Michigan Guard Dug McDaniel Suspended 6 Road Games for Academic Issues

The Michigan Wolverines will be without one of their best players for the foreseeable future.

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard released a statement on Wednesday announcing that leading scorer Dug McDaniel has been suspended for six upcoming road games due to academic violations:

A sophomore point guard McDaniel leads the Wolverines with 17.8 points, 5.1 assists and 36.1 minutes per game. He has made a significant jump from his freshman campaign in which he averaged 8.6 points, 3.6 assists and 30.8 minutes. Despite being undersized at 5'11" and 175 pounds, he has excelled as Michigan's primary option on offense this season.

McDaniel's upcoming suspension comes at an unfortunate time for the Wolverines. The team has a record of 6-9 and has lost four straight games, each of which were at home. Michigan is tied for last in the Big Ten with a 1-3 conference record.

The Wolverines will begin life without McDaniel with Thursday's road matchup against Maryland. After back-to-back home games, Michigan will travel again on Jan. 23 for a matchup against No. 1 Purdue. McDaniel will subsequently miss road matchups against rival Michigan State, Nebraska, No. 10 Illinois and Northwestern.

The next road game McDaniel will be eligible for will come on Feb. 29 when the Wolverines visit Rutgers.

Without McDaniel in the lineup, senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua will have to shoulder more of the scoring load. Nkamhoua is Michigan's second-leading scorer at 16.8 points per game.