Michigan has been without junior power forward Isaiah Livers the last two games and survived without him. They’d much rather have him on the floor, of course, and it appears they might Thursday night at Illinois.
Livers warmed up against Indiana but didn’t play in a 74-63 victory over the Hoosiers, but he’s gotten better.
“He was able to practice yesterday to some degree, and we’re very hopeful,” head coach John Beilein said Wednesday. “He was different than he was yesterday in practice. I can’t tell you he’s going to go, but it seemed like he was out of a lot of the pain he was in before.”
Livers has been having back spasms, and while MRIs haven’t shown anything serious, it’s hindered him enough that he couldn’t play.
Freshman forward Brandon Johns benefited from his absence, notching eight points and eight rebounds against the Hoosiers.
“Certainly Brandon really benefited from the opportunity to go in there and just play basketball. That was really good,” Beilein said.
They want Livers back on the floor, of course, but it was a valuable learning experience.
“We look back at Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and there was no way he was going to play his freshman year. There was no way,” Beilein said. “But it led him, though he didn’t have great freshman year, to great junior and senior years.”
They hope Johns follows suit.
NOTES
• Beilein said Illinois is much better than its 4-11 record, noting his team will lose to Brad Underwood’s if it doesn't come ready to play. It was two years ago that the Illini players beat U-M and called the Wolverines out for being “white collar” … which the Wolverines admitted they took to mean “soft.”
They responded to make a run to the Big Ten Tournament championship.
“The big thing I thought in that season … that had something to do with it,” Beilein said. “But the loss to Ohio State, we made the same mistakes, had the same lack of grit our kids hadn’t grabbed yet. That’s what turned things around.
“That it wasn’t just our coaching staff talking about it, it was other teams talking about it … that was really good [as a motivator].”
• Illinois likes to contest passing lanes and every pass, but they’ll mix up defenses, too.
“It’s unique … so much pressure on the ball, passes, everything,” Beilein said. “You go into this game thinking you might be able to do something and then won’t be able to. Then they take you out of what you want to do.
“They could play zone on us, too. They have played 10 percent this year. You can’t prepare for Brad Underwood’s team in two days …. so it’s being strong with ball, dribble with your eyes up, practicing going backdoor."
They've got to be ready to go into a fight, he said.
“They’re not going to let you run things. You’ve got to be able to respond,” Beilein said. “Go back to things that you came to Michigan knowing what to do or that you’ve learned here.”
• Beilein said there’s no extra pressure on the team to remain undefeated. The Wolverines are 15-0 and have a chance to match the best start in school history at Illinois.
“We don’t talk about being undefeated,” he said. “It’s let’s have a great practice, another great practice and play the best we can.
…”Only one team been undefeated, and that was 43 years ago [1976 Indiana]. That’s probably not going to happen again.”
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