4B — January 12, 2015
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘M’ rallies past Gophers,
moves to 3-1 in Big Ten

Wolverines shake
slow start, close out
Minnesota at home

By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

The
Michigan
men’s

basketball team attempted eight
3-pointers in the first half of its
62-57 victory over Minnesota
on Saturday afternoon. It made
none.

But the Wolverines made up

for their long-range struggles,
and then some, in the second
half, culminating in a trey
from sophomore guard Derrick
Walton Jr. that brought the
Crisler Center crowd to its feet
with just over three minutes
remaining in the game. The shot
and the ensuing three-turnover
sequence gave the lead back
to Michigan after a 14-minute
stretch in which the Golden
Gophers held the advantage.

Though
the
game,
at

that point, hadn’t gone the
Wolverines’ way, the final nine
minutes played out exactly
as they drew them up in the
timeout huddle.

“It was a little bit of everyone

(talking in the huddle),” said
junior guard Spike Albrecht.
“The main message being, ‘We
need three straight stops.’ Get
stops, and get out and run an
offense.”

It
was
an
afternoon
of

oddity in Ann Arbor, but that
didn’t
stop
the
Wolverines

from
orchestrating
their

comeback, which began with
8:56 remaining in the game and
Minnesota leading by nine.

The
head-scratching

moments included sophomore
guard Zak Irvin backing down
a
Minnesota
defender
and

getting whistled for a charge

while he attempted to finish a
fast break. Also included were
freshman forward Ricky Doyle
missing the front end of the rim
by several inches on a first-half
free throw but later banking in
a foul shot.

To top off the often-sloppy,

nonsensical
play,
freshman

forward
Kameron
Chatman

twice
fouled
the
Golden

Gophers’ Andre Hollins on
3-point attempts. Hollins went
5-for-6 on the resulting free
throws.

Hollins remained a thorn

in
the
Wolverines’
side

throughout, as he finished with
18 points. The Gophers’ Carlos
Morris added 16 points of his
own on 7-for-10 shooting from
the field.

If Minnesota had passed the

ball as well as it shot it, the game
might not have been close. But
the Golden Gophers continually
provided Michigan an open door
to victory by coughing up the
basketball with regularity. The
Golden Gophers finished with 17
turnovers, baffling their second-
year coach, Richard Pitino.

“Those
turnovers
were

inexplicable,” Pitino said. “We
didn’t allow ourselves to win
the game. … We will not beat
anybody — home, road, neutral
— if you do that.”

But despite the 17 turnovers,

Michigan finished with just 11
points in offensive transition.

“We just didn’t convert,” said

Michigan coach John Beilein.
“I’m a bit concerned right now
about our fast break — we’ve
got to be better at it, and we’ve
got to work at it more. We’ve
spent so much time in defensive
transition, (but) we’ve got to be
better in offensive transition.”

It wasn’t just the transition

offense
that
struggled,

especially in the early going.

Michigan
showed
only

sparks of offensive cohesion
in the first period, with one
flash of brilliance coming when
Albrecht left Doyle alone at the
rim with a sneaky one-handed
dish. Doyle finished with an
emphatic two-handed reverse
dunk that gave a previously
quiet crowd a rare moment of
excitement.

But for most of the half, the

Wolverines had trouble scoring
simply because of 10-for-28
shooting from the field. Of the
made shots, just three came
from outside the paint.

Trailing by seven, Walton

drained a pair of foul shots,
forced a Minnesota turnover
and used a lightning-quick
crossover at midcourt to set
up an alley-oop layup to Irvin.
A Minnesota turnover forced
Pitino to take a timeout, which
Doyle followed with an and-
one layup. Fittingly, he banked
in the free throw, cutting
Minnesota’s lead to 49-47.

Michigan fought tooth and

nail to hold onto its narrow lead
in the game’s final minutes.
Doyle drove the nail into the
coffin with an emphatic dunk
that put the Wolverines up 59-55.

Irvin attributed the offensive

improvement in the second
half largely to Michigan finally
cracking the Golden Gophers’
defensive front.

“We just turned it around,

tried to get in the paint,” Irvin
said. “And if they put us in there,
then we can kick it out.”

The kick-outs led to vastly

improved
shooting
in
the

second half — the Wolverines
went 4-for-10 from beyond the
arc in the second half, a far cry
from their eight fruitless first-
half attempts.

Walton and LeVert tied for

the team lead in scoring with 15
points each, followed by Doyle
and Irvin with 12 apiece.

Walton takes over second half

By DANIEL FELDMAN

Daily Sports Editor

Derrick
Walton
Jr.
didn’t

come to Michigan, according to
Michigan coach John Beilein,
as a scorer. The sophomore
guard took over the reigns of
the point guard position last
season from Trey Burke, and was
surrounded by a bevy of offensive
weapons around him to ease his
progression into the Wolverines’
system.

This season, however, things

are different for the Michigan
men’s basketball team. Walton
has
to
create
opportunities

for himself as frequently as he
needs to create opportunities
for others. If he looked to pass
only, the Wolverines’ offense just
wouldn’t flow.

“He came to us as a pass-first

guy,” Beilein said. “And while we
love that, if everyone was just
playing to pass, you’re not going
to find anybody open. So, we
want him to be more aggressive
shooting the ball.”

With
38
seconds
left
in

Michigan’s
62-57
win
over

Minnesota
Saturday,
Walton

had a choice coming out of a
Wolverine timeout. According
to Beilein, four options existed
for Michigan, which held a two-

point lead.

With Caris LeVert on the

floor, surely one option was for
the lanky junior guard to get the
ball at some point during the
possession. However, the play
that Michigan (3-1 Big Ten, 10-6
overall) and Walton executed
was something that Michigan
had never pulled off before, even
in practice.

As Walton drove towards the

foul line, he lifted the ball in his
right hand upward at the hoop,
offering the deceiving look of a
hook shot. When he lofted the
ball in the air, freshman Ricky
Doyle flew in to grab the ball
with two hands before throwing
it down for the dunk, giving
Michigan a four-point lead.

For the guard that was once so

pass-centric, it was the threat of a
shot that allowed Walton to pull
off the pass.

“I love that he turned his

shoulders on the last one, got
down at the foul line and just
threw up a hook shot,” Beilein
said.

Added Walton: “All season,

Ricky has just been finishing
in a crowd, so of course I have
confidence throwing it to my big
fella.”

For
his
partner
in
the

backcourt, the explanation was

simpler for Walton’s pass and
general excellent play in the game,
especially in the second half.

“That was D-Walt going to

work,” said junior guard Spike
Albrecht. “He just kind of took
over in that second half.”

Totaling
15
points,
five

rebounds
and
three
assists,

Walton looked like his old self,
not someone still suffering from a
sprained toe. Making three out of
Michigan’s four 3-pointers of the
game, Walton resembled the fast-
on-his-feet thinker and player
that he’s been known to be.

“Derrick was playing like we

remember
Derrick
playing,”

Beilein said. “He’s not 100 percent
healthy, but he was healthier
today.”

While
the
timetable
for

Walton to return to full health
is
unknown,
Michigan
will

need to rely more than ever on
his intangibles and creativity,
whether he practices or not.

“We haven’t done that in a

game or a practice yet with it
completed as a dunk,” Beilein
said. “We practice it a lot, like
once a week, but we haven’t done
it in (a game).

“That took a lot of courage to

do that. And I’m so happy we did
it — make or miss, it was the right
play.”

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

Derrick Walton Jr. tied for the team lead with 15 points and threw a late alley-oop pass to Ricky Doyle to clinch the win.

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