Michigan Basketball: How the Wolverines reached the Final Four

Key players for Michigan this season

To replace the senior starters on the perimeter from a year ago, the Wolverines were hopeful that Charles Mathews, a former four-star guard who played little minutes at Kentucky could become an impact player. And to their delight, he’s been that all year.

The sophomore had his first big game with Michigan in the Maui Invitational against LSU, where he had 28 points to lead them to a win. The 6’6 guard averages 13.0 ppg and 5.6 rpg, while becoming a better defender than Wolverine fans expected.

The issue that plagued Michigan early on was at the point position. Originally, the hope was that Jaaron Simmons, the grad transfer who put up great numbers at the University of Ohio would be the solution. But that didn’t work out, with him playing minimal minutes off the bench.

The guard who did step up ultimately was Zavier Simpson, who took advantage of the opportunity to cement himself as the full-time starter in the middle of the season. The sophomore ended up leading the team in assists at 3.7 apg.

As for Wagner, he stepped up his game for the team, leading them in both scoring and rebounding. It’s been a team effort to replace the production from a year ago, but ultimately Michigan was able to do so.