Michigan head coach John Beilein said it weeks ago when U-M was approaching postseason play …
They needed one more guy to step up and add some valuable minutes.
It didn’t necessarily need to be the same guy each time. Freshman big man Colin Castleton played big in a win at Maryland, providing critical minutes to allow junior center Jon Teske to rest. The last several games, though, it’s been sophomore Eli Brooks, who started his freshman season with great promise before seeming to lose his confidence.
Brooks provided key minutes in the Big Ten Tournament, and he came up big in a 64-49 win over Florida. He could be the ‘outlier’ Beilein spoke of
“That’s been missing all year,” Beilein said. “Having that guard that if a guy is in foul trouble, isn’t playing well that we can give him a rest and let him think about it. It’s good for Eli, good for Jordan Poole and for Charles that we can move JP over and give him some rest.”
Brooks had been replaced earlier this year by frosh David DeJulius, having passed up a number of shots he drains with regularity in practice. He started raining them again on the scout team, and Beilein gave him another look.
Brooks rewarded his faith against Florida. He scored inside twice, came up with a couple of big rebounds and kept the Wolverines comfortably ahead when Poole took a rest.
“Shout out to my drip brother,” Poole said. “I told him when he came in right away to keep up the energy for me, be aggressive. To be able to see him out there with some big time lay-ups, rebounds, a steal on the fast break ...
"To see my brother work as hard as he has, going through everything he’s been through, being able to still be locked in on a stage like this at a crucial moment as he did in the game, step up how he did, I’m just extremely proud of him.”
Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers, drip brother No. 3 (so called due to their similar hair styles), said he knew Brooks had it in him.
“He was a starter his freshman year before he got his spot taken by a great point guard, and he knows that,” Livers said. “Most guys would drop their head, transfer, want to leave. He wanted to stay and stick with it.
“There was a moment in time during the season he was feeling down, not confident. Now he’s the Eli we know. When Eli is playing like this, we have so many more weapons to play from.”
The next step, assistant DeAndre Haynes said — to keep it up.
“He gave us terrific minutes, really big rebounds, a steal or two, layups. That’s what he does,” Haynes said. “Since the Big Ten Tournament he’s been playing terrific, back to being Eli Brooks. When’s he’s playing that way, we’re a much better team.”
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