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SportsMonday
December 11, 2017 — 3B
Simpson helps lead Michigan to unexpected comeback over UCLA
S
omewhere amid the hazy,
ever-changing point guard
battle lies
an answer.
Only
twice
in John
Beilein’s
tenure at
Michigan
has the
starting
point guard
played
fewer than 32 minutes per game.
This season, Zavier Simpson has
slightly edged out Eli Brooks for
the lead in point guard minutes.
Neither eclipses 20 minutes per
game.
At some point in the season —
likely soon, if not now — Beilein
will no longer subsist with a
three-way revolving door at his
most coveted position. If the entire
precedent of Beilein’s offensive
philosophy means anything, one
point guard will become the guy.
What if that guy could be a
former four-star, top-50 recruit?
What if, in theory, that said recruit
merely needed time to develop
his offensive skill, to find his
niche within a highly complicated
offensive system and time to adjust
to the speed and nuance of college
basketball?
This is where Zavier Simpson
was supposed to be in his second
year on campus. This team was
supposed to be his.
Yet in many ways, Simpson
is still the forgotten man of this
point guard battle. He doesn’t
have the collegiate all-conference
background of Jaaron Simmons,
and he’s not the new freshman
garnering regular praise for
the ability to adjust to college
basketball like Eli Brooks. Last
season, Simpson averaged just
1.6 points per game, and shot
just 37 percent from the field, a
particularly troublesome number
given his propensity to shoot closer
to the basket. Along for the ride
of Derrick Walton Jr.’s magical
journey last year, Simpson was a
mere afterthought.
He wasn’t forgotten on
Saturday, though. Star UCLA
guard Aaron Holiday certainly
won’t forget him.
Simpson entered the game
with just over four minutes left
as Holiday continued to terrorize
Michigan’s guards. Holiday had
23 points at the time and seemed
to have an answer for every punch
the Wolverines tried to throw in
their comeback bid. Simpson’s
thought process was quite simple.
“To go in and play defense. To
try not to let him score, to try and
just shut him out.”
Spurred by his trademark
energy and tenacity, he did just
that. He held Holiday scoreless
for the remainder of regulation,
including a steal off a lazy Holiday
pass with 18 seconds left and a strip
as Holiday tried to elevate from the
free throw line in a tied game on
the last possession.
Then Simpson opened up
overtime by nailing a 3-pointer and
capped it with a contested layup.
He scored a career-high 15 points
and cemented his claim to do away
with the ongoing point guard roller
coaster.
“They’re both really good kids,”
Beilein said. “We haven’t had
fussing by all three of them. We
made a decision going in we were
going to play two of them… based
on practice and games it’ll be two
different ones. But we felt that they
weren’t getting, nobody was really
getting to feel what they needed
to feel in a game. So we went with
those two today, it could change at
any time.”
But it doesn’t have to change at
any time. A meritocratic decision
only lasts until someone cements
his merit. With a renewed, more
complete skill set, Simpson might
be ready for that.
“I’m not surprised,” said
redshirt sophomore guard Charles
Matthews, when asked about
Simpson’s performance. “All he
needed was his opportunity to get
out there and get his rhythm, get
his flow. I see how hard he works,
night in and night out, and I know
what type of dog he has in him, so I
wasn’t surprised. I was just happy
that he finally unleashed it.”
Defensive prowess has never
been in doubt for Simpson. And
there are signs that Simpson’s
offensive growth — however
incremental it may be — is real.
In an admittedly small sample
size, Zavier Simpson has improved
his three-point percentage
from 26 percent a year ago to 47
percent this season. His field goal
percentage has seen a similar jump,
from 37 to 56. And in his two most
recent performances, in which
he was afforded his “rhythm” as
Matthews described by playing
20-plus minutes in each, Simpson
has combined 10-for-14 for 26
points, including a game-altering
four-steal performance Saturday.
Zavier Simpson has the
pedigree. Now his game might be
rounding into form.
What if the answer to the
season’s preeminent question is
just that simple?
With 4:23 left in the game,
Zavier Simpson checked into a
three-point game.
At that point, he had five points,
three steals and a rebound to
his credit. Bruins guard Aaron
Holiday, meanwhile, had 23 points
and had scored the last six to
maintain his team’s lead.
So Michigan coach John Beilein
turned to the sophomore guard.
Simpson
recalled
his
coach’s
instructions.
“Play defense. Keep playing
defense.”
He did that and more.
With just over 2:30 remaining,
Michigan still trailed by four. The
shot clock was running down on
the Wolverines’ possession, and
Simpson had the ball on the left
wing. Senior guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman was running
off a double screen, but he was
covered tightly.
Simpson faked a pass, euro-
stepped into the lane and threw
up a near-hook shot with his right
hand. It bounced off the glass and
in.
“I didn’t think it was going to
be glass, but I knew it was going
in once I released; it felt good,”
Simpson said.
Michigan’s work was far from
over, though. With 43 seconds left,
UCLA had the ball with a three-
point lead. The Wolverines needed
a stop. Simpson provided. He stole
the ball from Holiday and took it
coast-to-coast for the layup.
One-point game.
“It’s just unbelievable the way
he impacts the game with his
hands, how solid he was on Aaron
Holiday,” said junior forward
Moritz Wagner. “Aaron Holiday
is a heck of a player, by the way.
(Zavier) didn’t make dumb fouls
like Muhammad and I did, so he
stayed with it and led us.”
But then Beilein pulled Simpson
out of the game. He replaced him
with freshman Eli Brooks, who’s
more
of
an
offensive-minded
guard.
Brooks didn’t disappoint either.
After Bruins forward Gyorgy
Goloman hit one of two free
throws, Brooks ended up with the
ball on the right wing. He drove
to the basket and drew a foul.
However, that wasn’t exactly a
comforting occurrence for the
Wolverines.
Michigan had been abysmal
from the charity stripe up to that
point in the game, shooting just
over 31 percent. Add to that Brooks’
inexperience – he’d only attempted
10 free throws in his career – and
the uneasiness grew.
But Brooks calmly stepped to
the line, hit both free throws and
sent the game to overtime.
“How about that?” Beilein said.
“… For a freshman to be in that
stage late in the game, that was
huge for him to just go in and knock
them down.”
Simpson came back in to start
the overtime period, and on the
first possession, he drilled an open
three from the top of the key. He
added a layup and a free throw to
finish the day with 15 points and
four steals, and the Wolverines
polished off a 78-69 victory.
“The point guard sets the tone
on the offensive and defensive end,”
Simpson said. “So I just wanted to
come in and set the tone. I knew it
would be contagious, and I knew it
would rub off on my teammates.”
After the game, Brooks and
Simpson led the Wolverines in
singing “The Victors.” It’s a far cry
from where they’ve been in the
past few games.
Simpson entered the game
averaging 3.4 points per game.
Brooks was averaging 4.1. Though
both had shown flashes, neither
had established themselves as
a
consistent
contributor.
And
on a team that didn’t seem to
have an answer for when good
opponents went on runs, Brooks’
and Simpson’s shortcomings were
easier to see.
In that sense, Saturday felt
familiar. UCLA went out to a
15-point
lead,
and
Michigan
needed somebody to step up.
Thanks to Simpson’s defense and
timely shooting and Brooks’ free
throws, though, the Wolverines’
response was rather unfamiliar.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore point guard Zavier Simpson tallied 15 points and played solid defense throughout Michigan’s win Saturday.
MAX
MARCOVITCH
Improved and more experienced, sophomore could be answer
Point guard’s late-game heroics prove key in 78-69 victory
MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
Anthony
McCallum
was,
literally and figuratively, the high
point of Saturday’s intrasquad meet
for the Michigan men’s gymnastics
team.
Though his Blue team ultimately
fell to the Maize team, it took the
junior all of 30 seconds to post
the top score of the day with his
Tsukahara double pike vault.
His vault, which consists of a
round-off onto the springboard, a
half-turn onto the table and two
backflips in the pike position, is
one of the most difficult routines
currently being done. As the
defending NCAA Vault champion,
McCallum’s
primary
challenge
will be maintaining an upward
trajectory this year.
“He’s in championship form
right now,” said Michigan coach
Kurt Golder. “We just hope that
nobody can catch up to him.”
Thanks to his powerful tumbling
and the routine’s high level of
difficulty, McCallum also won the
individual all-around with a score
of 80.85.
But unlike the vault, McCallum’s
all-around
victory
wasn’t
a
foregone conclusion. Freshman
Cameron Bock gave him a run for
his money leading up until the final
rotation. Then, a fall on his parallel
bars dismount dropped him into
second.
Bock’s performance, including
a first-place finish on the still rings
and second place on the pommel
horse, high bar and the all-around,
sent a message to the team’s
veterans: don’t get too comfortable.
“I think what’s gonna help them
is (the freshmen) putting heat on
the upperclassmen,” Golder said.
“They’re gonna take some lineup
spots.”
But with his fall in the final
rotation, Bock also demonstrated
some of the same struggles that led
the Wolverines to a disappointing
seventh-place finish in last year’s
Big Ten Championships.
“We’re gonna focus more on
consistency,” Golder said. “If we can
establish a little better consistency,
it’ll take us a long way.”
Even more than the pommel
horse — an event that has plagued
Michigan in the past — Saturday’s
meet revealed a need to focus on the
parallel bars. Due to McCallum’s
lofty 15.8 start value, he won the
apparatus despite putting his knee
down on his double pike dismount.
The news on parallel bars isn’t all
bad, though. The team now knows
what it must focus on in preparation
for regular season meets.
“Make a few adjustments,”
Golder said. “Sacrifice a little bit of
difficulty so that we’re reducing the
risk of missing a routine.”
Amid tentative performances
from some of his teammates, junior
Uche Eke provided the Maize team
with
much-needed
steadiness.
Though he competed only on the
high bar, parallel bars and pommel
horse, Eke contributed the top
execution score on all three —
good enough for top-three finishes
despite low start values.
But Eke has more up his sleeve.
He
didn’t
showcase
the
full
difficulty of his routines due to a
hand injury, but he’s been training a
new release move that could make
him an even bigger asset on high
bar for the Wolverines.
“It’s a big-time skill, very
exciting,” Golder said. “We’ll have
that back in for sure.”
A
recent
surgery
limited
freshman Jacob Moore to just three
events, but he too flashed immense
potential. He placed first on floor
with a 14.3 — the second-highest
individual score of the meet — and
third on the pommel horse with a
13.65.
On the former, Moore made
his case to be a worthy addition to
the lineup on one of Michigan’s
strongest events. On the latter,
he provided some much-needed
stability to a potential Achilles heel
for the Wolverines.
At full strength, Moore’s form
and execution make him a threat
in the all-around, indicating that
bigger things are to come for a
young Michigan squad.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Junior gymnast Anthony McCallum posted the highest score of Sunday’s meet with a Tsukuhara double vault.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan begins season with scrimmage
After
a
mediocre
performance
in
the
2017
season, the Michigan men’s
gymnastics team sought to
bounce back by getting its
squad loosened up and ready to
head into competitive play with
its annual scrimmage.
Saturday,
the
Wolverines
commenced play at Cliff Keen
Arena, where the Maize team
defeated the Blue team, 399.35
to 388.35.
Junior Anthony McCallum,
the defending NCAA Vault
champion, picked up where he
left off and led the scoring with
14.9 points on the vault and
80.85 points in the all-around
for the Blue team.
For
the
Maize
team,
freshman
Cameron
Bock
showed promise, scoring 80.55
in the all-around to make a
push for a rotation spot.
Michigan coach Kurt Golder
– who did not lead either the
Maize or Blue team explicitly
for this match – was impressed
with McCallum, asserting his
vault
performance
Saturday
would have won again.
The
Wolverines
have
an
experienced
squad
as
very
few
seniors
graduated
last
year. They also picked up
a
considerable
number
of
freshmen this past year, and
Golder expects them to compete
and occupy some of the spots in
the rotation.
“I think what will really
help us is the freshmen that
came in putting the heat on the
upperclassmen,” Golder said.
Though some of the gymnasts
had shaky performances on
the pommel horse and rocky
landings off the horizontal bar,
Golder wasn’t concerned. He
mentioned the biggest issue
his team will have to work on
going forward is to cut out
the mistakes and focus on
consistency.
Golder
also
noted
that
he doesn’t expect the long
holiday break to have much
of an impact on the players’
form going into the season.
Despite many players coming
from far regions, he expects
his gymnasts to be practicing
in their hometowns regularly
during the off period just as
they did before they came to
the team.
“When they go back home,
they’re
always
welcome
to
go back to their home club
gyms, and we’ll have voluntary
practices over break for those
who are staying along,” he
mentioned.
With
a
solid
mix
of
experience and fresh blood, it
seems that they will start 2018
on the right foot.
BRIAN SAMIMI
For the Daily
‘M’ shows promise in intrasquad meet
MEN’S GYMNASTICS