6A — Thursday, March 28, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

With the end looming, Charles Matthews is running it back

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Given 
that this could be the last 
practice of Charles Matthews’ 
college career, 
he 
carries 
a 
remarkable air 
of normalcy.
The redshirt 
junior gets on 
the floor and 
stretches 
his 
legs 
out, 
the 
foam 
roller 
vibrating 
just 
as always. He’s 
sitting 
next 
to Zavier Simpson and Isaiah 
Livers and then he’s shooting 
around with them before John 
Beilein starts a passing drill. The 
ball moves, but it doesn’t quite 
hum. Matthews darts towards 
the basket with his hands up, 
knowing the drill calls for the 
ball to go elsewhere. His facial 
expression is mostly the same 
serious look he’s carried with 
him for the last two seasons. 
He’s done this before. Shoes 
squeak. Just as always.
It is an open secret that 
Matthews will go to the NBA 
— most of his teammates and 
coaches 
have 
ditched 
the 
formality of pretending — so 
technically 
speaking, 
every 
practice 
last 
week 
in 
Des 
Moines, Iowa, could have been 
his last. But this is the first 
where it really, truly feels that 
tomorrow, 
Michigan 
could 
lose to a team that just might 
be better. The Wolverines are 
favored by all of two points, 
a margin small enough that 
few will write about what this 
season could have been if it 
ends with a Sweet Sixteen loss 
to Texas Tech, the only defense 
ranking ahead of the Wolverines 
in KenPom.
But Charles Matthews will 
wonder.
Matthews will guard Red 

Raiders wing Jarrett Culver on 
Thursday, a matchup on which 
the game’s result could hinge. 
A likely top-10 pick against 
someone whose chance at an 
NBA career will come down to 
guarding 
top-10 
picks.
“He can score 
on 
all 
three 
levels,” assistant 
coach 
Luke 
Yaklich 
said 
of 
Culver. “And then 
he 
passes 
the 
ball. He can get 
you an offensive 
rebound. He can 
score in the post. 
He can get you off a ball-screen 
with his pull-up jumper, getting 
to the rim. He can beat you off 
the ball-screen by passing it out 
to open shooters. Then he can 

beat you off the ball-screen by 
getting it to the rim, to the bigs.”
In short, he does damn near 
everything.
In 
preparing, 
Matthews 
is even-keeled. “There’s not 
a lot of peaks 
and 
valleys 
with 
Charles,” 
Yaklich 
said. 
“He’s a mentally 
tough 
kid.” 
Where 
others 
watch film then 
rewind, 
then 
rewind 
again, 
then still don’t 
get it, Matthews 
sees things once 
and digests.
In the run-up to a late-
November game against North 
Carolina 
this 
season, 
the 
coaches were walking through 

some of the Tar Heels’ concepts. 
They 
hadn’t 
brought 
up 
a 
certain baseline cross-screen 
yet — one of the base actions 
in Roy Williams’ offense. So 
Matthews did.
When 
North 
Carolina ran it in 
the game?
“Charles was 
right on top of 
it,” remembered 
walk-on forward 
C.J. Baird.
Two 
seasons 
ago, 
Matthews 
arrived in Ann 
Arbor 
from 
a 
Kentucky 
program which has an ethos 
that juxtaposes Michigan’s in 
every conceivable way. Now, he 
is one of the culture-setters for 
John Beilein.

“I feel like it’s just all 
experience, and he has a lot of 
experience, coming from a really 
top-tier (program) that he came 
from, coming to another top-
tier,” Isaiah Livers, a sophomore 
forward, 
said. “It’s just 
bringing 
all 
the 
knowledge 
you learn (into 
watching film).”
Just 
before, 
Livers had been 
asked 
about 
Matthews 
as 
a 
“leader 
by 
example,” which 
is usually code 
for, “a senior who doesn’t talk 
very much.” This time of year, 
you hear a lot about leaders by 
example, and the label has stuck 
to Matthews. The difference 

is, Matthews picks his spots to 
talk — halftime against Florida, 
in the aftermath of a disastrous 
loss at Penn State — and does so 
with maximal impact.
“I don’t think he was ever 
one 
of 
those 
shy 
guys,” 
said 
assistant 
coach 
Saddi 
Washington. 
“I 
think 
that 
he 
was always very 
confident 
in 
himself and his 
abilities. And so 
when you got a 
kid like that who 
has that kind of 
confidence about himself, it’s an 
easy transition for him.”
One of the core tenants of the 
culture Matthews has helped 
build is to settle for nothing less 
than championship-level play.
After that game against North 
Carolina, where the Wolverines 
smacked 
the 
Tar 
Heels 
— 
holding them 30 points below 
their average and winning by 
17 — he rejected a reporter’s 
assumption 
that 
Michigan 
played 
good 
defense. 
After 
hitting a buzzer-beater against 
Minnesota 
in 
January, 
he 
expressed only disappointment 
that the Wolverines didn’t run 
the Gophers out of the gym. 
After that loss at Penn State, he 
was sullen and angry and letting 
everybody know it.
“Charles approaches every 
game the same way,” Yaklich 
said. “It’s a steady, methodical 
approach in how he prepares 
in practice, then his pregame 
routine to how he goes through 
things in pregame warmups to 
his coaching in media timeouts. 
It’s what makes Charles really, 
really good.”
So against the Red Raiders, 
it’s no surprise that Matthews 
takes the same approach, holds 
the same expectation. It’s just 
as always, even if it’s for the last 
time.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Redshirt junior Charles Matthews will face Texas Tech wing Jarrett Culver on Thursday, a matchup which could very well dictate the outcome of the game.

In short, 
(Culver) does 
damn near 
everything.

There’s not a 
lot of peaks and 
valleys with 
Charles.

I feel like 
it’s just all 
experience, and 
he has a lot...

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

For Brazdeikis, this is not your typical freshman

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As the 
cameras 
swarmed 
to 
Ignas 
Brazdeikis, he only sank further 
into his element.
A slew of local TV cameras 
shone in his face, there was a 
reporter from Sports Illustrated 
asking 
him 
questions 
and 
many more waiting for their 
turn. Brazdeikis, mind you, is 
a freshman, playing in his first 
NCAA Tournament.
On the other side of the Honda 
Center, Texas Tech’s Malik 
Ondigo spent the afternoon 
talking about preparing the 
Red Raiders’ freshmen for their 
first taste of the tournament’s 
second weekend. This, after 
all, is a level of intensity that 
they’ve never experienced.
As that same pressure is 
heaped on Brazdeikis, he’s the 
same player he’s always been. 
With each question, he only 
leaned further back into his 
chair, stretching his legs out 
into the scrum of reporters and 
running his fingers through his 
hair.
When one reporter asked 
about 
Michigan’s 
defensive 
identity, he yawned in blatant 
disregard 
of 
the 
moment’s 
importance.

As soon as his yawn ended, 
the confidence returned.
“I think (assistant coach Luke 
Yaklich) is definitely one of the 
best,” he told the reporter before 
pausing. “No, he’s definitely the 
best defensive coach I’ve ever 
had.”
It’s the same confidence that 
endeared himself to Michigan 
fans back in November, when he 
responded to a sleepy, 56-37 win 
over Holy Cross 
by 
describing 
himself as the 
best free throw 
shooter in the 
world. It’s the 
same confidence 
that 
led 
him 
to respond to 
two 
hours 
of 
personal insults 
at 
Maryland 
with a flurry of 
flexes, before telling reporters, 
“I love that part of the game, 
that’s one of my favorite parts of 
the game by far.”
And 
now, 
it’s 
the 
same 
confidence 
that 
has 
him 
ready for this moment — no 
mentoring necessary. Because 
it isn’t manufactured. It’s who 
Brazdeikis is, and who he’s 
always been.
Nate Johnson, Brazdeikis’ 
high school coach at Orangeville 

Prep, confirmed his effervescent 
confidence is rooted in his 
perceived version of reality. In 
Brazdeikis’ mind, Johnson said, 
Michigan is the best team in 
the country and he is one of the 
nation’s best players.
After practices in high school, 
he would ask Johnson what 
levels pro players had scored on 
the drills that Orangeville ran. 
If the number was higher than 
his own scores, 
Brazdeikis 
would stay after 
practice until he 
deemed his own 
performances 
satisfactory.
Wednesday 
afternoon 
in 
Anaheim, 
assistant 
coach 
Saddi 
Washington 
began to give a stock answer on 
the importance of not changing 
who you are this time of year 
and embracing the moment. 
Then, 
midway 
through 
his 
answer, a light bulb went off, as 
if he suddenly remembered who 
he was talking about.
“But guys like Iggy and —,” 
Washington said, pausing, and 
failing, to rack his brain for 
anyone else comparable. “All 
of our guys, I think they really 

thrive in these moments.”
Amidst requisite praise for 
the Wolverines’ leaders, Haynes 
sang the same tune.
“Iggy lives up for these 
moments,” 
Haynes 
said. 
“I 
haven’t seen a kid like him that 
lives for these moments. He 
loves the crowd, he feeds into it, 
whether it’s hate or love. He’s a 
different kind of guy.”
But no matter how Brazdeikis’ 
approach has prepared him 
for this moment, there is no 
high school version of March 
Madness — certainly not in 
Canada. This is the reality that 
hit Nik Stauskas, Michigan’s 
Canadian guard from 2012-14 
who Brazdeikis works out with 
over the summer, when the 
Wolverines made the national 
championship in his freshman 
season. Stauskas finished with 
zero and three points in his 
two Final Four games that year 
after averaging 11.0 during the 
regular season.
“It’s definitely gonna be a 
new thing for him,” Stauskas 
told The Daily earlier this 
month. “March Madness is very 
unique, I don’t think there’s 
many things like this.”
Stauskas, 
though, 
knew 
Brazdeikis would be ready.
“I think (what stands out is) 
just how normal everything 
feels for him,” Stauskas said. 
“With all the success he’s 
having, it doesn’t feel like this 
is some kind of fluke for him. 
He truly believes this is just 
normal, this is what he should 
be doing.”
Jordan Poole is one of the few 
who knows the March spotlight 
better than Stauskas. This time 
last year, he was the freshman 
thrust under its wrath after his 
buzzer-beater sent Michigan 
into the Sweet Sixteen.
But when asked whether he’s 
given Brazdeikis any advice, 
Poole cocked his head back and 
cracked a smile.
“I ain’t given him any advice,” 
Poole said.
Because Poole, better than 
anybody, 
knows 
Brazdeikis 
doesn’t need it.
“It’s just some people that’s 
just built for it.”

In ‘M’ and Texas Tech, 
top two defenses clash

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Growing 
up, Isaiah Livers changed the 
channel every time there was a 
hard-nosed defensive battle. After 
all, who wanted to watch a lot of 
people not scoring?
But 
now, 
the 
sophomore 
forward knows that on Thursday, 
he will likely face one of those 
games when the Michigan men’s 
basketball team faces Texas Tech 
in the Sweet Sixteen. This will be 
the top two defensive teams in the 
country going at it, and Livers is as 
excited as anyone to be a part of it.
“Now I want to see what the 
score is gonna be,” Livers said. 
“If we can hold them under their 
season average and they can hold 
us under our season average.”
Livers changed his mindset on 
defense primarily due to assistant 
coach Luke Yaklich, who urged 
Livers to think about why he liked 
defense. Livers replied that he 
didn’t like people scoring because 
that’s how you lose games. Yaklich 
pressed other members of the 
team in much the same way, giving 
way to a culture change in the 
Wolverines’ program — one that 
loves defense.
In that sense, the Red Raiders 
are a spitting image. Texas Tech 
hired coach Chris Beard from 
Little Rock in 2016, and Beard 
brought with him Mark Adams, 
his defensive right-hand man. 
Beard and Adams created much 
the same culture that Yaklich did, 
transforming the Red Raiders 
from a Big 12 afterthought to a 
national contender with a clear 
identity.
But Texas Tech’s defensive 
strategy 
couldn’t 
be 
more 
different from Michigan’s. While 
the Wolverines run opposing 
players off the 3-point line, defend 
one-on-one and rarely foul, the 
Red Raiders play a “no middle” 
pressure defense that forces teams 
into baseline drives and tries for 
turnovers. Each has shined with its 
own scheme. Now, it’ll be strength 
vs. strength, identity vs. identity.

“There’s a hundred ways to do 
it right in basketball,” Yaklich said. 
“You can pick a hundred plays 
to run and it all revolves around 
how much you’re paying attention 
to that on a daily basis. … Coach 
Beard and his staff, like us on the 
defensive side of the ball, there’s 
certain things that we’re gonna pay 
attention to and stat and reward 
and really lock into.”
At Wednesday’s practice, the 
Wolverines prepared to run a 
drill. Michigan coach John Beilein 
yelled out, “Perfect passing! Let’s 
go!”
That’s how Michigan prepares 
for a stalwart defensive battle 
— by focusing on its offensive 
fundamentals. 
Perfect 
passing 
goes back to the very first practice. 
Go into the defender’s body. Put 
your outside hand all the way 
out so the passer can throw the 
ball easily. It’s something that 
constantly evolves, but in a game 
like this, it’ll matter more than 
ever. So with their limited practice 
time, the Wolverines have circled 
back to it.
Staying disciplined. Holding 
onto the ball. Perfect passing. It’s 
the same strategy Michigan used 
against other pressure teams 
like Illinois and Northwestern. 
Texas Tech’s defense is a big step 
up from those two, but then, the 
Wolverines have had more time to 
perfect a strategy.
“We just study them,” said 
assistant coach DeAndre Haynes. 
“Say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna try to score 
against them, you see this? Let’s do 
this.’ ”
These kinds of games are often 
overlooked by the casual college 
basketball fan, eschewed in favor 
of a more glamorous matchup 
with a symphony of shots. But for 
Michigan and Texas Tech, the 
two most unique teams left in the 
tournament, both testaments to 
a specific type of culture change, 
perhaps the matchup couldn’t be 
more perfect.
“We hang our hat on defense, 
they hang their hat on defense,” 
Haynes said. “And that’s gonna be 
two dogfights out there.”

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

I haven’t seen 
a kid like him 
that lives for 
these moments.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis noted that his self-confidence is among his favorite parts of his game.

