Michigan Basketball: 3 Things we learned in win against Ball State

Livers has become the man for Michigan

During the offseason, much of the hype surrounded Franz Wagner and for good reason as the 6-foot-9 wing has a bright future, even beyond Michigan.

But after watching the first few games, it makes me think that Livers was underestimated and also that he has gotten that much better.

One difference that was on display was his ability to create buckets out of ball-screen sets. He did that more last night than he has done all season and he was really good in the mid range, finishing with 8-of-11 makes for the game.

According to Dylan Burkhardt of UMHoops (subscription required) the average college player would be expected to score 13.1 points on Livers’ shot attempts and he scored 21.

Livers has always been a good shooter and that was one attribute that figured to work in his favor in terms of playing in the NBA, but so far this season, he has taken it to another level.

His overall field-goal percentage is 62.2 percent and that’s on 12.3 field goal attempts per game. He’s also shooting a sizzling 52.9 percent from 3-point range and again that’s on 6.7 shots. The senior is making three treys a game.

One of the things that makes me most excited though is the mid-range game and his ability to essentially get a decent look whenever he wants. That will be useful when the clock is running out and if he can be productive with ball screens, this offense is really going to hum.

Of course, it’s a small sample and the level of competition hasn’t been elite. It gets tougher starting on Sunday and in less than two weeks, Big Ten play begins.

But right now, Michigan basketball fans should be very excited about Isaiah Livers and when many of us said Franz Wagner was the Wolverines best player, we may have spoke too soon.