Midway through the second half of the Michigan men’s basketball team’s 64-44 win against North Carolina Central on Tuesday, sophomore guard Darius Morris received an inbound pass facing an Eagle press.

Morris took the ball, dribbled through, around and in between four North Carolina Central defenders from coast-to-coast. He finished by spinning around the last Eagle that stood in his way and finished with a layup.

But during halftime, Morris had told his teammates in the tunnel that he wanted them to just keep shooting, even though the Wolverines went 2-for-16 from beyond the arc in the first half and faced a seven-minute shooting drought.

And whether it was Morris’s talk or his walk, from the time Morris single-handedly picked apart the Eagles' press, the Wolverines played like a different team, scoring nearly twice as many points in the second half as it did in the first.

The Los Angeles native has been invaluable to the Wolverines. A team without any seniors, Michigan desperately needed someone to step up as the poised player who could make good decisions with the ball — Morris has done just that.

His most noticeable change this season is his ability to see the floor. Morris averages eight assists per game, which leads the Big Ten and is third in the NCAA.

“He has great court vision,” freshman guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said after the game against the Eagles. “I haven’t seen something like that before. I think he has like 85 assists all season. It really helps when you have a guy that can facilitate the ball like that on your team.”

Even though Michigan’s shooters hit dry spells sometimes — twice this season the Wolverines went seven minutes or more without hitting a shot from the field — Morris has learned he needs to spread the ball the same, no matter how well the team is shooting.

“A lot of shots that we normally hit, we didn’t hit,” Morris said of the game against North Carolina Central. “My shots were falling in and out. It was the same way for my teammates. When that happens I can’t change my game. I see these guys in practice every day, and when I pass them the ball I assume they’re going to make that shot until proven otherwise.”

Passing the ball is the point guard’s job, but a floor general is also tasked with leading the team — especially through the rough times when shots aren't falling.

Along with his assists, Morris is also Michigan’s top scorer averaging 15 points a game. He also leads the team with 19 steals this season and ranks third in rebounding. The sophomore has been a constant on a team that has struggled to find its stroke at times.

“The kid is always on the attack,” junior guard Stu Douglass said on Tuesday. “This year he is more in control and this year he knows what he’s doing. He has picked up the game and learned it well. When we’re in a slump shooting, he has been there to get us out.”