The Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team lost not only the game today at Michigan State, 70-64, but also potentially one of their key starters in senior guard Eli Brooks. He went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury early in the first half after pouring in five quick points, and never returned.
Brooks was spotted later on the bench in a boot, and head coach Juwan Howard said afterward he did not have an update on Brooks’ status. Senior forward Isaiah Livers and fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith both shared their thoughts as well on how vital Brooks’ presence is on the court.
“He’s a warrior,” Livers began. “Hopefully we get him back in time for the [NCAA] tournament. He’s a leader and a four-year player and knows what these rivalry games are about.
“It’s a next man up mentality with us though and there and no excuses.”
“I think on both ends of the floor [is where his absence is felt],” Smith added. “Eli makes plays and is like the glue guy of the team. When he went down, we had to figure out another way to pick up for him.
“It impacts both sides of the ball [when he’s not out there].”
Michigan’s offense struggled mightily today both before and after Brooks’ injury, but his absence certainly didn’t help matters. U-M shot just 42 percent for the game and only 32 percent from deep, and got outrebounded 38-32.
The Spartans were oftentimes the aggressor throughout the afternoon, beating Michigan to loose balls and making the hustle plays more times than not. That aforementioned formula is the exact one the Maize and Blue have used throughout the year to beat their opponents.
“They outrebounded us and won some 50/50 balls,” Livers explained. “We came here complacent and got blasted. That’s how it works in college basketball. They were ready to play today and we weren’t.
“It’s about the pregame mentality — guys being focused, though it seems like they are when we have conversations [beforehand]. We got outplayed today.”
Michigan has now lost two of its last three games, coupled with Tuesday night’s blowout loss to Illinois at Crisler Center. A lack of focus (and potentially complacency, a word Livers used) is a culprit that many have suggested for the setbacks, which is something the players realize can’t happen again in the one-and-done tournament settings that are on the horizon.
“We had one of those games today where we didn’t come out and throw the first punch, and they did,” Smith admitted. “We kind of put our heads down when things weren’t going our way. There’s no more losing — if we do, we can’t achieve our goals and that’s to win a championship.
“We need to be the aggressor and today we weren’t. We need to have that mentality going into every game and hopefully bring home a Big Ten championship.”
The Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis is the next event for all 14 conference members, with Minnesota vs. Northwestern and Nebraska vs. Penn State kicking off the action on Wednesday.
U-M won’t play its first game until Friday morning at 11:30 AM ET, taking on the winner of Thursday afternoon’s Maryland vs. Michigan State game.
Notes
• After trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, Michigan clawed back late to trim MSU’s lead to just two (61-59) on consecutive and-ones from freshman center Hunter Dickinson with only 1:13 to go.
The aggressiveness and U-M’s ability to fight back late was encouraging, but according to Smith, was “too little, too late.”
“We needed to be more aggressive at the beginning and early in the half,” the fifth-year senior lamented. “We showed some fight at the end but it needed to come earlier in the game.”
---
• 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
