Sports
6 — Tuesday, January 20, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘M’ holds off Northwestern

By MAX BULTMAN 

Daily Sports Editor

Plagued by sicknesses to two 

key contributors, the Michigan 
men’s basketball team found a 
way to get the job done.

Even with junior guard Spike 

Albrecht out with a respiratory 
infection and freshman center 
Ricky Doyle playing minimal 
minutes due to a cold, the 
Wolverines 
squeaked 
out 
a 

thrilling win over Northwestern, 
56-54.

Junior guard Caris LeVert 

had 18 points, seven assists and 
six rebounds in a game that 
saw 
Northwestern 
in 
prime 

position to pull off a game-tying 
buzzer-beater on the game’s final 
possession.

Wildcats’ 
guard 
Bryant 

McIntosh put up a runner with 
the final seconds ticking down, 
but his shot rimmed out and 
LeVert did just enough to clear 
the rebound as time expired.

“I don’t know how (we got the 

win), but we end up getting it, 
and we’ll take it,” said Michigan 
coach John Beilein. “I’m really 
proud of the way our kids played 
through some adversity.”

Northwestern was able to 

stay in the game by exploiting a 
stark mismatch down low. With 
Doyle sidelined, Wildcats center 
Alex Olah dominated redshirt 
freshman Mark Donnal in the 
post, forcing Donnal into foul 
trouble and leading to big minutes 
for senior forward Max Bielfeldt.

And though Olah held a 

significant height and weight 
advantage over both Wolverine 
big men, Beilein went to various 
zone defenses in an effort to 
minimize his advantage.

“We couldn’t stop (Olah) down 

low,” Beilein said. “It’s a matchup 

that we just did not like, so we 
went away from him.”

Whereas 
Doyle’s 
sickness 

caused problems on the defensive 
side 
of 
the 
ball, 
Albrecht’s 

absence left Beilein with a 
difficult decision on who to insert 
into the starting lineup.

Freshman forward Kameron 

Chatman had the most experience 
starting, as he did for the first two 
months of the season, but Beilein 
thought it would be better to stay 
with the smaller lineup for the 
sake of consistency. Accordingly, 
he turned to freshman guard 
Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-

Rahkman alongside sophomore 
guard Derrick Walton Jr. in 
the backcourt. And both young 
guards delivered.

Walton looked as sharp as he 

has since sustaining a toe injury 
against Villanova on Nov. 25, 
making more deliberate cuts 
and moving better away from 
the ball. He was even able to find 

more open space, getting free and 
shooting an impressive 4-for-6 
from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, Abdur-Rahkman 

held his own and kept up with the 
tempo of the game, even coming 
up with a few key buckets for 
the Wolverines (4-2 Big Ten, 11-7 
overall). With 8:17 remaining, 
LeVert 
saw 
Abdur-Rahkman 

cutting to the rim in transition, 
hitting the freshman for a smooth 
layup to tie the game at 45.

His nine points were the third 

highest on the team behind 
LeVert and Walton, and none 
of them were bigger than his 
dagger 3-pointer with just under 
a minute to play, extending the 
Wolverines’ lead to 56-52. 

“I think it’s big, especially 

for the rest of our season, to 
have these guys sort of out of 
their comfort zone playing big 
minutes,” Bielfeldt said. “With 
Muhammad doing that tonight, 
you know when Spike is back 

he’s probably not going to start, 
he’s probably going to come 
off the bench with a lot more 
enthusiasm.”

Early in the game, LeVert 

and Walton appeared as though 
they would carry Michigan to a 
runaway win. LeVert unleashed 
a wicked crossover before finding 
Walton for a corner triple eight 
minutes into the game, then 
followed it up with a 3-pointer of 
his own on the next possession to 
give Michigan an early 21-11 lead. 
The back-to-back threes were 
part of an 18-0 Wolverine run in 
the first half.

But Northwestern (1-4, 10-8) 

answered, riding 13 first-half 
points from Olah and a buzzer-
beater at the end of the first frame 
to take a 32-31 lead into halftime. 
The Wildcats went on to stretch 
their lead to large as five points 
in the second half before Abdur-
Rahkman tied the game and hit 
the eventual game-winner.

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman hit a key 3-pointer late in the game after starting for the first time this season.

Behind Enemy Lines: 
Rutgers’ Myles Mack

By DANIEL FELDMAN

Daily Sports Editor

Even with an injury report 

that grows by the day, the Big 
Ten schedule won’t wait for the 
Michigan 
men’s 
basketball 
team to get 
healthy. 
Tuesday, 
the 
Wolverines 
(4-2 
Big 
Ten, 

11-7 overall) will travel to 
Piscataway to take on Rutgers.

While 
not 
much 
was 

expected this season from the 
Scarlet Knights (2-4, 10-9), 
they recently turned heads 
with an upset over then-No. 4 
Wisconsin. They have since lost 
to Minnesota and Maryland, 
but Tuesday’s game may not be 
a cupcake game for Michigan, 
as it was once billed.

Leading the Scarlet Knights 

is senior guard Myles Mack, 
who averages 14.7 points and 
4.5 assists.

The Daily sat down with 

Mack at Big Ten Media Day 
in October to talk about the 
transition to the Big Ten, 
expectations in the tougher 
conference and how former 
NBA coach Eddie Jordan has 
handled the switch to coaching 
college basketball.

The Michigan Daily: Are 

you excited to see more of the 
Midwest this year after being 
on the East Coast a lot in the 
early parts of your time at 
Rutgers?

Myles Mack: It’s a great 

opportunity to come out to the 
Midwest and play these great 
teams. (I’m) just happy to have 
the opportunity to do that.

TMD: Is it going to be a hard 

transition to play in your third 

different league in three years?

MM: 
No, 
I 
mean, 
the 

transitions haven’t been that 
bad. I mean, it’s just basketball, 
so at the end of the day it’s the 
same thing.

TMD: Are people buying 

into his message? Is he teaching 
different things? What exactly 
is he trying to do to connect the 
team?

MM: He’s just trying to 

connect the team the best way he 
can. He’s getting us to do more 
things off the court together. (He 
wants us) to make better bonds, 
better chemistry. He’s just doing 
a lot more different activities off 
the court and getting after us in 
practice also.

TMD: Coach Jordan has said 

he’s always willing to talk about 
his career. Are there any stories 
that have stuck to you or your 
teammates?

MM: Yeah, man — him 

making it to the Final Four in 
’76. He just talks about that all 
the time. He says anything is 
possible, so we’re just trying to 
work hard and get there one day.

TMD: In 1976, Rutgers lost 

to Michigan in the Final Four. 
Since you play Michigan twice 
this year, do you think he might 
bring that up, try to rev you up 
before those games?

MM: Yeah, I’m sure he will. 

He doesn’t bring it up that often, 
but I’m sure on that occasion 
he will bring it up just to put 
something in our heads about 
the opportunity.

TMD: What’s the goal for 

this year?

MM: Of course, the goal is to 

make the NCAA Tournament, 
just like every college team. 
We’re just trying to get as many 
wins as we can. That’s all we 
can really worry about right 
now.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

BEHIND
ENEMY
LINES

Michigan improves 
in conference debut

By CINDY YU 

Daily Sports Writer

From the uneven bars to the 

balance beam and the floor exer-
cise to the vault, the No. 4 Michi-
gan women’s gymnastics team 
showed improvements on each 
event in its first Big Ten meet.

The Wolverines hit all 24 of 

their routines on Saturday, took 
home top honors on every event 
and swept the podium in the all-
around competition. Senior Sachi 
Sugiyama and freshman Brianna 
Brown scored their career-best 
totals of 39.450 and 39.375 to 
place first and third, respectively. 
Sophomore Nicole Artz finished 
second with a score of 39.400.

Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 3-0 

overall) scored 196.975 to defeat 
No. 20 Ohio State (195.025) and 
West Virginia (194.175) at St. 
John Arena in Columbus.

Though the margin of victory 

may not seem significant, the 
improvements in scores don’t 
begin to do their performances 
justice. At No. 10 Georgia last 
weekend, the Wolverines tallied 
196.600 to set their highest-scor-
ing season opener in program 
history.

Michigan started out on bars, 

an event in which the six com-
petitors in the lineup swept the 
top six spots.

Freshman Nichelle Christo-

pherson set the tone for the rest 
of the lineup by leading off on 
uneven bars. Her score of 9.825 
matched the performance of 
junior Briley Casanova in the 
anchor position.

Sandwiched in between their 

routines, Sugiyama and Artz 
both scored 9.850 to improve 
upon their scores from the pre-
vious week. Brown — named Big 
Ten Freshman of the Week for 
the second consecutive week — 
set a career-best 9.875 on bars 
to rank among the top 20 in the 
country. Junior Lindsay Wil-
liams also topped her career high 
by earning a 9.925.

After the first rotation, Michi-

gan led the Buckeyes and the 
Mountaineers 49.325 to 48.900 

and 48.725, respectively.

Beam 
was 
an 
especially 

impressive event for the Wol-
verines. Michigan’s 49.225 score 
propelled it to the top nationl 
ranking for the event.

A West Chester, Ohio native 

making her homecoming to the 
state, Brown led the team with a 
career-high 9.875 routine.

“As a freshman, Brianna con-

tinues to just impress me tremen-
dously,” Plocki said. “She’s proven 
to be a really dynamic competitor 
and very, very consistent.”

In her return to the beam line-

up, Casanova led off with a score 
of 9.800.

Sugiyama scored her career-

best 9.850 in just her second 
competition on the beam since 
freshman year.

“Sachi has really just come 

into her own this year,” Plocki 
said. “She just competes with so 
much more aggressiveness and 
confidence than she had when 
she came in as a freshman.”

Artz and her sophomore coun-

terpart Talia Chiarelli tied Sugi-
yama in back-to-back routines, 
with both currently tied for No. 
7 in the NCAA standings on the 
event.

Just like the bars squad, the 

entire Michigan floor lineup 
in the six-up five-count format 
placed in the top six. The scores 
escalated throughout the night, 
with Williams leading off with a 
9.800 routine and Artz capping 
the rotation by tying her career 
high with a score of 9.950.

“My favorite part of compet-

ing is cheering on the sidelines of 
floor,” Brown said. “I love doing 
everybody else’s routines and 
then cheering them on, giving 
out high fives and seeing their 
faces at the end of their routines. 
They’re just so happy and there’s 
such raw emotion. It’s unlike 
anything I’ve ever seen.”

Heading into the final rota-

tion, Michigan led by over a point 
with a total of 147.800.

On vault, Sugiyama highlight-

ed the event with a stuck Yurch-
enko 1.5 in the anchor position, 
earning her a 9.925 score.

WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS

