030814_NEWS_UMvsIU_MRM_18.JPG

Michigan sophomore Nik Stauskas, the 2014 Big Ten player of the year, smiles as confetti falls in celebration of the Wolverines' regular-season conference title after Saturday's 84-80 win over Indiana.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR -- Even after Nik Stauskas averaged 17.3 points in the opening three games of Michigan’s 2013-14 season, coach John Beilein wasn’t quite ready to toss ownership of the Wolverines over to the sophomore.

Asked before November’s Puerto Rico Tip-Off if Stauskas was this season’s go-to player, Beilein only straddled the fence.

“He’s one of them,” Beilein said.

All these days, months and games later, Stauskas is not just Michigan’s go-to guy -- he’s now the 2014 Big Ten player of the year.

Stauskas, the conference’s fourth-leading scorer at 17.4 points per game, was named as the Big Ten’s top player Monday during a live announcement broadcast on the Big Ten Network. The vote was conducted by both a media panel and league coaches.

"This means a lot, I worked extremely hard over the summer to put myself in this position," Stauskas said. "And to be able to help my team be successful this year and get this award, it's an unbelievable feeling and I'm extremely happy."

The sophomore guard edged Michigan State’s Gary Harris, Nebraska’s Terran Petteway, Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell and Iowa’s Devyn Marble for the honor.

In the preseason, it wasn’t far-fetched to believe a U-M player could follow former star Trey Burke as the league’s player of the year. Most, however, would have tabbed fellow sophomore stars Glenn Robinson III or Mitch McGary.

Instead, it’s Stauskas.

The Mississauga, Ontario, native, finished the regular season ranked second in the Big Ten in minutes played (35.2 mpg), third in 3-point percentage (.458) and 3-pointers made (2.4 per game), fifth in free-throw percentage (.811), seventh is assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9), and 11th in field-goal percentage (.489) and assists (3.4 apg).

Powered offensively by Stauskas, No. 8 Michigan finished 23-7 overall and 15-3 in the Big Ten, winning the league’s outright regular-season title by three full games over second-place Wisconsin.

Less than a year ago, after averaging 11 points in 30.5 minutes per game, Stauskas sat teary eyed in a Georgia Dome locker room after the Wolverines' 82-76 national title game loss to Louisville. He scored three points that night.

“I'm going to get back in the gym as soon as I get back to Ann Arbor,” Stauskas said, "I'm going to be a different player next year."

He carried through on the promise.

Stauskas added 16 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-6 frame last offseason. From the moment he stepped on the floor in 2013-14, he was clearly a stronger, broader, quicker and faster player.

The results followed. Stauskas scored 20 points on the road at Iowa State and averaged 23.3 points over three games in Puerto Rico. With outsiders starting to take notice of his all-around game, he averaged 23.7 points and made 12 3s during a run of three straight top-10 wins in January over Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State.

This is the same player who, last season, was assigned to stand in the corner and wait for a drive and dish from Burke. Stauskas attempted 298 field goals in 2012-13. Of those, 61.1 percent were 3s.

Often mislabeled through his freshman year as “just a shooter," Stauskas also declared at this season's media day, “Hopefully that saying dies this year. Hopefully it dies."

Consider it dead. In 2013-14, 42.1 percent of Stauskas’ points have come on 3-pointers, 31.6 percent has come on 2-point field goals and 26.3 percent has come at the free-throw line.

Then there are the dimes. Stauskas nearly doubled his number of assists, going from 52 as a freshman to 99 as a sophomore.

One year after Burke became the first Michigan player in 24 years to be named Big Ten player of the year, Stauskas becomes the seventh Michigan player to earn the distinction. He joins Burke, Glenn Rice (1989), Gary Grant (1988), Roy Tarpley (1985), Campy Russell (1974) and Cazzie Russell (1964, 1965).

Stauskas and the Wolverines will return to action Friday in the quarterfinal of the Big Ten tournament. Top-seeded Michigan will face the winner of Thursday’s first-round game between No. 8 Illinois and No. 9 Indiana on Friday at Bankers Life Arena in Indianapolis (noon, TV: ESPN/ESPN2).