Kornacki: Freshmen Roomies Livers, Poole Hit Stride Together as U-M Beats Illinois

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's basketball freshmen roomies spotted one another near midcourt on a fast break and both knew what was going to happen next.

Jordan Poole, dribbling down the left side, pulled up near quarter-court and fired a pass toward the rim.

Isaiah Livers, sprinting down the right side before cutting to the rim, caught the ball like a tight end on a post route. Then he two-hand slammed it through the rim with gusto, and the Crisler Center faithful erupted.

"Bringin' the house down!" Matt Shepard, the radio voice of the Wolverines, shouted over the roar.

"We made eye contact," said Livers. "He's my roommate. I knew at half-court he was going to slow down and put it up."

Poole said: "I got the pass and kind of peeked at him at half-court. We made eye contact, and I'm looking like, 'I'm just going to throw it to the rim, big boy. You've got to go get it.' When he got it, it had me super excited, and it put a lot of energy into the crowd."

That was the third dunk in less than two minutes by Livers, who got nice passes from Jon Teske and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman on the first two, and put on quite a show.

Livers, a 6-foot-7 forward, drained a three-pointer from the right corner to tally nine points in only 2:25. An eight-point deficit against Illinois became a two-point lead during that stretch.

"I just look to be that edge, that spark off the bench," said Livers. "You've just got to stay ready, and have the mind-set that, when you get in, you're going to do great things. You've got to stay positive."

The Wolverines claimed a 79-69 victory Saturday (Jan. 6), and pulled away from the Fighting Illini five minutes into the second half.

Poole nailed a pair of three-pointers in 40 seconds at that point to tilt the court in Michigan's favor the rest of the way.

"The game was pretty close and somebody needed to provide a spark to break out the lead a bit," said Poole, "and I've got the confidence to go and make a big play. It just happened to be two threes, and they couldn't catch up after that."

Livers scored 12 points by hitting another trey and created that shooting opportunity with a gritty offensive rebound and a pass out to point guard Zavier Simpson on the perimeter. Forward Charles Matthews found Livers open behind the arc and hit him with a pass.

Poole, who made all five free throws attempted, finished with 11 points, two rebounds, two steals and that assist on the alley-oop pass.

I asked them about the energy they felt from the crowd the moment that dunk went down.

"It's a big freshmen connection," said Poole. "So, when two freshmen go out there and play their game …"

Livers leaned in and added: "When two freshmen brothers do something like that, it's just the best."

Then both smiled and said, one after the other: "We're the one-two punch."

They are freshman, though, and most of them can go hot one game and cold the next. But both are connecting frequently enough to become important contributors as Michigan (14-3, 3-1 Big Ten) heads into the teeth of conference play against the highest-ranked teams in the conference. Purdue visits Tuesday (Jan. 9) and the Wolverines travel to Michigan State next Saturday (Jan. 13).

Poole led Milwaukee King to a pair of city championships before playing on a national championship team for the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana.

Livers was Michigan's Mr. Basketball last season and led Kalamazoo Central to a 72-14 record and deep state tournament runs each year.

Coming off the bench is a new experience for both of them, but they are growing rapidly and taking pride in their roles.

"Coming out of high school," said Livers, "you come out with the cockiness. But then the real deal hits you, and I got sent back, and I came back. I had to fight back. I played hard. Basically, I just had to learn to play my game."

Poole added: "We know that the guys ahead of us are veterans and have been here for some time. But knowing they have the trust to come to us off the bench and that we have confidence as freshmen, me and Isaiah want to provide a spark with our athletic ability and talent. We're cool with the roles right now."

Isaiah Livers provided the spark for the Wolverines against Illinois on Saturday with three dunks in less than two minutes and helped get the Crisler Center crowd excited.

Livers had several productive games, but his first double-figure scoring came Tuesday (Jan. 2) at Iowa, when he scored 13 by making 5-of-6 treys while adding three assists, two steals and two rebounds.

So, in the last two games, he is averaging 12.5 points and is 7-for-9 on three-pointers. He had been 4-for-17 on treys with a 3.0 scoring average prior.

"Basically, when he got here, like most freshmen, there were just so many things going on," said Wolverines head coach John Beilein. "If you saw some early practices, you'd question why we gave him a scholarship. … But he's coming out. His next step will be when he has leverage on someone, he won't go and do a finger roll to the other side. He'll dunk it on somebody. And he'll get more rebounds and get to the free throw line.

"But I'll take what we got today."

Poole did not play against Central Michigan or Southern Mississippi, and played four minutes in the first four games combined. But then he scored 10 against Chaminade in Maui and 11 against UC-Riverside, setting up a breakout game against Indiana, when he scored 19 by making half of his 10 trey attempts.

"He got off to a really slow start," said Beilein. "It's very typical of freshmen. They might not have the focus in some areas that they need to have. He needed to pay attention to details. The attention-getter was: 'Look, you're not playing in games if you can't pull some of these things together.' I didn't have plans to play him until he realized little things do matter. Once he made the moves to understand what winning basketball looks like, he gained some trust and got in the lineup."

Beilein said both are "seizing the opportunity" more often now -- noting that it is something not all freshmen can do.

They first came to know one another on the AAU summer circuit in Chicago. Poole noticed the difference Livers made in games, and when Livers committed to Michigan they started talking about becoming college teammates.

"The rest is history after that," said Poole.

They share a room in the East Quad dormitories.

"They have a lot more in common than hair," said Beilein, chuckling, "and they have some great hair, too. I wish I had that hair.

"But they really help each other as they go through these growing pains. I think they can talk some of these things out, and here's the key for both of them. The families that they grew up in are no-nonsense, and they come in here with an understanding and don't have a false sense of who they are.

"They realize they make mistakes, and the parents have basically said, 'Coach B, you've got 'em. Do what you do; we're not getting in the way.' Both of them have really solid parents who make them do the right thing."

Livers and Poole also bring great energy to the court and enjoy the fun that the Wolverines, to a man, are having.

"In order to gain confidence," said Livers, "you have to have fun."

Poole said, "It can be a huge adjustment to not be 'The Man', when you come in as a freshman. But the motive is to win the game and you love seeing others be successful. You connect through the blood, sweat and tears of practice, and then to see us winning as a team is one of the most exciting things.

"Our team and our bench have fun as a collective unit. I feel that's what makes us pretty special."

Poole replaced Matthews, Michigan's leading scorer, when he got into foul trouble at the beginning of both halves.

Livers subbed for senior small forward Duncan Robinson, but also played with Robinson by moving to power forward.

"We love that," said Livers. "It spreads the court a lot."

The roomies are doing what they are asked and are patient enough to know that their time is coming.

"It's a big confidence-booster when you see the older guys go off and graduate and do great things from Michigan," said Livers. "Someone's got to step up, and that's what we get to do. We just want to be next up."

Beilein smiled and recalled how Caris LeVert, now with the Brooklyn Nets, started getting more and more playing time in his formative stage. He started producing more and more, too.

Livers and Poole are making Beilein remember what outstanding potential looks like, and that says it all.