A relaxed Manny Harris shrugs off ugly end to regular season, leads Michigan basketball team

INDIANAPOLIS - Manny Harris stood with one arm slung over the top of his locker and the other at his side.

The rest of the cramped locker room filled with the post-game commotion of players and coaches showering, packing gear and leaving as quickly as possible. Harris stood completely relaxed.

He was different. The Michigan junior just enjoyed the scene.

On Thursday, Harris found what he needed in a 59-52 win over Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament: Closure on a wretched end to the regular season.

Michigan's Manny Harris goes up for a basket against Iowa on Thursday. Michigan defeated Iowa, 59-52. (Photo: Associated Press)

Standing at his locker, the glimmer of hope in his eyes burned a little brighter.

“It’s a whole new life,” he said. “You know what? Everybody on this team wants to get to the NCAA tournament, and there’s no better chance than right here. There’s no team in the Big Ten that blew us out or anything.

“We’re confident that it could happen, and if we play Michigan basketball, it will.”

Sounds crazy. But if the Michigan basketball team hopes to cobble together a Cinderella run, it’ll need Harris to play exactly like he did Thursday, when he was the hands-down best player on the court.

Right from the start, Harris demonstrated his recent struggles were in the rear-view mirror, draining a 3-pointer for the team’s first points of the game.

“He hits that first shot, and that usually does it for him,” said teammate DeShawn Sims. “For a player of his caliber, just being able to hit your first shot, you see the ball going in, and it just gives your overall game confidence.”

From there, Harris dominated. He grabbed rebounds when the Wolverines needed them. He threw a few flashy no-look passes that kept the offense humming. He hit free throws when they needed to stop an Iowa run at the end of the game.

He finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists.

“I mean, when he’s on, he’s really tough for anyone to stop,” teammate Zack Novak said. “When he lets the game come to him, we’re a really good team.”

That hadn’t been the case in recent games.

Harris limped to the regular-season finish line. Against Ohio State, he shot 1-for-8 from the field and let the Buckeyes push him around.

Against Michigan State, it got worse. He shot 1-for-10. No rebounds. Four total points. A season low. A non-factor in 33 minutes.

Harris took the blowout defeat personally. He’s got plenty of friends on the Spartans roster from high school, and playing well against them is a point of personal pride.

“He didn’t say much,” said Sims, his roommate and best friend on the team. “Not about that.

“He’s different. He’s a quiet kid. So you know when he does say something, you know he means business.”

About an hour before the Iowa game, Sims noticed Harris chattering in warm-ups. Then he kept on talking into the locker room and back onto the court.

Out of character, for sure. But it relaxed Sims. He knew with certainty that Harris was primed for a big day.

Either of the Ohio State or Michigan State losses could have taken a wrecking ball to Harris’ confidence. He spent a lot of time himself wondering what had gone wrong over the past few days. Wrong with himself. Wrong with Michigan’s season.

“I’ve just done a lot of thinking,” Harris said. “I was down definitely, because it’s a big rivalry and we as a team didn’t play Michigan basketball.

“But we had to snap out of that quick, because we were coming into this tournament where we have another life.”

Whether the Wolverines can sustain that life beyond Friday’s game against Ohio State is doubtful.

For a few moments Thursday in the post-game locker room at Conseco Fieldhouse, that wasn’t Harris’ concern. After a tumultuous regular season and his recent tailspin, he couldn’t have asked for anything more than a clean slate.

Pete Bigelow covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petebigelow@annarbor.com