Energy — or a lack there of — was the story of the game for the Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team in Sunday’s underwhelming overtime win against Oakland. The club didn’t seem to be focused and playing with the appropriate intensity, and as a result allowed a horrendous Grizzlies team to nearly pull off a shocking upset.
Michigan made sure not to make that same mistake two games in a row, coming out with much more passion in tonight's 84-65 win over Ball State. The Maize and Blue jumped on the Cardinals early, racing out to early leads of 25-11 and 34-14 in the first half.
“Coach [Juwan Howard] didn’t have to say too much [following last game],” freshman center Hunter Dickinson explained, when asked about the club’s focus coming in.
“As a team, we knew we were much better than that. We played down to our competition [Oakland] a little bit. We knew we had to come out with energy tonight and play unselfish and Michigan basketball.”
“We came out last game flat,” senior forward Isaiah Livers added. “We had a better buildup in practice this time around, after the energy was kind of low in practice before Oakland.
“We treated this as a conference game and we should treat every game like that.”
Livers poured in 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, marking the first time in his career he scored 20 or more points in consecutive games. The 11 shots he took were three more than any other Wolverine, and there seemed to be an emphasis on getting the ball in his hands and letting him make plays.
“He’s definitely one of our best players on the team and he had it going tonight,” Dickinson exclaimed. “Keep feeding him when he scores two or three in a row. Isaiah makes the game easy for all of us.
“We give him his shot if he’s feeling it.”
“Feeling it” was a good term to describe Livers’ night, who seemed to be in charge of running the offense at times. He admitted as much afterward, recalling how hard he worked on his ball handling this offseason to potentially put himself in position to be the quarterback of the offense if need be.
“It’s something I naturally do,” he admitted. “I came into this year emphasizing my ball handling and vision. Coach Howard trusted me enough to initiate the offense; it becomes natural and I felt comfortable in that position today.”
Despite Livers’ big offensive night, balance is still the name of the game for Michigan’s attack. Four different Wolverines finished in double figures, with Livers pouring in 21, sophomore guard Franz Wagner posting 14, Dickinson accumulating 12 and fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith finishing with 10.
Wagner was actually the one who got the action started, scoring the team’s first four points and seven of its first nine. The sophomore’s scoring outburst was a welcome sight after he only had nine points against Bowling Green in the opener and six on Sunday against Oakland.
“That was a main emphasis,” Livers said, referring to getting Wagner going. “I was telling him to stay aggressive. He found out his in-between in terms of when to be and when not to.
“We need him; he’s an asset and will help us win championships. When he’s on, we’ll be very hard to stop.”
One of the few negatives surrounding tonight’s victory was that Michigan seemed to take its foot off the gas late in the first half, allowing Ball State to trim U-M’s 34-14 lead down to just 40-33 at halftime.
The Wolverines perhaps got a bit lackadaisical during that stretch, and the Cardinals quickly took advantage.
“Coach got on us at halftime saying we can’t give up this lead,” Dickinson revealed. “We weren’t focused on defense and were giving them easy baskets toward the end of the first half.
“We’re good at coaching ourselves though and have so much veteran leadership, so we can hold ourselves accountable when we’re not doing things right. [Senior guard] Chaundee [Brown] said after the Oakland game he was glad we learned this lesson early in the season.
“We were able to learn it in a win, and it’s better to learn it now than in the Sweet Sixteen or Final Four when it could cost us.”
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Livers added. “Ball State is not a bad team and is a competitive group; I know a lot of guys on their team. If you hit them, they’re not going to back down.
“Tonight was literally an example of a game of runs. They went on their run and we went on ours. You have to know how to contain them.”
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