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Initially scheduled to face North Carolina State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday, the Michigan Wolverines were forced to alter their plans after the Wolfpack had to postpone because of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases within their program.
Welcoming the Mid-American Conference’s Toledo Rockets to the Crisler Center instead, head coach Juwan Howard’s troops, who only found out about this matchup on Monday night, did not appear to be fazed by the lack of preparation time, jumping out to an 18-point halftime lead, and winning, 91-71.
“We got the scouting report a little later than normally, but I think we have a great staff, great managers, that do an excellent job of getting all the important information to us as quickly as possible,” sophomore forward Franz Wagner said. “We talked about this, it’s kind of like how the NCAA Tournament is going to be, that’s how we approach everything. I think we’re prepared for a lot of things, obviously we can do a lot of things better, but at least we knew what their ideas were, how to play, what their main schemes were.”
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Sinking multiple three-pointers for the first time in 2020-21, Wagner tied a season-high with 14 points, the third-most on the team behind freshman Hunter Dickinson’s 18 and senior Isaiah Livers’ 16. The Berlin native also impacted the game by pulling down five rebounds and dishing out four assists.
After beginning the campaign by missing his first six three-point attempts, Wagner is 3-for-4 over the last three games and has totaled 36 points in that span, an indication his offensive game is heating up.
“I shoot a lot before practice, after practice, stuff like that,” he said. “You just kind of have to trust the work you put in. A little difficult sometimes, a little frustrating when everything doesn’t pan out the way you want to at first, but we just got to keep grinding. Obviously, we have a long season, so, I’ll continue to work on my shot.”
RELATED: 5 takeaways from Michigan’s win over Toledo
Wrapping up the non-conference portion of their schedule at an unblemished 5-0, the Wolverines are set to begin Big Ten play in Ann Arbor against the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-1) on Sunday. Wagner shared the team is confident but knows there is room for improvement, particularly on one end of the floor.
“I think you can see the progression throughout these games,” he said. “We have a lot of stretches where we really play good defense, I think. I think that’s an area where we still can improve.
“Offensively, we got so many weapons, that’s not really something we have to worry about too much. I think on defense, you can see a little progress game-to-game and, obviously, now everything counts even more, so, we’ll be happy to see that and we got to continue to do that.”
Sunday should be a good test for Wagner and his teammates on the defensive end. Michigan is allowing 69.4 points-per-game, while the Nittany Lions are averaging 81.2.
The action will tip at 2 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network.
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