4B — February 18, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DeJulius gets his shot
David DeJulius took the court
at Crisler with his first real
opportunity all season.
Junior guard Zavier Simpson
needed a spell in the Michigan
men’s basketball team’s game
against Maryland on Saturday,
and DeJulius was the first guard
off the bench. He played just 40
seconds before subbing out, but
with six-and-a-half minutes left
in the first half, the freshman
re-entered after Simpson got his
second foul. He hit a layup and
nabbed a steal two possessions
later. He was in for four minutes
this time, only coming out after
missing a 3-pointer with 1:20 left.
It seems like a mundane
accomplishment. But for much
of the season, DeJulius was
a
little-used
option,
spotted
mostly in long-decided games
against the likes of George
Washington, Chattanooga and
Air Force. Entering when it was
still anyone’s game, against a
ranked conference team, as the
first guard off the bench, is a
far cry from garbage time. And
afterward,
Michigan
coach
John Beilein — not usually very
forthcoming about playing time
— hinted there may be more
where that came from.
“It was a great layup,” Beilein
said. “ … He’s been playing really
well and we just said, you know
what? We can use (sophomore
guard Eli Brooks) in some ways,
but it’s time for David right now
to back up (Simpson).”
It
was
simultaneously
a
compliment of DeJulius and an
indictment of Brooks. Halfway
through the first period, Brooks
had nothing but space in front of
him and took what should have
been an easy, uncontested jumper.
It clanked off the front of the rim,
the kind of shot of someone who’s
lacking in confidence, who’s
seemed hesitant to take a shot for
the better part of the season.
But Beilein doesn’t just play
freshmen in games like this.
As he’s reiterated throughout
the season, they have to earn it.
DeJulius, it seems, has finally
done so.
“I think Dave did a great
job of coming in and relieving
(Simpson)
when
he
got
in
foul trouble,” said sophomore
forward Isaiah Livers. “Even
when he had that left-to-right
crossover, it kinda mimicked
Zavier Simpson’s little hook, but
it was a strong finish.”
This isn’t the first time Beilein
has teased more playing time for
freshmen. The previous times, it
was only to go back to the tight
seven-man rotation he’s used all
year. But with more depth needed
as the Wolverines approach the
home stretch in Big Ten play and
Brooks struggling, the time may
have finally come for DeJulius to
get his shot.
“He played great, played great
defense, knocked down a little
three o’clock (layup),” Simpson
said. “We just need that sense of
urgency if there’s an injury off
the bench. I was happy to see him
come in and just be vicious and
demonstrate what he can bring to
this team.”
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Freshman guard David DeJulius was the first guard off the bench Saturday.
Back to normal
Wolverines stave off comeback attempt, top Maryland 65-52
Isaiah Livers, Jon Teske lead the way against Terrapin bigs
After its season reached a
nadir in a lethargic loss to Penn
State on Tuesday, Michigan came
into Saturday’s game against No.
24 Maryland in desperate need
of a cure for a month’s worth of
offensive struggles.
So
before
tip-off,
Isaiah
Livers and Eli Brooks sat down
to discuss what needed to go
differently. The two eventually
concluded that, to avoid a repeat
of
Tuesday
—
when
the
Nittany
Lions’
first basket came
just five seconds
into
the
game
— the emphasis
needed to be on
a strong start.
That basket, they
realized,
had
set the tone for
the entire first
half. By the time the Wolverines
righted the ship, they were down
16.
On
Saturday
afternoon
though, it took nearly three
minutes for the Terrapins to
score. Before they could do so for
a second time, Michigan’s lead
had ballooned to 12. Maryland
(19-7 overall, 10-5 Big Ten)
eventually reversed course, but
— much like for the Wolverines
on Tuesday — it was too late, as
Michigan (23-3, 12-3) held on to
win, 65-52.
“We built too big of a hole,”
said
Maryland
coach
Mark
Turgeon. “Against a great team,
you can’t do that.”
When Livers caught a pass
in transition and slammed over
Anthony Cowan with 7:11 to
play in the first half, the game
appeared over. Michigan had
already raced out to a 23-8 lead,
displaying the type of fireworks
that have evaded it for much of
the past two months.
“Everybody
was
really
focused, everybody was locked
in, everybody was active,” Livers
said. “We had six shutouts —
that’s three stops in a row — in
the first half, so that’s really good
for us.”
The early barrage came on
the back of jump shooting and
transition baskets — two areas
in which Michigan has struggled
in recent weeks. But then, the
struggles of the Wolverines’
midseason lull resurfaced.
After a Livers three midway
through the first half, they didn’t
hit
another
one until four
minutes
after
the
break.
The
transition
offense,
too,
dried up after
that
opening
spell.
“We
created
13 turnovers in
the first half,”
said
Michigan
coach John Beilein. “We stopped
creating turnovers so now we
had to dial up plays and get more
into a half-court thing.”
As Michigan stagnated, the
Terrapins found their groove.
Just four minutes after Livers’
dunk
put
the
exclamation
mark on a dominant opening
stretch, back-to-back 3-pointers
from Aaron Wiggins cut the
Wolverines’ lead to a precarious
nine-point advantage.
For the first nine minutes
of
the
second
half,
that’s
where it remained, fluctuating
between six and 11 — Michigan
threatening to pull away and
Maryland threatening to pull
even, but neither coming to
fruition. But when Serrel Smith
Jr. buried a pull-up triple to cut
the deficit to three with 10:21
to play, it seemed the latter had
come to pass.
The Wolverines — just an
hour after their most dominant
stretch in months — were en
route to their most crushing loss
of the season.
Then, as he so often does,
sophomore guard Jordan Poole
provided a much-needed spark,
darting into the lane in transition
and eurostepping past a helpless
Maryland defender to extend
Michigan’s lead back to double
digits.
One
possession
later,
junior guard Zavier Simpson
hit just the Wolverines’ second
three of the half, sending the
Crisler Center into a frenzy and
re-establishing Michigan’s eight-
point advantage.
“Any three that we hit in the
second (half) — whether it was
(Ignas Brazdeikis)’, (Jon Teske)’s,
Zavier’s — they were just huge
to get us back,” Beilein said. “It
was going south pretty quick.
We couldn’t get anything to go
and they were getting really easy
shots.”
The
Terrapins
never
got
the deficit back within one
possession, giving Michigan a
win that may look easy on the
stat sheet but was, in reality,
anything but.
After Tuesday’s episode in
State College, the Wolverines
will take it.
John Beilein and Luke Yaklich
had a message for Isaiah Livers.
A matchup with Maryland
was coming up. The sophomore
forward knew he would be called
upon to back up the ‘4’ and ‘5’
positions. And the Terrapins
happen to have two talented big
men — chief among them Bruno
Fernando, a 6-foot-10 behemoth
who affects both ends of the
court.
Livers,
meanwhile,
had
lingering
regrets
about
the
last game the Michigan men’s
basketball team faced a team
with two physical bigs. On Feb. 1,
the Wolverines lost in Iowa City
as Livers found himself in foul
trouble, playing just 14 minutes
and forcing freshmen Brandon
Johns and Colin Castleton to be
thrown in the fire. Then, Livers
couldn’t help his team nearly as
much as he wanted.
Facing Maryland, Beilein and
Yaklich told him what had to
change.
“(Yaklich) and (Beilein) said
I can’t outmuscle big guys with
small ball,” Livers said. “You
gotta move your feet and kinda
just trick them. Trick the guy
passing it.”
Combined, Livers and junior
center Jon Teske — a more
traditional big — held Fernando
to zero points in the first half.
Terrapins forward Jalen Smith,
meanwhile, had six at the ‘4’
position, four of which came
with freshman forward Ignas
Brazdeikis guarding him.
But in the second half, the
nine-point lead the Wolverines
had
built
up
started
to
dissipate. In the
first five minutes,
Fernando scored
a hook shot, a
dunk and a layup
— then got Teske
his second foul.
Teske, who had
just two points
up
until
then,
came out.
In many games, that would
have been where it unraveled —
especially when Johns, Teske’s
replacement, instantly picked up
two fouls on the same possession.
But Beilein took the risk and put
Teske back in along with Livers.
After
that,
Fernando
had
six points, Smith had two and
Michigan had a 65-52 win.
“I wasn’t fouling,” Livers said.
“And I wasn’t wrapping my arm
around him, just holding him.”
At Iowa, forwards Luka Garza,
Tyler Cook and Ryan Kreiner
combined for 41 points while
Teske, Livers and Brazdeikis
combined for 12 fouls.
On Saturday — when Fernando
and Smith had 20 points and the
combination
of
Teske,
Brazdeikis
and
Livers had just
six fouls — the
Wolverines
found the right
balance.
“We’ve
learned to play
more
physical,”
Beilein said. “…
Our losses have
taught us we can play physical
without fouling. At Iowa, we
were in foul trouble immediately
and that put us behind the eight-
ball.”
And when Teske did get in foul
trouble, Livers was there. Taking
what he learned on a bad night
against the Hawkeyes, he sent his
own message to Maryland: You
won’t be able to take advantage.
“When I get in there, I don’t try
to outmuscle Bruno Fernando,”
Livers said. “I try to move my
feet around and just make him
uncomfortable. I did that, it was
like three times and he just threw
it away because he got scared
and threw it all the way out of
bounds.”
Coming in, the Terrapins — a
top-25 team who Beilein sees as
a contender in March — looked
like a bad matchup. But Beilein
contended that their combination
of bigs was nothing Michigan
hadn’t seen before.
Livers and Teske proved him
right.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Junior center Jon Teske helped shutdown Maryland’s big men, as the Wolverines beat the Terrapins, 65-52.
Walk before you run: ‘M’ tries to rediscover break
The Michigan men’s basketball
team takes its time on offense.
The Wolverines have finished
higher than 285th in offensive
tempo just twice in 12 seasons
under
John
Beilein.
Low
turnover rates depress their
tempo somewhat, but this has
never been a team that seeks to
fly past you.
Instead, Michigan is more
like a viper waiting to strike
its
unsuspecting
prey.
The
Wolverines ranked among the top
five percent of teams in transition
efficiency in each of the last three
seasons, per UM Hoops.
This season?
“Sometimes,
fast
break,
we shouldn’t even do it,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein
after a 59-57 win over Minnesota
on Jan. 22. “Because we’re
jogging up the court. We gotta
sprint. We don’t run.”
The Wolverines scored 19 fast
break points on Jan. 10 against
Illinois, but that was heavily
aided by the Fighting Illini’s
pressure defense and accelerated
tempo. Leading into Saturday’s
game
against
Maryland,
Michigan hadn’t scored more
than 10 since. Its normally lethal
fast break has been, at best,
average this year, and often much
worse. And Beilein’s let them
know it.
“They see the analytics on
it, that we’re a very middling
offense in transition,” Beilein
said Saturday. “We showed them
stats from other years, and I said,
‘We’re doing the exact same
thing.’ ... We didn’t change our
game plan, so this one’s not on
the coaching staff right now. This
is on you.”
It’s not as if this game plan
— Beilein’s only rules are “get
wide, make sure we fill some
lanes” — reinvents the wheel,
either. Michigan has excelled
in transition for years by taking
elementary
concepts
and
executing them at a high level.
But while that has done
wonders for the Wolverines in
the past, that might be part of
the problem this year. Simplicity
and ease are not the same, but
the difference between them is
deceptive, and that difference
may have deceived Beilein —
who regrets that he didn’t drill
his team more on core concepts
during the summer.
“I shouldn’t have taken that for
granted that people understand
how to get wide when we really
didn’t,” he said. “That’s on me.”
Thus, the past two weeks
have been something of a crash
course in transition offense,
according to junior guard Zavier
Simpson. On Saturday, Simpson
reiterated that the keys to finding
a transition groove are simple.
“Finding the open lanes, just
to get hit and (Beilein has) been
on our wings about running,”
Simpson said. “I just tell my
wings just to run and I’ll find
you.”
If
this
understanding
comes
around,
Michigan
—
with a premier distributor in
Simpson, an ace shooter in
sophomore guard Jordan Poole,
and
athletic
mismatches
in
redshirt junior guard Charles
Matthews, freshman forward
Ignas Brazdeikis and sophomore
forward Isaiah Livers — has the
tools to be one of Beilein’s better
transition offenses.
The seeds of that were on
display against the Terrapins.
After a blocked shot, Brazdeikis
led the break and found Poole,
who circled under the rim and
hit Simpson for a wide-open,
catch-and-shoot 3-pointer for the
game’s first points. Brazdeikis
notched a transition triple of
his own a minute later, and
Matthews scored four points off
fast break passes from Simpson
and Brazdeikis in a 14-2 start for
the Wolverines.
Maryland’s offense has ball-
security issues, ranking second to
last in Big Ten games in turnover
rate. Michigan took advantage,
scoring 10 of its 27 first-half
points on the fast break thanks to
13 Terrapin giveaways. Maryland
threatened in the second half as
the Wolverines slowed down, but
a smooth transition take by Poole
off Livers’ outlet, followed by a
Simpson pull-up three, kept the
Terrapins at bay.
All told, Michigan finished
with its most fast-break points
(14) in over a month.
“We were playing at a clip that
was incredible,” Beilein said. “We
were getting stops and we were
running. ... (In the second half)
we stopped creating turnovers,
so now we had to dial up plays
and get more into a halfcourt
thing.”
Brazdeikis
and
Livers,
in
particular, could hold the key to
Michigan’s fast-break Ferrari.
Both play most of their minutes
at the ‘4’ position but have the
talent and athleticism to hold
their
own
elsewhere.
This
includes transition, where their
versatility can discombobulate a
defense unsure how to match up
with them.
“It was sometimes where I
was even leading the break and
I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Livers said.
“… That’s great for us. Especially
Iggy — Iggy had like two assists
on transition. He loves when
four-men push the ball because
it’s really hard to guard because
the other four-man’s not gonna
guard the four in transition, so
it’s kind of liking having a lot of
guards out there. It felt different.”
Added
Beilein:
“It’s
very
hard to guard a bust out four.
Somebody’s gonna take him, it
means now … the point guard is
being guarded by a four in space
and that’s usually good.”
On Saturday, the Wolverines
weren’t
quite
the
deadly
transition offense they’ve been in
years past. But they looked closer
than at any point this season
— and with Michigan having
broken 70 points only once in its
last nine games, and 80 only once
since Dec. 8, an improved fast
break might be just what it needs
to get its offense back on track.
Everybody
was locked in,
everybody was
active.
You gotta move
your feet and
kinda just trick
them.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers helped shutdown Maryland’s big men, as the Wolverines beat the Terrapins, 65-52.