Isaiah Livers Expects To Play At Rutgers

Michigan junior forward Isaiah Livers missed nine-plus games with a groin injury this year, but his return sparked three straight convincing wins. He got another scare when he turned his ankle in an 89-65 blowout win over Indiana Sunday.

Livers went to the locker room in the second half but returned with his ankle taped and came back into the game.

Michigan is 4-5 with Livers out of the lineup.

"I'm good," he told the Big Ten Network of the ankle injury. "I've been just doing my rehab. I came in before class early, actually, just to see with the trainers and the strength coach. Everything looks fine. We're just waiting for the results to come in, but I feel fine for the most part."

He expects to play at Rutgers Wednesday. The Wolverines beat the Scarlet Knights at Madison Square Garden earlier this year without him but will need him on the road in Piscataway, where Rutgers is undefeated this year.

"It's definitely looking positive. My competitiveness, I want to get out there and play, but I'm going to wait [to hear] what the coaches say, trainers say, but to me honestly how I'm walking around, I'm kind of pain free, so I should expect to be out there Wednesday, for sure."

Teammates have expressed how much Livers means to the team, something that meant a lot to him.

"Just joy to the game," he said. "I saw a quote Eli [Brooks] had about how it feels like the Bahamas again, everybody is smiling again. That just made me really happy to be an important piece to the team. I always dreamed to be a guy who brought joy to the game of basketball, just smiles and out there having fun and competing, of course."

Livers spent a lot of his down time watching film and paying attention to sophomore Brandon Johns and others playing his position.

"When I went down with those injuries, it was really tough for me to stay locked in because the next day I wasn't going to be out there playing ... as a player that hurts, because you want to be out there with your boys out there just competing at the highest level, winning," he said.

And while he's back on the floor, he's still working his way back into game shape.

"I'm not going to be 100 percent for a while," he said. "During the season you've got two to three games a week, got tournaments coming up. It's going to be real tough to get back to 100 percent."

But a 75 percent Livers has made a huge difference and greatly raised U-M's ceiling.

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