Fifty-five seconds.

That’s all the time it took Brent Petway to get the crowd
into a frenzy. Less than a minute into his first appearance on the
Crisler Arena floor, the 6-foot-9 freshman was already a fan
favorite.

Petway sat out last weekend’s exhibition game against
Michigan Tech with a shoulder injury. So Friday night’s
contest with the Fayetteville Patriots of the National Basketball
Development League was his first chance to play in front of the
home fans. He didn’t waste any time before making an
impression.

Midway through the first half on one of his first possessions on
defense, Petway stepped into the passing lane at the top of the key
and knocked an errant Fayetteville pass up court. He glided ahead
and picked up the ball in the open floor, all alone. Once he got
into the paint, Petway did his best impression of a Dominique
Wilkins windmill dunk — one he watched a lot growing up. The
Michigan faithful went nuts.

“That was something else,” forward J.C. Mathis said.
“He surprised me with that dunk. I didn’t think he was
going to actually windmill it. I shouldn’t have been
surprised knowing Brent, really.”

Petway’s vertical leap was measured at 40 inches this past
summer. He’s been able to dunk like his NBA idols since he
was a high school sophomore.

“I was just a regular jumper before that,” Petway
said. “But sophomore year of high school, I got a little
special.”

Petway had 13 points in the game, 10 of which came off of dunks.
Having five slams in a game isn’t unusual for the freshman.
Petway said that he had the same count in the Georgia state
semifinals at the end of last season.

Michigan coach Tommy Amaker doesn’t want Petway to lose
sight of how he got those opportunities. After the game on Friday,
he emphasized the freshman’s intelligence on the floor,
including reading the play on defense and finding seams to grab
offensive rebounds, as the most promising sign of what is to
come.

“You get blinded a bit by the extraordinary leaping
ability that he displays all the time,” Amaker said.
“But frankly, he’s going to be a good basketball
player.”

That doesn’t mean Amaker’s going to stop Petway from
letting loose when he does get open, though.

“We want our kids to go for it; obviously with
intelligence (and) in the right way,” Amaker said.

Petway also grabbed three offensive rebounds Friday, the most
spectacular of which came on a missed shot by J.C. Mathis. Petway
caught the ball high above the rim and slammed it home with both
hands before returning back to earth.

“Coach tells me to be active,” Petway said.
“He wants me to be the best offensive rebounder on this team.
When the ball goes up, I know I’ve got to get to the
offensive glass.”

Petway ignited the crowd again at the end of first half, when
Bernard Robinson lobbed the ball to him from half court for a
two-handed stuff. So far those two have developed good
communication on the floor, which should lead to more alley-oops in
the future.

“When we make eye contact, he’ll see me,”
Petway said.

On his first night at Crisler, everyone saw him.