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8 — Friday, February 16, 2018 
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Simmons turning corner as regular season comes to a close

Jaaron Simmons ambled into 

the media room like he was a 
regular.

In 
reality, 
the 
fifth-year 

senior hadn’t been in a post-
game interview since the Nov. 3 
exhibition against Grand Valley 
State, but his confident gait to the 
top right corner of the room would 
have made you think otherwise. 
Just as he did over three months 
ago, Simmons entered donning a 
mesh, long-sleeve Michigan shirt 
with a sweat-soaked Gatorade 
towel draped around his neck.

Simmons 
had 
just 
seen 

his most playing time — 12 
minutes — since Dec. 16 against 
Detroit Mercy, catalyzing the 
Wolverines’ eventual runaway 
win over Iowa on Wednesday. He 
cracked a smile.

“It feels good,” he said, “but it’s 

the same thing. I’ve gotta keep 
working everyday, continue to 
prepare myself everyday. That’s 
really it.”

The smile had faded by the 

end of his simple answer — the 
quiet sentiment of someone who 
doesn’t want to celebrate his 
brief moment in the spotlight 
too much. His production in 
Wednesday’s matchup, though, 
demonstrated 
exactly 
what 

John Beilein brought him in to 
do in the first place. And that’s 
something to celebrate.

In the beginning minutes 

of the contest, the Hawkeyes’ 
extended zone defense visibly 
shook 
starting 
point 
guard 

Zavier Simpson. The sophomore 
ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 
a 3-1 assist-turnover ratio, but 
coughed it up three times in the 
game’s first 2:17, helping amount 
to a 7-0 deficit. Thus came the 
earliest entrance into a game in 
Simmons’ Michigan career.

He channeled his University 

of Ohio days as a confident 
ball-handler, staving off Iowa 
defenders in its early full-court 
press 
and 
commanding 
his 

teammates around the court. 
Shortly into his shift, he drilled a 
three to lessen the margin to only 
one point.

Five minutes later, Simmons 

was still in and Michigan had 
a three-point lead. He stole a 
telegraphed pass at the top of the 
key from Iowa’s Brady Ellingson 
and charged ahead for the fast 
break. 
Simmons 
doubtfully 

turned his head to see who was 
chasing him down — but nobody 
was even close, and he smoothly 
lofted it off the glass and in.

For the first time on both 

sides of the ball, it looked like 
the Simmons experiment was 

finally bringing positive results, 
as he registered a five-point, 
four-assist 
performance. 
The 

statline appeared as a blip on the 
radar, but in just 12 minutes for a 
team devoid of energy, it was the 
perfect display.

“It takes a whole lot to 

learn the offense, and it’s a 
complicated offense,” said senior 
guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman, “but I think you’re 
starting to see him grow.”

Added Simmons: “It’s easier 

to get into a flow because I know 
more. I know more of what we’re 
doing. In the beginning of the 
season it was very challenging. 
Going out there, you’re thinking 
a lot, me personally, because I’m 
learning new stuff every single 
day.

“Now I’m starting to get it. 

Now I don’t have to think what 

play we call, what we gotta do 
now. It’s more ‘we’re gonna run 
this’ and I can flow into it.”

Simmons’ struggles have been 

no secret. After Michigan’s Jan. 
21 game against Rutgers, Beilein 
said the graduate transfer “hasn’t 
worked out so far,” referring to 
his inability to play comfortably 
in already limited minutes.

The rocky transition, Simmons 

claims, was a result of complex 
schemes that he never saw with 
the Bobcats. Remaining mentally 
tough was the only way for 
Simmons to get over the change.

“(I) never ask why. ‘Why am I 

not playing or why am I not doing 
this?’ It’s just ‘How can I get 
better and put myself in a position 
to get out there?’ ” Simmons 
said. “... I don’t question stuff. 
I just — I’m ready. Just battle it 
out. Tough situations will come, 

tough people last.”

While his time with the 

Wolverines 
hasn’t 
gone 
as 

planned, he is on the verge of 
going somewhere he’s never 
been: the NCAA Tournament. 
But first, he will say goodbye to 
his short-lived Michigan tenure 
during Senior Day against No. 8 
Ohio State on Sunday.

Simmons , ironically, still calls 

himself a freshman given all of 
the new plays and terminology 
thrusted upon him in his lone 
season. As fast as he realized he 
was learning stuff he had never 
seen before, his final year was 
ending. And while he hopes 
to extend it to the uncharted 
territory of the Tournament, the 
enthusiasm of the team would say 
otherwise.

“The way coach be talking, 

he’s talking like if we lose a game 

we might not even make it to the 
tournament,” Simmons said. “I’m 
just hoping we get there.”

For Simmons, the tournament 

is priority number one. At one 
point, it may have been the 
NBA or even just filling Derrick 
Walton Jr.’s shoes. Later on, it 
may have been finding some 
semblance of his game from his 
Ohio days. Now, those goals are 
far, far behind him. He’s shown 
flashes of improvement as the 
regular season dwindles, but 
it remains to be seen if it is too 
little, too late.

If the Wolverines take care 

of business down the stretch, 
though, Simmons will have the 
opportunity to play in his first 
tournament game, spotlight or 
not.

That’s something to smile 

about.

EVAN AARON/Daily

Fith-year senior Jaaron Simmons played 12 minutes against Iowa.

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Editor

