The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
December 9, 2019 — 3B

All game, the No. 4 Michigan 
men’s basketball team had one 
roadblock to an otherwise easy 
win: Iowa big man Luka Garza.
On his way to an astounding 
44 points, Garza was a force to 
be reckoned with in the low post, 
dominating in his back-to-the-
basket play. The Wolverines (8-1 
overall, 1-0 Big Ten) saw early that 
Iowa’s (6-3, 0-1) offense started and 
stopped with Garza, but they were 
helpless to stop it.
In the end, it didn’t matter, 
seeing as Michigan’s offense was 
firing on all cylinders and strode 
past the Hawkeyes en route to a 
103-91 win on Friday night. 
Seemingly every time the ball 
touched his hands, Garza was 
unstoppable in his efforts to put 
the ball in the basket. By the end 
of the game, Iowa’s offense felt 
unmistakingly routine. Push the 
ball up the floor. Get it to Garza. 
Garza goes up for two points. 
Repeat.
“Well, he’s a guy who’s got 
a ton of different moves,” said 
Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey. “I 
thought we did a really good job 
of getting him the ball, made a 
concerted effort to do so. He never 
stops moving. He sprints hard in 
transition and posts hard, so he’s 
a handful for any defender who’s 
trying to guard him.”
The 
Wolverines’ 
response 
seemingly 
prioritized 
keeping 
their big men out of foul trouble 
as opposed to making Garza’s 
path to a bucket as difficult as it 
could’ve been. Michigan coach 
Juwan Howard was operating 
under a near auto-bench policy 
for his big men after picking up a 
foul with senior center Jon Teske, 
sophomore center Colin Castleton 
and senior center Austin Davis all 
seeing the floor.
Teske, known for his defensive 
prowess in the lane, picked up four 
fouls and was unable to contain 
Garza’s post presence. Castleton 
and Davis fared much the same 
throughout the game.

Fouls were a recurring problem 
for the Wolverines, with the 
team picking up 19 in the game 
and Teske and Simpson both in 
foul trouble. The crowd at Crisler 
Center looked to be a factor in the 
game, letting the refs hear their 
discontent following every blow of 
the whistle — a number that kept 
building for Michigan’s key players.
On the other side of the court, 
the 
Wolverines’ 
offense 
was 
everything that it lacked in its first 
loss of the season against Louisville 
last 
Tuesday. 
Senior 
guard 
Zavier Simpson was effective in 
distributing the ball, totaling seven 
assists and the team found its 
offensive balance again with shots 
falling from behind the arc and the 
guards feeding the big men down 
low to get points in the paint.
Everyone got in the action, too, 
with six of Michigan’s players 
scoring in double digits. The 
Wolverines got there by taking 
advantage of Iowa’s lax zone 
defense and were able to find lots 
of easy looks in the paint. Leading 
the charge was freshman forward 
Franz Wagner led the charge with 
18 points — nine of which came 
from the free throw line.
“I shot like 10 free throws, so I 
got to the line,” Wagner said. “It’s 
always good to find a rhythm. I 
just try to take what the defense 
gives me, just getting to the basket 
helped us today, getting some easy 
ones early.”
The bench players provided 
a spark in the game offensively, 
highlighted by sophomore forward 
Brandon Johns Jr. who led the 
team at half with 10 points and 
finished with 12. After coming into 
the game in the middle of the first 
half, Johns drilled two 3-pointers 
and threw down a ferocious slam 
upon entering in the second. Johns 
was also a menace on the glass, 
totaling eight rebounds.
On a night where Michigan’s 
defense wasn’t up to the task, its 
offense carried the load.
“Well, we played with pace,” 
Howard said. “One thing that we 
did not do was just walk the ball up 
the floor. We knew that they were 

gonna come with a lot of pace, too … 
Just kept encouraging our guys to 
stay in the moment. Can’t celebrate 
after a bucket, get back, and make 
sure you talk on defense, so on the 
offensive end, we’re able to get out 
in transition.”
This mentality manifested itself 
with Davis’ play. With Castleton 
sitting after taking an elbow to the 
face in the first half, Davis got the 
crowd excited with back-to-back 
dunks later in the second half, then 
sprinted down to the other end of 
the floor rather than revel in his 
play. 
The difference in the offensive 
performance for the Wolverines 
came down to Simpson’s ability to 
control the game from halfcourt 
as well as the other guards finding 
success controlling the basketball 
and finding good taking advantage 
of Iowa’s zone defense.
Simpson picked up three quick 
fouls in the half’s opening four 
minutes, but quick to respond, 
junior guard Eli Brooks drove to 
the lane and found a wide-open 
Teske for the easy slam.
When it was all said and done, 
Garza was left with nothing to 
show for his legendary numbers 
other than a spot in Iowa’s record 
books.

Michigan teams of years 
past have at times tended 
to rely on a few players 
– the Jordan Pooles and 
Moritz Wagners – for much 
of their success. But so far 
this season, the fourth-
ranked 
Wolverines 
have 
been winning more on the 
strength of the many than 
the success of a few. Friday 
night’s 103-91 win over 
Iowa, their first conference 
matchup and Big Ten victory 
of the season, was the 
perfect example. 
“I saw great production 
out of (the bench) tonight,” 
said Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard. “I saw them playing 
with a lot of energy, a ton 
of effort, and just playing 
inspiring basketball. It was 
great to see that.”
Some 
of 
the 
most 
impactful players weren’t 
starters on Friday night. 
Sophomore 
center 
Colin 
Castleton has also seen his 
fair share of time off the 
bench this season, especially 
when senior center Jon Teske 

has been in foul trouble, and 
he looked good when Teske 
again racked up a few fouls 
early 
before 
exiting 
the 
game to get stitches in his 
lip.
But bench players with 
less 
in-game 
experience 
were just as much of a 
factor in the game. With 
Teske in foul trouble and 
Castleton injured, redshirt 
junior forward Austin Davis 
saw 
extended 
playing 
time for the first time this 
season. Sophomore guard 
Brandon Johns Jr. saw more 
minutes 
than 
he 
normally 
does as well. 
Davis 
had 
eight 
points 
and 
three 
rebounds 
on 
the night and 
put up a dunk 
from 
behind 
the net around 
the 
eight-
minute 
mark 
and two more on either 
side of the seven-minute 
mark, to the delight of the 
fans in the crowd at Crisler 
Center. Johns accounted for 

12 points – his first career 
double digit night and a 
new career high – and threw 
down a massive dunk of his 
own at the 12-minute mark.
“Before the game, I was 
really thinking to myself, I 
can contribute more,” Johns 
said. “I can help out my 
teammates – just being out 
there on the floor. I’m not 
doing 
anything 
different. 
The rebounding’s good, for 
sure, but I felt like I can be 
there – I can be a presence 
on both ends, so I always just 
really want to be aggressive, 
on 
offense 
and defense.” 
It 
was 
a 
stark contrast 
to 
the 

Hawkeyes, 
whose 
nine-
man rotation 
was 
about 
what 
the 
Wolverines 
had expected 
it 
to 
be. 
Michigan looked effective 
all night on defense, even 
successfully putting a lid 
on Iowa’s star guard, senior 
Jordan Bohannon. 
Although the bench lacks 
size to a certain extent, with 
the exception of Davis, a 
6-foot-10 behemoth, and 
especially compared to both 
Michigan’s 
starters 
and 
Iowa’s very physical team, 
the defense was solid all 
night, no matter who was 
on the floor. Michigan held 
Iowa to just 20 percent on 
their 3-point attempts and 
came up with 38 rebounds in 
a dominant first conference 
victory.
“We have this motto on 
our team: ‘Stay ready so you 
don’t have to get ready,’” 
Howard said. “That’s how 
our guys responded tonight. 
I’m just so proud of their 
effort.”
Although there have been, 
and certainly will continue 

Hawk hunters

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Junior guard Eli Brooks was one of six Wolverines to finish in double figures in Michigan’s 103-91 win over Iowa.

I saw great 
production out 
of (the bench) 
tonight.

Garza raises questions about defense

As the modern style of men’s 
basketball continues to evolve 
with an emphasis on 3-point 
shooting, 
teams 
across 
the 
collegiate 
and 
professional 
ranks 
have 
ditched 
the 
traditional ‘5.’
But not in the Big Ten, and 
not in Ann Arbor.
In a conference ruled by some 
of the country’s most talented 
big men, traditional centers are 
alive and well. The short list of 
testaments includes Michigan’s 
Jon Teske, Iowa’s Luka Garza, 
Ohio State’s Kaleb Wesson, 
Purdue’s Matt Haarms, Illinois’ 
Kofi 
Cockburn, 
Minnesota’s 
Daniel Oturu and Penn State’s 
Mike Watkins.
In Friday night’s 103-91 win 
over the Hawkeyes, the fourth-
ranked Wolverines saw the 
impact of a dominant Big Ten 
center firsthand. Garza entered 
the game as the nation’s only 
Power Five player averaging 
20 points and 10 rebounds, 
and promptly poured in a 
career-high 44 points against 
Michigan.
Garza 
showcased 
one 
of 
the 
conference’s 
best 
low-
post repertoires Friday night, 
using his full arsenal of reverse 
layups, post hooks and mid-
range jumpers to record the 
third-most 
points 
in 
Iowa 
history.
“He’s a guy that’s got a 
ton 
of 
different 
moves,” 
said Hawkeyes’ coach Fran 
McCaffery after the game. “I 
thought we did a really good 
collectively of getting him the 
ball, (we) made a concerted 
effort to do so. He never stops 
moving, he sprints hard in 
transition and posts hard, so 
he’s a handful for any defender 
that’s trying to guard him.”
Throughout the night, the 
Wolverines had no answer for 
Garza. Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard initially tried stopping 
him by assigning three different 
defenders, but when Teske, 
sophomore 
forward 
Colin 
Castleton and senior center 
Austin Davis tried their hand at 
halting Garza’s big night, they 

found themselves out-muscled 
or in foul trouble. Castleton, 
in particular, took an errant 
elbow to the face that required 
stitches on his lip before he 
made a second-half return.
By 
halftime, 
Garza 
had 
already racked up 27 points. 
He was responsible for 11 of 
Iowa’s 15 field goals, while 
24 of its 38 points came in 
the paint. Howard tried to 
draw up different defensive 
assignments, traps and double-
teams against Garza, but none 
of it seemed to matter.
“We were just trying to make 
it tough on (Garza),” Davis said. 
“Tough to get the ball, tough 
once he got it, just tried to make 
it as hard on him to score as 
possible. … We know he’s a great 
player, we knew that coming 
in.”
Friday could very well have 
been an outlier. Regardless of 
whether it was, Michigan is in 
a good place to learn from it. 
The Wolverines’ porous interior 
defense allowed Iowa to post 91 
points, even as it shot just 3-of-
15 from beyond the arc. With an 
influx of frontcourt depth this 
season, it’s best to learn such a 
lesson in December as opposed 
to March.
At 7-foot-1, Teske has been 
an impactful paint presence 
since stepping into the starting 
center role last season. He’s 
averaging 
2.1 
blocks 
per 
game across 46 starts, while 
Castleton is averaging just over 
two rejections per 36 minutes in 
his career to date.
But their real value lies in 
altering close-range looks with 

their 
size. 
Against 
driving 
guards 
and 
fellow 
centers 
around the rim, the presence 
of Teske or Castleton often 
forces 
opposing 
players 
to 
take off-balanced shots from 
uncomfortable angles.
Without a reliable backup 
center last season, there was 
pressure on Teske to remain 
on the floor. That wasn’t the 
case the season before, when he 
averaged just 12.3 minutes while 
playing behind Moritz Wagner. 
Teske’s minutes more than 
doubled 
following 
Wagner’s 
departure, which brought about 
a necessary learning curve in 
staying out of foul trouble.
He 
answered 
the 
call, 
improving from one foul per 
7.6 minutes to 12.6 minutes, 
but Michigan still struggled 
without him on the floor. 
After beginning the season as 
the primary backup center, 
Davis fell out of the rotation as 
Castleton and forward Brandon 
Johns Jr. spent much of their 
freshman seasons adjusting to 
the college level.
This 
season, 
though, 
Michigan is better equipped 
to weather stretches without 
Teske than it was a season 
ago. And as a result, he and 
the centers behind him are 
afforded the luxury of defensive 
aggression.
With a long line of strong Big 
Ten centers on the upcoming 
docket, 
that 
aggression 
has to become a staple of 
the 
Wolverines’ 
interior 
defense. 
Otherwise, 
Garza’s 
performance could be just the 
beginning.

‘M’ finishes second in crowded field

While there was an admitted 
talent gap between the Michigan 
women’s swim and dive team and 
its rivals, the Wolverines relied on 
long-term development to power 
past more highly-ranked opponents 
at this weekend’s Minnesota Invite. 
No. 19 Michigan came in second 
out of seven, falling 422.5 points 
shy of first-place No. 3 California.
Michigan (3-0) came out of the 
weekend with 10 top-three finishes 
and seven athletes qualifying for 
NCAA Championships. 
The second-place finish was 
better than Michigan coach Mark 
Bottom was expecting facing the 
Golden Bears, No. 5 Texas and 
other top teams. 
Bottom had reason be worried 
after losing a dominant senior 
class last spring, comprised of 
Siobhán Haughey, Catie DeLoof 
and Jamie Yeung, who led the 
team to a third-place finish at the 
NCAA Finals. But after this week, 
it’s clear this won’t be a rebuilding 
year for the Wolverines. The 
team’s depth was evident in its 
relay — made up of seniors Chloe 
Hicks and Miranda Tucker, as well 
as junior Daria Pyshnenko and 
sophomore Maggie MacNeil — in 
which they placed third behind 
California and the Longhorns.
Junior diver Christy Cutshaw 

secured valuable points for the 
team with her first-place finish on 
the platform dive. 
In recent years, Michigan has 
been a dominant program, but 
has yet to best the Golden Bears in 
the postseason. Bottom attributes 
the gap to different levels of 
recruiting. California typically 
has a top-10 recruiting class in 
the county, while the Wolverines 
focus on developing their athletes 
once they get to Ann Arbor — a 
strategy Bottom thinks will be 
integral to the team’s future 
success. 

“We recruit well and develop 
greater athletes,” Bottom said. 
“That’s kind of what we’ve done 
in the past and will continue to 
do. We won’t always get the best 
athletes — as a matter of fact, we 
get very few, but we get some and 
we develop a great team.”
That development seems to 
have paid off. Friday, MacNeil tied 

the NCAA and U.S. Open records 
on the 100-yard butterfly with a 
time of 49.26 seconds. While she 
already has a lot to show for her 
time at Michigan, including the 
Big Ten of the Year accolade and 
four Big Ten Championship titles, 
Bottom stresses that MacNeil’s 
success is a product of the work 
she’s put in since joining the team. 
“She 
didn’t 
come 
in 
a 
superstar,” Bottom said. “She 
came in a good swimmer, just like 
a lot of our girls. They have hope 
that they can achieve some of the 
things she’s achieved. She’s real 
good about understanding where 
she came from and encouraging 
others to follow that path.” 
Many other members of the 
team followed MacNeil’s lead, 
setting 
personal-best’s 
and 
approaching school-wide records. 
Hicks clocked in at 1:53.12 minutes 
on 
the 
200-yard 
backstroke, 
trumping her previous record by 
almost 10 seconds. Pyshnenko 
just edged out her previous record 
of 50.20 seconds on the 100-yard 
freestyle with a time of 48.12. 
“We’re getting better, and 
that’s what we want to do,” 
Bottom said. “Every time we get 
to a mid-season meet like this, 
the idea is that you want to be as 
close to your best in season times 
and better than last year’s end of 
season times. That’s where we’re 
moving.”

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Iowa forward Luka Garza scored a career-high 44 points against Michigan.

LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer

CAMERON HUNT/Daily
The No. 19 Michigan women’s swim and dive team finished second at the Minnesota Invite this weekend.

We’re getting 
better and 
that’s what we 
want to do.

