By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

It didn’t matter that the

message was obvious, a bit
cliché, maybe even overdone
in the days leading up to the
Michigan
men’s
basketball

team’s first game following
junior guard Caris LeVert’s
season-ending foot injury.

Aubrey
Dawkins
was

listening.

In his first career start, the

freshman guard answered his
coaches’ call for a “next man
up,” and then some. Dawkins
scored 11 points, one shy of
tying the team high, on 4-for-
8 field-goal shooting Tuesday
night to propel the Wolverines
to a 54-50 victory at Rutgers.

Among
Dawkins’

contributions was a crucial, late-
game 3-pointer from the corner
to cut the Scarlet Knights’
lead to three before Michigan
topped off the comeback with
a 20-10 run in the game’s final
eight minutes.

His on-the-mark shooting

notwithstanding,
one
of

Dawkins’
more
impressive

plays was his decision to pass
up an open look at a 3-pointer
following a missed trey attempt
from
senior
guard
Spike

Albrecht.

Dawkins wisely opted to

leave the ball for Albrecht near
mid-court. Albrecht then ran
the shot clock down and found
senior forward Max Bielfeldt for
his own open look at a 3-pointer.
Bielfeldt
converted,
giving

Michigan a six-point lead with
just three minutes remaining.

“It
was
a
close
game,”

Dawkins said. “I didn’t want to
rush into another 3, especially
because I had missed a long one
previously.”

Plagued by health issues in

recent weeks, the Wolverines
struggled through a first half
in which sophomore forward

Zak Irvin was confined to the
bench by two personal fouls.
Freshman forward Ricky Doyle
also removed himself from the
game due to illness.

As a result, Michigan coach

John Beilein used a slew of
rarely seen players in the first
period.

Sophomore

forward Sean
Lonergan
entered
the
game

with
13:33

remaining
in

the first half,
recording
two
points

and a defensive rebound in 13
minutes.

In a surprise move, sophomore

guard Andrew Dakich checked
in with 12 minutes to play in
the first period. Dakich had yet
to appear in a game this season,
and
Beilein
had
previously

announced he would redshirt.

“(Dakich) had told me a

couple weeks ago about burning

the redshirt, because he thought
he could help the team,” Beilein
said. “We double checked and
we double checked and we
double checked, and he wanted
to do it.”

Even
sophomore
guard

Derrick Walton Jr. was limited

by a nagging
toe
injury

on his right
foot, but he
still led the
Wolverines
in
scoring

with 12 points
on
2-for-8

shooting
for

the field. Both

field goals were 3-pointers, and
the rest of Walton’s points came
on 6-for-6 shooting from the
free-throw line.

“I thought he was shooting

not to miss instead of shooting
to make,” Beilein said. “He
had a look-off of a play and we
directed him to shoot it. Then
next time he hit a shot.”

While Walton has shown

signs
of
being
Michigan’s

defensive keystone in recent
weeks, he wasn’t able to control
the flow of the Rutgers offense
singlehandedly, and man-to-
man defensive coverage wasn’t
always an option.

Beilein often opted for a

2-3 zone look on defense, a
departure
from
Michigan’s

more typical man-to-man and
1-3-1 alignments, to compensate
for his shorthanded squad’s lack
of size and experience.

“I think we just go with

whatever matches up best with
the opposing team’s offense,”
Dawkins said. “If it’s not a
great-shooting team, it’s a good
option for us.”

Rutgers converted on just

19 of its 53 field-goal attempts,
a shade under 36 percent for
the game. The Scarlet Knights
struggled from the line, too.
Free-throw shooting accounted
for more than the difference in
the final score — Michigan shot
12-for-14 from the line while
Rutgers went 7-for-14.

8A — Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

GOOD KNIGHT
Henry bonds ‘M’
after home meet

By BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer

Michigan coach James Henry

brings out the best in his athletes
when they are familiar with their
surroundings. During his post-
meet team talk Saturday at the
Simmons-Harvey
Invitational,

Henry made every athlete with
parents in attendance stand up
and introduce them to the team.

“I try to make all the student-

athletes on the team inclusive,”
Henry said. “I try to get
everybody
in,

the parents in,
because that’s
what
makes

everybody
comfortable.
If the kids feel
comfortable
about
each

other,
they’ll

feel the same
about
their

performances.”

Track and field is a highly

individualized
sport.
When

athletes step onto the track,
they set goals around personal
records
and
individual

accomplishments.

Henry wants to change that

definition. He wants his athletes
to be comfortable on and off
the track, and that starts with
making the individualized sport
a team one.

“Individual and team growth

is success,” Henry said. “If
you define success as winning,
everyone is going to lose except
one person.”

Henry’s mentality has already

reaped its benefits early in the
season.
Michigan
won
five

events and had 13 athletes post
personal
records
Saturday.

Henry
doesn’t
want
those

personal achievements to go
unnoticed. He asks his team
after every meet if it has any

“shout-ins,” an opportunity for
team members to share their
best moment of the day.

“You gotta say where you’re

at,” Henry said. “You got to be
willing to say ‘I did a good job,’
or you got to say ‘I did a crappy
job.’ You got to internally know
where you’re at and be willing
to share, because that’s what life
is.”

Just like any family, Henry

says
his
team
has
to
be

constructive with one another.
Following ‘shout-ins,’ he asks the

team if it has
any
“shout-

outs”
about

the
athletes’

performance,
positive
or

negative.

Saturday,

teammates
recognized
one
another

for
their

personal

records, but there was some
criticism of the Wolverines’ lack
of enthusiasm on the sidelines.
Henry said the team needs to
improve on having energy off the
track, and believes the “shout-
outs” are the best reminder for
the team to try and fix these
problems constructively.

“Having individual growth

is something you need,” Henry
said. “But it also helps if
someone’s
saying
something

nice about you or knows what’s
going on with you, and to me
that’s just as important.”

While his athletes still may

focus
on
developing
their

individual
times,
distances

and
heights,
Henry
always

makes sure there is always a
focus on growing as a team. If
there’s anyone who’s as proud
of the athletes on the track as
the parents, it’s the coach who
guides them everyday.

“You gotta say
where you’re at
... because that’s

what life is.”

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Hua, Steinberg
bring fresh faces

Freshman Hua
wins at No. 4

singles in coach
Steinberg’s debut

By KEVIN SANTO

Daily Sports Writer

One impacts the game with

a racquet. The other impacts
the game with a clipboard. But
one thing is clear: Both are
changing the Michigan men’s
tennis team in their own way.

Coming off a fall season

in which he posted a team-
best 6-3 record, freshman Leo
Hua drew high expectations
from first-year coach Adam
Steinberg.

As the Wolverines faced

off against Western Michigan
Tuesday
night,
Hua

didn’t
disappoint.

Hua

defeated
Broncos
junior Ruben
Greiner at the
No. 4 singles
position,
easily taking
the first set,
6-1. The second set proved to
be more of a challenge, as Hua
found himself in a 0-3 hole.
But the freshman bounced
back, exhibiting an effective
combination of both power and
precision to win the second set
6-4.

“(In the first set) I thought I

had to be consistent,” Hua said.
“I started taking time away,
and he was just missing. I broke
him really quick, went up 3-1
and ran away with the first set.

“In the start of the second

set, I got broken. I was less
aggressive,
and
when
I’m

defending I’m not as good of a
player.”

Ultimately,
Hua
found

his stroke and became the
aggressor, helping contribute
to Michigan’s 6-1 win over
Western Michigan.

Though
the
Wolverines’

performance was impressive
even on paper, one thing didn’t
make it into the box score: the
team’s camaraderie, something
that lacked last season. In his
first year at the helm, Steinberg
knew that had to change. And it
showed.

Throughout
the

meet,
exclamations
of

encouragement rang through
the Varsity Tennis Center,
and cries of “Let’s Go Blue!”
drifted up to the rafters, urging
the Wolverines onto victory—
exactly what Steinberg wanted
to see.

“My philosophy for 26 years

is that college tennis is about
playing for each other, is about

making
your

teammates
better,”
Steinberg
said.
“Team

first, yourself
second. That’s
what we work
on
every

single day in
practice.”

Steinberg

stressed

that a team mentality is vital
to move the program in the
right direction. Specifically,
he expressed his desire to
put Michigan on the national
tennis scene and to capture
Big
Ten
championships.

Though the Wolverines have
a young team, highlighted by
individuals like Hua, Steinberg
revealed that the team still has
great potential.

“I want them to become great

team players,” Steinberg said.
“We play for the University of
Michigan. It’s not about you,
it’s about playing for this great
university. Once they (learn
that), our program will go
through the roof.”

Michigan rolls WMU in opener

Petrone paces

Wolverines to easy

home win

By SYED FAHD AHSAN

Daily Sports Writer

If Tuesday’s meet is any

indication, the Michigan men’s
tennis team has a lot to smile
about.

In

their first
meet
of

the
dual-

match season, the Wolverines
took on Western Michigan.
Michigan won, 6-1, to claim its
13th straight season-opening
win.

Sophomore
duo
Tyler

Gardiner and Kevin Wong,
taking on the Broncos’ Stephen
Payne
and
Matt
Hamilton,

made quick work in their match
in doubles play, going up 4-0
early on and taking the set 6-2.

Seniors Alex Petrone and

Michael
Zhu
had
similar

success, winning their set 6-3
and breaking the Broncos twice
along the way. Petrone and
Zhu’s win sealed the doubles
point, leaving the third doubles
match contested by freshmen
Runhao Hua and Carter Lin
incomplete.

“Me
and
Michael,
we’ve

been playing together for four
years,” Petrone said. “We know
how to play together, and I love
playing with him. We feed off
each other, and we played really
well.”

Despite

not being able
to finish his
doubles match,
Lin got things
going for the
Wolverines
early in singles
play. Lin took
the first set 6-4, and easily won
the second set, 6-2.

Michigan went up 3-0 when

Hua proved too much to handle
for Bronco Greiner. Hua won
the first set 6-1, but the second
proved to be more complicated.

Greiner went up 3-0 early on,
but despite the setback, Hua
ended the match in two sets and
won 6-4.

Western
Michigan’s
lone

point came courtesy of Matt
Hamilton, who beat Wong in
straight sets. Hamilton broke
Wong early on in the first set
and went on to win it 6-4.
The second set proved more
interesting, with both players
trading breaks. Wong recovered
from a 4-1 deficit to even the set
at 5-5, only to lose 7-5.

At the No. 3

spot, redshirt
freshman
Alex
Knight

won his first
set 6-4, and
sealed
the

match
in
a

second-set

tiebreaker.

“I wasn’t playing too well,”

Knight said. “But I knew if I
stayed composed, and kept
playing my game, I’d come out
on top. He held a lot of deuce
points, and I had a few too. But,

we were both serving well. It
was tough to break, so the score
was pretty close.”

Knight’s
success
in
a

contested match is rare for a
player in his first college game.
His match showed why he is
Michigan’s lone ranked player.

“Highest-ranked,
but

definitely not the best,” Knight
said. “That distinction goes to
Alex Petrone. I don’t know why
he’s not ranked, but just wait
two weeks and he’ll definitely
be top 50.”

Petrone’s first set proved to

be a long ordeal, but he came
out on top courtesy of a 9-7
tiebreaker. He won the second
set overwhelmingly, 6-3.

“I just played every point the

best that I could,” Petrone said.
“His serve was really strong, and
I just had to get a return back to
try and control the game. It’s
interesting with deuce scoring
because you never know what
to expect — it’s a sudden-death
point. But the second set was
easier because I got a rhythm
going and knew what to expect.”

MEN’S TENNIS

“I started taking
time away, and

he was just
missing.”

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Senior Alex Petrone won his singles match, 7-6, 6-3, and his doubles match in Michigan’s dual-match debut against Western Michigan.

W. MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN

1
6

“We feed off
each other.”

MEL EVANS/AP

Senior forward Max Bielfeldt totaled eight points and eight rebounds as Michigan knocked off Rutgers on the road.

“He thought he
could help the

team.”

MICHIGAN 54, RUTGERS 50