Leading from start to finish, the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines won their second consecutive game on Friday, topping the Purdue Boilermakers, 70-53, in West Lafayette.
Posting his third career double-double, senior Isaiah Livers scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. The effort was the Kalamazoo Central product’s sixth-straight outing in double-figures, including back-to-back 20-point contests, and was just two shy of matching his personal-best, set in the victory over the Houston Baptist Huskies on Nov. 22, 2019.
“I’m just locked in,” Livers said postgame. “I think I’m at a point where I was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to go out there and play my game, not overthink it.’ Shot so many shots during the quarantine, I’m built for this, I’m a shooter, so, I have the confidence every time I shoot the ball, that ball’s going in.”
This confidence and extra time in empty gymnasiums have been particularly paying off from behind the 3-point arc, an area of the floor where he is shooting 70 percent (7-for-10) over the last two games.
Keeping with the theme of the team, however, Livers pointed to the defensive end of the floor as the catalyst to his offensive game.
“First of all, playing for Coach (Juwan) Howard, the only way I’m even on the floor is I play defense and I have to talk,” he said. “So, I know I’m going to do that, my natural habit. But it always helps, for sure, like, as a scorer, to get a free throw, a layup, you know, try to get an easy one and see the ball go throw the net, that obviously can get you going and get in a rhythm a little bit. It’s mostly defense, early layup, bucket in transition because that, obviously, leads from playing defense.”
With the win, the Wolverines improved to 13-1 (8-1 Big Ten), good for a one-and-a-half-game lead over the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes and No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers, who are both 12-3 (6-2), in the conference standings.
A skill set that generally translates well to the NCAA Tournament, Michigan has shown an ability to win in a variety of ways.
In Tuesday’s triumph over the Maryland Terrapins, the Wolverines scored 87 points, their second-highest total of the season; at Mackey Arena, it was more of a stout defensive performance, as the 21 first-half points the Boilermakers mustered were the fewest of any opponent Michigan has faced this season.
“It’s a different guy each night,” Livers said. “You talk about traveling, like at Maryland, it was Franz (Wagner) and Hunter (Dickinson), they were literally dominant. We go to Nebraska, it’s a well-rounded win.
“You just never know who’s going to have it going. Coach talked about it at halftime, he said, ‘Guys are going to have it going, Eli (Brooks) and Isaiah have it going right now, our big guys are in foul trouble, Franz hasn’t got an easy shot, it’s all about giving to the team.’
“I think it’s so beautiful to see how unselfish we are, we all share the ball, we’re not going to hold the ball, we don’t have a one-second rule, we don’t mind swinging that one more for our guys because we know we all can shoot the ball and we’re going to make the right decision.”
Making up a game originally scheduled for Jan. 9, the Wolverines will next be in action on Wednesday against the Penn State Nittany Lions (4-6, 1-5) in State College at 7 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network.
The earlier date was postponed after Penn State paused all team-related activities due to positive coronavirus (COVID-19) tests within their program.