On the verge of (not good) Michigan basketball history, seniors get 'flowers they deserve'
It will not be the senior sendoff Michigan basketball pictured to open the season.
The Wolverines entered the 2023-24 season determined to prove last year's missed NCAA tournament was an anomaly brought on by a lack of senior leadership, with only one graduate-transfer (who came off the bench) honored at the 2022-23 home finale.
This season, the Wolverines featured seven players potentially in their final campaigns in Ann Arbor. On Sunday, four will be celebrated while three others are passing on the ceremony. Almost fittingly, U-M's less-than-full-attendance senior ceremony will come in front of a less-than-full-attendance Crisler Center.
Michigan (8-22, 3-16 Big Ten) wraps up its season hoping to avoid history — a loss to Nebraska (noon, Big Ten Network) would set the program record for losses. But coach Juwan Howard, as he has done all year, refused to focus on the negative, instead highlighting the positive impact of his veteran players.
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"This is a great weekend for our program to acknowledge and celebrate our seniors on a special day," Howard said Friday on a video conference call. "Give them the flowers they deserve for all the beautiful time they've been here and a part of this program."
The four that will be honored Sunday: Nimari Burnett, Jaelin Llewellyn, Jackson Selvala and Terrance Williams II. Meanwhile, graduate transfers Tray Jackson and Olivier Nkamhoua and fourth-year senior Jace Howard will not.
Jace Howard plans to play a fifth season thanks to the NCAA's COVID waiver covering the 2019-20 season; Jackson is out of eligibility, as is Nkamhoua, who went through a senior day ceremony at Tennessee last season. His collegiate career ended last month when he opted for wrist surgery.
Nkamhoua, a captain for his lone year in Ann Arbor, set career highs in points (14.8) and rebounds (7.1) per game.
"He was still playing hard, trying to do everything he could to help us win," Howard said of the Finnish forward. "I feel like this, you are winning when you have a guy like Olivier on your roster. ... I'm looking forward to continue building our relationship, because he's one of those guys I'll always stay in contact with."
Jackson, a Detroit product who transferred in from Seton Hall, found his Wolverines role much the same as it was with the Pirates: a depth piece off the bench with a season marred by poor 3-point shooting. His 26.5% mark beyond the arc — nine makes on 34 tries — is his lowest since his freshman year at Missouri (23.5%).
Howard played just nine games as he worked his way back from a knee injury, though this season's production was his best in four seasons: The two-time captain is averaging 2.7 points and 1.2 rebounds in 11.7 minutes a game, all career highs.
Burnett had a career year, though it didn't translate to victories.
The Alabama transfer — who has two years of eligibility remaining (medical redshirt, COVID waiver) — averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 40.9% overall and 34.8% on 3s. Burnett is the only Wolverine to start all 30 games this season. He also set new highs in field goals (99), 3-pointers (48), rebounds (124), assists (78), blocks (12) and steals (27).
For Juwan Howard, it was a short but meaningful time with Burnett, Jackson and Nkamhoua, the three Wolverines he brought in via transfers last offseason.
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"I wish I had more time spent with them, only a couple months with each guy," Howard lamented. "This summer, wasn't around because of my health. Then the fall, had surgery on Sept. 14, I missed a lot of time with those three. But being around them and watching them, I'll start with this: They got better."
Llewellyn's college years were marked by injuries, including an Achilles tear in 2020 while his Princeton squad was shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. Then, just eight games into his U-M run, Llewellyn tore his ACL against Kentucky on Dec. 4, 2022; the sixth-year player then gutted through rehab to return 363 days later, against Oregon on Dec. 2, 2023.
Since that return Llewellyn averaged 5.3 points per game in 18 appearances, though he never fully got his legs under him. Despite hitting a career-best 42.2% (19-for-45) on 3-point tries, he shot just 33.3% (14-for-42) on 2-pointers. But he made it back and will end his college time on his own terms.
“It's deserved," Howard said. "It shows his perseverance as well as his physical and mental toughness. Some people would end their careers after having those two injuries but Jaelin, the toughness he displayed to overcome those injuries, and fight through it and still be effective out there on the floor, also shows he has a special skill set about him as well."
But few Wolverines have poured as much into the program the past four years as Williams, a feat noted by his coach.
"He's like a son to me, he's one of mine," Howard said. "You spend four years with a young man in your program, that's your family. You've watched their growth and all the work they put in, seen how they got better and Terrance is one of those guys who got better each year here at Michigan.
He went from a freshman reserve to a sophomore sixth-man standout to a junior captain. But his senior season has been his best: Williams' average of 12.3 points per game nearly matches his combined averages for his first three seasons (12.7 — 1.9 points a game as a freshman, 4.7 as a sophomore and 6.1 as a junior).
The 6-foot-7 senior has shot a career-best 39.5% on 3s. Likewise, his overall 43.4% shooting percentage isn't far off his sophomore high of 45.5% despite attempting 157 more shots this season. That kind of growth might stand out more if the Wolverines' regression — from the Elite Eight in his freshman year to the Sweet 16 to narrowly missing the NCAAs to last place in the Big Ten — hadn't occurred at the same time.
Still, Howard sees Williams not as a standout athlete, but an academic All-Big Ten honoree who had at least a 3.4 grade-point average each semester.
"This kid has grown into a man," Howard said. "Whenever he leaves this program, he's going to be one of those who's celebrated as a Michigan man, I'm so proud to have had an opportunity to have coached him."
Selvala, meanwhile, began his maize-and-blue run as a student manager then earned an actual role on the team. Howard, who frequently watches managers play pickup games after practice, noticed a skill set that was "pretty talented."
After sprinkling Selvala into practice and seeing he could hold his own, Howard had a conversation with him.
"He was interested," Howard recalled with a smile. "Here we are now, two years in."
Howard said Sunday is a day of celebration, regardless of the downs of the season. Unless Michigan makes a most unlikely run — literally, all the way through next week's Big Ten tournament and then into the NCAA tourney on the Big Ten's auto-bid, then six or seven more victories for an NCAA title — the record-setting 23rd loss will come eventually.
But maybe not on Sunday.
"We have a very good opponent coming in here, playing good basketball," Howard said. "We're gonna give our seniors their flowers before the game, but (during) the game, I guarantee you those seniors will be locked in, ready to compete."
Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.
Next up: Cornhuskers
Matchup: Michigan (8-22, 3-16 Big Ten) vs. Nebraska (21-9, 11-8), regular-season finale.
Tipoff: Noon Sunday; Crisler Center, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WWJ-AM (950).
At stake: The Wolverines are locked into last place in the Big Ten and a first-round Big Ten tournament game 9 p.m. Wednesday in Minneapolis; with a win, Nebraska would clinch the No. 3 seed and a double-bye in the Big Ten tourney.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball ready to give seniors 'the flowers they deserve'
