Report Card 2011: Tim Hardaway Jr.

Tim Hardaway Jr. had missed his first five shots from the field and Michigan was down nine points with under eight minutes to play. The stage was as about as small as can be for a Big Ten game, a relatively innocuous Sunday noon tip off at Penn State in front of a mere 8300 fans. Regardless of the setting, the next eight minutes transformed Tim Hardaway Jr. into a star. Hardaway went on to score 13, and assist five more, of Michigan’s final 26 points as the Wolverines stormed back to escape Happy Valley with a three point win.

Hardaway never looked back. Up until that game, the freshman wing guard averaged 11.5 points per game with a 46% effective field goal percentage. Respectable numbers but nothing compared to the 17.5 points game, and 70% eFG%, that he averaged over Michigan’s final 12 games. Suddenly Michigan was instinctively running its offense through the freshman and, time and again, he was producing. He wasn’t just making shots, he was making the most important shots. He was usually the Michigan player that would spearhead one of the Wolverines many herculean second half comebacks over the final month of the season. And he was no longer just a jump-shooter, he was creating offense for himself and others, picking up 26 of his 59 assists in that final 12 game span. A star was born before our eyes.