cassius winston

The Big Ten has unveiled their all-conference awards. ASSSEMBLE YOUR ALL-BIG TEN TEAMS!

Seth: So here are the rules: your starting five can't be unplayable together.

Brian: There is an absurd amount of shoehorning going on.

Seth: I think I just read one where the selector was deciding between Zavier Simpson and Xavier Tillman for his starting two.

Brian: We all love Brendan Quinn but his three All Big Ten teams have NINE centers on them.

Seth: I'd like to point out none of these guys playing in the paint have the league's best sky-hook.

FIRST TEAMS

We have most of a consensus. Thoughts on point guards?

Well, do you? [Campredon]

Ace: Cassius Winston is a pretty obvious choice, in my opinion. The Guy on the Big Ten’s best team. Still a pick-and-roll murderer.

Seth: Can't disagree. Also went through an unspeakable personal tragedy, and was the loudest voice in MSU Athletics speaking up for its victims. Winston is now at the top of my list of favorite rivals' players.

This is Cassius Winston when asked if players are seeking out information or isolating themselves and focusing on basketball.

If there's anything to be encouraged by in this whole mess, this might be it. pic.twitter.com/AfgYztw5pv

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) January 28, 2018

Ace: Also showed up to demonstrations. Seems like an outstanding dude.

Brian: Winston is obvious even if shoehorned a bit. Simpson goes on the first team: #5 nationally in assist rate and that's with teammates who can't friggin' shoot. Main driver of Michigan's offense. Maybe took a small step back as a defender but still a top-end guy on that end of the floor.

So now it gets tricky. Make the case for your wings!

*twitch* [Campredon]

Ace: Illinois plays Ayo Dosunmu as a lead guard but he’s functionally a 2/3 on defense so this isn’t a shoehorn. Not a great shooter but has improved in the halfcourt and is a monster in transition. Also a good defender.

Matt EM: League-wide the lack of quality SGs/Wings is sort of damning.

Seth: I started trying to avoid a team where everyone's out of position and ended up with 1st teamer C.J. Fredrick.

Ace: See, that’s overcorrecting. Ayo literally plays the two. Being a lead guard doesn’t eliminate your height.

Brian: He's the Alpha on a much improved Illinois team, suffered somewhat from clunky pieces around him who were one-dimensional players.

Seth: I don't think it matters that much who's officially slotted where. I picture a starting five in 2020 should have three guys somewhere on the guard scale.

Ace: Did you watch the Big Ten this year, Seth?

Seth: Till my eyes bled.

BiSB: That's how you know the Northwestern is working.

[After THE JUMP: It's even harder to make a second team]

Current Standings (As Of Feb. 17)

The Big Ten continues to be remarkably compressed—two games in the loss column separate the #3 and #12 teams in the conference. There are still 11 teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament according to the Bracket Matrix; a 12th (Minnesota) is on the wrong side of the bubble but still very much in play.

Speaking of the tourney, the conference is up to three locks after being at one a couple weeks ago. The Athletic's Eamonn Brennan has since moved Penn State and Iowa into the lock category. That's particularly good news for the Hawkeyes, who have tailed off while dealing with mounting injuries of late. At the moment, only three of the top 12 teams—Purdue, Indiana, and Minnesota—are in serious danger of missing the tourney. The Boilermakers could do themselves a huge favor by knocking off Wisconsin at the Kohl Center tonight.

Notable Games This Week

Tonight: Illinois at Penn State (6:30, FS1), Purdue at Wisconsin (7, ESPN)
Wednesday: Michigan at Rutgers (7, BTN), Indiana at Minnesota (9, BTN)
Thursday: Ohio State at Iowa (7, ESPN)
Saturday: Michigan at Purdue (2, ESPN)
Sunday: Penn State at Indiana (noon, FS1), Rutgers at Wisconsin (1, BTN), Maryland at Ohio State (4, CBS)

[Hit THE JUMP for stock up/down and a look at the women's standings.]

Now that's more like it.

With Isaiah Livers back in the starting lineup, Michigan made all the necessary adjustments from their January loss at Michigan State. The Wolverines bottled up Cassius Winston, won the rebounding battle, kept the Spartans out of transition, stayed out of foul trouble, spaced the floor, and—most importantly—made some dang threes. In a game where both teams ferociously defended the paint, Michigan shot 11-for-28 from beyond the arc, while MSU only made 6-of-23.

Having your best player available is, as it turns out, rather important.

A Livers three-pointer got the game going in earnest after neither team could do anything for the first six minutes; the game went into the first media timeout tied at three with the teams a combined 2-for-17 with eight turnovers. Even though Livers subsequently took a breather, his shot kickstarted a 9-0 Michigan run when Brandon Johns and David DeJulius added triples of their own.

nice to have you back [Campredon]

While MSU would cut the margin to one point a couple times in the second half, the Wolverines never ceded the lead. After Winston scored a career-high 32 points in the first matchup, Juwan Howard made sure State's star wouldn't do that again in his team's building, employing a trap-heavy defensive scheme that forced the ball out of Winston's hands unless he tried to go one-on-one without help. While some late shots in desperation time got Winston up to 20 points, he went 5-for-18 from the field with six assists and three turnovers.

Meanwhile, Winston's counterpart played a great game despite a week full of off-court distractions. Zavier Simpson led the Wolverines with 16 points and eight assists; he punished State's plan to duck under screens by shooting 4-for-7 on threes and helped make life difficult for Winston on the other end. While Winston's pick-and-roll buddy, Xavier Tillman, scored 17 points, he needed 17 shot equivalents to get there and did a lot of his damage out of offensive rebounds—absent were the ferocious finishes of the first game after slipping a screen.

There were a couple hairy moments. Livers lost his head at the end of the first half, inexplicably fouling Kyle Ahrens in the backcourt with 1.9 seconds left with the Spartans in the bonus, which allowed him to cut what had been as much as a ten-point deficit to six. Livers tossed the ensuing inbounds pass directly to Tillman, who thankfully didn't connect at the buzzer to make matters worse.

SLEEP TIME [Campredon]

After MSU didn't make a three-pointer in the opening stanza, Winston and Aaron Henry each drilled triples before the first media timeout of the second half, with both shots slicing M's lead down to one point. Eli Brooks answered with a corner three out of the break, however, and not long thereafter threw a lob to Jon Teske for a momentum-swinging one-handed slam in transition and a six-point lead.

Tom Izzo tried to slow Michigan's roll with a timeout but his squad couldn't get any closer the rest of the way. The Wolverines were steady at the line down the stretch, going 18-for-23 on free throws on the afternoon to ensure the lead wouldn't slip away.

bottled up [Campredon]

After a protracted period of chucking-and-fouling, State's final shot was an airball was Winston. Fittingly, Simpson caught the rebound and dribbled out the clock.

This was a complete team effort. Livers (14 points, 2 blocks), Brooks (11 points, 9 rebounds), and DeJulius (10 points) each hit a pair of threes to augment Simpson's big shooting day. Franz Wagner added eight points and played disruptive defense, coming up with two blocks, a steal, and a couple tie-ups. While Teske didn't get much going offensively outside of the dunk, his ability to hedge and recover was important in limiting Winston and Tillman. Johns steadied the power forward position, mitigating Michigan's need to play Austin Davis or Colin Castleton alongside Teske. Davis had four points on 2-for-3 shooting and two rebounds in 12 steady minutes.

Michigan is now 14-9 and 5-7 in the Big Ten. They have a couple winnable games forthcoming in a trip to Northwestern before returning to Crisler to face Indiana. Livers's return stuck this time, with great effect. This could be the start of a run that gets Michigan off the NCAA bubble. Meanwhile, Howard has his first win over Izzo, and it looks like it'll be far from the last.

[Hit THE JUMP for the box score and a couple more photos from MG]