Reply to comment
Lucas-Perry debuts in 'M' victory
By: Alex Prosperi
Freshman Stu Douglass was waiting for a game like this.
The sharpshooter had yet to hit more than two 3-pointers in a game this season, hitting just nine in the Michigan men's basketball team's first nine games. But Douglass came out firing against Oakland (7-6) today, striking on each of the Wolverines' first three possessions with a triple.
Douglass's long-distance shooting sparked Michigan's 89-76 win over the Golden Grizzlies at the Palace at Auburn Hills.
As much as Douglass needed a breakout performance, redshirt freshman Laval Lucas-Perry to just get some playing time.
After waiting over a year to suit up after transferring from Arizona, Lucas-Perry made his debut for the Wolverines (8-2). Michigan coach John Beilein has been careful describing Lucas-Perry's initial impact, saying it would take the guard time to adjust back to playing in a game.
Lucas-Perry missed the memo.
When he checked in at the 11:43 mark in the first half, Michigan led 17-15. When he returned to the bench over five minutes later, Michigan was up 34-18.
A little more than a minute after Lucas-Perry entered the game, redshirt sophomore Zack Gibson hit him on the left wing and he rose up for his first shot as a Wolverine. As the ball sailed through the air, there was a collective gasp from the Michigan faithful, waiting to see what would happen. When the ball went through the rim, the mostly maize-and-blue crowd erupted.
At the ten-minute mark, Lucas-Perry was waiting to make an inbounds pass when sophomore Kelvin Grady told him to "keep shooting." Seconds later, Lucas-Perry hit another 3-pointer. Then Lucas-Perry hit a third triple, this one from the left side. As he jogged back on defense with his jersey rolled up at the shoulders, he gave a sarcastically confused look, much like the one Michael Jordan gave after hitting his sixth 3-pointer in Game Two of the 1992 NBA Finals.
"He just came in there and buried them," a laughing Beilein said.
The Wolverines shot 10-for-18 from behind the arc in the first half and controlled the pace of the game. But the Grizzlies roared back in the second half, cutting the lead to four with seven minutes to go.
Freshman Zack Novak, who hit two clutch 3-pointers to seal Michigan's upset win against Duke, notched a timely 3-pointer against Oakland to put Michigan up by nine. Grady did the same on the next possession, putting Michigan up 12 with more four minutes left, all but closing out the game.
Lucas-Perry, in just 16 minutes, lived up to all the hype surrounding him. He scored 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. He also displayed his ability to bring the ball up the court and play tough man-to-man defense.
Aside from Lucas-Perry, Manny Harris had a quiet, but impressive performance. He shot just ten times for 15 points, but collected a career-high 13 assists. Oakland's 2-3 zone defense often double-teamed Harris when he drove the lane, and Harris capitalized by finding his open teammates.
Harris's willingness to give up scoring opportunities to find teammates, combined with the emergence of Lucas-Perry spells good things for this Michigan squad.
"There's great team chemistry that's going on right now," Beilein said.
