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