AN EVENING WITH SAFA AL AHMAD

NOVEMBER 19, 2019 | 7:30 P.M. | RACKHAM AUDITORIUM

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8 — Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

“

Throw out the records,” 
said Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh early Monday 
afternoon, a wry smile subtly 
forming on his face. “There’s a 
cliché you can use when you play 
this type of 
game.”
Whether 
he believes 
that or not 
— his team 
staring down 
the barrel of 
a bout against 
4-5 Michi-
gan State on 
Saturday — 
matters little. 
This is a week that annually 
breeds the kind of teeth-gritting 
clichés of coachspeak, muttered 
monotonously and meaning-
lessly. Respect for the opponent. 
The importance of rivalry games. 
All business.
Those clichés will evaporate 
the moment the ball is snapped 
and will be ripped to shreds after 
a victor is crowned mid-after-
noon Saturday. 
Then everyone 
will gather again 
one year from 
now to rehearse 
this charade 
once more.
The reality is 
you can’t throw 
out the records. 
You can’t ignore 
the nosedive the 
Spartans have 
taken, nor the ramifications of 
what a beatdown on Saturday 
might mean. This is not 2015, 
two ranked opponents duking 
it out in Harbaugh’s first year, 
surely an even-handed promise 
of things to come. It’s not 2016, 
one side rampaging toward real 
postseason hopes, the other just 
praying to play spoiler. It’s not 
2017, two hapless sides assigning 
meaning to a game that other-
wise would have none. And it’s 
not 2018, two ranked opponents 
playing an ostensible elimination 
game.
You can’t throw out the 
records here because the records 
tell all. This is one side trying 
to cling to a fading sense of who 
it once was, the other looking 

to send that crisis into turbo. 
This is Jim Harbaugh trying 
to deliver a knockout punch to 
his most formidable foe. This is 
Michigan trying to bludgeon a 
Michigan State program slowly 
sinking in quicksand. The onus is 
on the Wolverines to grab hold of 
the reins.
Underneath those annual 
platitudes Monday, the hints 
of that mentality were readily 
apparent.
“You can’t let them get their 
heads up,” said junior corner-
back Ambry Thomas. “Try to 
step on their throat and stay 
there all game. You know that 
they’re going to treat this game 
like their Super Bowl.”
Then asked what he sees of 
the Spartans’ offense, a group 
that ranks 96th of 130 teams in 
total offense, Thomas said: “I see 
a team with a lot of talent, hon-
estly. They just haven’t figured it 
out yet.”
Harbaugh’s hesitancy this 
week is understandable, though. 
His counterpart, Mark Danto-
nio, has beaten 
Michigan eight 
of his 12 years at 
Michigan State, 
including two 
wins in four 
tries against 
Harbaugh. Even 
with a talent gap, 
the Spartans 
have found ways 
to muck these 
games up, slow 
them down and even win them. 
In 2017, Dantonio’s crew ran the 
ball 40 times, picked off Michi-
gan quarterback John O’Korn 
three times and held on for a 
14-10 win in the pouring rain. It 
was a master class in coaching, 
beginning to end.
That’s what guides Har-
baugh’s trepidation heading into 
a game in which all signs point 
toward a blowout.
“On high alert for every-
thing,” Harbaugh said. “Specifi-
cally, we understand that Coach 
Dantonio is a master motivator. 
There could be trick plays on 
special teams. Punt fakes, field 
goal fakes. Everything needs 
to be alerted and prepared and 
ready for.”

Still, what exists amidst Har-
baugh’s suppressed fears cannot 
simply eliminate what’s right 
there in plain sight. Dantonio 
and Michigan State are 15-18 in 
Big Ten play over the past three-
plus years. They are fresh off 
blowing a 28-3 lead at home to 
a mediocre Illinois team. There 
are questions swirling about the 
future of the greatest coach in 
that program’s modern history. 
Those questions are real, and 
perhaps lasting.
“Whatever’s happened to 
them, has happened,” said 
sophomore defensive end Aidan 
Hutchinson. “Regardless of what 
happened to them, we’re going 
to go out there and play our 
game.”
Play our game. Throw out the 
records. High alert. This week, 
the typical clichés are out there 
to grab onto if you so choose. But 
they do a disservice to the abnor-
mal stakes at play this weekend.
How about instead of throw-
ing out the records, we throw out 
the pretense: If Michigan does 
what it should do on Saturday, it 
will shatter the balance of power 
in this rivalry for the foreseeable 
future.

Marcovitch can be reached 

at maxmarco@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @Max_Marcovitch.

Aidan Hutchinson knows what 
this rivalry is all about. He grew 
up in Dearborn, less than 100 miles 
from both schools. He heard stories 
about it from his dad, a standout 
linebacker at Michigan in the 
early 1990s. In high school, he was 
recruited by both sides.
Monday afternoon, standing 
in front of a rivalry-sized swarm 
of cameras inside Schembechler 
Hall, that experience is what led 
him to declare Michigan State “our 
biggest rival,” before realizing what 
he said and pausing. “Or, maybe our 
biggest rival.”
It’s a declaration that would 
seem ridiculous in 49 states, with 
Ohio State looming in two weeks. 
But not here, where this rivalry 
— and your side of it — defines 
friendships and shapes childhoods.
That’s 
the 
reality 
that’s 
encompassed Hutchinson’s life for 
the past 19 years. And now, four 
days from the Spartans’ biannual 
trip to Michigan Stadium, it’s the 

reality that stares him in the face.
Because for all his experience on 
periphery of this rivalry, Saturday 
is Hutchinson’s first time truly 
on the inside, as a key cog in the 
Wolverines’ defense.
“It’s completely different (to play 
in it),” Hutchinson said. “I think it 
intensifies the rivalry even more. 
You watch it, you kind of get the 
feel of the rivalry. But when you’re 
actually in it — you’re hitting them, 
you’re talking a little bit — that’s 
when things kind of intensify.”
The preparation, in a football 
sense, isn’t any different. Film 
study 
started 
the 
day 
after 
Michigan’s last game, much like 
it will for Indiana next week. 
More experienced players haven’t 
been inundating underclassmen 
with words of advice. When the 
Wolverines take the field, there 
won’t be any special ceremonies or 
alterations to the routine.
But the difference is tangible.
“It’s about who’s the big brother 
and who’s the little sister in this 
state,” said junior cornerback 
Ambry Thomas, providing the 

day’s requisite viral rivalry quote. 
“That’s what it’s really about.”
For Hutchinson, the difference 
is more understated, coming from 
his ingrained knowledge of what 
this game means.
It’s also more personal, coming 
from his friendship with Theo 
Day, a reserve quarterback for the 
Spartans.
“The talking has definitely 
started between me and him,” 
Hutchinson said. “… I don’t know 
if I can tell you what he said, but 
some words were said between 
us. He was talking a little bit about 
the game. I’m just pumped to play 
him.”
It’s a familiar refrain for anyone 
who listens to these rivalry week 
pump-up speeches masquerading 
as press conferences.
Every year, in-state players 
position themselves in front of 
cameras and talk about their 
relationships on the other side, 
often with brash declarations 
included. And then, every year, 
the in-game jawing follows suit, 
crescendoing in the most physical, 
personal game of the Wolverines’ 
season.
“Obviously there’s going to 
be a little bit more stuff after the 
whistle,” Hutchinson said. “I’m 
expecting that because of how this 
rivalry has been in the past.”
For players like Ben Bredeson or 
Carlo Kemp, that part is normal by 
now. They’re the ones who know 
better than to provide any bulletin-
board material, instead emitting 
a respect for the opponent that 
won’t land them any cheap shots 
Saturday afternoon.
Hutchinson might be expecting 
it, having gotten a few snaps last 
year. But for now, all he can do is 
wait.
That, and get ready for the self-
described most important game 
he’s ever started.
“Last year, I came in as a backup, 
only got a couple plays,” Hutchinson 
said. “But I’m expecting to do some 
big things in the game.”

State of animosity
Michigan readies for Michigan State with programs facing opposite directions as program outlooks hang in rivalry balance

‘M’ tries to weaponize two-big looks

If you can’t think of a 
time when Jon Teske played 
alongside another big man last 
season, it’s for good reason.
For the Michigan basketball 
team, those instances were 
few and far between. Now-
departed 
forwards 
Ignas 
Brazdeikis 
and 
Charles 
Matthews played significant 
minutes on last year’s team, 
and 
then-sophomore 
wing 
Isaiah Livers also saw time off 
the bench. That, coupled with 
the fact that the Wolverines’ 
didn’t have a true backup ‘5,’ 
prevented 
then-freshmen 
Brandon Johns Jr. and Colin 
Castleton from making a major 
impact.
That’s no longer the case.
After 
Brazdeikis 
and 
Matthews left for the NBA 
Draft, Livers assumed a role 
as a starter. Now sophomores, 
Johns and Castleton spent 
the summer in Ann Arbor, 
where 
they 
gained 
much-
needed muscle ahead of their 
anticipated spikes in playing 
time. Howard envisions both 
players as pieces capable of 
scoring at all three levels, 
holding their own on the 
glass and guarding multiple 
positions.
Against Appalachian State 
last 
Tuesday, 
Johns 
and 
Castleton all looked much-
improved. The duo accounted 
for 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting 
and grabbed five rebounds. 
Perhaps it was the undersized 
opponent or natural maturity 
of being a year older, but it 
shouldn’t come as a surprise to 
see the immediate returns of 
hiring first-year coach Juwan 
Howard, who developed young 
big men like Hassan Whiteside 
and 
Bam 
Adebayo 
as 
an 
assistant with the Miami Heat.
“Everyday, 
(Howard) 
is 
working us out one-on-one, 
all the big guys, and he’s the 
coach that’s getting down and 
dirty with us,” Castleton said 
at Michigan’s media day in 
October. “He’ll push us, bump 
us and stuff like that, and he’ll 
teach us while we do it. … I 

don’t think it’s like (what) any 
other coach can do because 
he’s that position player.”
With 
no 
shortage 
of 
frontcourt talent in the Big 
Ten this season, Howard used 
last Tuesday’s season-opener 
to flex his own team’s muscle. 
After Teske scored 11 points 
in just over four minutes, 
the 
Wolverines 
showcased 
variations of his lineup that 
featured multiple big men.
While Teske may be the 
lone center in the starting 
lineup, two of Michigan’s three 
rotational big men were on the 
floor together for 14 minutes of 
the first half. The Wolverines 
reaped the benefits, outscoring 
the Mountaineers by 10 points 
in that timespan.
“As far as defense-wise, 
we can show the other team 
multiple lineups,” Castleton 
said. “I think it’s great as far as 
versatility and on the offensive 
end it’s good too because we 
have a great high-low game, 
and me and (Teske) can both 
shoot the ball. … We can spread 
the floor out and we’re both 
two really big bodies on the 
glass as well.”
There 
weren’t 
many 
interior challenges against an 
Appalachian State team that 
doesn’t have a player taller 
than 6-foot-9 on its roster, 
while the Wolverines’ three 
rotational big men are at least 
that tall.
Tuesday night, a Creighton 
team with only one healthy 
player taller than 6-foot-8 
visits 
Crisler 
Center. 
That 
player 
is 
6-foot-11 
center 

Kelvin Jones, who is now on 
his fourth college after stints 
at UTEP, Odessa College and 
Idaho State.
From Howard’s perspective, 
though, his team’s interior 
success boils down to more 
than just size.
“It’s 
been 
effective 
for 
us,” Howard said. “Jon is an 
excellent passer, a high-IQ 
player, (he’s) always going 
to make the right play, never 
going to try to do anything he 
cannot do. … Brandon, with his 
activity and energy, he’s been 
ready every time his name has 
been called on. He’s been able 
to produce, and so has Colin.”
Added Castleton: “(Passing) 
is one of the things in (Teske’s) 
game that people don’t really 
talk about. He has so many 
other tools he can show and 
different things on offense 
and defense he does so well 
that overpower the passing 
ability he shows, but passing 
is probably one of his best 
attributes.”
Teske’s 
passing 
could 
become the key to sustaining 
success with multiple big men 
on the floor against formidable 
Big 
Ten 
defenses. 
When 
Michigan 
can’t 
overwhelm 
teams with size alone, high-
low ball movement between big 
men can open opportunities 
that 
otherwise 
wouldn’t 
present themselves.
But to Johns, the appeal is 
simpler.
“It’s like huge towers out 
there,” Johns said. “We’re so 
big, our size disrupts a lot of 
defenses.”

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has a chance to beat Michigan State and Mark Dantonio at home for the first time.

Try to step on 
their throat and 
stay there all 
game.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Sophomore forward Colin Castleton will have an increased role off the bench.

MAX

MARCOVITCH

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor