The University of Michigan men's basketball team has won four of its last five games (and six of its last eight), keeping the Wolverines alive for a possible NCAA Tournament bid.
↵One big reason for that recent success has been the play of freshman guard Tim Hardaway Jr. And the Big Ten conference has taken notice, awarding him Freshman of the Week honors for the second week in a row.
↵Hardaway scored 30 points on Saturday in an 87-73 win over Iowa at Crisler Arena. He shot 5-of-7 from three-point range and went 7-of-7 from the free throw line. And in scoring 30, Hardaway became the first Michigan freshman to hit that mark since Daniel Horton scored 31 versus Purdue in 2003. He also tallied 10 points in a 54-52 loss to Illinois on Wednesday.
↵The previous week, Hardaway scored 26 points against Indiana and 17 versus Penn State, helping the Wolverines to wins in each of those games.
↵For the season, Hardaway is Michigan's second-leading scorer with 13.2 points per game. His 46 assists and 28 steals also rank second on the team.
↵Hardaway's two straight acknowledgments breaks an Ohio State stranglehold on the award. Jared Sullinger has been awarded in 11 of the season's 15 weeks thus far, with Deshaun Thomas and Aaron Craft each winning the honor once. Overall, Hardaway has earned the award three times this season, also sharing it with Sullinger in the last week of December.