8 - Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

8 - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Sluggish 'M' gets win

Rebounding a concern

By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Against Concordia last Tues-
day, freshman guard Derrick
Walton Jr. had to wait four min-
utes before he entered the game.
In the Michigan men's basketball
team's second exhibition game on
Monday, he didn't have to wait at
all.
This time around, it took a bit
for him to get going in Michi-
gan's final preseason tuneup - a
79-60 win-
over Wayne WAYNESTATE 60
State. MICHIGAN 79
Starting
for the first time - which won't
count since it was just an exhi-
bition' - Walton looked shaky
and, well, like a freshman. After
scoring 11 points off the bench
last week, it took him nearly 13
minutes to score his first point
on Monday. After missing his
first shot on an air ball, Walton
grabbed one rebound before
being taken out in place of last
game's starter, sophomore guard
Spike Albrecht.
Albrecht shined in his initial
minutes of play, entering in after
five minutes of action. He looked
in control against the Warriors,
making a 3-pointer and a driving
layup in less than two minutes of
play. Despite his strong perfor-
mance early on, Albrecht played
just 13 minutes, compared to Wal-
ton's 27.
One freshman did stand out
coming off the bench. With the
game still relatively close after
almost eight minutes of action,
forward Zak Irvin knocked down
three consecutive 3-pointers to
push Michigan's lead from four
to eight. He would finish with 13
points.
"I wanted to get Derrick and
Zak as many minutes as we could
out there," said Michigan coach
John Beilein. "I think they need-
ed to get out there and make some
mistakes and have some success.
And they did both of those things
today."
Walton finally got going and

By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Stats against cupcake teams
outside the Division I landscape
must often be viewed with a
grain of salt. Powerhouses like
Michigan are used to putting up
crooked numbers in early season
games that fill the beginning of
November's slate.
But after dismantling NAIA
Concordia and blowing away the
Cardinals in every stat category
last week, the Wolverines' box
score against Division II Wayne
State particularly the War-
riors' edge on the glass - weren't
nearly as impressive. And that
has to be at least somewhat con-
cerning.
Since guard Tim Hardaway
Jr. departed last April for the
NBA Draft, Michigan coach John
Beileinhastalked aboutfillinghis
void in the starting lineup with a
second big man to accompany
forward Mitch McGary, who
took the NCAA Tournament by
storm. Beilein of course couldn't
account for the lower-back condi-
tion that would sideline McGary
for at least the immediate future,
but in his absence, veteran for-
wards Jon Horford and Jordan
Morgan started in Michigan's

two exhibitions.
Though the Wolverines were
never truly threatened - they
won, 79-60 - the game never
got out of hand like it probably
should have, even though Michi-
gan's starters and key contribu-
tors played until the final horn.
Worse yet, Beilein noted that
three of the Warriors regular
starters were out with injuries.
Sophomore guard Nik Staus-
'kas admitted that Michigan's play
was "maybe a little bit sluggish,"
and that few things Wayne State
did came as a shock to the Wol-
verines - particularly the way
the Warriors crashed the boards.
That was something Michigan
saw in film from the teams' pre-
vious matchup, after Wayne State
out-rebounded Michigan, 40-31,
in a narrow, 47-39, loss two years
ago.
"It wasn't really surprising,
because I think that was in the
scouting report, that they were
going to crash the boards hard, so
we definitely have to get a little
tougher on our box outs," Staus-
kas said.
Despite a clear size disadvan-
tage, Wayne State out-rebounded
the Wolverines, 36-31. The War-
riors' tallest player - starting
center Michael Martin - stands

just 6-foot-8, a few inches short-
er than Horford, and 40 pounds
lighter than both Horford and
Morgan. Wayne State's next tall-
est player is 6-foot-6, the same
size as most of the Wolverines'
perimeter players.
Michigan gave up an eye-
opening 15 offensive boards, and
though Wayne State couldn't,
make the most of its opportu-
nities - it scored just 14 sec-
ond-chance points - Beilein
expressed marginal concern.
"I think our-guys have to learn
that just because you're out on
the perimeter, doesn't mean you
(don't) have to get in there," he
said. "We've got to look at boxing
out and are we even in the area?
We're leaving Jon down there
and they were crashing three or
four people."
Horford couldn't capitalize on
his size advantage on the offen-
sive end, scoring just two points,
but his gane-high nine rebounds
were enough to catch his coach's
attention. But going forward,
Beilein wants to see a more com-
plete effort on the glass.
"We were experimenting a lit-
tle here and there," he said. "Jon
rebounded really well but the
other guys, I mean, we've got to
get more rebounds out of them."

TERRA MOLLENGRAFF/Daily
Freshman guard Derrick Walton Jr. started the exhibition game on Monday.

found success when he reen-
tered the game. With 5:46 left
in the first half, Walton finally
looked more relaxed and like the
dynamic player we saw against
Concordia. Stealing the ball from
mid-court, Walton drove toward
the basket with sophomore guard
Nik Stauskas on his left. With a
man in the lane, Walton dished
the ball off to Stauskas, who got
the layup and drew the foul for
what would be a 3-point play.
"I really like his potential
to play really good on-the-ball
defense," Beilein said. "They were
running some action today that
we've yet to think about a little bit
and he spotted it right away and
called it out, which is really rare
for a point guard."
With that basket and the foul
shot, Michigan was finally able
to push the lead past 10 points
for the first time and comfortably
keep the double-digit lead for the
rest of the contest. It was after
that scoring play, too, that Walton.
was finally able to make his first
shot from the field, as he com-
pleted a 4-point play after getting
knocked down on a three from
the corner.
Walton would go onto lead the
team with four assists, tied with

the Wolverines' leading scorer,
Stauskas, who had 17 points to
go with six rebounds. Michigan's
other double-digit scorers were
sophomores Glen Robinson III
and Cars LeVert, who had 15 and
16 points, respectively.
Despite Michigan's strong
shooting from the field and
behind the arc - 15-23 and 7-11
respectively - in the first 'half,
Wayne State's five 3-pointers -
including three by the Warriors'
leading scorer Bryan Coleman
- and 13-to-12 advantage on the
glass allowed it to stick with the
Wolverines for most of the first
half. For the game, Wayne State
would outrebound Michigan
36-31, including15-6 on the offen-
sive boards.
While it never appeared Mich-
igas would lose the game, there
weren't any big scoring bursts
like the Wolverines' 46-10 run to
end the first half last week that
completely put the game out of
hand. As a result, just one of the
other four freshmen - forward
Mark Donnal - saw any action.
The quartet played 17 combined
minutes last week. With the regu-
lar season starting on Friday, the
group's last chance for playing
time may have come and gone.

0

TERRA MOLLENGRAFF/Daily
Sophomore point guard Spike Albrecht scored six points in Michigan's victory on Monday night.


Michigan closes out home
schedule with 1-0 victory

By FREDDY KASTEN
For theDaily
It was only fitting that when a
penaltykick was issued to Michi-
gan, with the chance to grab an
early lead and momentum, that
forward Fabio Pereira would get
the chance.
Arguably_
one of the VALPARAISO 0
Michigan MICHIGAN 1
men's soc-
cer team'sbest scorers, the senior
has been in a bit of slump this
season. But in his last home game
of his collegiate career, he came
through when he was needed
most.
Behind Pereira, the Wol-
verines (3-2-0 Big Ten, 8-5-3
overall) kept their NCAA Tour-
nament hopes alive and gave the
six seniors a night they will never
forget ina 1-0 win over Valparai-
so (0-3-2 Horizon League, 3-7-5).
Nearly 27 minutes into the
first half, Crusader defender Zev
Taublieb was called for a hand-
ball in the box, giving Michigan
an easy opportunity in what
was otherwise a back-and-forth
game.
Pereira approached the ball
slowly, looked right and fired left
into the bottom corner of the net
for his second goal of the season.
"I practice PKs a lot, so I kind
of just decided right when I went
to kick it and I went bottom left,"
Pereira said. "It's a great feel-
ing scoring on any night, but on
a night like this, it's pretty spe-
cial. Coming out with a win is the
most important thing though.
Hopefully we can extend our sea-
son to the NCAA Tournament."
From there, it was Michigan's
seniors who fittingly carried the
team for the rest of the first half.
Forward TJ Roehn, for example,
led the -charge on the attack,
nearly scoring in the 40th minute
with a chance to end any come-
back hopes.
While some of the seniors

MEN'S SOCCER
Wolverine seniors
go out on a high note
By JOHNKOPKO made his fourth appearance of
For the Daily the season and logged 59 min-
utes at outside back.
Monday, the curtain closed "We let the seniors ride it
on the home careers of six out," Daley said. "We didn't
Michigan seniors. have enough punch, but (the
A 1-0 victory over Valparaiso seniors) had a good day and we
(0-3-2 Horizon League, 3-6-5 are very happy those guys got
overall) marked the final time the win."
Fabio. Pereira, Ezekiel Har- Following a solid defensive
ris, TJ Roehn, Malcolm Miller, effort in the first half, sopho-
Dylan Mencia, and Tyler Lep- more defender Jack Brown and
pek stepped onto the pitch in freshman defender Andre Mor-
front of the home crowd in Ann ris paired up in the center and
Arbor, beginning to close the limited Valparaiso's scoring
chapter on a strong nucleus opportunities.
of players who have kept the On their lone shot on goal,
Michigan men' soccer team in which the Crusaders managed
games this season. in the second stanza, junior
Pereira entered his final goalkeeper Adam Grinwis
home match as the program made a phenomenal save to put*
leader in shots with 188 and an exclamation mark on Michi-
ranked second all-time in gan's defensive performance.'
assists with 21. Michigan's offense con-
Harris's departure will leave trolled a majority of posses-
a gap at outside back. The physi- sion behind the midfield play
cal captain had been a perma- of Mencia, but only mustered
nent fixture on the back line for 11 shots, four of which were on '
Michigan coach Chaka Daley goal. Roehn and Miller worked
for two years. together at forward in the sec-
It was fitting for Harris and ond half and contributed to
Pereira to work together 15 Michigan's second half scoring
minutes into the game to give opportunities.
the Wolverines a chance at their In the 78th minute, Roehn
first goal of the match. After ripped a shot from 22 yards
Harris's cross drew a handball out that beat the keeper but '
in the box, Pereira stepped up bounced off the crossbar and
and calmly converted the pen- away.
alty shot to give Michigan an "Roehn deserved a goal
eventual 1-0 victory. there," Daley said. "It was a lit-
"It's a great feeling," Pereira tle unlucky."
said. "On a night like senior Once the final whistle blew, m
night, it's great especially com- the end of a journey at the
ingout with the win." U-M Soccer Complex became
The match itself was a quiet inevitable for the seniors, but
one for Michigan(3-2-0 Big Ten, the win generated by those six
7-5-3). On a rare Monday night players gives the Wolverines a
game, the stands were relatively chance to move on to the NCAA
empty. The match remained a Tournament.
midfield battle, and both teams While the seniors still have
played conservatively without plenty ofsoccer to play this year,
many flashy passes or footwork. a positive farewell inAnn Arbor
After the Wolverines went gives the team hope heading
up a goal, they made person- into the next few games.
nel changes to give each of the "At the end of the day, we're
seniors more playing time. walking out with this win and
For the majority of the heading into Saturday with
second half, all six seniors some life," Pereira said. "It's
remained on the field. Leppek great."

Senior midfielder Fabio Pereira scored Michigan's only goal ina win over Valparaiso on Monday night.

might not have as
as the more skilled,
wards and midfield
tainly don't lack t
will to play the gam
"Any senior in col
especially at
Michigan with
the amount of
pride here, in
your last home
game, if you
don't know if
you'll ever play
here again,
it's certainly
very special,"
said Michigan
coach Chaka
Daley. "I'm happy f
that they got to do t
The second half
uneventful as the fi
part to strong defen
the Wolverines. The
ued its push onwar

much talent
younger for-
ers, they cer-
he heart and
e.
lege athletics,

lack of scoring chances.
"We weren't really threatened,
you know?" Daley said. "We let
the seniors ride it out tonight,
and I think those guys did a
really good job. Certainly we're

very happy
for those guys
et that we got the
"We let win."
Aside from
the seniors sophomore
forward James
ride it out Murphy's
, ~ shot that was
tOnight..." blocked in the
72nd minute
and another
strong attempt
'or those guys off Roehn's foot that hit the
hat tonight." crossbar from just outside the
started out as box in the 78th minute, there was
rst, thanks in just a handful of scoring chances
sive play from for both teams in the second half.
team contin- Michigan, both defensively and
d despite the offensively, controlled the tempo,

expanding on the already suc-
cessful first half.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper
Adam Grinwis was dependable
as usual, making the sprawling
save of the game in the 51st min-
ute on a header from Valparaiso
senior midfielder Charles Barden
from about seven yards away
from the net.
The win sets the Wolverines
up for a critical game against
Michigan State on Saturday for
better positioning in the Big Ten
Tournament and, more impor-
tantly, a spot on the national
stage.
"We have two lives still to go.
If we can beat Michigan State, I
think we deserve an opportunity
to be in the NCAA Tournament,"
Daley said. "For us, our goal is
to control our own fate and look
straight ahead and hope that we
can continue to take care of our
own business."

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