Michigan’s 7-foot newcomer is earning a nickname after her dynamic Big Ten debut

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Michigan has a nickname for its two 7-foot freshmen: Area 50-1.

The tag was unveiled by the school on social media Tuesday night after Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf put up supernatural numbers in a 67-64 win at No. 11 Wisconsin to open Big Ten schedule.

Goldin wears uniform No. 50 and Wolf wears No. 1. Both transferred to Michigan this season.

“We have some ALIENS in our frontcourt,” the Wolverines posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Don’t penetrate the paint.”

Their performance made it clear that Michigan (7-1) appears intent on recovering from an 8-24 season and returning to Big Ten contention under new coach Dusty May.

“I feel like we’re a pretty new team, but I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress in playing together and learning from each other,” said Goldin, who came to Michigan with May from Florida Atlantic.

Goldin, a 7-foot-1 center who was part of FAU’s 2023 Final Four team, scored a career-high 24 points against Wisconsin. He made three straight baskets and scored the final six points of the game.

Wolf, a 7-footer from Yale, had 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals, a career-best.

“He’s really a guard in the body of a 7-foot player – the way he dribbles, the way he shoots, the way he can create space,” May said after his team’s sixth straight win .

However, it took time for these two great men to learn how to be successful together.

Goldin scored 15.7 points per game in his final season at Florida Atlantic, but reached double figures just once in his first six games at Michigan. Wolf had a three-game stretch in which he scored a total of 19 points.

“I think it’s always because of the trust our coaches have in us,” Wolf said. “We definitely had some tough games together and other people stepped up for us to help us win. Through it all, Coach stayed by our side.”

The breakthrough came last week.

In a 78-53 win over then-No. 22 Xavier on Wednesday, Wolf had 20 points and 14 rebounds while Goldin contributed 18 points. This game showed what matchup problems they can cause as two 7-footers with complementary skillsets.

Wisconsin is the rare team that also starts two 7-footers in Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter, but they were no match for the Goldin-Wolf duo.

Goldin and Wolf combined for 44 of Michigan’s 67 points against the Badgers, with Wolf often finding Goldin for easy baskets down the stretch. Crowl had two points and four rebounds in less than 22 minutes before fouling out, while Winter had eight points and five rebounds.

“They’re both veterinarians,” Winter said. “They’ve been doing this for a while. Their games complement each other really well. Because they were in a 5-4 ball system, they caused some problems for our defense and they performed really well.”

Good enough to earn a memorable nickname in the first game of her Big Ten career.

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