Michigan basketball shorthanded for NCAA tournament opener vs UC San Diego
DENVER — Michigan basketball will be down a pair of rotational players when it tips off in the NCAA tournament.
Sophomore forward Sam Walters (back) and freshman point guard Justin Pippen (concussion protocol) did not travel with the Wolverines to Denver for their Round of 64 matchup on Thursday against UC San Diego (10 p.m., TBS), a program spokesman told the Free Press.
Walters, a 6-foot-10, 200-pound transfer from Alabama, has missed U-M's past 10 games with a lower back injury dating back to the Wolverines' road win on Feb. 8 at Indiana. Walters has played 23 games, averaging 12.7 minutes and five points per contest while shooting 36.6% from long range on more than three attempts per game (26-for-71).
Pippen, meanwhile, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, went into concussion protocol last week leading into U-M's Big Ten tournament championship run. A 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard out of Los Angeles, Pippen played in 28 games this year, averaging 6.6 minutes per contest.
He'd mostly get in games for either one or two spurts, largely to give Tre Donaldson a breather, but did provide a bit of depth in the backcourt even though he averaged just 1.6 points per contest on 27.3% shooting from the floor. Pippen had nearly a two to one assist to turnover ratio (16-to-9) and scored a career-high 10 points against Purdue Fort Wayne in late December.
The silver lining for U-M as it enters with a limited backcourt, at least fellow freshman L.J. Cason has started to come into his own in the past week. He scored eight points, all in the second half, of U-M's 59-53 Big Ten tournament title game win over Wisconsin
Roddy Gayle Jr., meanwhile, who temporarily left that game with a left hamstring tweak, is good to go.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball shorthanded in March Madness vs UC San Diego
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