The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | January 8, 2018
Big week ahead
The Michigan basketball
team has a chance to
convince naysayers this
week, writes Kevin Santo.
» Page 2B
Alone at the top
It took two tries, but Kim
Barnes Arico is now the
winningest coach in program
history.
» Page 3B
B
MONDAY
ASCENDING
F
ifth-year senior
guard Jaaron
Simmons
maneuvered out
of a crowded paint
area, looked up
and saw freshman guard Jordan
Poole sprinting down the court.
Simmons fired a laser to Poole,
who casually lofted the ball in the
direction of the hoop.
“I got the pass and I kinda
peeped (Isaiah Livers) at half
court,” Poole said. “We made eye
contact, so I’m looking like ‘I’m
gonna throw it to the rim, big boy,
you gotta go get it.’ ”
With an emphatic alley-oop
flush, Livers — Poole’s roommate
— erased Michigan’s early
doldrums to give the Wolverines
the boost it needed, en route to a
79-69 win over Illinois.
A multitude of mistakes —
turnovers, fouls, missed shots
— dug Michigan an early
hole, though. Redshirt
sophomore wing
Charles Matthews
picked up a foul
away from the
ball just 16
seconds
into the
game. Junior
center Moritz
Wagner made a three-
point bucket, then turned
the
ball over and committed an
unnecessary foul on the other
end immediately after. Both
fouls relegated Michigan’s two
stars to the bench before the
first timeout.
And just seconds after
checking back in, Matthews
picked up an offensive foul,
forcing an uncharacteristically
angry John Beilein to bring
Poole back in. Matthews,
Michigan’s leading scorer
on the year, played only
one first-half minute.
But led by a storm
of energy from the
freshman duo of
Poole and Livers,
Michigan crawled
back to eventually
grab the lead late
in the half. The
two combined
for 14 of the
team’s 31
points in the
half, despite
neither
starting
the game.
Robinson also pitched in with
nine points in the first half.
“I was really pleased,” Beilein
said when asked about his message
at halftime. “That was my message
to the team. I didn’t go in there
ranting and raving. I just said,
‘Look, I feel in a really good place
that we’re down three right now.’
We got used to it a little bit. You
know, we tried to simulate it for
the last two days, and our scout
team just doesn’t have that length
and that quickness. So it hit us
right in the face, and then we had
to react to it. Don’t blame our guys,
credit Illinois. They did a great
job.”
The Wolverines shook off the
first half woes quickly, starting the
second half with a game-altering
9-2 spurt to give Michigan a lead it
would keep for good.
Wagner and Matthews struggled
with foul trouble throughout —
each picking up a third foul less
than five minutes into the second
half. But Poole and Livers were
able to shoulder much of the load,
combining for 23 points on just 10
shots.
Senior guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 13
points of his own, all coming in
the second half. Six Wolverines
finished in double figures.
“I don’t think there’s anything
pretty about how we’re playing,”
Beilein said. “At the same time
we’re just finding ways still to
get out in front of people and win
games.”
Though he only played 22
minutes due to foul trouble,
Wagner showed signs of shaking
the rust that has led to struggles
since returning from an ankle
injury a week ago. He scored 14
points on an efficient 6-of-7 from
the field.
Though they struggled at times
— setting a new season-high
with 14 turnovers — the strong
second half proved to be too
much, earning Michigan its third
conference win of the season.
“(In the) second half, I’m so
proud of the way we played,”
Beilein said. “We had 12 turnovers
in the first half, three in the
second half. There’s the difference
in the game.”
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
EVAN AARON / Daily
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN
“(In the) second
half, I’m so proud
of the way we
played.”
— John Beilein
ISAIAH
LIVERS
-45 points
in first 15
games
-25 points
in past two
games
JORDAN
POOLE
-Shooting 41
percent on
3s
-Has scored
double digits
in six games