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.”