Jon Teske was cooking and the
Michigan faithful inside Crisler
Center couldn’t get enough.
With nine points in the opening
2:40, the senior center pulled up
from the wing for a heat-check
3-pointer. Though it clanked off the
front rim, Teske, and the rest of the
Michigan men’s basketball team
(1-0), oozed with confidence.
“Coach (Juwan Howard) drew
up a lot of good plays and fortunately
enough, I was able to finish around
the rim,” Teske said. “My teammates
were finding me and I was just using
my height advantage — they were
kinda small in the frontcourt.”
Following in the senior’s lead,
junior guard Eli Brooks knocked
down two shots from behind the
arc while sophomore wing Adrien
Nunez converted on a stepback
jumper from the elbow. By the first
media timeout, the Wolverines had
quickly tallied 16 points against
a stunned Appalachian State and
blown the roof off the building.
The
utter
delirium
that
characterized the first 20 minutes
of
Howard’s
inaugural
game
eventually gave way to frustration
and concern in the second half, as a
slew of turnovers and missed shots
almost cost the Wolverines the
game.
Ultimately, Michigan overcame
its near collapse, winning, 79-71,
against the Mountaineers (0-1)
in a hard-fought, yet thoroughly
unconvincing opener.
Keeping
the
pace
high
—
something Howard has emphasized
so far in practice — and the defensive
intensity up, the Wolverines opened
up a substantial lead early on.
“The
pace
was
important,”
Brooks said. “We were getting up
and down the floor. Not letting them
get set up.”
Accompanying Teske’s 15 first-
half points was a frenetic defensive
performance.
Michigan’s
hands
were seemingly in every passing
lane, slapping the ball away and
stealing possessions.
During one sequence, sophomore
forward Colin Castleton nicked it
away from Appalachian State guard
Donovan Gregory, leading to a wide-
open three for junior forward Isaiah
Livers on the other end.
In total, the Wolverines forced
12 first-half turnovers on the
Mountaineers, to go with multiple
low-percentage desperation shots.
Coming
out
of
the
break,
Michigan expanded its 21-point
advantage with two corner threes
from Brooks — who finished with a
team-high 24 points — and an easy
baseline alley-oop from sophomore
guard David DeJulius to Livers.
And then, the game turned.
Thanks
to
uncharacteristic
turnovers from Livers and senior
guard
Zavier
Simpson,
poor
shooting and defensive miscues,
Appalachian
State
mounted
a
comeback.
“We were trying to make a quick
shot,” Teske said. “We just have to
share the ball, move the ball and
use the shot clock more. We had a
lot of silly turnovers in the second
half trying to force passes that aren’t
there. If it’s not there, we just need
to pull the ball out and run more
offense”
The Mountaineers went on a 27-3
tear over an eight-minute stretch
and cut the deficit to just four points
with 20 seconds remaining.
Facing a full-blown debacle,
Michigan
made
enough
plays
down the stretch to stave off the
comeback. Simpson and Brooks
were steady enough at the helm,
while Livers converted a second-
chance layup under the basket with
1:31 remaining to increase the lead to
eight and give the Wolverines some
breathing room.
In the end, it was far from
straightforward. Still, a win is a win.
The Wolverines held on to give
Howard his first victory on the
sidelines at Michigan — and a lot of
practice material.
“It’s our first game,” Teske said.
“It’s a long season. We’re going
to learn from this. We’re going to
grow from this. We still got a lot of
improvement to do and that’s what
practice is for. We’ll come back this
week and we’ll get better.”
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 — 8A
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ holds
on to top
App State,
79-71
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
On the
sideline,
Howard
settles in
As the final minutes of the
Michigan
men’s
basketball
team’s
season-opening
79-71
victory over Appalachian State
ran off the clock on Tuesday,
Juwan Howard was in his
element. His imposing frame cast
a long reflection over the shining
hardwood
floors
at
Crisler
Center, his long arms stretched
as he signaled to his players, his
face was animated as he shouted
directions over the chaos of the
Maize Rage behind him.
Just a couple hours earlier,
the newly-minted head coach’s
body language told a much-
different
story.
He
wavered
between sitting and standing
for much of the beginning of
the game – his first at the helm
of this Michigan team. Sitting,
he craned as far forward as he
seemed physically capable of
doing, trying to get a read on the
court. Standing, he looked tense.
His long arms either hung by his
sides or fidgeted with his tie or
the button of his jacket, but his
body leaned forward as if he was
physically restraining himself
from running onto the court.
It was Howard’s first time as
a head coach outside the NBA’s
Summer League, and at times
it’s showed, most notably (and
most recently) when he named
three different recruits in a press
conference on Monday, violating
NCAA rules. But as the the clock
hit zero at Crisler on Tuesday
night, Howard looked as much
at home leading the Wolverines
from the sidelines as he once
looked leading them on the
court.
“He’s always teaching. He
loves to teach,” said senior
center Jon Teske. “He’s giving
us feedback, just continuing that
trust we have. He loves to teach,
and that translated to the game
today, too.”
There are a lot of high
expectations that go hand-in-
hand with a member of the Fab
Five coming back to Ann Arbor
to replace the best basketball
coach in school history. Howard
is well aware of what his hiring
represents. He expects a lot of his
team, and even more of himself.
“There are areas where not
just our players have to improve,
but me as a coach,” Howard said.
“That’s part of the process; I
separate myself from the group.
As a coach, I keep going back,
hopefully I get some sleep
tonight. Hopefully I will not play
every play and possession back in
my head. I know I will definitely
have some sleep disturbances,
because I have that mindset. I’m
always critical. I’m always hard
on myself.”
And so, as Howard drew
ever closer to the first win of
his head-coaching tenure, ever
closer to ushering in what will
one day be known in Ann Arbor
as the Juwan Howard Era, his
energy was almost palpable: no
longer tentative or cautious, but
excited, confident and most of
all, hungry.
It was just an eight-point
victory for a team that held
a 30-point lead at one point.
These Wolverines can do better,
and will need to do better
against tougher teams down
the road. They’ll need to pass
cleaner, shoot more effectively
and turn the ball over less —
among other things — if they
want to be a relevant team in
March. Howard knows it will
be a challenge.
But he’s ready for it.
“Absolutely, I feel extremely
comfortable
and
confident
being the leader of this team,”
Howard said. “Because I care.
(I) care about this game, care
what happens, care about this
team, how we can improve.”
There
are
plenty
more
questions Howard will have
to answer over the course of
the season. But as for a head-
coaching style, a leadership
personality?
That’s coming along just fine.
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
NO SWEAT
almost
MICHIGAN 79 - APPALACHIAN STATE 71
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI / DAILY DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN