Michigan will face Michigan State Saturday in Ann Arbor needing a win to prevent the team’s first, four-game conference losing streak at home since the 2007-08 season, John Beilein’s first at the helm.

The Wolverines started off hot and rose to No. 4 in the polls, challenging teams to bring “the smoke.” They’ve been humbled since, starting with a blowout loss at Louisville.

“I don’t know about the fan or the media expectation for the team. What we were trying to do and what we continue to do is to win this day,” assistant Phil Martelli told 97.1 The Ticket. “I know that it sounds like a cliché.

“What I was interested in watching was when got knocked on our backside, how we would pick ourselves back up. I go back to Louisville. All of a sudden No. 1 against No. 4 in the country and we couldn’t score the ball. That’s kind of what has carried over into the Big Ten.”

The great coaching in the league caught him a bit off guard, he admitted.

"This is an amazing defensive league, and I always knew that from afar. But the challenges for us have been not just scoring the ball, but also trying to take away the primary focus of another team’s offense. These guys can really coach defense in this league. The offensive concepts are at a higher, higher level than I anticipated, and we were a little on our heels.”

That included a career day from senior point guard Cassius Winston, who put up 30 in the first meeting between the two teams, a big MSU win. Winston dictated how he would play off the ball screen in that game, Martelli noted.

“Obviously, we have to take a hard look at that,” he said. “And we have to not stare. I find sometimes playing against great players, players have a tendency to stare rather than compete. We’re not interested in staring tomorrow. We’re interested in competing with them.”

Another area in which they’ve struggled — career days from post players. Iowa’s Luka Garza averaged 36.5 points in two meetings with U-M, and others have dominated down low.

“One of the things we haven’t done well, and ironically it’s the first drill we cover in practice … we haven’t given our post defenders enough cover by defending the passer better,” Martellis said. “We have to do more to get deflections, create a vision problem for the guys feeding the post.

“We’re actually advancing [the defense] each day. We try something, look at something different every single day hoping some things will click. Really, I think speaking from the summer, one of the things we were determined about was the three-point line. We felt like contested twos were better. We were of the opinions of in today’s game, there’s not as much low post scoring, and in the Big Ten you have guys like Garza who are the focus of their offense.

“We have to do more with the players, and it’s not a finished product. We’re at the back end of the season, last third of the season, but we’re addressing it; we’re coming.”

It would help, of course, to get junior Isaiah Livers back. This hasn’t been the same team without him, and there’s still no timetable for his return.

“I’m not making excuses, just facts. We really haven’t been whole without Isaiah Livers,” Martelli said. “When we were really a balanced team in the Bahamas, we were balanced. Right now, we’re off kilter.

“Hopefully Isaiah is coming back sooner than later and we can be back to a balanced team; a team that can score from the perimeter, can score in the lane and can defend and at least take away the primary focus of the other team’s offense.”

NOTES

Senior guard Zavier Simpson was suspended for a game for his role in a one-car accident at 3:00 a.m. He was reinstated for a game at Rutgers and will face no more disciplinary action.

“Just that it was a process,” Martelli said when asked about it. “We went through a process with X, are continuing to move forward and with our guys, it became a learning opportunity. For Juwan, for the players … that dreaded call you get very late at night and think okay … now what?

"We have moved this forward and the timing of the information being out now. We really as a group have taken it and squeezed it and used it for an educational opportunity for the program … the situation that occurred, shouldn’t have occurred and we can move forward.”

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Facebook