1/5/2021 basketball Edit

Franz Wagner's Offseason Work Now Showing Up, Giving Michigan Another Gear

Clayton Sayfie • Maize&BlueReview

Staff Writer

Michigan Wolverines basketball sailed smoothly through the five-game non-conference slate, posting a 5-0 record and winning by an average margin of 14.2 points. The transfer guards, senior Chaundee Brown and fifth-year senior Mike Smith, were playing better than many expected, and freshman center Hunter Dickinson was eating opposing big men alive.

But one missing piece remained ... sophomore wing Franz Wagner, specifically on the offensive end of the floor.

Wagner spent the spring training in the nation's capital with his older brother, Moe, a former Michigan star and current forward for the Washington Wizards, before returning to Ann Arbor during the summer to get more work in with highly-acclaimed strength coach Jon Sanderson and the rest of the team. All in all, he gained 15 pounds of muscle, and legend has it he grew to 6-11 (though he's listed on the official roster at 6-foot-9.

It was a healthy, productive time for Wagner in between the cancellation of the conclusion to the college basketball season in March until games began Nov. 25. But through six (the non-conference plus the league opener against Penn State), his improvement wasn't showing up on the stat sheet. Wagner was averaging just 9.5 points per outing, 2.1 points less than his mark a year ago, while attempting only 5.7 shots per game, down 3.6 looks on average from his freshman season. Head coach Juwan Howard continually lauded his ability to defend and rebound, which didn't miss a beat, adamantly believing the offense would come.

Wagner spent a pre-Christmas press conference with the media, ahead of the team's trip to play Nebraska, saying he wanted to be "more aggressive" and confident on the offensive end. On Christmas Day in Lincoln, he did exactly that, scoring 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting. On New Year's Eve at Maryland, Wagner went off for 19 points on 8-of-14 from the field. And Sunday against Northwestern, he poured in 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

He began meeting his preseason expectations, and it's been a welcomed sign for the Wolverines. The work he put in during the offseason is finally showing up in the form of made baskets.

"Franz had a tremendous offseason," assistant coach Saddi Washington said on the 'Inside Michigan Basketball' radio show Monday night. "He made some great strides this offseason to put himself in the position to where he is now. What people are seeing now these last few games is what we’ve been seeing in the buildup to practice in the non-conference and getting ready for the season.

"So, this isn’t a surprise to us at all. I think where people should be taking notice is his two-way play, him being a two-way player. Because not only is he doing it on the offensive end, he’s doing it at a pretty high level on the defensive end as well."

From his wing spot, Wagner is distributing at a high level (3.5 assists per contest), averaging seven rebounds per game — which is second on the team — and playing great defense, drawing praise from opposing coaches for his length being almost impossible to deal with. He had a career-high five blocks against Northwestern, and has totaled 11 on the year.

"When God blesses you with the height of 6-10 and can move the way he can move out there on the floor, God darn it, you better use it," Washington said with a laugh. "He’s very much a student of the game, soaks up everything that you try to coach him up to do, and you just love guys like that. And you go out on the floor and apply those things. He’s been very serious from the start about making some steps forward on both sides of the ball coming into this season."

Washington believes that Wagner's increased production is not only giving himself a renewed sense of confidence, but it can give the Maize and Blue another gear, one they'll need as Big Ten play progresses.

"He’s like, 'man, I can really get stops, I can really defend, I can really score the ball at all three levels.' And now, it’s fun to him, because he’s doing some things that he wasn’t doing previously, and now he’s seeing his game expand, and we’re the beneficiaries of it, because he has that giving spirit and because he’s willing to sacrifice and do it on both ends of the floor, he just wants to impact winning."

And he has. Michigan notched double-digit victories in each of the last three games, including a 19-point win over No. 19 Northwestern. Michigan hosts Minnesota Wednesday night, before traveling to play Penn State Saturday afternoon.

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