BSportsMonday
n Michigan hockey beat Michigan
State outdoors at Soldier Field, 4-1,
despite questionable ice conditions.
Page 4B
TIME TICKING
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | February 9, 2015
n Michigan continues to compete, but
that might not matter in March, writes
Greg Garno.
SportsMonday Column, Page 2B
Irvin, former Mr. Basketball,
scores team-high 23 in
return to home state
By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
BLOOMINGTON
—
Emotions
were
undoubtedly high for Zak Irvin. The 2013
Indiana Mr. Basketball was back in his home
state and “jacked up” to help the Michigan
men’s basketball team defeat Indiana.
Being the ringleader of a team dominated by
Indiana natives — five in total — Irvin was going
to have to step up if Michigan (6-6 Big Ten, 13-11
overall) stood a chance against the Hoosiers.
But the sophomore forward needed to do
more than just score on the court to help
his team win — he also had to be in the game
mentally and manage his emotions.
And in the first half, Irvin didn’t think he did
that.
In the middle of an up-and-down season
that started with Irvin being seen as the heir
apparent to junior guard Caris LeVert’s role last
year as the second in command on offense, Irvin
has struggled adjusting his game to be more
than just a shooter.
With 80 more attempts coming into Sunday’s
game compared to last year’s season total,
Irvin’s had to adjust to carrying a bigger load,
impacting his shooting percentage, currently
five percent lower than last year’s.
Having stayed in Ann Arbor for Camp
Sanderson over the summer to add on strength
and weight, Irvin was expected to be more
of a stretch-four this year, rather than a small
forward who would come in off the bench just to
shoot when open. But as Michigan lost and the
pressure grew for Irvin to produce, the stress
got to him.
“He’s had some emotion earlier in the year
that was not good,” said Michigan coach John
Beilein. “He would get down on himself. And
now he can handle it much more.”
Sunday, though, Irvin showed progress both
physically and mentally, finishing with a team-
leading 23 points.
“He’s got his head on right, and he knows
that everybody has parts of their game they
need to work on,” Beilein said. “And he realizes
what some of those are, and he’s working on
them. So, it showed today. Taking the ball to the
basket and selecting those times to take it to the
basket.”
Despite the shaky start, Irvin displayed
confidence in the second half. He was calm
playing the last 20 minutes, getting others
involved, being aggressive and encouraging
others.
Playing on such a young team, an added
responsibility for Irvin has been to be more
vocal. And by playing in an arena so dear to him,
that presence was needed more than ever.
“He was passionate about winning the game
today and talking to the team,” Beilein said of
Irvin. “That’s an issue with a young team — we
are very silent. It’s hard for some guys to come
out of that, and even as a sophomore, and say,
‘Hey, we’ve got to talk.’ ”
Abdur-Rahkman’s 3 falls
short at buzzer, Michigan
loses upset bid at Indiana
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
BLOOMINGTON — Before the season
started, Michigan basketball coach John Beilein
gave his team a poem. Titled, “It Was One
Possession” by Jeff Smith, the poem describes
a series of small mistakes that seem mild at the
time, but ultimately add up to a loss.
The poem ends,
“In post game I sit at my locker,
Pondering what more I could do.
I realize the value of each possession,
what a shame that we lost by two.”
And on Sunday, months after he read the
poem but only moments after his team lost
its third final-possession game in the last two
weeks, junior guard Spike Albrecht started
looking back on the smallest things that
could’ve gone differently.
Freshman guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman’s game-tying corner 3-point attempt
bounced off the rim, inches shy of sending
Michigan into overtime, resulting in a 70-67
win for Indiana on Sunday at Assembly Hall.
But that wasn’t one of the possessions he
wanted back most.
“Yeah, I mean, it came down to the last
possession and things like that, but there were
silly mistakes we made throughout the game,”
Albrecht said. “I turned the ball over on the
inbounds play, and it was within three, that
could have been the difference. There was
probably 10 different plays that if you take one
or two those back, we might be celebrating right
now in the locker room.”
But while Albrecht’s retrospective sentiments
are the perfect embodiment of the poem, they
leave out just how tough the Wolverines (6-6
Big Ten, 13-11 overall) made it on Indiana.
While Indiana (7-4, 17-7) led nearly the entire
game and ultimately won a thriller, Michigan
kept itself alive for much of the game using spurts
of scoring it hadn’t shown since losing junior
guard Caris LeVert to a broken foot in January.
Sophomore forward Zak Irvin had 23 points,
one shy of his career high, and freshman center
Ricky Doyle added 15 points and six rebounds.
“(Irvin is) doing much better at just picking
his spots,” Beilein said. “He’s learning those
things that give him a lot of latitude to explore
these different options. He’s so much more
than a shooter. He showed some of those things
today, and he made some really tough outside
shots that we needed at big times.”
For all of the well-deserved praise Irvin
and the Wolverines earned after the game,
the Hoosiers nearly buried Michigan early.
When Indiana guard Yogi Ferrell wasn’t hitting
big jump shots, forward Troy Williams was
throwing down monstrous dunks and freshman
guard James Blackmon Jr. was carving up the
middle of the Michigan defense.
The Wolverines, however, weren’t going away.
ASSEMBLY
FALL
OUTDOOR WINNERS
See MICHIGAN, Page 2B
See IRVIN, Page 2B
Photos by ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Michigan 67
Indiana 70