page_title: Nik Stauskas
section_title: Sophomore
hierarchical_section_title: Nik Stauskas / College career / Sophomore
caption_attribution_description: English: w:Nik Stauskas shoots against w:Marshall Plumlee in the w:Duke–Michigan basketball rivalry
context_page_description: Nikolas Tomas Stauskas is a Canadian professional basketball player. A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Stauskas played two seasons of National Collegiate Athletic Association competition for the Michigan Wolverines ending with the 2013–14 team before declaring for the NBA draft. Stauskas was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, for which he began his NBA career. Towards the end of his rookie season, Stauskas was tagged with the nickname Sauce Castillo after a closed captioning error resulted in a social media meme. Stauskas, whose family is of Lithuanian heritage, is a member of the Canadian national basketball team.
  Stauskas divided his high school years between Loyola Catholic Secondary School, South Kent School and St. Mark's School, leading the latter to back-to-back New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class AA Championship Games. The team won the NEPSAC championship in Stauskas's 2012 senior season, and he was the championship game's Most Valuable Player. He was also selected to the NEPSAC All-Class AA team.
context_section_description: In the offseason, Stauskas added 16 pounds (7.3 kg) to his frame and 6 inches (15.2 cm) to his vertical jump. Lindy's Sports selected Stauskas to the preseason All-Big Ten second team, naming Stauskas as the nation's number 10 shooting guard and Big Ten's best shooter. On November 12, Stauskas posted career highs of 23 points and 5 assists in the second game of the regular season against South Carolina State. In the first half of the game, Stauskas made all six of his field goals, including 5 three-pointers. In the next game, Stauskas contributed a career-high 6 assists as well as 20 points against Iowa State on November 17. Stauskas scored a game-high 24 points on November 21 against Long Beach State in the first round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, surpassing his career high set two games before and giving him three consecutive 20-point performances for the first time in his career. Stauskas established another career high the next day against Florida State as he scored 26 points including 7 of the team's 13 points in overtime, despite scoring only 3 points in the first half. In the game, he set a career high with 9 made free throws and logged his fourth consecutive 20 point game. Following a Michigan timeout with 11 seconds in regulation, Stauskas made a layup to force overtime. In the championship game against Charlotte, Stauskas tallied 20 points and a career-high 3 steals. Although Michigan lost in the championship game, Stauskas earned tournament MVP honors. In the second half Stauskas twisted his ankle, but continued to play the final 9½ minutes. Stauskas sat out the November 29 game against Coppin State to rest his ankle.
  In the January 2 Big Ten Conference opener against Minnesota, Stauskas set a career high with 7 assists while scoring 14 points. On January 14, he had a game-high 21 points, team-high 5 assists as well as 6 rebounds against Penn State. On January 18, Stauskas scored 23 points including the final 11 for Michigan as the team defeated (#3) Wisconsin at the Kohl Center for the first time since the 1998–99 team did so, ending an 11-game losing streak at Wisconsin. Stauskas made all 6 of his free throw attempts in the final 25 seconds. The game marked the highest ranked team Michigan has ever beaten on the road. On January 21, Stauskas earned his first Big Ten Conference Player of the Week recognition. At the time he was leading the conference in scoring and 20-point games. On January 22, against (#10) Iowa Stauskas tied his career high with 26 points and contributed 5 rebounds and 5 assists, helping Michigan defeated consecutive top 10 opponents for the first time since the 1996–97 team. On January 25 in the Michigan–Michigan rivalry game against the 2013–14 Spartans, Stauskas contributed 19 points and 4 assists, including a 5-for-6 effort on three-point shots. The 80–75 victory over (#3) Michigan State marked the first time in school history that the team defeated three consecutive AP Poll top ten opponents and marked the first time since the 1986–87 Iowa Hawkeyes that any team has won three consecutive games all of which were against top 10 opponents. It also gave Michigan a 7–0 Big Ten start, which is the best since the 1976–77 team won its first eight games. His effort for the week earned a second Big Ten Player of the Week recognition as well as a CBS Sports National Player of the Week honor on January 27. Stauskas also earned Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week recognition from United States Basketball Writers Association on January 28. He led the conference in scoring and three-point shooting percentage through January, but he only scored six points when Michigan got upset by Indiana on February 2, ending a 10-game winning streak and 8–0 Big Ten conference start. Stuaskas established another career high in assists with 8 against Nebraska on February 5 as the team posted its largest conference game margin of victory since defeating Indiana 112-64 on February 22, 1998. On February 23 against (#13/14) Michigan State, Michigan rebounded from an early 22–11 deficit to win 79–70. Stauskas led 
caption: Stauskas drives against Marshall Plumlee.
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