Michigan player reveals nasty late-game injury he managed to hide from refs
In the seconds after Michigan defeated Florida State 58-54 Saturday to clinch a spot in the Final Four, cameras focused on Wolverine fans and players celebrating their victory.
One of the cameras caught Michigan’s Isaiah Livers celebrating, as well as two very noticeable blood stains on the front of his jersey.
He was also holding a towel over his nose.
The explanation for the blood was relatively simple.
“At the end of the game I was boxing out and just got hit in the nose,’’ Livers told USA Today.
Michigan’s Isaiah Livers hid blood on his jersey in final minute of win. https://t.co/E5Nwm6D8oU pic.twitter.com/4fUOrOTjK4
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) March 25, 2018
The problem with that explanation, however, is he never left the game.
Livers said one of his teammates made him aware he was bleeding while Michigan’s Duncan Robinson stepped to the free throw line with with 21 seconds left.
The freshman knew he had to hide the injury.
“I was like, ‘Oops,’ and I just put my nose through here [under his jersey],’’ said Livers. “I was trying to hide my nose the best I could so I didn’t have to come out.’’
The bleeding stopped fairly quickly, Livers said, but having blood on a jersey requires officials to remove a player from the game.
Of course, that assumes the officials see the blood on a player’s jersey. And in the case of Livers, they did not.
Actually, a player who is bleeding can remain in the game if the bleeding can be stopped by a trainer within 20 seconds. But if a player has blood on his uniform, he must come out of the game until the blood can be cleaned or the uniform changed.
Livers said that if officials had noticed the blood and asked him to leave the game, he would have been replaced by 6-foot-11 junior Moe Wagner, who was on the bench with four fouls.
Instead, Livers remained on the court for the remainder of the game, and then took part in the team’s joyous celebration.
#GoBlue
–
–#GoBlue
–
–#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/UlwbYSNgfg— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 25, 2018
Michigan advanced to the Final Four for the eighth time in program history.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
