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