Michigan applying for one more year for Joey Baker
Michigan grad student wing Joey Baker scored 21 points in place of injured Jett Howard in U-M’s 90-80 NIT win over Toledo, making 5 of 7 triples and adding 4 rebounds. After the game, Baker talked about the possibility of returning to the Wolverines for one more season.
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Head coach Juwan Howard put his hands together as if he were praying for it when asked if he was optimistic, so it’s clear Michigan would like him back for a second season at U-M.
“Michigan is a great school academically, and Joey being at Duke, academically he qualified. But there are also a couple other hurdles we have to dive deep into,” Howard said in Tuesday’s postgame. “Hopefully … we’re going to try hard. We’re going to give it our best shot. We would love to have him back.”
Not just because of his “shooting” or his basketball acumen, Howard added.
“Just overall the person. He just fits in the locker room,” the Michigan coach continued. “The guys enjoy playing with him. He’s now also opening up and becoming a better leader. Sometimes when you’re new, you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. It’s hard to have those uncomfortable conversations with guys because you want to be liked by them.
“At the same time, he understands. He’s been in big games now; he sees that the guys trust him. We need his leadership, and it would be nice to have him back next season.”
Baker only played in four games his first year at Duke, followed by three complete seasons before arriving at Michigan. Generally, a player needs to have a documented injury to get another redshirt season.
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“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Potentially.
“I think you’re weird if you’re not in the back of your head thinking, ‘this could be your last time putting on a jersey in college.’ That was on my mind heavy the past few days. I wanted to go out and try to win as many games as possible. It’s still high level competition. We have an opportunity to get a championship. We’d be silly not to try and get it.”
If he got the redshirt, he said, he’d definitely be back at Michigan.
More than anything, though, winning Tuesday night was on his mind. The Michigan wing more than did his part.
“We didn’t want to lose four in a row. That’s not us,” Baker said of recent Michigan struggles. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season, but we stuck together and ultimately didn’t reach our goals across the board this season. But as a unit we decided we were going out there to fight and we were going to play to win. That’s what we did, especially in the second half.
“I just was getting open shot. Hunt [Hunter Dickinson] hit me for one, the last three I hit wide open. Dug [McDaniel] found me for a great look in the second half, too. So, I was just getting great looks, and that’s my teammates setting me up.”
We’ll see if the Michigan players get that opportunity next year, too.
