Before the tip of No. 6 Michigan basketball’s game against No. 24 Maryland on Saturday afternoon, forward Isaiah Livers…
Before the tip of No. 6 Michigan basketball’s game against No. 24 Maryland on Saturday afternoon, forward Isaiah Livers found himself joking around with guard Eli Brooks.
Four days removed from an upset loss at Penn State, Livers told his teammate Michigan couldn’t give up another layup off the tip-off like it had against the Nittany Lions.
“We tipped it back,” Livers said, “and I think they laid it in and they had momentum from there until halftime.”
The Wolverines avoided that slow start — and then some.
Michigan (23-3,12-3 Big Ten) jumped all over Maryland (19-7,10-5), taking an early 14-2 lead en route to a 65-52 win.
The Terrapins turned it over 13 times in 34 possessions in the first half and scored 18 points. It was an impressive turnaround from Tuesday, when the Wolverines gave up 40 first-half points at Penn State — the most points surrendered in any half this season.
Saturday provided an opportunity to turn a new leaf against one of the conference’s top teams. And Michigan ran with it.
“You know how we are,” Livers said. “Usually when we lose a game, we come back swinging super hard because we’ve got to make up for what we did. We played horrible at Penn State, and we wanted to play great at home for our crowd.
