Aday Mara has had a significant impact in the first two games of the season for Dusty May’s second squad in Ann Arbor. The Spanish big man that transferred over from UCLA in the offseason put up a 12-point,
12-rebound double-double — along with five blocks — against Oakland at Crisler Center last week, and followed that up with an even more impactful 18-point, 13-rebound, six-assist and five-block showing vs Wake Forest at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night.
According to OptaSTATS, Mara is the first player to compile 30+ points, 25+ rebounds, 10+ blocks and 5+ assists in the first two games of a basketball season — D1 college or NBA — since Tim Duncan did it for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2003-04 season.
The Wolverines needed every bit of that stat line on Tuesday night against the Demon Deacons, as they barely survived, 85-84, in overtime. Up by 13 points at halftime, Michigan squandered that lead and was losing by as many as seven points before making a comeback and forcing an extra five minutes of action.
Mara was named the MVP of the Wolverine-Demon Deacon Challenge — for whatever that’s worth — but anyone watching that game would agree that he was the straw that stirred the drink both offensively and defensively. He was +17 on the floor, while no other starter even had a positive plus/minus. Trey McKenney (+12), L.J. Cason (+4) and Will Tschetter (+1) were the only other Wolverines that had a positive plus/minus.
Point guard Elliot Cadeau told reporters after the game how impactful Mara is, especially on defense.
“He definitely alters basically every shot at the rim,” Cadeau said. “It’s been a struggle for me to get used to that in practice, but ultimately, it’s been helping me because I wanna get to the next level, and at the next level it’s gonna be like that. You’ve seen how high (they had to) throw the ball up in the air just not to get blocked, and that’s a really hard shot to make.
“He almost had a triple-double and I told him before the game that he could easily get one. He’s just having a lot of impact, especially on layups the whole game. The team that’s gonna beat us, they’re most likely gonna have to beat us on jumpers.”
The Wolverines will look to start the season 3-0 on Friday when they travel to TCU to take on the Horned Frogs (9 p.m., ESPN2).
