Junior center Jon Teske was always going to be asked to become a key contributor for Michigan to be successful this season.
In the season opening 63-44 victory over Norfolk State to open the season, Teske was off to a good start in replacing Moritz Wagner. Against Norfolk State, Teske had a team-high 13 points.
“I got open down low on the baseline and the guards found me,” Teske said. “They were playing a little matchup zone and the shots weren’t falling, so kind of trying to finish around the rim and I did."
After the exhibition game, Michigan coach Jon Beilein talked about how he wanted to see an assertive mentality out of Teske. Through one regular season game, Teske has answered that challenge.
Teske said he thought he was more aggressive Tuesday.
“Yeah definitely,” Teske said. “I felt like I needed to to help the team and that’s what I did tonight at the start.”
Part of Teske’s aggressiveness was his dunks, which he had a few against Norfolk State.
“I’m so proud of him” sophomore forward Isaiah Livers said. “Last year, he wasn’t doing it at all. He wasn’t looking to score. He was passing up wide open dunks and know he’s looking to dunk on people’s heads. That’s what he’s been doing all offseason.”
Teske wasn’t just good on offense for Michigan. Norfolk State struggled to consistently score over me all game long.
“I consider him one of the dogs on defense,” Livers said. “He’s just everywhere. He knows sometimes you can foul, but he’s really good at putting up his hands and going straight up and making people score over him.”
Livers called Teske an animal because of his effort across the board.
Before Teske’s strong performance, Michigan raised its Big Ten Tournament Championship banner and its Final Four banner from last season. However, Teske was already ready to move forward after the accomplishment.
“It was something special,” Teske said. “That doesn’t happen very often. That was last year. This is a new season, a new team, a young team. We just have to try to lead them back to that same spot.”
Livers was happy to be on the other side of a banner-raising ceremony.
“It was crazy,” Livers said. “Last year, I was a freshman and me, Jordan and Eli, we had to get scooted to the side and they were raising the banners up and said, ‘Get them next year buddy.’ I was just glad we brought two back.”
The victory over Norfolk State was Beilein’s 800th as a collegiate coach.
“I kind of remembered at the end of the season last year I said, ‘Wow. We were in the national championship and Coach B coach have got his 800th win and we lost it.’ We were sitting at 799 and that would’ve been big for Coach B,” Livers said. “I knew I was looking forward the opener.”
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