A fractured right wrist for Michigan Wolverines basketball freshman guard Franz Wagner kept the German out of the club’s first four games of the year, before he finally returned in the Nov. 27 victory over Iowa State in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Wagner has unsurprisingly gotten off to a slow start, and is clearly still adjusting to the college game.
With four contests now under his belt, the 6-8 guard is averaging just six points and shooting 36 percent from the field.
“It’s kind of like when you get back from vacation and you haven’t touched a ball in a while,” he explained this afternoon at Crisler Center.
“It’ll take a while, but I’m all here for the process. I couldn’t do much with the team for the first few weeks, and worked on dribbling and passing with my left hand.
“I got more comfortable with my left hand, and doing stuff with the ball with it. I wanted to make sure I was still good with the ball, and I worked on my conditioning a lot in the weeks before I got cleared.
“I spent time with SandMan [strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson] a lot to make sure my core stayed strong and I’d be able to play a lot of minutes.”
Wagner shot a combined 3-of-11 from the floor in his first two games back against Iowa State and North Carolina, though his slow start didn’t slow the Wolverines down as they blew away the competition (defeated Gonzaga in the championship) to take home the Battle 4 Atlantis crown.
“It was a lot of fun,” he exclaimed when asked what it was like playing in the Bahamas. “I was happy to be back out there, and it was a great experience in my first college game.
“The whole tournament was obviously a lot of fun for everybody, and I’m happy with how we played.”
Michigan fans around the entire world were thrilled with the club’s start to the year, as four of the team’s first seven wins came against the likes of Creighton, Iowa State and top-10 North Carolina and Gonzaga foes.
The way U-M was winning those contests was even more impressive, though, with the four victories coming by an average of 11 points.
“Once I got here, it was all about the culture we had,” Wagner began when asked if the team’s hot start has surprised him.
“There was good chemistry with every player, and it’s been a good experience since day one for me. I didn’t really know what to expect having never played college basketball before, but we have a great team with great characters.
"That’s why I’m not surprised we’ve started off this way.”
Notes
• Tuesday night’s loss at No. 1 Louisville was the first of the season for Michigan, and the Wolverines will be looking to bounce back from defeat for the first time under head coach Juwan Howard tomorrow night against Iowa.
“We came in yesterday and got some work in for Iowa,” sophomore center Colin Castleton explained this afternoon.
“We’re getting ready for Friday’s game and turning our heads after the first loss of the season. A loss is a loss, and we’re just moving on from it.
“I don’t know if there’s much of a difference [from last year], because we still have a ‘next game’ mentality where we’re going into it ready and prepared.
“We don’t want to have back-to-back losses, and will be looking for the dub. He’s [Howard] very positive with his message, and everyone keeps their heads up.
“At the end of the day, there are more important things in this world to worry about than a basketball loss. We still have to move on from it.”
• Wagner looked a bit rusty in the North Carolina victory especially, committing four turnovers and only connecting on one of his six shots from the floor.
“He [Howard] was a player himself, so he knows how it is, especially for a young player,” the freshman said. “It can be frustrating, because you obviously want to play your best every time — especially in the Bahamas, because some things weren’t working the way I wanted them to.
“You just have to stay positive, and I think I’ve done a good job with that. During those three games — considering how long I was out and how much I played in each of them — I think I did a good job sticking with it.”
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
