Michigan 77, Michigan State 68
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]
February 8th, 2020 at 4:17 PM ^
This. To me it looked like Brooks' D completely disrupted Winston and thus Sparty's entire offense, especially in the first half.
February 9th, 2020 at 8:06 AM ^
I think Eli's inch or two of height over Simpson makes a difference in defending Winston as well.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:31 PM ^
People have been bagging on Brooks for two years, and it is true that he has had extended periods where his offense has been invisible, but he gets minutes for a reason. People who refuse to recognize that reason don’t have criticism worth listening to.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:44 PM ^
I hear Matthews guarding Simpson in practice went both ways but was fun to watch.
/s
February 8th, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Yeah exactly. Instead of letting Winston go 1 on 1 with Simpson all game Juwan switched it up. Simpson is a good defensive player but Winston has solved him. Putting Brooks on Winston totally disrupted him, and then a few times Franz was guarding him and the length really bothered Winston. Loved the defensive game plan today. Can’t praise it enough.
February 9th, 2020 at 12:33 AM ^
Yes the adjustment that made all the difference was putting Brooks on Winston. Brilliant move and I hope we see more of that (putting Brooks on ball dominant guards).
With Simpson taking on such a big role on offense as the primary (only?) creator this year, I just don't think it's reasonable from a fitness and energy standpoint to still be an absolute bulldog on defense. That's why we saw him fade towards the end of the game against Pritchard of Oregon, the guard from Minnesota, etc. You just can't carry that kind of load on both ends of the floor.
Brooks is a little longer and also an elite defender and he can spend all his energy on defense and then just sit in the corner on offense. Very smart of Juwan to take Simpson off Winston and let him defend a corner gunner off the ball.
February 8th, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
Ace, can we please get a gif at some point of Izzo literally hopping mad at the refs around the 11:15 mark of the 2nd half?
February 8th, 2020 at 4:16 PM ^
Is Ace your gif bitch? You have access to a compter and the internet, make your own gifs.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:24 PM ^
HEY - CommieHigh96!
Commie High '78 here, saying not all Boomers know how to make their own gifs!
So mind your Gen X mouth!
February 8th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
Ace typically does a gif post for major games, merely was offering a suggestion
February 8th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
Were they calling the game a semblance of even?
The OUTRAGE!!!
February 8th, 2020 at 8:25 PM ^
The end-of-game box score numbers lie. At one point early in the second half MSU had 15 shots from the charity stripe vs. 2 for Michigan. That's right - 15 vs. 2.
The foul-per-team numbers only "evened up" when MSU started purposely fouling with two minutes left. To the point the refs called a phantom foul on MSU at a point where MSU desperately wanted a foul (I forget who committed the foul, but it was at the half court line after a pass that would have led to an easy lay-up).
Either Michigan really, really likes fouling at Crisler, or the refs suck. I hate how Izzo is constantly in the refs' ears, but it does seem to pay off for him.
February 9th, 2020 at 12:33 AM ^
Refs suck - no excuse for this garbage. Refs tried to get Sparty back in the game late in the first and beginning of second half - from 5:36 in first to 17:32 in second, Sparty had 15 foul shots! This doesn't remotely pass the smell test.
At 16:37 in second half Sparty was 16-17 and Michigan was 3-3 on FTs.
At 11:15 in second half Izzo goes tearing down the line to whine to a ref and a few seconds later a foul is called on Michigan after Tillman throws Johns out of the way (there was no foul by either team on this play).
With 2:21 to play in the game, no MSU player had more than 2 fouls.
This is beyond pathetic and inexplicable. There is simply no way that this can happen game after game and have us believe that there's not something going on here.
February 9th, 2020 at 12:54 AM ^
That phantom foul was crazy. Guy didn't even come close and Michigan had a 3 on 1.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:36 PM ^
I had to listen on the radio. Did DeJulius floor slap? That pic looks like he was in the process
February 8th, 2020 at 4:47 PM ^
He did indeed slap the floor just prior to that picture, IIRC.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:52 PM ^
That’s funny. I remember when Trey did that. That was when Sparty floor slapped about every time down the floor
February 8th, 2020 at 6:38 PM ^
Yes then later Tillman slapped the floor as well.
February 8th, 2020 at 10:55 PM ^
Indeed he did.. and we got a stop if I'm not mistaken
February 8th, 2020 at 11:01 PM ^
Indeed he did.. and we got a stop if I'm not mistaken
February 8th, 2020 at 4:37 PM ^
Nice win and great to have Livers back. Looking at the box score I was surprised to see Wagner's line since it seemed like he had a worse day than that. Maybe his misses just seemed to happen at what I thought were key points. I still feel like getting him more involved as a scorer is going to be the key to us making a deep run in the B10/NCAA tourney (if'n we get in).
February 8th, 2020 at 6:02 PM ^
He has been a monster on defense and rebounding the past few games. Is is having an impact even with modest scoring.
I like how he plays. He is getting better by the week.
February 8th, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
Franz had a nice rebounding game last game, and I think having Livers back helped his D today more than anyone. He didn’t have to guard anyone who was going to outmuscle him, since Livers could do that.
He definitely had a nice game, and I agree that he is a linchpin to a good tournament run. Only harmful play was fouling Winston on a 3.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:54 PM ^
First they lose dantonio then they lose to Michigan in basketball. You hate to see it.
February 8th, 2020 at 4:55 PM ^
Always nice to win a game as an underdog (+2) at home. At best, this game was a toss-up on the schedule, and M comes out with a win.
We say it (win ones you shouldn't) rarely happens, so enjoying this one to the utmost!
February 9th, 2020 at 1:11 AM ^
It's football that rarely wins games they shouldn't. Basketball manages to do it pretty frequently. This year over Gonzaga was another textbook case.
February 8th, 2020 at 5:17 PM ^
I've seen a couple of MSU fans jump on Izzo's "how good would we be with Langford" comments and it's been illuminating how few of them seem to understand basic statistics when you point out that his O rating dropped every year he was at MSU and was barely average when he got hurt. They say "he was their leading scorer" as if shooting 30% of your team's shots didn't play into that rough total.
February 9th, 2020 at 1:16 AM ^
Livers is a much, much better player.
But also, comparing Michigan with and without Livers is relevant because Livers is back. It's a comparison of what Michigan is compared to what they were.
Talking about what Michigan State might have been with Langford is pointless because he's not playing this year. That's like talking about what they could have been had Vernon Carey committed. He's also not going to play for MSU this year so why talk about what you might have been with him?
Livers coming back happened so it's not a what-if.
February 8th, 2020 at 5:28 PM ^
Not to take anything away from the win, but this game was the opposite side of the coin as the close wins and losses earlier this year when we had a big negative 3-point shooting gap. Today we shot almost 40% and MSU only 26%. It goes to show that we were not insane to expect a return to the mean. Things won't always be this good, but they won't keep averaging sub-30% on 3s either.
February 9th, 2020 at 1:34 AM ^
Michigan played a very good defensive game, though. Made it tough on Winston everywhere and defended the three well all game. At one point midway through the second half, MSU had only eight threes. Seven of their 23 attempts came with under four minutes to go when they were just chucking them up.
Keeping them to 16 threes in the first 36 minutes is good defense, especially when they were defending the two well.
Almost all of Michigan's 28 threes were wide open, high quality threes.
Michigan played a better game. It was more than just three point lottery luck.
February 8th, 2020 at 5:30 PM ^
I really enjoyed watching Franz today. That kid is going to be a WAGNER!
February 8th, 2020 at 6:08 PM ^
Our first and second year players out played State’s as did our bench. Our coaching was better, also.
I hope all the recruits enjoyed the game.
February 8th, 2020 at 6:46 PM ^
Hail to the Victors!
We got Livers and onions back! To his continued good health!
February 8th, 2020 at 6:49 PM ^
Great game. Simpson shot lights out from 3. DDJ was great off the bench. Winston had a very inefficient game. Teske and Brooks need to pick it up a bit, but overall a solid game. Great to have Livers back
February 8th, 2020 at 8:29 PM ^
Brooks was my MVP of the game. Easily the most valuable on defense today.
February 9th, 2020 at 1:36 AM ^
It's ok, most people only see whether the ball goes in or not and have no idea if someone is doing good things otherwise. Brooks was phenomenal on Winston today and hit two huge threes in the second half.
I do wish he'd be more selective with his mid-range jumpers (i.e. not take any unless there's under 5 sec on the clock).
February 9th, 2020 at 11:05 AM ^
Did you watch the game ? Brooks may have been the MVP.... made key plays when it counted. Had 8 DREB and made threes when it counted, and he stuck the dagger in msu when they were making push, hitting that three then assisting on Teske's dunk the next play. Am surprised you wrote this. Rewatch it if you don't believe me.
February 8th, 2020 at 7:58 PM ^
Ha ha suck it Sparty
February 8th, 2020 at 9:38 PM ^
If this was the last edition of X vs. Winston, I’m glad it went down the way it did.
Although it would be sweet to take them down again in the BTT. Get Livers healthy and make a run. Wouldn’t be the first time with this group.
February 8th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
Damn Tom, I just hope they got the right guy....
February 8th, 2020 at 10:16 PM ^
Cry me a Nile River of tears Sparty. They are so sweet I can drink them forever.
February 8th, 2020 at 10:48 PM ^
I still can't believe they gave Tillman the flagrant...
I mean if course they should have, but still can't believe it
February 8th, 2020 at 11:14 PM ^
Huge win. Keeps us on pace to make the Big Dance. 4-8 in the B1G and only 3 games over .500 would not be a good look. 5-7 keeps us within sight of .500.
I think 8-12, one win in the BTT, 3 games over .500 overall would get us in if KenPom were the sole determinant, but the face value of 4 games under .500 in conference and only 3 over overall would make for a very nervous selection Sunday. With the strength of the B1G, I think 9-11, one BTT win, and 5 games over .500 overall gets us in.
Hopefully, we can do more than just make the Tournament now that Livers is back, but avoiding the disappointment of missing the Dance is significant.
February 9th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
This bubble talk is total nonsense.... we have stellar wins on our resume and had lost our best player. Now we are in for certain, BIG record be damned. UNC almost beat Duke last night and we throttled UNC. "Throttled them, I says"....
Wagner played elite defense.... you could see the difference after his German coach visited apparently.
Brooks made several key plays at very key moments. That triple he hit and then hits Teske for the dunk, felt like a real difference.
Jeff is our second best three point shooter behind Livers, and deserves the credit.
Teske might need to start off on bench, to light a fire, and come back roaring. His balance is terrible..when he has any forward lean with his torso, he loses it.
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