2B — February 24, 2020
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
O
n Feb. 3rd, Franz Wagner
came out for his media
availability and settled
near the back
right corner
of the Crisler
Center media
room. Michi-
gan was com-
ing off a win
at Madison
Square Gar-
den. Wagner
had just been
named Big Ten
Freshman of
the Week.
You never know how those
scrums will go; which ones will
descend to meaningless platitudes
and which ones will lend some
insight into a person.
That day you could tell Wagner
was just starting to figure it all out.
How to play college basketball.
How to be a college student. How
to interact with the media. He
opened up about some of the subtle
differences between the Euro
game and Big Ten basketball, how
he’s evolved as a player and some
of the challenges he’d faced.
“I think I’m starting — not
starting,” Wagner said then, inter-
rupting his sentence. “You can see
I’m more comfortable as the sea-
son continues to go on.”
A year ago, Wagner was a
17-year-old playing professional
basketball in a country over 4,000
miles away. Then, right before
making a life-altering decision, the
coach he’d communicated with
for years picked up and left town.
Within two months, the new
coach secured his commitment
anyway, undoubtedly with some
help from big brother. Then, right
before a freshman season that
could’ve vaulted him to the NBA,
Wagner, bearing a reputation as a
deadeye shooter, broke his shoot-
ing wrist.
His return came against Iowa
State in the Bahamas. Then came
North Carolina. Then Gonzaga.
Then at Louisville. Then two Big
Ten games. Then Oregon. He shot
just 41 percent from the field — for
a team that, fairly or otherwise,
needed him to be more than he
was.
Since, Wagner has become an
irreplaceable piece for this team,
while the absent — though obvi-
ous — upside bubbles just below
the surface. Michigan has played
well, then not-so-well and now is
rounding into form once again. All
the while, the best version of this
Michigan team — one with the tal-
ent to be the best in the conference
— always required the best version
of Wagner. His impending ascen-
sion always offered the Wolverines
a level they could not otherwise
unlock.
Well, we might be getting set to
find out what that looks like.
Saturday against Purdue, Wag-
ner scored a career-high 22 points
in a 71-63 win over the Boilermak-
ers. He’s shot 52 percent from the
field and 39 percent from 3-point
range on 10.5 field goal attempts
per game over the last four games,
averaging 13.8 points.
His length and defensive acuity
have already proven irreplaceable
for a team with scant wing depth.
If his shooting is here to stay, we’re
talking about one of the two most
valuable guys on the team. A true
two-way, all-Big Ten-level wing.
“Heard it earlier, for a fresh-
man, he’s basically considered a
five-star,” Michigan coach Juwan
Howard said after Saturday’s
win over Purdue. “But he’s from
Europe. From a guy who com-
petes, played in big games, played
professionally over in Europe.
Not afraid of the moment, but also
skilled.”
One of the adjustments Wag-
ner said he needed to make in the
transition from Germany to the
Big Ten was mental. He’d come in
often deferential to his teammates,
used to the team-style European
game. He took fewer than 10 shots
in eight of his first 10 games. Slow-
ly, he started to look for his; that
process becoming less mental and
more instinctual.
“Being aggressive doesn’t mean
you take the next shot, but maybe
looking to score, looking for your
teammates on the next play, try-
ing to do something with the ball,”
he said. “That’s something that,
in Europe, you play more with a
team.”
In a week it will be March.
In two weeks, Michigan’s regu-
lar season will be over. In three
weeks, it will know its NCAA
Tournament destination. Wagner
is the biggest variable dictating
two divergent paths for this team:
one that plateaus and ultimately
lacks the offensive potency to be a
real contender or one that threat-
ens for the conference tournament
title, nabs a high seed and becomes
a red-hot, trendy Final Four pick.
If the latter comes to fruition,
Wagner will become a national
name. The charismatic, ener-
getic German freshman — who, it
should be noted, will start appeal-
ing to NBA teams sooner than
later. The first recruit who put
faith in the Juwan Howard era.
The stories practically write them-
selves. And, oh yeah, did you know
he has a brother?
As the conversation then wound
down, I asked Franz, given the fact
Moe loved the pomp and circum-
stance of March more than anyone
I’d covered, whether he had that
trait, too.
“Obviously there’s something
different to March Madness and
college basketball in March,” he
said. “… As the season starts to
come to an end, that’s when most
players have their fun.”
Marcovitch can be reached via
email at maxmarco@umich.edu or
on Twitter @Max_Marcovitch.
Here comes Franz Wagner
MAX
MARCOVITCH
EMMA MATI/Daily
Freshman wing Franz Wagner has averaged 13.8 points over his last four games, helping lead Michigan to a five-game win streak after its NCAA Tournament hopes were briefly in jeopardy last month.
Teske helps lift Wolverines in win
Center Jon Teske’s teammates
nicknamed him Big Sleep. It’s
a reflection of the seven-foot
senior’s quiet demeanor off the
court. But recently, he’s been
relatively quiet on the court as
well.
Going into the Michigan men’s
basketball team’s game at Purdue
on Saturday, Teske averaged just
over five points a game over the
previous five games, shooting just
28 percent from the field. It’s a
significant drop-off for someone
who averaged 14 points a game
over the first nine games of the
season.
“I just have to stay confident in
my shot,” Teske said last Tuesday
when asked about his struggles
on offense. “When I get the ball
down low, just go up strong. A
lot of teams, they game-plan
around me. So my job is just to
either get a shot up or kick it
back out for an open look. But my
teammates trust me to make the
right decision. I just have to stay
confident in my shot. … I’m just
playing through it.”
But against the Boilermakers,
bolstered by the confidence of
having scored 18 points in the
two teams’ January meeting,
Teske finally seemed to find his
spark again. He put up 11 points
— the most he’s scored in almost
a month. He avoided foul trouble
(which has been an issue in games
at times this season) and notched
five rebounds and four assists on
the day.
And on defense, Teske was part
of an effort that held sophomore
forward Trevion Williams to
39.7 percent from the field, a far
cry from the 36 points he scored
previously.
“This came from the defensive
side of the ball,” associate head
coach Phil Martelli said after
Saturday’s game. “The tribute
goes to (Michigan coach Juwan
Howard),
and
to
(assistant
coach Saddi Washington), as the
defensive coordinator, insisting
on shrinking the floor. Insisting. …
“I said, when we were in
a slump, that if we can start
guarding the ball, it’ll go alright.
That wasn’t a thing of beauty
offensively,
obviously,
in
the
second half. We’re maybe not built
that way. But the defensive side of
the ball?
“We could’ve stayed out there
another 20 minutes. They just
were not going to score enough.
And that’s what’s happening to
these teams. They’re just not
scoring enough.”
Teske has been a key to
Michigan’s defensive efforts all
season. He’s made the most of his
size, and has played a big role as
a shot-blocker inside. When the
Wolverines’ defense is performing
well, Teske is usually at the heart
of that.
His performance is often at
the center of the offense, too,
whether it be in setting screens
for Michigan’s guards or posting
up. Teske’s early-season scoring
run coincided with the stretch
over which Michigan went on an
8-1 tear and skyrocketed to No.
4 in the Associated Press poll.
His quieter streak on offense fell
mainly over the period that saw
Michigan bleeding conference
games left and right.
Lately, the Wolverines have
gotten hot again – something
Teske largely has not been a part
of, as his slump on offense has
continued.
But that may be changing.
Saturday’s performance was
much closer to the Teske of the
early season. With upcoming
games against Wisconsin, Ohio
State and Maryland — all of whom
have strong interiors anchored by
even stronger big men — Michigan
needs that Teske back, on both
sides of the ball.
“We have to protect the paint,”
Howard said Saturday. “We can’t
allow a drive to a dump-off and
that ends up being a score in the
paint. It’s something we have
stressed, that we have to do a
better job of protecting the paint.
… So it’s important for me to get
our guys more organized.”
Under Howard’s direction, rim
protection has been a major focus
for this team throughout the
course of the season, and Teske
has been a major part of that.
Early on, Howard often left Teske
alone in the post and relied almost
entirely on him to shut down
scoring inside. Lately, Teske’s been
getting some help in the post from
guards, and it’s proven successful.
Michigan’s post defense has been
much improved lately, no longer
a doormat for the various Big Ten
big men it faces.
But interior offense has been a
major factor in Michigan’s success
for a lot of the year as well. Much
of that, too, is due to Teske. It’s
part of what has made the highs
so high and the lows so low.
March, and the organized chaos
that it brings to college basketball,
is just six days away. If the
Wolverines want to really make a
run at it, they’re going to need to
be able to win in multiple ways.
Perimeter scoring seems just fine.
Points in the paint, though, are
still something of a question. And
as much as senior center Austin
Davis and sophomore forward
Colin
Castleton
have
been
helping, Teske, the senior captain,
still plays the most minutes of any
of Michigan’s big men. When he’s
at his best, he is the team’s anchor.
The Wolverines are about
to have to navigate their way
through the craziness of March.
It’s clear that the path of least
resistance is the one in which
Teske adds another dimension.
They just have to hope he
shows up.
Against Purdue, ‘M’ shows its depth
WEST LAFAYETTE — Over
the course of their latest five-
game
winning
streak,
the
Wolverines
have
showcased
their depth.
The usual suspects of Zavier
Simpson, Isaiah Livers and
Eli Brooks have all had their
moments — Simpson’s four
3-pointers against Michigan
State, Livers’ 17-point outing
against
Northwestern
and
Brooks’
three
double-digit
scoring efforts.
When they haven’t though,
Michigan’s been able to fall
back on the rest of its roster.
Whether it was sophomores
David
DeJulius
and
Colin
Castleton chipping in for a
absent Livers last Wednesday
against
Rutgers,
sophomore
forward
Brandon
Johns
Jr.’s scoring 14 points in the
team’s win against Indiana
or senior center Austin Davis
registering valuable minutes in
relief of starter Jon Teske, the
Wolverines’ most recent wins
have been a collective effort.
Saturday
afternoon
was
no different. Off the back of
team-high
22
points
from
freshman
forward
Franz
Wagner, Michigan pushed its
current win streak to five — and
seven of the last eight — with
a comfortable, 71-63 win over
Purdue.
“The shot was falling finally,”
Wagner said. “I’m working hard
in practice. I’m taking shots
I’m comfortable taking and I’m
taking them with confidence.
That’s what the staff wants me
to do. I think it’s important to
keep doing that no matter of the
percentage.”
Livers added: “I’m super
proud of him. To come in as
a freshman and play 30-plus
(minutes)
—
not
a
lot
of
experienced guys played that
much last year. You don’t even
think he’s an underclassman
when he plays out there because
he plays with so much emotion.”
Wagner’s
9-for-13,
five-rebound,
two-steal
performance
came
with
Simpson going scoreless from
the field, Brooks registering just
four points in 21 minutes and
relatively quiet afternoons from
Johns Jr. and Davis. Instead,
it was Wagner and Livers who
shouldered the scoring burden,
with the junior returning to
action with 19 points.
On any given night is a phrase
thrown around too frequently,
but it’s certainly applied to
the Wolverines recently — any
player, on any given night can
be the difference offensively.
“We have five guys averaging
double
figures,”
Michigan
associate
head
coach
Phil
Martelli said. “It’s tremendous
balance.”
According to Martelli, that
balanced offensive production
took root over the summer as
Michigan coach Juwan Howard
implemented
his
scheme.
After a difficult January, the
Wolverines are finally clicking
with the same effectiveness
they showed to start the season.
“The
first
statement
to
them in July was that under
this system they were going
to learn to share the game,”
Martelli said. “That’s what we
do. We share the game. When
we got in trouble, going back to
the slump, the ball was being
dribbled too much and there
wasn’t enough trust. This team
now has complete trust.
“These guys in practice are
held accountable. I think that
carries over. We can walk out of
here tonight and say ‘Hey, that
wasn’t Austin.’ Think about
that, we have expectations
for Austin Davis that yeah, he
met it physically but not with
buckets and things like that.”
Winning by committee is
perfectly
fine
in
Howard’s
estimation. While he would
prefer to see his players produce
as consistently as possible, if
Simpson leads the way one
night and Wagner does another,
Howard is indifferent. The win
column is the only statistic that
matters.
“Yes, our guys have the
mindset that numbers don’t
matter,” Howard said. “The
only
number
that
matters
is winning. If we score one
point more than our opponent,
personal stats and all that stuff
— that’s for social media likes
and stuff like that.”
On Saturday, just like the
past two weeks, Michigan’s
depth was put on full display
and it once again yielded that
sought-after win.
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
EMMA MATI/Daily
Senior center Jon Teske held Purdue’s Trevion Edwards to 18 points Saturday afternoon in Michigan’s 71-63 win.