Sports
8 — Friday, January 10, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ prevails
in double
overtime
It was a boring game. Then it wasn’t.
It was a game in which senior guard
Zavier Simpson couldn’t hit a dart board
with a shotgun. Then he was leading the
offense in double overtime.
In a back-and-forth slugfest character-
ized by sloppy basketball, a tense second
half and two thrilling overtime periods,
the Michigan men’s basketball team
clung onto the narrowest of leads to
steal away a win from Purdue in double
overtime, 84-78.
In the initially-sluggish-then-absolute-
ly-electric affair, two struggling offens-
es played a game of, ‘Who can play the
sloppiest game of basketball in a win?’
Thursday, that just so happened to be
the Wolverines.
Michigan (11-4 overall, 2-2 Big Ten),
hobbled by the injury to its second-lead-
ing scorer, junior forward Isaiah Livers,
tried any and everything to fill the of-
fensive gap and put points on the board
against Purdue (9-7, 2-3).
In the first half, those efforts were
spent in vain with the first 20 minutes of
play shrouded by turnovers.
The Wolverines went just 3-for-12 in
the first half, and Simpson attempted
just two shots himself in the first 20
minutes. The second half opened in
the same vein with Simpson missing
the mark on his first four shot attempts
from deep.
A terse showdown characterized the
remainder of the game, though, high-
lighted by an immense showing from
Boilermakers forward Trevion Wil-
liams, who stepped up for star forward
Matt Haarms after he went down early
with a hip injury. Williams finished with
a whopping 36 points and 20 boards
while maintaining Purdue’s slim lead for
most of the second half.
“Well they play people one-on-one in
the post, and he’s a good little post play-
er, so we just tried to get him the basket-
ball,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
“So when Matt went out, we wanted
to focus on going to (senior center Jon)
Teske and trying to score, trying to get to
the free throw line, layups, post moves.”
Added Teske: “He did very well.
Watching him on film, I knew what he
has, and he came in and he did his job.
He led his team, and with Haarms hurt,
he had to do a little more, and they were
playing through him.”
Michigan was finally able to break the
lead and tie the game following an offen-
sive rebound, made-layup and ensuing
3-point shot from Teske.
The final five minutes of the game
were a back-and-forth slugfest with
each point feeling like an insurmount-
able mountain. With the clock ticking
down, the Wolverines were called for
a goaltend to put Purdue ahead by two,
setting up a Michigan possession where
Simpson drove to the hoop for the tie.
The Boilermakers then called timeout
for their final look at the basket with 15
seconds remaining.
Guard Aaron Wheeler drove to the bas-
ket in an attempt to find Williams. The
pass was a bit too much for Williams to
handle, though, allowing freshman for-
ward Franz Wagner to deflect his shot
and send the thriller to overtime.
From there, it was the Zavier Simpson
show.
Any sense of a shooting slump flew out
the door, and Simpson took charge on
offense.
“It’s just about staying locked in,” Simp-
son said. “I don’t like to think about my-
self, and tonight showed. I took one or
two shots in the first half, and I came out
and had 22 points. So it’s about staying
locked in and just putting things inside
a box, and putting things like that inside
right now and make sure we win and
make sure I’m doing everything I can to
put my team in a winning position.”
And the show would carry through-
out both of the ensuing overtime peri-
ods, with Simpson finishing his stellar
performance with 22 points and nine
assists.
As overtime ticked on, excitement
built upon each shot. Each dribble. Each
make. The match wasn’t a question of
who wanted it more, but more of which
team could execute in the big moments.
The first overtime decidedly announced
that neither team was worthy, and fol-
lowing a Williams miss in the post and
another miss on a half-court Simpson
heave, the game was sent to double
overtime.
Teske started the second period of free
basketball early with an and-one layup
at the rim. Not wanting to be outdone,
Simpson promptly hit a 3-pointer on the
ensuing possession to send Crisler Cen-
ter into a frenzy, taking a 74-68 lead.
Then the shots just kept falling and
Michigan never looked back, with Wag-
ner hitting a 3-pointer to spread the
lead to nine. Suddenly, the offense that
seemed so anemic in the first half had
come to life when it mattered most.
In the end, Purdue missed the big
ones and Simpson hit them. Ask anyone
around the program, and they’ll let you
know why.
“He’s a senior, he wanna win so bad,
you can just see it in the way he plays,”
said sophomore guard David DeJulius.
“He just willed us to win because he’s
a senior, and he wants to go out with a
bang.”
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Editor
Alexis Rankin / Daily | Design by Jack Silberman
MICHIGAN 84
PURDUE 78
FINAL 2OT
SIMPSON: 22 pts, 9 asts
Simpson
leads way
in victory
For the first 18 minutes of the
Michigan men’s basketball team’s
win over Purdue, Zavier Simpson
didn’t even take a shot.
Coming off Sunday’s loss in which
he shot the ball a career-high 18
times, it felt strange. After all, the
senior point guard played all but one
minute of Thursday’s first half. But
Simpson took over the game after
the break, pouring in 18 second-
half points on 7-of-11 shooting to
propel the Wolverines past the
Boilermakers,
84-78,
in
double
overtime.
When Michigan quickly fell behind
in the second half, it was Simpson
who spearheaded the comeback. By
the time his teammates missed their
15th shot from beyond the arc, he’d
seen enough.
He took matters into his own hands.
Simpson’s quick first step and elite
vision allowed him to get to the rim
seemingly at will, while his ability
to collapse the defense created open
looks for others. Throughout the
second half, he blew past guards on
the perimeter and finished crafty
layups and improbable hook shots
over bigger defenders. At times, he
was the team’s lone source of offense.
And when the Wolverines needed
a jolt at the beginning of the second
overtime period, he knocked down
a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Then senior center Jon Teske and
freshman
wing
Franz
Wagner
followed suit, giving Michigan a lead
it wouldn’t relinquish.
For Purdue coach Matt Painter,
it was all too familiar of a sight.
Simpson has now scored in double
figures in each of his four career
starts against the Boilermakers.
Painter has seen this side of Simpson
for what must feel like an eternity,
dating back to when he began
recruiting him as a junior in high
school.
“(Simpson) is just a winner,”
Painter said. “He won in high school,
he’s won here. That’s just who he is.
Guys who are winners — guys like
Mike Conley that came through the
Big Ten — if they score four or six
points, it’s no big deal. If they have
to score 24, then so be it. That’s what
winning is about. … He can will his
team to victory.”
Painter wasn’t alone in feeling
that way. Michigan coach Juwan
Howard, too, was unsurprised by
Simpson’s heroics.
“(Simpson) is one of the best
point guards in college basketball,”
Howard said. “One of the best
leaders in college basketball. One
of the toughest competitors in
college basketball. A kid who’s been
counted out so many times and has
always figured out how to rise to the
occasion. He trusts himself. We trust
him. His teammates follow his lead
and energy.”
In Simpson’s case, it boils down to
more than just a box score. He’s one
of the country’s fiercest competitors,
and the first thing anybody around
him notices is his will to win.
“He also knows each and every
possession he has a coach that’s
going to be leaning on him to
provide leadership,” Howard said.
“He embraces that. It’s not like he’s
running away from that challenge.
Yes, it’s big shoulders that he has to
carry with all the accountability I’ve
given him, all the trust I’ve given
him.
“But, he’s earned all of it. We’re just
happy that we have our Tom Brady.”
In Simpson, Howard sees himself.
He says he’ll never forget the first
time he called Simpson’s mother,
Bobbie Carter. It was right after
Howard accepted the job in May — a
typical introduction between a new
coach and current player’s parent.
But to this day, one comment from
the conversation stands out.
“The two of your birthdays are
close to one another,” Howard recalls
Carter saying.
Howard’s grandmother played a
major role in his upbringing. One
thing he remembers well is her
affinity for astrology. With such
close birthdays, she told Howard
that he and Simpson both share the
Aquarius horoscope.
“We both can be bull-headed,”
Howard said. “I will always add
stubborn. … We also are both tough-
nose competitors. But the beauty of
it is that we both trust one another,
and I’ve earned his trust.”
Now, that trust can dictate the
direction of the Wolverines’ season.
And with Simpson at the head of the
snake, Howard knows he can rest
easy.
Howard often refers to Simpson
as his Tom Brady. Painter likened
him to Mike Conley. Throughout
his tenure in Ann Arbor, he’s been
compared to a pitbull.
But when Teske — Simpson’s
co-captain — was asked to give a
comparison, his answer was most
telling.
“He’s Zavier Simpson.”
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer