Vlad Goldin Scores Season-High 12 Points, but Still Searching for Offensive Touch

The 7-foot-1 transfer from Florida Atlantic is averaging 7.6 points for Michigan after scoring 15.7 last season. Coach May remains confident Goldin will get the shots to drop.

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

Michigan center Vlad Goldin shooting a free throw Thursday night against Tarleton State. Teammate Nimari Burnett (No. 4) is looking on.

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Being 7-foot-1 with very solid statistics last season (15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks) for Florida Atlantic brought fairly high expectations for Vlad Goldin. He transferred to Michigan for his final collegiate season along with his coach, Dusty May, after helping establish the Owls’ program with a Final Four appearance.

However, Goldin is averaging just 7.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks after five games.

Goldin had a season-high 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocked shots Thursday night in Michigan’s 72-49 win over Tarleton State. He was 4-for-8 from the field, taking only close-in shots, and was 4-for-7 on free throws in a game in which he drew what was easily a game-high seven fouls from smaller opponents.

“I thought he played one of his better floor games,” May said afterward. “As far as not converting around the rim, it’s tough. These are shots he normally converts. They’re not dropping. I think it’s like everything else in sports. You hit a line drive and it’s right at the shortstop in baseball.

“I think he wishes he had a couple of those possessions back, but we’re not going to spend a lot of time and energy worrying about those shots going in. We want to generate those shots – again and again and again. This is a new environment for a lot of different guys. Would we love to have those back? Yes. Are we going to? No. We’re very confident when the time is right, he’s going to make them. He’s going to make a high percentage of those shots.”

He’s shooting .538 from the field and .625 at the free throw line – down from his .673 on field goals and .663 from the line last year for FAU.

Goldin returns to Florida with the Wolverines for Monday night’s game in the Fort Myers Tip-Off against Virginia Tech (3-2). The game is on FS1 at 6.

Terry Mills had a great inside-outside game as a 6-foot-10 power forward on Michigan’s 1989 NCAA champions, and went onto become an NBA first-round pick who averaged 10.6 points over 11 seasons.

He’s now the analyst on the Michigan radio network, and I asked Mills about the imposing Russian center after the broadcast.

“I think it was his best game,” said Mills.

I asked if he expected Goldin to score those 15.7 points again once he gets accustomed to new suroundings, and gets rolling.

“No,” said Mills, “but he is going to score down low and play some pretty good defense and provide what this team needs in Big Ten play. That’s why they got him – to match up with the big bodies in the conference.”

Goldin weighs 250 pounds and has the wing-span of someone 7-foot-5. He teams up with 7-foot power forward Danny Wolf to cause matchup problems for opponents.

“He’s 7-1 and a great communicator,” said May of Goldin. “He’s mobile. He’s a great rim protector when he’s at his best. Still has work to do from a defensive rebounding standpoint (3.0 per game) but he’s going to anchor a lot of what we do.

“We didn’t do a great job in the first half of helping him. We had him too high up the floor early in the game. We flattened him out a little bit more in the second half, and we got better looks.”

After a recent game, Wolf said, “Vlad’s going to keep getting better. We’ve all got to do a better job of getting him the ball.”

Goldin nearly doubled the 4.5 shots he was averaging over the first four games with eight against Tarleton. He got going with a slam dunk on a put-back, but had a flying hook shot swirl out just before the first half buzzer.

Goldin wasn’t one of the players brought out for post-game interviews. Leading scorer Roddy Gayle, Jr. (16 points, 4 rebounds) and super sub forward Sam Walters (13 points, 4 rebounds) met with the media.

On Goldin, Walters said, “He’s a great teammate – a really great guy. Obviously, if I have to switch on him in practices, defensively he’s so strong and athletic. So, it’s been really good practice for me – practicing with a guy who’s a really talented basketball player.”

Big Ten Network analyst Stephen Bardo has termed Walters (6-foot-10), Wolf and Goldin Michigan’s “Triple Towers.”

After five games, Wolf (10.4 points) and Walters (9.4 points) both are scoring better than Goldin, who had the best scoring average last season among the three portal transfers.

But it’s still early, and nobody is giving up on Goldin.

Just imagine these Wolverines, now 4-1, when and if their biggest big guy starts pouring in the buckets.