ANN ARBOR, MI - Two days after looking shaky in his first career start, Michigan forward Ricky Doyle played more like the big man who came off the bench earlier this season.
The 6-foot-9 freshman scored a team-high 16 points Monday in the Wolverines' 72-56 win over Coppin State. He made good on 6-of-7 shots from the floor in 22 minutes.
"Today was a lot less nerve-racking getting (the first start) out of the way," Doyle said. "I definitely saw a lot of opportunities but it was the way we were running our offense. We were really executing and it really got me open, as well as many other players open."
One of those others, forward Mark Donnal, scored 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting in 12 minutes. It was his second game coming off the bench and, again, he provided a spark.
Coppin State struggled to matchup with Michigan's bigs, losing the points in the paint battle, 30-12. Eagles coach Michael Grant said Doyle and Donnal's varying playing styles dictated the lineup he had to use throughout the evening.
When Doyle was in, the Eagles went bigger. For Donnal, they played 3-4 guards to contest his outside ability.
"We had no answer for the big guy around the basket," Grant said. "When the other player came in, he could really shoot the 3 too. That really spread us out and we tried to go small."
Doyle's 16 points was a career-high, though he struggled from the free-throw line, making 4-of-9 attempts.
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Michigan will break for the holidays following the conclusion of its non-league schedule. With Big Ten play around the corner, coach John Beilein said his young team has to continue to evolve its post presence.
His comfort looks to be in starting Doyle with Donnal relieving him in quick spurts - a recipe that has provided positive results through the last two games.
Doyle was already getting more playing time as a reserve, but his scoring as a starter (9.5 points) is an improvement from what he averaged off the bench (7.3).
As for Donnal, he too responded well to the lineup change, upping his average from 5.3 points per game to 10.5.
"Me and Mark are really working hard in he gym, and Max (Bielfeldt) as well," Doyle said. "We're always in the gym shooting and making each other better and I'm real confident we can have more games like this.
"As bigs, we play almost the same amount of minutes. He could start, I could start. It doesn't really matter because we know we're both going in the game and we're helping the team win."
The Wolverines (7-5) are off until Dec. 30 when they host Illinois (3-3).
Justin P. Hicks is a sports reporter and storyteller for MLive / The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at jhicks3@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and MLive.
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