Michigan's Mike Smith Is Comfortable, Excited About The Weapons Around Him

Michigan Wolverines basketball senior forward Isaiah Livers, in meeting with the media Friday afternoon, said that the environment inside Crisler Center Wednesday night in the team's 96-82 season-opening victory over Bowling Green — which included artificial crowd noise, cardboard cutouts of fans, etc. — was "just like practice."

Fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith, a transfer from Columbia, said the same about his comfortability level in his first game as a Wolverine and a high-major player, despite being nervous pregame and early on.

"But I felt really comfortable out there," he explained. "I think we run the offense in practice so much that I felt really comfortable to run it out there against somebody else. We scrimmage each other a lot. So it felt like it was just like us doing it in practice, so I felt really comfortable."

RELATED: Wolverine TV: Isaiah Livers, Mike Smith Talk Michigan's Captains, New Roles

RELATED: Inside the Numbers: Why Michigan's Offense Impressed vs. Bowling Green

Known as a scorer, Smith led the Ivy League and was sixth nationally in points per game last year with 22.8. He scored 16 points in his Maize and Blue debut, with seven coming from the free throw line, but it was his passing ability that stood out, as he dished out a game-high eight assists.

"I think I played well, really efficient," Smith said. "There’s obviously areas I can grow in, but I think I played well for it being my first game.

"I really didn’t look for my scoring, because everybody was so open. They all looked at the ball, so everybody was open. So I just found the open person, and everybody made shots."

Smith was asked if he has more freedom here as opposed to at Columbia, but he shot that notion down. He did say, however, that the weapons around him in Ann Arbor make it much easier to distribute the ball.

"I don’t think it’s any different here than at Columbia, in terms of the capability of what I’m able to do," Smith said. "But I think that here, just having more shooters and more people that are able to do things opens up the game for me and then opens up the game for them, because it puts so much pressure on other teams that they have to guard me off the ball screen and just in general that it opens things up for somebody else. That’s kinda how I look at it.

"It was good being able to choose when I want to score and to pass the ball. It was nice. Obviously, it was a little different at Columbia, but I learned a lot from there, being able to do that and now not having to do that here — it’s great. It’s a nice feeling to be able to facilitate and to pick and choose when I want to score."

Smith said the area of his game where he wants to improve the most from game one into the future is his defense. That's also the area in which head coach Juwan Howard and his staff have been preaching the most after Wednesday's win.

The Wolverines held Bowling Green to 37 percent from the floor, but the Falcons were able to connect on 41 percent of their three-point attempts, which kept the MAC favorite within striking distance deep into the second half.

"We gave up a lot of threes," Smith said. "... We gave up a lot of points, and we have to grow in that area defensively, getting more stops and getting more rebounds. I think we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds to Bowling Green, and we can’t do that anymore.

"So, [Howard] stressed more on the defensive side than the offensive side, because if we get stops, the offense will come. We have so many weapons that if we can get stops, the offense will take care of itself. "

• Livers and fifth-year senior forward Austin Davis were named team captains. Smith said that even though those two have the title, the entire team is responsible for leading and taking accountability.

"We didn’t get to vote," Smith revealed after being asked if a vote took place. "Coach picks those, and obviously I’d never question what Coach does.

"Those two are our leaders and they’ve been here for four years — Austin’s been here for five. They bring it every day and also they have a big voice.

"Although they are the captains, that doesn’t mean that anybody else can’t lead and shouldn’t have a voice. Coach always preaches that. At the end of the day, they’re the guys that go and shake the refs’ hand, but everybody has a say, which coach always preaches. So it’s not just two captains on the team, everybody’s a captain and everybody has a say in things, no matter what’s going on."

---

• 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 daily newsletter and breaking news alerts

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

• Like us on Facebook