Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein has never been a fan of flashy plays.
But even Beilein had a smile on his face after sophomore guard Darius Morris threw an alley-oop to roommate Jordan Morgan at the end of the Wolverines’ 75-66 win against Northwestern last Wednesday.
The entire bench jumped out of its seats and redshirt freshman Blake McLimans held most of the team back with his long arms. But McLimans’s length wasn’t enough to keep Morgan from grunting after the play, Morris from yelling toward the fans and freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. from pounding his chest.
“We were all biting our nails when (Morris) threw that oop to (Morgan),” junior guard Corey Person said. “We wanted the oop, but we also want them to complete the plays. Coach says we can take 50-50 shots but not 50-50 passes. That was a 50-50 pass.”
Morgan’s thunderous dunk was only the pinnacle of a festive afternoon for Michigan. Morgan, Morris and Hardaway Jr. had plenty of opportunities for celebration and big plays, and they certainly capitalized on them. It’s something that Beilein normally doesn’t encourage, but that he’s more open to if the Wolverines capitalize.
“Now we’re throwing oops out there,” Hardaway Jr. said. “We haven’t even done that all year. We got an oop in practice (the day before Northwestern). (Junior guard Zack Novak) threw me and oop and coach was like, ‘Yeah, okay, I guess if it’s there it’s there.’ But he doesn’t like us throwing oops anyway because it’s a 50-50 play. (Morris) just saw it, made a terrific play and (Morgan) threw it down.”
The breathtaking alley-oop wasn’t the only sign that Michigan has become a flashier team. Morris has also thrown behind-the-back passes through defenders, as he did to Novak in the Wolverines loss to Illinois on Wednesday in the opening minutes. And all season, Morgan and Hardaway Jr. have tried to dunk or celebrate whenever they get the opportunity.
After Michigan topped Penn State on the road, Morgan explained how dunking is just something that can get a team fired up.
“It’s just something we like to do,” Morris said. “(Hardaway Jr.) was kidding around with me the other day and said, ‘Man, we need another Fab Five,’ and I was just like, ‘Tim, Tim. You know those guys are great. Tim, you need to chill.’ Maybe it’s just the black shoes and the black socks, I don’t know what it is. That’s just our game and my personality rubs off on them so we do it.”
The buck doesn’t stop there. Post-play celebrations are a must for the three underclassmen. After Hardaway Jr. hits 3-pointers — especially when games are close — he flashes different symbols with his hands when he gets back on defense.
Sometimes he just holds up three fingers to remind everyone that he hit a 3-pointer, and other times he makes horns out of his hands and puts his head down like a bull. In fact, Hardaway Jr. doesn’t know what he does. He just does it.
“I love when Tim gets into it,” Morris said. “I do the same thing so I love to see it when my teammates get into it and get involved and get pumped up. It makes me get pumped up so I want to get back and play some defense. He doesn’t even know what he does. He probably copies his things from Shaq. He says he doesn’t do it, but he does.”
Michigan will get its next chance to be flashy against Iowa on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Wolverines last beat the Hawkeyes in Ann Arbor, 87-73 on Jan. 30.