2B — January 8, 2020 SportsWednesday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Shooting troubles plague Michigan EAST LANSING — Brick by brick, Michigan laid the foundation of its own downfall. Whether it was beyond the arc, from the elbow or along the baseline, the Wolverines struggled to knock down shots for three-quarters of Sunday’s 18-point, 87-69 drubbing at the hands of No. 14 Michigan State. A fairly even contest through the first ten minutes gradually eroded into Michigan being forced to play catch-up. Without leading scorer, junior forward Isaiah Livers, the Wolverines had nowhere to turn offensively when the Spartans’ All-American point guard Cassius Winston caught fire. While Winston, who finished with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting, orchestrated his team’s offense to perfection, Michigan’s offense sputtered. Senior point guard Zavier Simpson and senior center Jon Teske did their best to keep the Wolverines in the game, but poor 3-point shooting from Simpson — 1-for-6 — and foul trouble for Teske meant that Michigan’s attack was too inconsistent. “Give Teske credit, he went to work on us early in there,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. “I didn’t like the way we covered him at times. But, we made some adjustments and got a little better in the second half.” With Teske on the bench, the Wolverines lacked an offensive focal point and resorted to hoisting up some ill-advised shots. This was especially true from 3-point range, where Michigan went 5-of-23 over the course of the game. In Livers’ absence, sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr. stepped in at the ‘4.’ Johns Jr. may be of the same athletic ilk as Livers, but less polished offensively. Despite scoring 12 points in 30 minutes, Johns Jr. shot 25 percent from three. The rest of the Wolverines’ rotation didn’t fare any better. Junior guard Eli Brooks, who upped his offensive production significantly from last season, was limited to five shots — missing all four of his 3-point attempts. The Spartans chased Michigan’s shooters off their spots, something that they emphasized going in. “We wanted to take away their threes,” Izzo said. “We didn’t give up the wide-open threes. “We did a pretty good job on Brooks and (sophomore guard) David DeJulius, and I think that was one of the differences. (Freshman forward Franz) Wagner hit one, too, but we did a decent job on what we had to do to win the game.” Without Livers and his shooting threat, Michigan coach Juwan Howard was forced to play more of his bigs. As a result, the paint looked more congested and opportunities to attack the basket were harder to come by. “Isaiah would’ve helped (with the spacing),” Teske said. “But that’s no excuse. We always say, ‘Next man up.’ Brandon played well tonight and we trust him to do that.” The Wolverines’ poor shooting on the road has become an alarming trend and one that reared its ugly head again in East Lansing. 36.2 percent from the field isn’t a recipe for success in Big Ten play — especially when Winston and Michigan State’s offense hums like it did on Sunday. The answer to improving these woes according to Michigan: keep working. “There were some shots that didn’t fall,” Howard said. “Unfortunately for us, it’s been our norm going on the road that our threes don’t fall for us. We just gotta keep forging ahead and mentally stay with it.” J uwan Howard hasn’t shied away from calling Zavier Simpson his quarterback. In his first season as the Michigan men’s bas- ketball coach, How- ard inherit- ed a proven senior point guard. Simpson, one of the nation’s craftiest passers and elite perimeter defenders, has been the Wolverines’ backbone since he became the team’s starting point guard halfway through his sophomore season. Even after a coaching change forced him into a new system, Simpson has remained produc- tive. Simpson leads the Big Ten in assists with 8.9 per game, and if you ask anyone around the program about his work ethic, they’ll tell you that above all, he wants to win. That pair- ing of production and attitude makes it easy to see why How- ard likens him to Tom Brady. But over the last month, Michigan has seen a different version of the Zavier Simpson that piloted the team’s 7-0 start this season. Through the first month of the schedule, oppos- ing defenses gave Simpson the opportunity to play to his strengths. And as one of the country’s best pick-and-roll ball handlers, he put together a highlight film of assists. Whether it was throwing alley-oops to senior center Jon Teske or creating improbable angles to find shooters along the perimeter, Simpson’s abil- ity to create offense out of the pick-and-roll fueled a high- octane offense. Until it didn’t. In the Wolverines’ loss to Louisville on Dec. 3, Cardinals’ coach Chris Mack cracked the code. Louisville hedged hard on screens, making it difficult for Simpson to invent the same passing angles that made Mich- igan’s offense so successful in wins over then-No. 6 North Carolina and now-No. 1 Gon- zaga at the Battle 4 Atlantis. “It starts with Zavier,” Mack said after the game. “The deep- er he gets in the lane, the more it puts your off-ball defenders in a bind. How much do I help in? In the Bahamas, he’d just get in the lane and spray it out, and (junior forward Isaiah) Livers and (junior guard Eli) Brooks, they couldn’t miss. And so all we talked about was keeping him out of the lane, and then hard closeouts.” When the Cardinals didn’t hedge hard, they played Simp- son for the drive. They sagged off. They dared Howard’s Tom Brady to shoot. And surely enough, as Mack predicted, the Wolverines are at their worst when their quar- terback becomes their shooter. In Michigan’s 10 wins, Simp- son averages 7.6 attempts from the field at an efficient 59-per- cent clip, which would be the third-best overall mark in the conference. But in the Wolver- ines’ four losses, he averages 13.5 shots. Increased volume, though, has brought the oppo- site of increased effectiveness, as Simpson shoots just 31 per- cent from the field in losses. Simpson’s assist numbers, too, trend in opposite direc- tions based on gameflow. He dishes out an average of 9.4 assists in wins, but just 7.5 in losses. Together, Simpson’s shoot- ing and assist splits often tell the story of Michigan’s fate. When the Wolverines have fall- en behind, Simpson has grown more aggressive. In an effort to will his team back into games, he drives to the rim at a higher rate and takes more contested shots. The most recent example came on Sunday in East Lan- sing, where Simpson struggled to a 6-for-18 shooting perfor- mance, including a 1-of-6 mark from deep. And it’s no coinci- dence that Michigan was star- ing at an 18-point loss by the end of the afternoon. With Livers and his 13.6 points per game now sidelined indefinitely, the Wolverines are at a crossroads. Simpson will always be at the offense’s helm, but the team’s best output comes when he’s orchestrat- ing the scoring, not creating it. While he may be the team’s third-leading scorer, making up for Livers’ lost production needs to fall on Brooks, fresh- man wing Franz Wagner and sophomore guard David DeJu- lius. If Michigan is to contend for a Big Ten title, Simpson has to play his brand of bas- ketball. And with three of the team’s next four games coming against teams either nation- ally-ranked or receiving poll votes, there will be times when he’s tempted to stray from exactly that. But for the Wolverines’ offense to weather Livers’ absence, their quarterback has to facilitate it — not produce it. Dash can be reached at dashdan@umich.edu or on Twitter @DanielDash_ E AST LANSING — Maybe the most surprising part of Sunday afternoon was how inevita- ble it all felt. As Cas- sius Winston walked off the Breslin Center floor for the last time with 16 seconds left in the game, a final hail- storm of noise coming down, Zavier Simpson’s hands were on his hips. Every- one’s hands were on their hips. At least those wearing maize. They looked at each other. They glanced at the floor. They had no answers, and never real- ly came close to finding any. Really, as soon as Michigan showed up in East Lansing with Isaiah Livers donning sweats during warmups, it felt like it would take something unforeseen to win the game. Even when the game stayed within arm’s reach, Michigan State’s lead hovering at 10 or 11 throughout the second half, it felt like a mountain. All of Michigan’s warts were magnified without Livers — a 50-percent shooter from 3-point range, a capable ball- handler, a versatile defender. Its lack of depth and its lack of experience chief among them. “We had them scrambling, couldn’t really set up,” Winston said. “We were making plays like that.” Of all the elements that have come to define Michigan- Michigan State, a sense of pre- determination hasn’t been one in a long time. But the Spartans walked off the floor with an 87-69 win that never came into doubt, not from the moment it became clear that Livers would miss the game with a groin injury. The Spartans collapsed the floor against Zavier Simpson, daring the Wolverines to shoot. They shot an abysmal 5-of-23 from 3-point range. When they missed, Michigan State beat them down the floor, as Michi- gan struggled to match — or keep — up. By the end of the first half, the Spartans had 44 points — the most Michigan has allowed in a first half since a Nov. 29, 2017 loss at North Carolina, before Simpson was the start- ing point guard and before the Wolverines went two straight years with a top-five defense in adjusted efficiency. Right now, the Wolverines are 29th in adjusted defensive efficiency. They’re 24th in adjusted offensive efficiency, and in three true road games — all losses — they’re shoot- ing 18.3 percent from three. They’re startlingly dependent on the three players left who played over 50 percent of min- utes on last year’s team: Simp- son, Livers and Jon Teske. Without Livers, Michigan needed Brandon Johns Jr. to step into his role, confidently take 3-pointers and defend any- one put in front of him. “He’s disappointed,” Michi- gan coach Juwan Howard said of Johns, after a performance in which solid top-line numbers belied a 1-of-4 performance from three. “He’ll probably tell you right now that he played badly.” Without Livers, Michigan needed Franz Wagner to hit shots from outside and space the floor. Desperately. “Wagner hit one,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, after his team held Wagner to just three attempts from 3-point range, a low-impact performance. “But we did a decent job and (what) we had to do to win the game.” Without Livers, Michigan needed Eli Brooks and David DeJulius to take some of the load off Simpson. “We did a pretty good job on Brooks and David DeJulius,” Izzo said, after his team held them to a combined 4-of-14 from the field. “And I think that was the difference.” Howard was predictably noncommittal when asked about Livers’ status for Thurs- day’s game against Purdue, say- ing only that Michigan would “take a look at it.” It’s hard to pick apart what on Sunday happened because of Livers’ absence and what happened because of problems that might have existed either way. The right answer might be somewhere in the middle. These problems were there when Michigan lost at Louis- ville, came up short in overtime against Oregon and couldn’t get going at Illinois. On Sunday, without Livers, they multiplied in severity, and his return might cover up those issues against some teams. But that would only serve to belie the point. Simpson, Livers and Teske are the only three players on Michigan’s team who have played a big role in a road win of the kind Sunday’s would have been. They’re the only three who battled through a run to the national champion- ship game in 2018. (Brooks was on that team, but essentially out of the rotation by that point in the year). Experience like that breeds confidence — something the rest of the Wolverines seem to lack, both during the game and afterwards, when they talked about second-guessing open shots and communicating more on defense. Those two areas don’t tend to be concerns on experienced, confident teams. “You’ve just got to believe you can make it,” assistant coach Saddi Washington said of the shooting woes. “It’s defi- nitely not a lack of ability. But you’ve got to step up and shoot the ball with confidence.” “You’ve got to sprint back, but you also have to run with vision,” Howard said of the problems in transition. “Guys have got to be talking so that we’re getting matched up and not allowing easy layups or open 3s in transition.” This is the fine line between a top-20 team and a top-five team. There’s ample time for Michigan to grow past what it is right now — ample oppor- tunities for Wagner, Johns, Brooks and DeJulius to grow into the players Michigan needs them to be. Two years ago, Simpson, Charles Mat- thews and Jordan Poole did just that. That team wasn’t ranked until January, and, in the interest of fairness, nobody expected the Wolverines to be a top-20 team before the sea- son — they raised that bar with their play in November. Now, it’s on them to raise it again. Sears can be reached at searseth@umich.edu or on Twitter @ethan_sears. Without Livers, problems become easy to see ETHAN SEARS CONNOR BRENNAN Daily Sports Writer The Zavier Simpson ‘M’ needs DANIEL DASH ALEC COHEN/Daily Zavier Simpson’s play has a strong bearing on Michigan’s success. ALEC COHEN/Daily Sophomore guard David DeJulius struggled shooting the ball on Sunday, with a 3-of-9 mark from the field. ALEC COHEN/Daily The Michigan basketball team was unable to stay close against Michigan State on Sunday with Isaiah Livers (not pictured) missing the game with a groin injury.