U-M Looks to Rebound as Kennesaw State Visits Crisler
12/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2016
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In the third game of its four-game homestand, the University of Michigan men's basketball team (5-2) will host Kennesaw State Saturday (Dec. 3) at Crisler Center. The BTN Student U broadcast game will be available via BTN Plus on BTN2Go starting a 1 p.m.
MAIZE & BLUE THINGS TO KNOW
• Derrick Walton Jr. needs just 29 more points (971) to become the 51st Wolverine to reach 1,000 in a career. Walton is second on U-M with 12.7 points per game and has made a team-best 20 long-range buckets.
• Last time out, Zak Irvin scored a season-best 23 points against Virginia Tech. He leads U-M with 14.3 points per game, having scored in double figures in six of seven games.
• Mark Donnal has become U-M's sixth man, averaging 8.6 points and 3.9 rebounds and shooting 61.3 percent from the field. He is also 2-for-4 from long range.
• Over his last two games, Moe Wagner has gone 10-for-14 from the field (71.4%).
• In three of his last four games, Walton has five-plus assists including a season-best six vs. SMU. He leads U-M with 3.7 per game. For his career he has 336, just 30 away from cracking U-M's all-time top 10.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT KENNESAW STATE
• Kennesaw State (3-5) picked up its third win of the season Wednesday night (Nov. 30), defeating Florida A&M in Tallahassee, 76-74. Kendrick Ray led the Owls with 26 points.
• The Owls' game at Michigan is the third game of a recently started six-game December road trip that began at South Florida on Monday, Nov. 26.
• KSU has wins over Brewton-Parker (80-74), Alabama State (79-72) and Florida A&M. The Owls also lost by a pair (71-69) at USF. Michigan is the second Big Ten opponent Kennesaw will play this season. KSU fell to Iowa, 91-74, on Nov. 11.
• Head coach Al Skinner is in his second season at Kennesaw State and his 24th season as a head coach. Skinner coached at Rhode Island and Boston College and was the associate head coach at Bryant for two seasons before heading to Kennesaw.
• Kennesaw State returns eight letterwinners and three starters from last year's team that went 11-20 overall and 7-7 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Kendrick Ray was named the Atlantic Sun Newcomer of the Year after averaging 18.7 points and 5.6 rebounds a contest in 2015-16.
• So far this season, Ray has continued to lead KSU with 22.1 points per game, while Aubrey Williams is averaging a team-best 12.8 rebounds a contest.
THIS AND THAT
• Michigan is 5-2 early in the 2016-17 season. The Wolverines won the 2K Classic with victories over Marquette (79-61) and SMU (76-54) at MSG. U-M's two losses were at No. 20/22 South Carolina (61-46) just before Thanksgiving and against Virginia Tech (73-70) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
• After Duncan Robinson started the first two games, D.J. Wilson has moved into the starting rotation at the four spot. The remaining starting five are Derrick Walton Jr., Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Zak Irvin and Moe Wagner.
• Walton has guided the Wolverines in scoring thanks in part to his long-range shooting. He is shooting 42.6 percent from deep with a team-best 20. The next closest Wolverine in Zak Irvin with 11. Overall, Walton hit for a career-best seven triples in U-M's win over Marquette (Nov. 17).
• In his first 31 career games, D.J. Wilson has recorded 13 total blocks. Through seven games this season, he has 11 total blocks. In addition to his swats, he has 24 total rebounds over two seasons, but already has more than doubled that with 52 (7.4 rpg) this season.
• In a roommate assist battle, Derrick Walton Jr. leads Zak Irvin 26-21. Irvin holds the edge in scoring, 14.3 to 12.7, and has posted six double-figure scoring games, including going for 23 against Virginia Tech (Nov. 30).
WHAT'S AHEAD?
• Following the game against Kennesaw State, U-M will conclude its four-game homestand on Tuesday night (Dec. 6) with a 9 p.m. game against Texas in the second of an ESPN2 Super Tuesday.
• The Wolverines will play their final non-conference road match-up at No. 11/9 UCLA on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET).
• After the West Coast trip, U-M returns home to close the non-conference slate with a final three-game homestand starting on Tuesday, Dec. 13, against Central Arkansas, followed by tilts against Maryland Eastern Shore (Dec. 17) and Furman (Dec. 22).
Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot
