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.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

