Michigan gets commitment from Franz Wagner

Franz Wagner, a 2019 forward and brother of former Michigan Wolverine star Moritz Wagner, is heading to Ann Arbor to play for new head coach Juwan Howard. The program officially announced the move on Saturday evening.

But you don’t want to hear from us. You want to hear from Michigan. Here’s the release from Saturday that made the news official:

“We are extremely excited to announce Franz has committed to join the University of the Michigan in the fall,” said Howard. “Franz gives us another talented guard with size who possesses a wonderful basketball IQ and a growing skillset that could be impactful for us right away.”

”I am extremely excited about this opportunity,” said Wagner. “I cannot wait to get on campus and meet everybody.”

Prior to coming to Ann Arbor, Wagner is scheduled to play for Germany in the upcoming 2019 U18 European Championship in Volos, Greece, July 27-Aug. 4.

This past season (2018-19), Wagner played on a dual contract with Alba Berlin in the BBL and SSV lok Bernau Alba in ProB. In 35 games with six starts with Alba Berlin, Wagner helped the team to a runner-up finish in the BBL, primarily coming off the bench. He averaged 12.4 minutes per game, while scoring 4.6 points and grabbing 1.3 rebounds per game. He shot 52.9 percent from the field and 39.6 percent on three-pointers.

He highlighted the season in Game 2 of the BBL finals with a perfect 6-for-6 performance from the field and a team-best 14 points. For his efforts he was awarded the BBL Best Young Player Award, which goes to the league’s most valuable player who is under age 22, and has German nationality.

In addition, Wagner started five of his 22 games while playing with Alba Berlin in the Eurocup. He averaged 2.5 points and 1.2 rebounds while shooting 46.7 percent from the field. In nine games with SSV lok Bernau Alba, he started six games and averaged 16.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and two steals, while shooting 50 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from long range.

In the 2017-18 season, Wagner split time with the Alba Berlin and Alba’s Junior Team. Helping the junior team finish third in the Munich Tournament, Wagner was the second leading scorer with 16.5 points while adding 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.2 steals in the four tournament games.

He added two games with Alba Berlin, who finished as the runner-up in BBL play. In the pair of games he saw 6.7 minutes off the bench with 2.2 points per game. In his 2016-17 season, Wagner played with the Alba Junior Team at the Ciutat De L’Hospitalet Tournament and came off the bench to average 11.8 minutes, 1.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.

This story is developing.