The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, January 11, 2018 — 7

Increased freshmen roles raise Michigan’s ceiling
T

o Michigan coach 
John Beilein, it wasn’t 

so much a 
dismissive 
comment as 
it was the 
norm of life 
in college 
basketball.

In a close 

win over 
Central 
Michigan in 
November, 
Beilein’s three freshmen 
combined to play four scoreless 
minutes in the second half. 
Beilein uttered a platitude 
that seemed more apt to fit 
your father’s era of college 
basketball.

“I thought in the second half, 

we go down, it wasn’t a time for 
freshmen to be on the floor.”

That came against a Mid-

American Conference team 
that has since lost to Eastern 
Michigan and Kent State in 
back-to-back games. Trust is 
fickle, but rarely final.

Which underscores the 

importance of Beilein’s choice 
to go with three freshmen 
together — Eli Brooks, Jordan 
Poole and Isaiah Livers — 
Tuesday night, in the most 
consequential half of the 
Wolverines’ season to date. 
Checking in with 12:29 left in 
the game, Brooks and Poole 
joined Livers on the court, 
down four points to No. 5 
Purdue, with an upset win in 
the balance.

Now that’s trust. And it’s 

trust each has earned in the 
two months since the Chippwas 
came to town.

Poole was the highest 

recruit. Brooks earned a 
starting opportunity early in 
the season. Livers was perhaps 
the least likely of the three 
to make a major contribution 
this season. And yet, not only 
has Livers done just that, but 
coupling his emergence with an 

increased role might raise the 
team’s ceiling moreso than any 
other player.

With his play lately, it seems 

only a matter of time before 
Livers overtakes Robinson for 
the starting spot. And for good 
reason.

Livers has made 12 of his 

last 15 3-pointers, and while 
that 80-percent clip is clearly 
unsustainable, he doesn’t have 
to be an elite shooter to be a 
clear upgrade over Robinson 
— who’s still hovering around 
a career-low 36 percent from 
deep on the season. 

Tuesday, Livers’ defense 

on Purdue forward Vincent 
Edwards changed the game. 
Against Iowa, his physicality 
on forward Tyler Cook did 
the same. His offensive boon 
has merely been a bonus, but a 
bonus that does not appear to 
be a mirage.

“Duncan and Livers both 

could really play,” said Purdue 
guard Carsen Edwards. “But 
(Livers) is really athletic. I 
mean, he can move well. He 
matches up well with Vincent 
(Edwards).”

Added Beilein: “I think 

Isaiah is playing way above 
what I expected from two 
months ago. He couldn’t figure 
out what was going on on 
defense. I thought between him 
and Edwards, that was a great 
duel between a senior and a 
freshman.”

With Michigan clinging to 

a 67-66 lead with just under 
three minutes left, Livers 
caught the ball on the wing. 
Purdue forward Matt Haarms, 
adjusting to Livers’ newfound 
shooting stroke, closed out 
quickly on the freshman, who 
calmly gave a head fake and 
dribbled past Haarms, used his 
athleticism to finesse past the 
help defender, and laid the ball 
in over the 7-foot-3 Haarms’ 
outstretched arms.

It’s a play Livers wouldn’t 

have made a week ago, much 

less a month ago.

Elsewhere on the wing, 

there aren’t many minutes to 
pry from redshirt sophomore 
Charles Matthews and senior 
guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman, but 
Jordan Poole is 
making Beilein 
try to find some 
anyway.

Poole has 

flashed the 
substance 
to match his 
trademark 
flair, adding 
an energetic 
dynamic to the 
team each time he steps on the 
court. Poole has garnered a 
reputation for his inclination 
to shoot any time, from 
anywhere, but he has actually 
been an efficient scorer in his 
fluctuating minutes.

After Tuesday’s eight-point 

performance on just four shots, 
Poole is now shooting close 
to 50 percent from the field, 
including a 42-percent clip from 
deep. More impressively, Poole 

scores a team-
high 0.64 points 
per minute on 
the floor.

He entered 

the game in 
the first half 
Tuesday with 
Michigan 
trailing by 10 
and immediately 
banked in a 
three-pointer. 

The new fan favorite jogged 
down the court with a smirk 
and shrug. But spurred by 
their defense, he and Livers 
ignited a quick 14-2 run to 
pull the Wolverines out of the 
deficit. When Poole exited the 

game five minutes later, the 
Boilermakers’ lead was down to 
just three.

With time winding down in 

the second half, Beilein even 
considered playing Abdur-
Rahkman at point guard — a 
move he has not made all 
season — just to fit Poole on the 
court in crunch time.

“(The moment) certainly 

isn’t (too big) for Jordan Poole,” 
Beilein said. “He wants it. 
We’ve got to continue to find 
ways to get him on the floor. I 
was actually thinking of — until 
(sophomore point guard Zavier 
Simpson) hit those two threes 
— to let Muhammad (Ali Abdur-
Rahkman) run the point. But all 
of a sudden (Simpson) hits the 
two threes.”

That’s certainly a long 

way from the “DNPs” he was 
collecting mere months ago.

Brooks’ role has diminished 

recently, which may have 
more to do with the growth 
of Simpson than any fault to 
Brooks. The freshman still 
holds down the backup point 
guard minutes ahead of fifth-
year senior Jaaron Simmons, 
which says plenty about the 
young guard’s maturity and 
ability.

A far cry from precluding 

freshmen from playing in 
the second half, Beilein is 
now finding as many ways as 
possible to utilize his first-year 
players.

It’s proof that, as Beilein said, 

the moment is no longer too big 
for the freshmen. 

As a result, their best 

moments might just be in front 
of them.

Marcovitch can be reached by 

email at maxmarco@umich.edu 

or on Twitter @Max_Marcovitch

MAX 

MARCOVITCH

EVAN AARON/Daily

Freshman forward Isaiah Livers (#4) and freshman guard Jordan Poole (#2) have proven that late-game moments aren’t too big for them any longer.

“(The moment) 
certainly isn’t 
(too big) for 

Jordan Poole.”

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes believes that Michigan has improved defensively thanks to growing familiarity with the system of coach Mel Pearson. 

Wolverines improving defense with Hughes back and Lavigne emerging

After two straight defeats 

against Notre Dame, things seem 
to be looking up for the Michigan 
hockey team.

It’s a strange statement to 

make, for obvious reasons. But 
in 2-1 defeats to the Fighting 
Irish Friday and Sunday, the 
Wolverines didn’t just hold their 
own. For substantial stretches, 
they 
actually 
outplayed 
the 

second-best team in the nation.

That, in itself, might constitute 

a moral victory, no matter how 
nebulous that concept is. But 
that’s not the most encouraging 
takeaway from last weekend — 
it’s how Michigan was able to 
obtain such a “victory.”

The 
Wolverines 
did 
it 

primarily with defense, a major 
change from the season’s first few 
months. For the first time since 
November, they held an opponent 

to two goals or less in consecutive 
games.

To 
Michigan 
coach 
Mel 

Pearson and his players, it’s the 
product of steady improvement 
and growing familiarity with the 
defensive system.

“We did a good job managing 

the puck for the 
most part, playing 
in 
the 
other 

team’s zone more 
and not giving up 
as many grade-A 
scoring chances,” 
Pearson 
said 

Tuesday 
about 

Sunday’s 
game. 

“It’s 
a 
team 

effort there, not 
just the goalies 
or defensemen, but I see a lot of 
improvement in a lot of areas.”

Added freshman defenseman 

Quinn Hughes: “It was a weird 
start to the year because no one 
really knew Mel or the coaching 

staff that well. I think sometimes 
with defensive stuff like that it 
just takes time.”

Hughes, in fact, is one of the 

best examples of that. The highly-
touted 
freshman 
joined 
the 

Wolverines more known for his 
dynamic skating and playmaking. 

Unproven, 
however, was his 
ability to be an 
elite 
defensive 

presence as well, 
especially 
given 

his small stature 
— 
Hughes 
is 

officially listed at 
just 5-foot-10 and 
175 pounds.

“At 
the 
end 

of the day I’m a 

defenseman too so I got to play 
good defense, especially at the 
next level,” Hughes said. “If you 
can’t do both, coaches can’t trust 
you out there.”

Added Pearson: “That’s his 

biggest question mark, what 
people are going to question. ... 
Can he play defense at the highest 
level? We talk about that all the 
time.”

But over the course of the 

season, Hughes, like the rest of 
his unit, has improved on the 
defensive 
end, 

succeeding with 
solid positioning 
and 
instincts, 

while 
learning 

when to attack 
and when to stay 
back.

These 

improvements 
were 
clear 

Sunday. 
Just 

two days after 
returning from playing for the 
United States at the World Junior 
Championships, Hughes — who 
ranks third on the Wolverines 
with 
nine 
assists 
— 
found 

fellow freshman Josh Norris for 

Michigan’s lone goal.

This, 
combined 
with 
his 

defensive performance, formed 
what Pearson called “one of the 
best skating games I’ve seen 
(Hughes) have at Michigan.” 
This speaks volumes to the 
progress that Hughes has made, 

considering 
Pearson’s 
uttered a similar 
statement at least 
twice previously.

“He’s 
maybe 

not the biggest 
guy, but he’s very 
smart, very rarely 
puts himself in 
a 
bad 
position 

defensively,” 
Pearson 
said. 

“He’s going to take some chances, 
but the risk/reward — you have 
to have a player like that do what 
he’s capable of doing. We just 
tell him to pick his spots. That’s 
the biggest thing. Just pick your 
spots, understand the game, 
manage the game, when to try to 
make something happen.”

But Hughes hasn’t been the 

sole savior for Michigan’s defense 
— it’s been a team production. For 
one, the Wolverines, after over 
three months, appear to have 
finally found a go-to goaltender.

Sophomore Hayden Lavigne 

has started Michigan’s last three 
games, 
allowing 
an 
average 

of 2.67 goals and posting a 
.937 save percentage — both 
major improvements over the 
Wolverines’ season totals.

Not only has Lavigne given 

Michigan 
its 
most 
reliable 

goaltending of the season, but 
the five players in front of him 
are also finding their stride at 
the same time. Working ahead 
with one goaltender, in contrast 
to a nightly rotation between 
Lavigne and sophomore Jack 
LaFontaine, has the potential to 
boost the confidence of the other 
Wolverines on the ice, and allow 
their offense to open up and take 
more chances.

“If you’ve got a goalie back 

there that you trust and know 
is going to make a majority of 

the saves, that can really help,” 
Pearson said. “You play a little bit 
looser, you’re not as uptight. That 
can give your team confidence 
and that’s what we’re looking for 
from Hayden.”

Added 
senior 
defenseman 

Sam Piazza: “It’s nice to have a 
confident goalie and I think it’s 
really important for success. You 
need a good goalie if we’re going 
to make any type of run, so it’s 
nice to see Hayden heating up 
and hopefully we can score some 
goals for him.”

Meanwhile, senior defenseman 

Cutler Martin’s return from an 
upper-body injury has continued 
to pay huge dividends. While 
having Martin’s leadership and 
physicality, 
accompanied 
by 

the threat he poses offensively 
from the point, is a boon in and 
of itself, Pearson pointed to the 
competition 
Martin’s 
return 

has necessitated. Sunday, with 
Hughes back in the lineup after 
international play, sophomore 
Griffin Luce found himself the 
odd man out of a now seven-deep 
defensive rotation, but that could 
easily change this weekend.

“Getting Cutler Martin back 

really helped,” Pearson said. 
“It’s given us another option and 
forced some competition back 
there and competition is good. 
That’s one way to get players’ 
attention. All of a sudden you’re 
out the lineup and they pay a 
lot more attention to what they 
should be doing.”

For all of these reasons and 

more, the Wolverines were able 
to hang with the Fighting Irish 
— and most promisingly, it wasn’t 
simply thanks to the second-
highest scoring offense in the Big 
Ten.

As encouraging as this may be, 

however, Michigan will need to 
start consistently winning games 
against high-caliber opponents 
if it is to make a run that would 
vault it into NCAA Tournament 
contention.

But the ingredients to do so, 

especially on defense, are there. 
Just a week ago, that wasn’t as 
clear.

Despite being swept, Michigan seems to have the ingredients to eventually be able to beat elite teams

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“We did a good 
job managing 
the puck for the 

most part.”

“It’s nice 
to have a 
confident 
goalie.”

