“Iggy lives up for these moments,” Haynes saod. “I haven’t seen a kid like him that lives for these moments. He loves the crowd, he feeds into it, whether it’s hate or love. He’s a different kind of guy.”
To anybody who knows Brazdeikis, this is no surprise.
Nobody will write about what this season could have been if it ends with a Sweet Sixteen loss to Texas Tech, the only defense ranking ahead of the Wolverines in KenPom.
But Charles Matthews will wonder.
This will be the top two defensive teams in the country going at it, and Livers is as excited as anyone to be a part of it.
Saturday night in Des Moines, those roles suddenly reversed. This time, Livers’ name shot across national airwaves after posterizing Florida’s Andrew Nembhard to help send the Wolverines to the Sweet Sixteen — the zenith of a postseason in which he has averaged 12.0 points per game on 58 percent shooting.
When the Wolverines left the locker room, Matthews made sure they were, indeed, on it.
“First time in the huddle, he came and said, ‘No more threes. No more threes. Let’s limit their threes,” assistant coach DeAndre Haynes told The Daily. “He held it down for us out there.”
A good 30 minutes after the last dunks had landed, the players still remembered them in the locker room, responding with a chorus of “ooohs” and “oofs” and speechless head-shakes.
But once the Wolverines emerged from the halftime tunnel, the afternoon’s tide began to turn. By the time the two teams walked off the court again, Michigan had come away with a 64-49 win and moved on to its third consecutive Sweet Sixteen.
On Saturday, Poole played 33 minutes. He took some bad shots, a whole lot more good shots, played strong defense and helped his team win. The shot against Houston was great. But performances like Saturday’s are what Poole cares about.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Zavier Simpson smirked. He extended his right arm and flicked his wrist, a motion instantly recognizable as that of his hook shot.
If the Wolverines wish to beat Florida on Saturday and advance to the Sweet 16 for a third straight year, that can’t be the case.
“We’re pretty sure we’re gonna see some switches tomorrow, which we’ve been scouting,” said assistant coach DeAndre Haynes. “We’ll be ready for it because we’ve been seeing it in our league. Lot of teams switch against us, and it made us a better team.”