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.”
Just as soon as Gumbel’s message reached Mincy’s ears, his phone began to blow up. Some were congratulatory, but far more came from his group chat from Kent State, where he played from 2005-09 and coached from 2010-12. Haynes — a player with the Golden Flashes from 2002-06 and coach from 2012-16 — was one of those on the other end.
Brazdeikis canceled his official visit to Florida after going to Ann Arbor, never stepping foot in Gainesville as a recruit. That won’t stop anyone involved from thinking about what could have been as he lines up for the Wolverines against the Gators in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
It seemed that every shot Montana took — threes, layups, even a fast-break dunk attempt — missed. The Wolverines’ shooting wasn’t particularly potent, either, but their defense clamped down, holding the Grizzlies to 33 percent from the field. Montana (26-9), a No. 15 seed out of the Big Sky Conference that doesn’t start anyone taller than 6-foot-7, had no answer for Michigan’s relentlessness.