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