8 — Friday, February 28, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WITH BROOKS OUT, 
D’MITRIK TRICE 
TORCHES MICHIGAN’S 
DEFENSE AS BADGERS 
TOP WOLVERINES, 81-74

KEEMYA ESMAEL / Daily

TRICE
COLD

Comeback falls short as Wisconsin 
beats Wolverines, 81-74, at Crisler

There are a lot of adjectives 
that describe Thursday night’s 
matchup between Michigan and 
Wisconsin. 
Gritty. Streaky. Roller coaster.
And at the end of it all, the 
Wolverines (18-10 overall, 9-8 
Big Ten) fell to Wisconsin (18-10, 
11-6), 81-74, after an inconsistent 
offensive performance and an 
onslaught of drained 3-pointers 
by the Badgers.
Despite the spotty offense, 
the Wolverines embarked on 
plenty of electric scoring runs. 
But it was on defense where they 
struggled most. 
Wisconsin 
shoots 
more 
3-pointers 
than 
anyone 
else in the Big Ten, and the 
Wolverines fell behind when 
those shots started hitting. At 
times, Wisconsin’s lead seemed 
an 
uncrossable 
chasm, 
and 
Michigan seemed ill-equipped 
to stop it from growing. 
“We did a very bad job of 
defending on the perimeter,” 
Michigan coach Juwan Howard 
said. “Overall, our defense did 
not get enough stops. … Huge let 
down. On the entire team, as far 
as how we’re defending. And a 
poor job from me on preparing 
our guys, so I’ll take the blame 
on it. I didn’t prepare them very 
well.”
The Wolverines got off to a 
slow start on both ends of the 
court without junior guard 
Eli Brooks, who was sidelined 
after sustaining a nose injury 
against Purdue last Saturday. 

After settling into the game, 
the offense seemed to find its 
rhythm after making some quick 
shots, but it was a rhythm they 
fell in and out of throughout the 
course of the game. Michigan 
paid for that inconsistency late 
in the game.

“We made a couple runs 
in the second half, and then 
they made some tough shots,” 
freshman wing Franz Wagner 
said. “I don’t think we lost the 
game in the second half. I think 
we just didn’t play like we have 
to in the first half. They got into 
a rhythm, and they made us pay 
at the end.”
But, as Wisconsin slowed 
down, 
Michigan 
gradually 
made its way back into the 
game, fighting back from a 

14-point deficit to draw even 
with 15 minutes remaining in 
regulation. But again, the game 
slipped out of its hands.
With 10 minutes left, the 
game was again within reach 
for the Wolverines. But even 
when the game was close, or 
felt close, Michigan just could 
not do enough to control the 
game the way it needed. The 
Wolverines couldn’t get shots 
to fall when they needed them 
most. And they couldn’t stop 
Wisconsin from sinking dagger 
after dagger.
“We always talk about getting 
stops and getting out for wide 
open 
dunks, 
layups, 
threes 
and getting to the free throw 
line,” sophomore guard David 
DeJulius said. “We didn’t get an 
opportunity to play pace-and-
space.”
The pieces are there. The 
offensive power Michigan put 
on against Michigan State and 
Indiana. The gritty defense 
the Wolverines played against 
Rutgers 
and 
Northwestern. 
When Michigan is able to put 
those things together, it has 
a chance at beating any team 
in 
college 
basketball. 
The 
Wolverines proved that in the 
Bahamas, and over the five-
game winning streak that just 
ended.
But against Wisconsin on 
Thursday night, Michigan just 
couldn’t piece together enough 
to win.
It was, more than anything 
else, a matter of consistency.
And the Wolverines couldn’t 
seem to find it.

Without Brooks, defense struggles

When Juwan Howard was 
asked about Eli Brooks’s nose on 
Wednesday, he leaned back in 
his podium chair and laughed.
During the Michigan men’s 
basketball 
team’s 
win 
over 
Purdue last Saturday, the junior 
guard found himself at the 
wrong place at the wrong time 
during a Boilermaker baseline 
inbounds pass. As he trailed 
his defensive assignment, the 
shoulder of a Purdue screener 
caught him square in the face. 
The collison fractured his nose.
For 
a 
while, 
Howard’s 
laughter didn’t stop. If there’s 
anyone familiar enough with 
the injury to chuckle, it’s the 
Wolverines’ first-year coach, 
who broke his nose three times 
during his 19-year NBA career.
But when Howard took a 
seat at the same podium a mere 
30 hours later, there was no 
laughter. As Brooks watched 
from 
the 
bench 
in 
street 
clothes, his nose swallowed by a 
bandage, Michigan’s perimeter 
defense — his personal calling 
card — proved to be its pitfall in 
an 81-74 loss to Wisconsin.
“(Brooks) is our anchor,” 
Howard said. “Yes, (senior point 
guard) Zavier (Simpson) is a 
John Wooden finalist for one 
of the (top-10) best defensive 
players 
this 
year, 
but 
I’m 
surprised Eli is not mentioned 
as one of the best defensive 
players this season because 
he has been the anchor of our 
defense. Just his presence — we 
saw how we missed his activity, 
we missed his energy, being 
able to guard guys and attention 

to detail when it comes to the 
scouting report.”
The 
defeat 
snapped 
the 
Wolverines’ five-game winning 
streak 
— 
a 
season-altering 
stretch defined by a defensive 
turnaround. Over the three 
weeks leading up to Thursday, 
Michigan’s 
defense 
allowed 
opponents to score an average 
of just 60.4 points on 37 percent 
shooting.
For nearly a month, Brooks 
had been at the forefront of that 
revival.
Without 
Brooks, 
the 
Wolverines 
repeatedly 
surrendered 
uncontested 
looks, opening the door for 
the Badgers to 
cruise 
to 
81 
points 
on 
a 
54-percent 
shooting 
clip. 
It 
was 
the 
highest 
field 
goal percentage 
Michigan 
has 
allowed at home 
this season.
“Eli 
is 
the 
best 
defender 
on our team,” freshman wing 
Franz Wagner said. “He brings 
it every night. So we missed 
him, definitely. … We didn’t 
communicate well enough and 
our energy, especially in the 
first half, it was horrible.”
The 
impact 
of 
Brooks’s 
absence was apparent from the 
start. Wisconsin canned its first 
three attempts from beyond the 
arc, opening up a double-digit 
lead just five minutes into the 
game. 
The Badgers, who entered 
the night with the conference’s 
second-best 
3-point 
clip, 

eventually used their success 
from beyond the arc to create 
pump-fake opportunities and 
driving lanes. The approach 
kept Michigan on its heels for 
much of the first half, and by the 
final buzzer, Wisconsin guard 
D’Mitrik Trice’s 28 points were 
enough to leave Crisler Center 
with a win.
Without 
Brooks, 
the 
Wolverines 
allowed 
Trice 
to enjoy a 10-for-16 shooting 
mark. Simpson, Wagner and 
sophomore 
guard 
David 
DeJulius all tried their hands at 
stopping him on the perimeter, 
only to see him post a 5-of-6 
performance from deep that 
impacted 
more than just 
Michigan’s 
defense.
“We didn’t get 
an opportunity 
to 
play 
pace-
and-space,” 
DeJulius 
said. 
“The gameplan 
(was) 
to 
run 
them 
off 
the 
3-point line. We 
understand the great assets 
they have from beyond the 
line.”
When the Wolverines did 
find ways to put a hand in 
Trice’s face, they were plagued 
by 
miscommunications 
that 
left other Wisconsin shooters 
open behind the 3-point line. 
They ultimately surrendered a 
season-worst 11 3-pointers.
To DeJulius, the root of the 
problem cut deeper than the 
surface.
“It’s not really about X’s and 
O’s,” he said. “It’s about effort 
and what’s inside your heart.”

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

I think we just 
didn’t play (the 
way) we have 
to in the first 
half, they got 
into a rhythm 
... made us pay.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

(Eli Brooks) 
has been the 
anchor of our 
defense.

