4B - Monday, February 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Four games to go, but the hard work is done
It was a matchup between
the two best teams in the
Big Ten, the ones perched
atop the standings. Michigan
and Michigan State were ahead
of the rest of the pack, and this
was the teams' last scheduled
matchup of the year.
If t didn't
know better,
I might say
that this
game would
determine
the Big Ten
champion.
The NEAL
Wolverines ROTHSCHILD
wouldn't
have any
tough games after this one, and
the Spartans would continue to
get their injured players back
and in rhythm. Luckily for
Michigan, itngot the grand prize
- a season sweep and a Big Ten
title.
But not quite in the eyes of
the team.
"We know we've got four
big games left, so it's definitely
going to be tough," said
sophomore guard Nik Stauskas,
Even against Purdue,
Minnesota, Illinois and
Indiana?
"To be honest, we try to
treat every game that way,
every game like a Big Ten
Championship," said fifth-year
senior forward Jordan Morgan.
But wasn't this game
even more for a Big Ten
Championship?
"We have four games to
play," said Michigan coach John
Beilein. "What it does do right
now is put us in position to be in
position. That's all it does."
Fine.
There arefour games left, but
this was a signature win for a
program that hasn't stopped
stockpiling signature wins
over the last four years. It was
a game against Michigan's
toughest rival in the most
important game of the season.
Yes, there are four games
left, but because of this one,
Michigan only needs to win
three of the last four to win
a share of the title, and if
Michigan State loses again, for
an outright title.
All of the circled games on
Michigan's schedule have come
and gone. The tough part is
over. The remaining games on
the calendar are against teams
in the bottom half of the Big
Ten with the road contests
coming against the conference's
No. 9 and No. 11 squads. On
Sunday, the Wolverines landed
the big fish.
At least one of the
Wolverines' players felt that top player, and it's even harder
way. to maintain that form once
"We didn't talk a lot about you've become a marked man.
the Big Ten Championship at For the last three weeks,
the beginning Stauskas has
of the been hounded
(game)," said by opposing
sophomore "It says that we're teams.
forward Glenn b i Whatever
Robinson back. Michigan's defensive
III before back in so many weapons
conceding that Indiana,
he brought it ways. Nebraska,
up late in the Iowa, Ohio
contest. "But State and
I said,'We're Wisconsin
playing for a had, they stuck
championship. We've got to win on the Mississauga, Ont. native.
this game.'" But on Sunday, a switch
Four games left, but this was turned in Stauskas' head. What
the one where Nik Stauskas the other team did need not
rediscovered how elite he can matter. He took it upon himself
be. It's hard enough to become a to have the best game of his
season, scoring 25 points on
69-percent shooting with five
assists.
"Maybe (it was) a little bit
of the stage and me getting
fed up with it," he said. "I'm a
basketball player. I like taking
pride in being one of the best
players on the floor every time I
step out there.
"When teams shut me
out, it's frustrating, and I
didn't want to let that happen
anymore."
Four games left, but this
one meant dominance over
Michigan State. Having won
six of its last eight against
the Spartans, Michigan has
asserted itself as the top
basketball presence in the state,
at least for the time being.
Six of eight isn't just a few
good years - it's sustained
success. It's Keith Appling and
Adreian Payne having come and
gone without ever winning in
Ann Arbor. With four wins in
the next two weeks, it means
two Michigan Big Ten titles
to Michigan State's one for its
senior class.
Over a four-year period when
Michigan sports have been
pockmarked by mediocrity on
the football field, where the
Spartans have laid Michigan
to waste, the basketball team
swung back. Michigan State
may have stolen the gridiron,
but Michigan has taken the
hardwood.
"It says that we're back,"
Beilein said. "Michigan's back
in so many ways.... If you
compete with Michigan State,
then you're competing with all
the other top schools. We hadn't
been there for a while. It's just
good to be in that position....
Consistency is the things that
Wisconsin and Michigan State
and Ohio State have been able
to do.
"Their kids don't know
what it's like to (not) go to the
NCAA Tournament. That's the
mentality that we want."
Of course, Michigan has
to perform in thefour games
left, but the title was earned
on Sunday. The Wolverines'
performance was the material
that Big Ten championships are
made of.
Over the span of seven
minutes in the second half,
Michigan flipped a 48-43
deficit into a 64-52 lead. It
was a run Michigan State
couldn't withstand and one that
has Michigan sitting pretty
for its first outright Big Ten
championship since 1985-86.
Four games left, but this was
the big one.
Rothschild can be reached
at nealroh@umich.edu or on
Twitter @nrohshild3.
to sweep
against Nebraska and in both of
their games against Wisconsin.
In Michigan's upset of the
then-third-ranked Badgers in
Madison, the three sophomores
combined for 57 points. On
the season, when they're all
in double figures, Michigan is
6-2, with the two losses coming
against then-No. 1 Arizona, and
at home against Wisconsin.
Sunday was a glimpse at what
could be when Stauskas, LeVert
and Robinson all perform at
the top of their games. It's a
team that can play the top-
ranked Wildcats until the final
possession, hand the Badgers
their first loss at home this
season and down a state rival in
the most anticipated home game
of the season.
"We're a team that likes when
other people succeed," LeVert
said. "We really love each other
out there.
"So when we see one guy's got
it going, we just try to get him
the ball as much as possible."
Unselfish and sharing the
load is how the sophomore trio
has set the Wolverines up for
a chance to control their own
destiny and take home the
conference title.
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e State News By SIMON KAUFMAN
Daily Sports Writer
he Doily:- - -
The Michigan men's
basketball team has been
waiting for a game like it had on
Sunday for nearly a year.
5 9 It's been anticipating it
since forward Glenn Robinson
III announced his return last
April, since guard Nik Stauskas
emerged as the team's top player
.Y~o u [this season and since guard
Caris LeVert surfaced as the
Wolverines' most-improved
player.
Michigan has been waiting
to see the sophomore trio -
each capable of single-handedly
mc00m taking over a game - do so
fo nicide e together. On Sunday, when the
runl own He di~eethree shared, shot and scored in
Y ostilkactinum for te ensemble fashion, the result was
treahment a 79-70 win over Michigan State.
offlIu-ike Stauskas, LeVert and
sy19 Robinson combined for 63
IN13maw points - the most between them
$="own* all season, scoring 25, 23 and 15
............. points, respectively.
In the first half, LeVert
stepped up. With Stauskas and
399 P Robinson taking just seven
e n~e e shots, LeVert attacked the rim
-w ato keep the Wolverines in the
game by himself. He scored 14
6 "9 points on 5-of-10 shooting from
the field in the first 20 minutes,
ma and his buzzer-beater 3-pointer
...... ----- . . as time expired at the end of
FO the half helped cut Michigan
I Ff State's lead to just two. The
corner three cut what was once
an il-point deficit into a one-
Hll possession game and gave the
*RE Wolverines the momentum
heading into the second half.
- 5 5 "It was kinda a bang-bang
2420 E StAdium B play," LeVert said. "(Michigan
A , 48104 State guard Gary) Harris got
7U49756613 a layup at one end, and they
probably thought the half was
going to be over, and I just
snuck out in transition and Nik
, i5od~81found me. ... Us getting the last
bucket, that was big for us, big
for our crowd."
In the second half, LeVert
Dres lead Michigan
took a back seat, and Stauskas it was a horrible pass because it
and Robinson took control. The was way behind him," Stauskas
two combined for the first 18 said. "And he kinda paused in
points of the second frame. the air and reached back. It was
With 13 minutes left in the a great play by Glenn."
half, Stauskas finished a layup The 6-foot-6 forward had 11
to tie the game at 48. Just points in the half including two
more than a m
pulled up and k
jumper at the to
pull Michigan
ahead by two
points - a lead
it wouldn't
give back. In
his best half
of the season,
Stauskas
shot 7-of-10,
including
three treys,
finishing with
21 points in
the frame.
With 2:33 lef
Stauskas penet
the hoop, drawi
defenders, and,
alley-oop dunk1
Robinson. Rob
behind his heat
threw the dunkc
the Crisler Cent
feet.
"When I thre
inute later, he
nocked down a
p of the key to
free throws down the stretch
to help seal the deal for the
Wolverines.
"I think all
three of us
were feeding
"Us getting the off each other,"
Robinson said.
last basket, it was "For them
o, they're
big for us, big for shooting the
,r ball well, or
our crowd- driving, that
(makes it) easy
for my cuts."
Added
Michigan coach John Beilein:
t in the game, "Everybody was really
trated toward connected the whole game. We
ng two Spartan had no one ball-begging. We had
then tossed an no one not willing to share the
to a wide-open ball because they hadn't had a
inson reached shot in a while."
d for the ball, It was just the fourth time
down and drew in Big Ten play this season that
er crowd to its each member of the threesome
has scored in double digits. They
w it, I thought accomplished the feat on the road