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Michigan was riding high at this time two weeks ago, in the midst of a surge in the Big Ten standings and looking like a dangerous team posed for March.
Then, after back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State, the Wolverines’ momentum was suddenly and abruptly halted.
Thursday night provided a chance for Michigan to celebrate their program leaders, Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske, for Senior Night. It also provided an opportunity to work out the kinks from last week against a Nebraska club that entered the night having lost 14 consecutive games.
The Wolverines took advantage of both those opportunities with an 82-58 victory over the Cornhuskers.
Michigan got off to a fast start, opening the game with an 11-2 run and appearing poised to cruise to an easy victory. However, the Cornhuskers took advantage of the Wolverines poor shooting to close the gap to 32-28 by halftime.
It was all Wolverines in the second half, however. Michigan shot the ball much better after halftime, and got contributions up and down the roster to roll past Nebraska.
1. a night to celebrate simpson, teske
Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske have experienced many highs and lows throughout their college careers, on their way to the most career wins by any individuals in a Michigan uniform. In their final home game, the seniors came to play. Simpson, who played his 145th career game to surpass Muhammed Ali-Abdur Rahkman for the most by a Wolverine, finished with 11 points, 10 assists and 3 steals. Teske, meanwhile, played one of his best games of the past couple months with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. These are guys who helped Michigan win back-to-back Big Ten tournament titles, and were part of the national runner-up team in 2017. Their senior season has been inconsistent, but Simpson and Teske’s careers will live on in Michigan lore.
2. Livers struggles early, comes alive in 2nd
Isaiah Livers had a tough week against Wisconsin and Ohio State, shooting just 5-of-21 combined in those two outings. On Thursday, the junior’s struggles bled into the first half as he shot just 2-of-10 in the opening 20 minutes. Yet, despite the early struggles, Livers ended up leading Michigan to victory with 18 points, 10 rebounds, a block and a steal. It wasn’t his most efficient performance — Livers ended the night 7-of-18 from the floor — but it was good to see him break out a bit in the second half. If the Wolverines have any sort of run in them in tournament play, it will be on Livers’ shoulders.
3. Wolverines much better defensively
Any improvement that comes at the expense of the Cornhuskers needs to be looked at with a reasonable level of scrutiny. With that in mind, Michigan looked much better on the defensive end on Thursday night. The Wolverines limited Nebraska to 36 percent shooting from the floor, including 21-of-58 from the three-point line. In addition, Michigan forced Nebraska into 22 turnovers. Admittedly, many of those could be classified as giveaways by the Cornhuskers. Again, this performance should be taken with a grain of salt, but after the struggles from a week ago, maybe this was a step in the right direction.
4. balanced scoring up and down the roster
The Wolverines had five players reach double-figure scoring in Livers (18), Teske (12), Simpson (11), Franz Wagner (11) and Brandon Johns Jr. (10). Wagner and Johns Jr. were efficient, combining to shoot 8-of-15 from the floor. In addition, Michigan got solid contributions from Eli Brooks and Austin Davis. Brooks looked much better than he did against Ohio State, scoring 8 points and hitting two triples in his second game in the protective mask. Davis, meanwhile, added 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting and added 4 rebounds. The Wolverines need multiple guys to contribute, like they did tonight, when tournament play arrives next week.
5. a massive road test on the horizon
Michigan will play one of its toughest games of the year on Sunday to close out the regular season. The Wolverines travel to Big Ten co-leader Maryland, who have lost just one time at home this season — last week against Michigan State. Let’s be honest, it’d be a surprise to see Michigan pull off the upset in College Park, but this is the last preparation game for the Wolverines before tournament play begins. The mindset for Michigan should be to go in and fight toe-to-toe, on the road, against one of the best teams in their conference. If the Wolverines play well on Sunday, it’ll give them the confidence that they can compete with anyone in the upcoming NCAA tournament.