U-M to Begin Homestand Tuesday Night
12/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2016
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| Inside Michigan Basketball 
Following its trip to the West Coast, the University of Michigan men's basketball team (7-3, 0-0 Big Ten) will close the non-conference slate with three straight games at Crisler Center. First up will be a Tuesday (Dec. 13) matchup against Central Arkansas. In the first-ever meeting with the Bears, the game is set to tip at 9 p.m., with a TV broadcast on BTN.
MAIZE & BLUE THINGS TO KNOW
• Derrick Walton Jr. became the 51st Wolverines to reach 1,000 in a career with his final point in the UCLA game (Dec. 10). Walton is second on U-M with 11.8 points per game.
• Zak Irvin leads U-M with 14.0 points per game, having scored in double figures in eight of 10 games. He scored a season-best 23 points against Virginia Tech (Nov. 30).
• Over his last four games, Moritz Wagner has gone 27-for-39 from the field (69.2%), including a career-best 20 points against Kennesaw State (Dec. 3).
• Mark Donnal and Duncan Robinson have become U-M's two-headed sixth man. Donnal is averaging 7.4 points and 3.2 rebounds and shooting 65.8 percent from the field. After starting the first two games, Robinson has now come off bench for 7.8 points per game. In his last four games, Robinson has scored 11.5 ppg, shooting 16-for-33 (48.5 percent) with nine triples and a season-best 15 points against Virginia Tech (Nov. 30).
• In four of his last seven games, Walton has five-plus assists, including a season-best eight vs. Kennesaw State. He leads U-M with 3.8 per game. For his career, he has 348, just 18 away from cracking U-M's all-time top 10.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CENTRAL ARKANSAS
• Central Arkansas is coming off a 70-59 loss to Little Rock on Saturday (Dec. 10). Jordan Howard led UCA with 21 points, while Derreck Brooks had 14 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
• Central Arkansas returns three starters from last year's squad that was 7-21 overall and 6-12 in the Southland Conference.
• Howard leads the Bears with a 17.2 scoring average. Brooks is not far behind at 15.8 points per game, and Mathieu Kamba is a third double-digit scorer at 11.2 points a contest.
• Central Arkansas' win came at Army (81-76) in the Maui on the Mainland tournament at West Point. Howard and Brooks had 21 and 20 points, respectively, in the win.
• Head coach Russ Pennell was a head coach at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix from 2009-13 and the interim head coach with the Phoenix Mercury in 2013 before heading to Conway, Arkansas. Pennell also has been an assistant coach at Arizona State, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State.
• This will be the first meeting between Michigan and Central Arkansas. The last time the Maize and Blue faced a Southland Conference opponent was on Dec. 5, 2015, in an 82-57 win over Houston Baptist.
#DW1K
• Derrick Walton Jr. became the 51st Wolverine to reach 1,000 points in a career with his final point in the UCLA game (Dec. 10).
• Walton Jr. is now tied for 50th place with Wayman Britt (1973-76) on the U-M career scoring list.
• Walton Jr. becomes the second active Wolverine to score 1,000 points in his career. Zak Irvin currently has 1,255 career points, which puts him 32nd on the career scoring list.
• Walton Jr. next game will be the 100th in his career, becoming the 65th Wolverine to play in 100 games.
• Walton Jr. also has 348 career assists, needing 52 to become the ninth Wolverine with 400-plus assists in his career. Walton is 18 assists away from breaking the top 10 in U-M's career assist list.
WHAT'S AHEAD?
• U-M continues its home stand with contests against Maryland Eastern Shore (Dec. 17) and Furman (Dec. 22). The UMES game begins at 3 p.m., with the tilt against the Paladins beginning at 7 p.m. Both games will be televised on BTN.
• The Wolverines will open Big Ten play on New Year's Day, traveling to Iowa City for a matchup against Iowa (Jan 1). The game time will be determined no later than Dec. 26.
