Michigan freshman guard Matt Vogrich is still finding his way

After a spectacular debut, Michigan freshman Matt Vogrich has struggled in limited minutes so far this season.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Before Tuesday, when he made two three-pointers against Coppin State in 11 mostly mop-up minutes, Vogrich hadn’t hit a shot in December. As he struggled, his minutes slid to almost nothing - 1 minute each against Kansas and Detroit and 3 minutes against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

For a kid who was used to playing almost every minute of every game in high school and AAU, it came as a shock.

“It’s tough when you only play two or three minutes at a time. I’ve never done it before,” Vogrich said earlier this month. “We used to play the whole game, but it’s a learning process and I’m getting better at it. I try to simulate it in practice, when we’re scrimmaging or something tell myself ‘OK, this is the first 3 minutes. Just play really hard in the first three.’

“That’s what it’s going to be like in the game, when you get 3 at a time. So I’m getting better at it and hopefully I can learn to come off the bench better.”

All of this said, Vogrich leads Michigan in three-point shooting at 47.1 percent. The number, though, is skewed. Before his 2-for-4 game against Coppin State, he hadn’t hit a three-pointer since Nov. 27 against Marquette.

And other than his 5 three-pointers against Northern, he has made long range shots in just two games. The lack of minutes -- he’s averaging 7.4 a game but just 4.3 minutes over the last three games -- has been about more than his shooting.

“Just trying to get used to the speed of this game,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “It’s very fast, he’s got to continue to work on ball handling. It’s very typical of some two-guards, shooting two-guards that have some size, the speed of the game is just so much early.

“He’s got to let it slow down for him.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.