Michigan basketball's Franz Wagner still acclimating, searching for breakout game
Franz Wagner feels great. Physically, he says he's back to 100%. His conditioning is up to par. He still has the same form on his shot.
But Wagner knows he isn't quite there yet. He needed to rediscover his rhythm after a fractured right wrist held him out for around a month and sidelined him for Michigan basketball's first three games. And that search remains ongoing.
"I feel strong out there," Wagner said. "I feel good out there. But the rhythm, offensively, is going to take a while — just to get back to where I was before I got injured. I’m not worried about that, really. It’s just going to take a little bit more time.”
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Wagner was thrown into the fire last week at the Bahamas, when he was immediately inserted into the starting lineup and played heavy minutes against Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga in three consecutive days. And Tuesday night, he got his first road experience in a 58-43 loss at No. 1 Louisville.
Wagner is averaging 28 minutes in those four games. He has been a crucial member of the rotation, despite modest stats: six points on 36% shooting (28.6% from 3), four rebounds, one assist and two turnovers per game.
"Franz, he's been great," said Michigan coach Juwan Howard. "He's been a big asset to our team. As time goes, Franz will be more and more comfortable, he'll get in playing shape and his playing legs underneath him, it's just a matter of time. As players I get it, sometimes you want it to happen overnight. But we trust he'll be fine."
The slow offensive start is to be expected, given the context of Wagner's injury, and he explained his recovery process Thursday: For the first couple weeks, he didn't spend much time with the team, instead focusing on dribbling, passing and finishing with his left hand. He also worked extensively with strength coach Jon Sanderson to ensure he was properly conditioned, and that his legs and core were strong enough "to be ready to play a lot of minutes."
Wagner also tried to imagine himself playing and what he would do if he were on the court, studying opposing defenses. It was no substitution for actually playing, but it was the best that he could do given the circumstances.
“You’ve got to start from scratch, really, when you have that kind of injury," Wagner said. "And obviously getting the shot back is a process. It’s not finished right now, still working on that. But yeah, I couldn’t do a lot with the team for a while.”
Wagner, who was touted as a high-level shooter after playing well for a professional team in Germany last year, found the form on his shot quickly.
"Because I haven’t shot in five, six weeks, so it was kinda like when you get back from vacation and you haven’t touched a ball in a while," Wagner said. "It’s going to take a little while, but I’m all here for the process, and that’s part of it.”
While Wagner is still finding his way on offense, he has already made a sizable impact on defense. Listed at 6 feet 9, Wagner is a long defender who creates deflections and clogs passing lanes. He has shown a penchant for contesting shots at the rim and has mostly stayed in front of his man; the Wolverines think highly enough of his defense that they assigned him Louisville's Jordan Nwora, one of the top scorers in the nation, in Tuesday's game.
“I think against Louisville I could’ve done a better job," Wagner said. "Off the ball, I played good defense, maybe could have communicated a little more. On the ball, I definitely can do a better job. I think he had like 20-something points, he also took 20-something shots, though. But he’s a really good player, you’ve got to give him credit for how he played, and they deserved to win. I could’ve done stuff better during that game.”
Wagner said "sometimes it's frustrating" when things haven't played out the way he wants them to (especially in the Bahamas), but he has tried to learn from those experiences and maintains a positive outlook. And his injury didn't put a dent in his overall college experience, either. Wagner has said in the past he chose Michigan over professional basketball in Germany because of the holistic experience the university offered. So far, it's going "perfectly."
“I’m having a great time," Wagner said. "Obviously basketball’s going good. I learn a lot every day. Going to a classroom, just learning about different things and normal day life, I think that’s very important for young people and that was part of my experience.”
Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.