Michigan comeback
falls short in
overtime vs. sixth-
ranked Badgers
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
On the first possession of the game
Saturday, the Michigan men’s basket-
ball team forced the shot clock all the
way down, hoping No. 6 Wisconsin
would force up a tough shot. Instead,
point guard Bronson Koenig beat
sophomore guard Derrick Walton
Jr. to the rim for an easy layup at the
buzzer.
That theme persisted for most
of the evening: No matter what
the Wolverines tried, it seemed
they could never make Wisconsin
uncomfortable for long enough to
seize control.
Two hours later, the Badgers felt
uncomfortable — headed to over-
time, on the road, on a Saturday
night, in front of a sellout crowd —
and it was none other than Walton
who did it.
With 1.3 seconds left, after Michi-
gan (5-3 Big Ten, 12-8 overall) had
fought back from three different sig-
nificant deficits, Walton drained a
3-pointer from the left wing to tie the
game and send it to overtime.
But when play resumed, Wis-
consin (6-1, 18-2) quickly gave the
Wolverines had another deficit to
overcome. And this one was too
much.
“I don’t think we’re at a stage
where, unless we’re on fire and hit-
ting every shot, … that we can expect
to be ahead a lot in games,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein. “We’re
going to have to come from behind
and just stay solid.”
Frank
Kaminsky
opened
the
extra possession with a three-point
play after a blocking foul on Michi-
gan freshman forward Ricky Doyle,
and Wisconsin’s Josh Gasser added
a 3-pointer on the next possession.
Kaminsky’s basket put the Badgers
ahead for good, and he finished with
22 points and nine rebounds.
“Let’s face it: He’s one of the best
players in the country,” Ryan said.
“I don’t say that very often. … Frank
means a lot to this team.”
The Wolverines fought back to
within four with two minutes left,
but gave up an offensive rebound
before getting the ball back on a
charge with under a minute to go.
Then, Michigan looked to Walton
again, but the Badgers denied him
and iced the game at the line to hold
on for a 69-64 victory at Crisler Cen-
ter.
“We knew going into this game
that it was going to be a dogfight,
that it wasn’t going to be easy,” said
sophomore forward Zak Irvin. “We
wanted to go get this one, especially
in front of the great atmosphere we
had today. We thought we executed
the game plan really well when we
took them to overtime.”
Down by four with under two
minutes left, Walton and Irvin each
missed 3-pointers, extending the
team’s late scoring drought to two
minutes. Gasser also missed with a
minute to go, and Michigan again
had a chance to draw within one pos-
session.
Koenig split a pair of free throws
with 20.4 seconds on the clock, giv-
ing Michigan another chance down
three. Walton calmly sank two foul
shots to draw the Wolverines within
one and set up his late triple.
For a time, it looked as though
BSportsMonday
TREADING LIGHTLY
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | January 26, 2015
n Test your knowledge
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Greg Garno’s SportsMonday
Column. Page 2B
J
ohn Beilein started
his morning in Crisler
Center’s north tunnel,
telling
Austin Hatch
that he was
“going to do
just fine.”
As the pair
was prepped
to appear live
on ESPN’s
College
Gameday,
the 1,000 or
so Michigan
students who spent their
Saturday morning representing
their school on television
chanted Hatch’s name.
As ESPN previewed a feature
about the freshman guard’s
life story on the video board,
its subject sat beneath. As the
film rolled, showing the two
plane crashes that took the lives
of Hatch’s mother, siblings,
father and stepmother, Beilein
wiped away tears. He placed a
reassuring hand on Hatch’s leg
as GameDay continued through
audio of 911 calls and images of
mangled propeller planes.
The guests and hosts talked
about Hatch’s recovery and
what it meant for him to play
for Michigan. The video board
played the highlight of Hatch’s
first point at Crisler Center,
a free throw in an exhibition
game against Wayne State on
Nov. 10.
Then ESPN’s Jay Williams
DEFLATED
See MICHIGAN, Page 3B
The best of
both Beileins
LEV
FACHER
See BEILEIN, Page 2B
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