Even though Indiana entered today’s basketball game against the Michigan Wolverines with just a 6-7 record in league play, it still felt like the Maize and Blue made a statement with their 89-65 beatdown of the Hoosiers.
Beating an NCAA Tournament bubble team like Indiana by 24 points is impressive in itself, but takes on even more significance when considering it was the fifth win for U-M in its last six games, with the last two coming by an average of 24.5 points (Michigan blew out Northwestern, 79-54, in Evanston on Wednesday night).
U-M’s hot streak coincides with the return of junior forward Isaiah Livers, who has now averaged 14.3 points and 4.6 boards in the three games since he's been back.
“Today’s win helps with our momentum going into a tough environment at Rutgers,” junior guard Eli Brooks explained in the postgame.
“It’ll hopefully translate over, and it makes the locker room more fun and easier to go to practice each day. The strides are coming on the defensive end especially; we really paid attention to the scouting report and the details.
“We’re able to rely on our defense when we’re not making shots, which is kind of what happened at the start of the Northwestern game.
“We’ve started to execute better, after letting a few games slip away that we should have won.”
“We’ve done a good job of focusing on what’s ahead of us,” freshman guard Franz Wagner added. “We’re starting to be ourselves again and play better basketball, and that’s what makes us good.
“We can’t just say, ‘Let’s play like we did in the Bahamas.’ We’ve stayed connected, because everyone was very frustrated when we lost a couple games.
“We’re all so used to winning here. We’ve done a good job of staying within ourselves throughout the adversity and focusing on the little things.”
Michigan played by far its best ball of the season during the aforementioned November Bahamas trip, when it took down Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga over a three-day span to win the prestigious Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
Livers was of course healthy during that stretch, and with him back in the lineup again, the Maize and Blue are once again starting to resemble the Wolverine club we saw during the first month and a half of the season when they picked up additional impressive victories over a Creighton squad who now sits at 20-6 on the year, and an Iowa crew who is in a tie for third place in the Big Ten.
Fans held their breath this afternoon, however, when Livers went down with injury and limped off the court in pain, heading to the locker room before eventually seeing game action again.
“I really got nervous,” sophomore forward Brandon Johns admitted when asked about Livers’ potential injury. “He’s good; he just had a little tweak, but he’s good.
“Isaiah is a big part of our team and we’re much better with him.”
“It’s always scary when someone goes down, but I’m just glad he’s ok,” Brooks noted. “He’s a scoring threat and a big body to defend the opposing four.
"Isaiah does a really good job of moving the ball and getting us into situations.”
Johns received some valuable playing time while Livers missed nine of the team’s 10 games from Dec. 29 through Feb. 4, and has subsequently emerged as one of the most valuable contributors on the team, thanks to his rebounding efforts and ability to connect from deep.
Today was the epitome of a typical game for Johns in a lot of ways, with the sophomore forward scoring 14 points, pulling down five boards, connecting on all three of his three-point attempts and frequently displaying more energy and hustle than any other player on the court.
“I’m a lot more confident than I was at the start of the year,” he admitted. “I’m establishing my game more and understanding what I can all do.
“I feel good shooting the ball, though I felt good when I had been missing them as well. It’s about confidence, and that has been such a big key.”
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