The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 — 7A

Livers looks for more aggression as sophomore

Coming off an illustrious 
prep career at Kalamazoo 
Central High School, Isaiah 
Livers joined the Michigan 
men’s basketball team last year 
with hype and anticipation 
as one of the program’s top 
recruits.
He then proceeded to make 
himself invisible.
As 
a 
freshman, 
Livers 
did much of the dirty work: 
cleaning 
up 
the 
offensive 
glass, playing solid defense 
and scoring only when needed. 
In 15.1 minutes per game, he 
averaged 3.4 points on 2.9 
shots and recorded a miniscule 
12.9 usage rate — the lowest of 
any Wolverine. He attempted 
just 12 free throws all season.
Granted, with shot creators 
such as Moritz Wagner and 
Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-
Rahkman around him, Livers 
didn’t 
necessarily 
need 
to be noticed. He was the 
prototypical role player, and 
he filled a role that implied — 
if not demanded — invisibility.
Of course, that’s different 
this year. Wagner, Abdur-
Rahkman 
and 
Duncan 
Robinson play professionally 
now, and much of Michigan’s 
creative punch and outside 
shooting 
will 
have 
to 
be 
replaced. 
Some 
of 
that 
responsibility 
will 
fall 
to 
Livers, but right now, it’s 
unclear just how much.
Livers’ fit on the team is 
still very much a mystery, 
but Wolverine players and 
coaches will tell you it’s no 
mystery what Livers can be. 
At 6-foot-7 and 
235 
pounds, 
Michigan’s 
Gatorade 
Player of the 
Year and Mr. 
Basketball 
in 
2017 
has 
a 
potent 
combination 
of 
size, 
athleticism and 
shooting range 
seemingly 
tailor-made 
for 
coach John Beilein’s offensive 
system.
The process of harnessing 
Livers’ considerable talent, in 
large part, might just involve 
the passage of time and the 
transition from freshman to 
sophomore. Livers admitted 
at Michigan’s media day on 
Monday that he “wasn’t much of 
a talker” last year. But this year, 
players and coaches have both 
noted his improved on-court 
communication, pointing also 
to 
the 
relationship 
Livers 
developed with Robinson.
“He’s a very bright young 
man, very bright in school, 
and he thinks the same way 
defensively,” Beilein said. “He 
sees things around him and 
educates the other guys. That’s 

the biggest thing. He probably 
has more of a sense of a veteran 
than a lot of sophomores would 
have.”
Added assistant coach Luke 
Yaklich: 
“Isaiah 
was 
able 
to sit next to Duncan in the 
film room every single day, 
share a lot of the same drills 
together and a lot of the same 
defensive 
talks 
last year. And 
he saw the value 
of 
Duncan’s 
presence on the 
defensive 
end, 
because of the 
IQ he had, the 
positioning 
he 
had, and then 
the 
personal 
challenge 
that 
Duncan 
took 
every day. Isaiah came in 
and this summer and said, 
‘I’m going to be that talker 
this year, I’m going to be the 
communicator, I’m going to be 
the guy that can guard multiple 
positions.’ And so far he’s done 
a wonderful job doing that.”
Livers bolstered more than 
his communication skills this 
offseason, in which he spent 
both the spring and summer 
semesters 
in 
Ann 
Arbor 
along with sophomore guard 
Jordan Poole, his best friend 
on the team. And from Poole’s 
observation, some of Poole’s 
trademark swagger may have 
rubbed off on his roommate.
“He’s been really aggressive. 
We were really trying to get on 
Isaiah last year about taking 
more shots,” Poole said. “... 

He’s extremely athletic and 
he has God-given talent, so 
we just worked out every day 
and we were focusing on being 
confident in your shot, get to 
your spots, start working on 
moving more naturally.”
Poole isn’t the only one 
who’s been impressed with 
Livers’ 
more 
assertive 
mentality. Junior 
center Jon Teske 
mentioned 
that 
Livers dunked on 
him in practice 
on 
Sunday 
— 
no 
small 
feat 
against a 7-foot-1 
behemoth.
Monday’s 
practice 
displayed 
more 
of 
the 
same. 
Livers threw down a handful 
of impressive dunks in open 
play, and towards the end of 
an offensive set, he spun and 
hit a deep, contested three-
pointer. Coming out to guard 
highly-touted freshman Ignas 
Brazdeikis on the perimeter, 
Livers stayed in front of him all 
the way to the rim, where he 
cleanly rejected the Canadian 
slasher’s layup.
“(Yaklich) 
talks 
about 
hunting shots all the time,” 
Livers said. “I wasn’t much of 
a hunter last year. … But this 
year I feel so much different 
because I think the offseason 
really helped, staying here 
in the spring and summer, I 
learned so much about the 
offense. So now I know where 
my shots are and when to hunt 

them.”
Livers is probably never 
going to be Poole. Even with 
the glut of offensive creativity 
that the Wolverines have to 
replace, it’s not necessarily 
imperative that he change his 
game. After all, while he may 
have been invisible last season, 
he was quite solid at doing so.
But 
that 
invisibility, 
coupled 
with 
Livers’ 
potential, 
rendered 
his 
freshman 
season 
inconclusive. 
As 
a 
sophomore, 
though, Livers 
is 
seemingly 
established 
as 
Michigan’s 
starter at the ‘4.’ It’s a role that 
should come with increased 
confidence, responsibility and 
attention.
Will 
Livers 
remain 
the 
capable “glue guy” he was as a 
freshman? Or will he tap into 
his potential as a defensive 
communicator and powerful 
scorer, and emerge as one of the 
Big Ten’s elite power forwards?
It’s not exactly a make-or-
break scenario, but this year, 
the Wolverines should start to 
find out just who they have in 
him.
“Coach B knows what he 
expects 
and 
Isaiah 
knows 
what he expects from himself,” 
Poole said. “He’s locked in, he’s 
a different player than he was 
last year.”

Wolverines draw, 1-1, 
with Michigan State

Chaos.
Wild, 
wild 
football. 
There 
was no order in the game. There 
were no beautiful goal-scoring 
sequences. There was just swinging 
legs, knees, shoulders, hips. Clean 
contact on the ball was something 
you only saw when the ball was 
stationary.
That describes nearly every 
opportunity that came for the 
Michigan men’s soccer team in the 
second half and beyond Tuesday 
night against Michigan State, 
including senior forward Noah 
Kleedtke’s game-tying goal in the 
78th minute. The cross came in 
from sophomore defender Austin 
Swiech, past Spartan goalkeeper 
Jimmy Hague’s outstretched arms, 
bounced on the ground, then off a 
defender and right into the path of 
Kleedtke’s knee.
The goal was an important 
equalizer for the Wolverines (9-4-
2 overall, 3-2-2 Big Ten), as the 
game ended in a 1-1 draw. Michigan 
State (10-2-4, 4-1-2) had scored in 
the 52nd minute with a half-volley 
from Jack Beck that went just past 
the reach of a screened Michigan 
sophomore 
goalkeeper 
Henry 
Mashburn.
The draw means Michigan is 
currently the fifth seed in the Big 
Ten Tournament, one point behind 
Maryland and Wisconsin. The 
top four seeds host a quarterfinal 
match. There is still hope, though, 
for the Wolverines’ chances to 
host the quarterfinal match: they 
play the Terrapins Sunday in the 
regular season finale. 
“Our guys would love to play 
another home game in front of 
our fans, in front of our families, 
in front of our local crowd,” said 
Michigan coach Chaka Daley. 
“We’ll certainly be looking to push 
the game. We won’t go in looking to 
tie, we’re obviously looking to see if 
we can win the next one.”
However, 
Michigan’s 
form 
recently has been subpar. In the 
last five games, the Wolverines are 

1-3-1, their lone win against Detroit 
Mercy. Tuesday, while they showed 
fight, they also showed an inability 
to finish. Nine shots on goal and 
nine corners led to only one goal.
Kleedtke’s 
goal 
was 
the 
standout, in fact. Time and time 
again for Michigan the ball would 
enter the box, and the shot would 
go wide, straight to the goalkeeper, 
or the kick would just miss the ball 
entirely. If the Wolverines could 
have finished those chances, they 
could have won the game cleanly.
“We had many chances in and 
around the six,” Daley said. “We 
were stunned on the sideline 
that we couldn’t get a touch or a 
foot on the ball to steal the game 
completely.”
Instead it was an entertaining, 
chaotic game. A game of two halves 
and two styles.
The first half was organized, 
patient, precise. Especially for 
Michigan.
“We not just dominated out 
wide, but dominated the game in 
many stretches, especially in the 
first half,” Daley said.
The second half, not so much. 
The Spartans got their goal 
early, and as the game went 
on the Wolverines got more 
and more desperate, leading to 
chaotic football where no one 
knew what was going to happen 
next, especially after Michigan’s 
equalizer.
The first overtime was just a 
continuation of the second half. 
Chance after chance for either 
team. If you blinked, you missed 
it. The second overtime, though, 
was a lazy 10 minutes with little 
excitement or chances — they were 
tired.
Still, Daley and Michigan stayed 
upbeat reflecting on the draw.
“I mean from our perspective, 
we’re 
pleased 
with 
the 
performance, disappointed with 
the result,” Daley said. “I think 
we’re a little bit unfortunate not to 
get more out of the game tonight, 
but on the road in the Big Ten, you 
always take point. You put points 
on the board and keep fighting.”

EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers has embodied a more assertive mentality in his second year with the Wolverines.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“He’s extremely 
athletic and he 
has God-given 
talent...”

“I wasn’t 
much of a 
hunter last 
year.”

CARTER FOX/Daily
Senior forward Noah Kleedtke scored the game-tying goal on Tuesday night.

KENT SCHWARTZ
For the Daily

