8 — Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Robinson takes on mentorship role for blossoming Livers

Duncan Robinson heard the 

whistle and knew just what that 
meant.

He walked off the court with 

2:07 left and the score tied 
against Houston on Saturday 
night — fouling out for just the 
fourth time in his career — 
knowing it could be his last time 
doing so in his Michigan career. 
But Robinson didn’t sulk or let 
the moment get to him.

He had one specific message 

for one specfic person: Isaiah 
Livers.

“Duncan told me when he 

fouled out, ‘Isaiah, there’s a 
reason why we’re both out here, 
why we both play the game,’” 
Livers recalled in the aftermath 
of Michigan’s second-round win 
over the Cougars. “ ‘You have 
talent, so believe in yourself. 
Have all confidence.’ ”

This has become a theme 

between the fifth-year senior 
on his way out the door and 
the freshman just scraping the 
surface of what he can become. 
It’s 
hardly 
an 
uncommon 

phenomenon for a veteran to 
take a younger player under his 
wing, to share words of wisdom 
and help guide what’s to come.

But 
even 
for 
two 
mild-

mannered players, this close-
knit relationship is one bred of 
unusual circumstances. 

Robinson started the season 

the clearcut starter at the ‘4’ 
far more out of necessity than 
fit. He’s vascillated between a 
starter and an offensive bench 
threat 
his 
entire 
Michigan 

career. Never known for his 
defensive 
prowess 
against 

quicker 
and 
more 
athletic 

opponents, the ‘4’ was a peculiar 
fit borne out of positional 
scarcity after D.J. Wilson left 
unexpectedly for the NBA Draft.

“We 
all 
know 
Duncan 

Robinson is a mismatch ‘4,’ that 
we don’t have another answer 
right now, right?” said Michigan 

coach John Beilein after an 
early January game in Iowa. 
“D.J. Wilson was the answer 
this year, and he’s not here.”

So why not Livers?
“I 
mean, 
if 

you 
saw 
some 

of our practices 
(early 
in 
the 

season), 
you 

would 
question 

why we gave him 
a 
scholarship,” 

Beilein said.

But Livers was 

on 
scholarship, 

and 
the 
only 

scholarship 
player with a natural fit at the 
‘4’ at that. If circumstances had 
been different, the freshman 
likely would have seen limited 
minutes, if any at all. Instead, 
his opportunity blossomed into 
real growth quicker than Beilein 

could 
have 
imagined. 
Real 

growth led to real minutes. Real 
minutes led to real production.

In a six-game stretch in 

January, Livers shot 10-of-16 

from 
3-point 

range, averaging 
9.3 
points 
per 

game 
in 
that 

span 
while 

providing 
a 

physical upgrade 
defensively.

This, coupled 

with 
prolonged 

shooting 
struggles 
from 

Robinson, 
soon 

sparked a competition for the 
starting role. It was a team 
captain fighting the demons of 
a disappointing senior season 
up against a freshman starting 
to figure out how he could help 
right away.

Livers was the “stretch-four” 

of the future and the stopgap of 
the present.

On Jan. 13 against Michigan 

State, 
Livers 
offically 
won 

out. 
Beilein 

inserted 
him 

in the starting 
lineup at Breslin 
Center 
in 
an 

83-73 upset win 
over 
Michigan 

State. 
And 
he 

hasn’t left the 
starting 
lineup 

since, aside from 
a minor ankle 
injury that kept 
him out of a January win at 
Wisconsin. 

For Robinson, the benching 

was 
rock-bottom, 
further 

sending 
his 
senior 
season 

spiraling out of control. Until it 
wasn’t.

Since that Wisconsin game, 

Robinson 
has 
re-discovered 

his shot, shooting 49 percent 
from 3-point range and scoring 
in 
double-figures 
in 
seven 

of 
11 
games. 

Despite 
Livers’ 

regular 
role 

in the starting 
lineup, Robinson 
has 
regained 

the bulk of the 
minutes, earning 
more 
playing 

time than Livers 
in 14 consecutive 
games.

But 
through 

it all, the relationship between 
sage veteran and eager youngster 
has only strengthened.

“I always try to be in his 

ear,” 
Robinson, 
increasingly 

introspective by the week, said 
early Sunday morning. “His 

biggest thing is, he doesn’t 
realize how good he is, how 
talented he is. Once he can tap 
into that, his whole career will 
take off. He’s been so good for 
us already, but he’s just getting 
going. He’s got to continue to 
chase it, chase it, like he was 
when he was coming for the 
starting spot that he ultimately 
ended up winning. I’m happy 
that I’ve got a guy, when I foul 
out, that can go in there and 
battle the way he can.”

Added 
Livers 
after 
the 

first round of the Big Ten 
Tournament: “I don’t know 
why, I don’t know what it is, but 
people were just saying, ‘Maybe 
they don’t get along. Maybe they 
do.’ No way. We get along. It’s 
his senior year. I wanna do it 
big for him. … All love. We talk 
all the time, he helps me all the 
time. Just a great leader and a 
great veteran.”

Either could have let the 

competition breed resentment. 
Robinson could have sulked 
after 
being 
benched 
for 
a 

freshman, just as Livers could 
have questioned his decreasing 
role as the season winds to a 
close.

Neither happened, and now 

both are better off for it. 

Which brings us back to 

Saturday night and the moment 
the mentor needed the mentee 
to help prolong his career. 
Livers, throwing the inbound 
dart right on the money to 
senior guard Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-Rahkman, certainly did 
his part in the miraculous win.

“I didn’t want Duncan to go 

out that way,” Livers said after 
the game. “That’s my guy. Senior 
fouling out like that, I couldn’t 
(let it) go.”

That wasn’t Isaiah Livers’ 

response 
to 
helping 
save 

Robinson’s career or how he felt 
coming into a tight game with 
the season on the line. That was 
Livers’ 
answer, 
unprompted, 

on how it felt to be going to Los 
Angeles.

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson and freshman forward Isaiah Livers have grown a relationship despite competing for the same position.

“ ‘You have 
talent, so 
believe in 
yourself.’ ”

“His biggest 
thing is he 

doesn’t realize 
how good he is.”

MAX MARCOVITCH

Daily Sports Editor

Three keys to Michigan’s first round matchup with Northeastern

On 
Sunday 
afternoon, 
the 

Michigan hockey team celebrated 
an NCAA Tournament bid in year 
one of the Mel Pearson era.

The 
Wolverines 
(20-14-3 

overall), 
the 
third-youngest 

team in college hockey, won just 
13 games a season ago. In mid-
January this year, they were just 
27th in the PairWise rankings. 
Just reaching the dance is a 
monumental accomplishment in 
and of itself.

But if Michigan has learned 

one thing from playing in the Big 
Ten, arguably the nation’s best 
conference, it’s that success — no 
matter how unexpected — that 
only has so many rewards.

With that said, the Wolverines’ 

first-round draw against No. 3 
seed Northeastern (23-9-5) seems 
almost preordained. On paper, 
the Huskies, PairWise’s ninth-
ranked team, are a brutal matchup 
for Michigan. They possess a 
dangerous offense and a staunch 
defense, ranking fifth and sixth 
in the country, respectively. Their 
power play is better than all but 
two teams nationally. And stud 
freshman 
goaltender 
Cayden 

Primeau is the owner of a pristine 
.932 save percentage.

Much of this might sound 

familiar to Wolverine fans. In 
fact, Northeastern is a team 
constructed like the last team they 
played.

Ohio State earned a No. 1 seed 

in the NCAA Tournament with 
an efficient offense, lockdown 
defense 
and 
goaltending 
and 

terrific special teams play — like 
the Huskies. Michigan played the 
Buckeyes five times this season 
and lost all five.

There 
are 
still 
positive 

signs, however. On Mar. 10, the 
Wolverines, riding a seven-game 
winning streak at the time, took 
Ohio State to overtime in the 
Big Ten Tournament semifinal, 
by 
far 
their 
best 
showing 

against the Buckeyes. If that 

performance showed anything, 
it’s that Michigan is peaking at 
the right time. But to take down 
Northeastern, that must continue.

The Daily looks at three things 

the Wolverines must do this 
Saturday to advance to another 
national championship.

Better defense against the 

Big Three

The 
Wolverines 
may 
have 

the ‘DMC’ line — the dynamic 
forward combination of seniors 
Tony Calderone and Dexter Dancs 
and junior Cooper Marody. But 
Northeastern has the Big Three.

Hobey Baker finalists Adam 

Gaudette and Dylan Sikura as well 
as captain Nolan Stevens make 
up the Huskies’ top forward line, 
a lethal combination of speed, 
skill and power — and a possible 
nightmare for an ever-fluctuating 
Michigan defense.

Gaudette, the Hockey East 

Player of the Year and newly-
announced Walter Brown Award 
nominee, led the nation with 30 
goals, 60 points and eight multi-
goal games. The junior also 

notched 11 power play goals, two 
shorthanded tallies and two hat 
tricks.

Not far behind is Sikura, whose 

52 points — 20 goals and 32 assists 
— rank third-best in the country. 
He’s also tied for second in college 
hockey with 5.09 shots on goal per 
game. Stevens rounds out the trio 
with 24 goals and 17 helpers in 37 
games.

Tied 
for 
seventh-worst 

nationally in goals allowed per 
game with 3.35 and ranked 35th in 
team defense, the Wolverines will 
need a stalwart backline to combat 
the Huskies’ offensive juggernaut.

While Pearson was quick to 

point to Northeastern’s top line, 
he stressed the overall importance 
to lock down defensively.

“D-zone coverage, a lot of back 

pressure and tracking, just getting 
ready to play hard without the 
puck,” Pearson said. “We’ll play 
hard with it, we just have to make 
sure we have the mindset that 
we have to play extremely hard 
without the puck.”

More robust scoring

In the first round of the Big 

Ten Tournament, the Wolverines 
swept Wisconsin in a masterful 
showing 
of 
offensive 
output, 

tallying 13 total goals over two 
nights.

Where 
that 
output 
came 

from, however, was different 
both nights. In game one of the 
quarterfinals, Calderone scored 
four times to lead Michigan to a 
6-5 victory.

But the team that took the ice 

the next night looked nothing like 
the team from a night before.

Michigan found twine from 

all over the ice in that fateful 
second matchup, as skaters like 
sophomore defenseman Griffin 
Luce 
made 
it 
past 
Badgers 

goaltender Jack Berry.

From the forwards, freshmen 

Jack Becker and Dakota Raabe 
alongside junior Brendan Warren 
all contributed as well, proving 
that the Wolverines boast an 
eclectic front line.

However, a week later in the Big 

Ten semifinal matchup against 
Ohio State, Marody netted both of 

Michigan’s goals.

While there’s nothing wrong 

with the Wolverines’ two best 
scorers doing what they do best, 
if Michigan wants to make a run 
deep in the NCAA Tournament, 
it will have to exude the versatile 
style of play from the second 
matchup against Wisconsin rather 
than the first.

After all, if Calderone and 

Marody are the only two skaters 
that can produce, powerhouse 
teams 
like 
Northeastern 
and 

Cornell will figure out how to shut 
down two of five.

“Everyone on the roster has to 

work hard” — which stands as the 
perennial sentiment from coaches 
around the country — may just not 
be enough in the Tournament.

Killing penalties and blocking 

shots, which Wolverines such 
as 
Raabe 
and 
Becker 
have 

championed, is just the tip of the 
iceberg.

Everyone needs to produce 

results in the scoring summary if 
Michigan wants to see its name 
slated for the Frozen Four.

Stay out of the box
This 
might 
be 
the 
most 

important key — because it doesn’t 
only apply to Saturday’s game.

Michigan’s penalty kill — in the 

kindest possible language — is a 
mess, and has been all year. The 
Wolverines rank 57th out of 60 
teams in the country when down 
a man. Their timid approach to 
killing penalties has constantly 
left shooters open and sophomore 
goaltender Hayden Lavigne out 
to dry. Even last weekend at Ohio 
State, that showed no signs of 
changing, as the Buckeyes’ two 
goals in regulation came with the 
extra man.

Northeastern’s 
power 
play, 

meanwhile, has scored on 27.2 
percent 
of 
its 
chances 
this 

season. Sikura and Gaudette have 
combined to score 24 goals with the 
man advantage themselves — for 
comparison, the Wolverines have 
scored 26 as a team. The power 
play might be the Huskies’ biggest 
strength, and it feeds straight into 
Michigan’s greatest weakness.

The 
Wolverines 
have 
two 

options here. One is to unleash 
the speed of players such as 
Jake Slaker, Warren and Raabe 
to create havoc and possibly 
even 
shorthanded 
scoring 

opportunities. Michigan caught 
a glimpse of what that might look 
like back in February against 
Wisconsin, where Raabe was a 
one-man wrecking crew, drawing 
two penalties against the Badgers 
in their own zone.

The second option is not to 

commit penalties in the first place. 
In this regard, the Wolverines have 
been fine — ranking 24th in the 
nation in penalty kill attempts per 
game — barring four preventable 
penalties last weekend against 
the Buckeyes. Obviously, staying 
out of the box is the best option, 
but it’s one of those things that is 
much easier said than done.

While the Wolverines’ roster 

might have the talent to be at 
least an effective penalty kill, 
that ship sailed a long time ago. 
With at most four games left in 
the season, Michigan is what it 
is. If the Wolverines are to beat 
Northeastern, it almost certainly 
will come in spite of their special 
teams, not because of it

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes and the rest of Michigan’s defense needs to be clicking on all cylinders in order to stop Northeastern’s dynamic offense.

BENJAMIN KATZ

Daily Sports Writer

ROBERT HEFTER

Daily Sports Editor

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

