Michigan Basketball: Isaiah Livers doesn’t appear ready to return

Michigan basketball is desperately missing its star player, Isaiah Livers, but the Wolverines wing doesn’t appear ready to return just yet.

It’s clear that the Michigan basketball team needs a boost after losses in back-to-back games and a 2-4 start in Big Ten conference play.

Since the restart of conference play, Michigan basketball is just 1-3 and a big part of that has been the absence of Isaiah Livers, who has been injured and our for the past five games.

There was hope when he was spotted going through warmups last week against Iowa, but he didn’t end up playing and when Juwan Howard spoke to the media ahead of the game against Penn State tomorrow, he didn’t say anything that made you think Livers would play Wednesday.

First things first, Howard said that Livers would need to practice before he could play and it sounds like that hasn’t happened yet via The Michigan Insider ($):

"“We’re looking forward to Isaiah joining us in practice very soon,” Howard said. “That’s a part of Isaiah getting closer to joining his teammates on the court. My philosophy is I like to see our guys practice at least once or twice, and hopefully soon Isaiah will be able to go out there and compete and see how he feels after a practice. Because that’s always the case, too – when you practice, your body hasn’t done anything in 4-6 weeks, so you’re gonna be sore. But how do you feel from that injury? That’s the key point the next day.”"

Obviously, the Wolverines would love to get Livers back as soon as possible. He was averaging 13.6 points, more than a few rebounds per game and shooting lights out from beyond the arc. With Livers, Zavier Simpson, Franz Wagner, Jon Teske and either Eli Brooks or David DeJulius, Michigan basketball can put out a really dangerous lineup, one very capable at both ends.

Without Livers, there is just an obvious hole. There isn’t enough shooting and at times, not enough size. He’s also a good ball-handler and sort of the lynchpin for Howard’s positionless basketball.

This Michigan basketball team has always had talent, but one thing it never really had was depth. Adrien Nunez hasn’t really stepped up and while others such as DeJulius and Brandon Johns have, as well as Brooks, others such as Colin Castleton have been disappointing.

Michigan has two huge home games this week starting with Penn State. However, from the sounds of it, don’t expect to see Livers longer than pre-game warmups.