There had been plenty of hype surrounding freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis all offseason, and for good reason.
In Friday night's 90-58 exhibition win over Northwood, Brazdeikis showed everyone what all the fuss was about.
He finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in just 20 minutes of action, disaplying an impressive ability to take defenders off the dribble and finish at the basket.
What's unique about Brazdeikis, though, is that he shoots the ball left-handed, but does everything else right-handed.
Head coach John Beilein admitted during the week that the versatility he provides allows the freshman to play several positions on the court, most notably the two-spot and the four-spot.
“The four is targeted more toward a left-hander like me, but you play off ball screens more at the two," Brazdeikis explained after the victory. "I like both spots a lot."
When asked if he is more comfortable finishing at the rim with his right or left hand, the freshman laughed and said he "can't give that secret away."
With the losses of Moe Wagner, Duncan Robinson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman off of last year's squad, Michigan's team may now be better suited to slash toward the basket than knock down threes at a high rate, which usually isn't the case from a Beilein coached squad.
In fact, Michigan only took 11 three-pointers this evening (and made five of them).
“A lot of our guys can get to the hole, and that adds so much more to our offense," Brazdeikis exclaimed. "[Redshirt junior guard] Charles [Matthews], [sophomore guard] Jordan [Poole] and myself can all attack.
"We didn’t shoot the best tonight — especially in the first half — but our driving to the bucket opened up our threes in the second half, and that's when they began to fall."
Junior 7-0 center Jon Teske actually contributed to that three-point effort in the second half, believe it or not, knocking down his lone attempt from the top of the key.
Although he admitted he was obviously happy he finally converted from long range, he explained he still needs to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble (both he and Brazdeikis racked up three fouls).
“It’s important to know what’s a foul and what’s not," Teske insisted. "We just need to get better, and learn from this win tonight heading into Tuesday's game."
Brazdeikis briefly touched on the foul issues as well, but also revealed what he liked about his efforts tonight.
“I can play a lot better than I did, because I had a few offensive fouls that weren’t good," he admitted. "I felt smooth, though, and am feeling more comfortable every single day.
"I was happy with the win — it was a lot of fun out there and the crowd was into it — I love that kind of basketball."
The Wolverines will officially get their season started on Tuesday night when Norfolk State comes to town.
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