moritz Wagner played a major role in crunch time during Michigan’s 53-50 victory over Texas at Crisler Center on Tuesday night.

KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Editor

