DENVER, Colo. — Michigan Wolverines basketball junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. injured his hamstring in Sunday’s Big Ten championship game win over Wisconsin. He came back into the game briefly before returning again, the Wolverines going with bigger lineups down the stretch.

Gayle is feeling better heading into Thursday’s game against UC San Diego at Ball Arena in Denver.

“It feels pretty good,” Gayle said. “We had shoot around a little bit ago. I was able to run a little bit, jump.

“It’s still that feeling that you know it’s there, but nothing really crazy as far as restricting me to play. I will play.

“It’s just an amazing feeling. I put my mind, body and tears into the program and being available for my team. It’s not that big of an injury. I feel like I can go out and play. It felt pretty good.”

“Roddy practiced today. He looked good,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said.

Gayle, who spent his first two seasons of college basketball at Ohio State, has only missed one game in college — January’s tilt at UCLA. He’s played in 104 in his career, including 33 this season. Gayle is averaging 9.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per contest. He’s had some ups and downs this season, but has found some confidence lately, especially with 11 and 9 point performances against Purdue and Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament.

“I feel like just confidence in myself and my teammates and my coaching staff,” Gayle said of the spark that gave him. “Just feeling like if we follow the game plan and I do what I’m supposed to do, I feel like I’ve got into a rhythm where I knew where scoring opportunities were going to come or times where I feel like I could dominate the game. 

“It kinda exposed itself to me, so I feel like I can replicate that in March Madness as I did in the Big Ten Tournament.”

Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament with three wins, but the work isn’t done yet. The Wolverines are looking to carry the momentum into the Big Dance. The winner of the Wolverines vs. UC San Diego gets either Texas A&M or Yale Saturday.

“We got the same mentality that we had in the Big Ten Tournament, just kinda come prepared to whatever the game needs from us,” the Michigan guard said. “Each and every one of us is more than prepared and more than capable to go out there and do what needs to be done. We need to really make an emphasis on the glass and kinda have a game like Maryland, where we were able to rebound the ball very well.

“But as far as being in the one-game tournament, this is what everybody wants to play for in March — playing with nothing to lose, playing as the best version of ourselves.”