Michigan Basketball: Mark Donnal is the Needed Answer

Michigan basketball was in desperate need of a big man to step up this season, and Mark Donnal has been doing just that recently.

If John Beilein’s teams get criticized for one thing more than any other, it’s the lack of a quality big man.

I don’t know if people are stubbornly hoping for Beilein to bring in a traditional big who would stick out like a sore thumb in the offense, or if they’re looking past the contributions of Jordan Morgan and Mitch McGary—who were average at worst and pretty darn good at best—in recent seasons.

Whatever their motive, they don’t like it.

This season, though, that was a legitimate missing link. It wasn’t delusion; it was Michigan getting wildly ineffective minutes from a rotation of bigs that couldn’t find a way to help their team.

And then Mark Donnal played Illinois.

I don’t know if it was something to do with the lighting in State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois, or if maybe the rims were more to his liking, but whatever got Donnal going in that Big Ten opener stuck with him Saturday against Penn State. Here’s to hoping this is a permanent fixture.

Going into the league opener against the Illini, Donnal hadn’t seen more than 15 minutes in a game this season. He played 28 minutes off the bench in Michigan’s 78-68 win over Illinois, recording 26 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks (all career highs). He was quite the spectacle, and it earned him a start on Saturday against the Nittany Lions in a 79-56 blowout, where he continued his success.

Donnal put up 16 points and grabbed 8 boards in 23 minutes, doing most of his work in the second half.

If we had the power to choose which of Michigan’s big men stepped up, I think D.J. Wilson would be an almost unanimous selection. He’s beloved for his athleticism and versatile game at 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds. Plus, he had the most hype, and we love hype.

Donnal is showing us though that he too can be that player. He’s playing a very well rounded game at just an inch shorter than Wilson.

The only other bodies out there in competition are Ricky Doyle and Mortiz Wagner. Doyle got most of the workload last season, but he hasn’t been the player Michigan’s needed so far this year. Wagner just needs time for his game to evolve.

Part of the reason Donnal is seeing this success in the last two games is because he’s getting it done on both ends of the court. Michigan’s interior defense has been atrocious this season, but it’s at least becoming respectable with Donnal in there now. Through the last two games he has 2 steals and 4 blocks.

The other major reason Donnal is producing these numbers is because he plays within the offense and makes himself available. Being a big man in Beilein’s offense is tough work. You’re not just getting position and waiting for an entry pass; you’re doing a lot of moving off the ball and setting ball screens and cutting. It’s not an easy line of work.

Donnal owes a lot of his offensive success to his teammates for finding him at the right time, but it wouldn’t be possible if he weren’t in the right place as well.

The Wolverines spent pretty much the entire non-conference season looking for answers down low, and nothing was working.

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But with Big Ten play here, it seems Donnal has also made his appearance. Let’s hope he’s here to stay.

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