8A — Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Former players reflect
By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
It was like Nik Stauskas hadn’t
missed a step when he was told to
go in a corner of the Crisler Center
media room for an interview.
Into the far left end of the
room Stauskas went, back in his
usual spot for postgame interview
sessions. The former Wolverine
was at ease in his home for two
collegiate seasons at Michigan.
It’s far different than the year
he has experienced so far with the
Sacramento Kings.
The rookie has averaged just
13.6 minutes per game so far while
producing a mere 3.4 points per
contest. To boot, Stauskas will
now have his third head coach in
53 games with George Karl now
on board.
The NBA has been a culture
shock for Stauskas. No longer is he
the No. 1 option on offense. Now,
he’s lucky to get a couple of shots
per game, or even a few minutes.
That’s why his little stopover in
Ann Arbor means so much to him.
“It’s been different for me,” he
said. “I’m used to being here at
Michigan. For two years we had a
lot of stability — coaches, a lot of
the same players.”
Being back in Ann Arbor gave
Stauskas the chance to emphasize
the importance of the rivalry
between Michigan and Michigan
State in a pregame speech to the
current team.
While his main message to the
team was to simply have fun, it
was clear he still wished he could
help the Wolverines, as evidenced
by his joke that he wanted “to
steal (Andrew) Dakich’s jersey
for a couple of minutes and go out
there.”
However, watching from the
stands would have to do.
“It’s just one of those things
when you see Michigan State on
the other side of the court,” he
said. “There’s a part of me that no
matter what, I always want to go
out there and have an effect on the
game. That’s just what this rivalry
does to you after a few years. It’s
different being on the sidelines
and watching the game there.”
Stauskas
wasn’t
the
only
former Wolverine who returned
to Michigan on Tuesday. Also
making a cameo was Glenn
Robinson
III,
now
of
the
Minnesota Timberwolves.
Similar to Stauskas, Robinson
has had to adjust to finding his
niche in the NBA. While more was
expected of Stauskas, the eighth
overall pick of last year’s draft,
Robinson, a second-round pick,
is using this year to grow into his
body.
When
Robinson
was
at
Michigan,
fans
consistently
wondered about when he would
leave for the NBA.
With Caris LeVert potentially
facing a similar dilemma at the
end of this season, Robinson
wanted the junior guard to know
that he should talk to him before
making any final decision.
“I told Caris when that time
comes at the end of the season,
whenever that might be, to give
me a call and we’ll talk,” he said.
“I know how it is to be in that
situation, the pressure that you
feel.”
The third former Wolverine
to return to Crisler was Jordan
Morgan. While Robinson spoke
with the team on Monday and
Stauskas made his own speech
prior to the game Tuesday,
Morgan also wanted to make
to sure the team understood
the importance of the rivalry
game when he spoke with the
Wolverines
before
Tuesday’s
game.
“I just wanted to stress to
our team the importance of this
Michigan State game and the
fact that what you do in this
game against Michigan State
to
everybody
around
these
programs,” Morgan said. “This
game means everything. It doesn’t
matter what you accomplish that
year, whether you don’t do well or
you go to the championship, what
people are going to remember is
what you did in that game.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Slow first half dooms ‘M’
in blowout loss to MSU
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman contributed 12 points in Michigan’s double-digit defeat.
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
For most of the second half
Tuesday night, Michigan and
Michigan State gave fans the
basketball
game
they
were
expecting — a back-and-forth,
high-
energy
affair.
The
problem was that Michigan
State went into the half already
up by 15, and while Michigan
looked
vastly
improved
in
second frame, the Spartans
never slowed down.
Michigan State used a highly
efficient
offensive
attack,
spearheaded
by
Branden
Dawson and Travis Trice, to
stifle any chance of a Wolverine
comeback,
cruising
to
an
80-67 win at Crisler Center
and handing Michigan its fifth
straight loss.
Trice and Dawson finished
with
22
and
23
points,
respectively, and led a Spartan
team that shot 62 percent from
the floor. Dominating both the
floor and the air space down
low, Dawson in particular made
his presence felt, adding 13
rebounds, four of them on the
offensive glass.
“Dawson was at an elite level
as far as scoring over people,”
said
Michigan
coach
John
Beilein. “He played as high up
in Crisler as anyone has ever
played since I’ve been here. He
really did some great things.”
Perhaps his most important
contribution,
though,
was
that his performance in the
offensive post kept Michigan
from clawing back into the
game
in
the
second
half.
Whereas the Wolverines have
made up for poor first halves
with monster comebacks in
other games, Dawson made
sure that when Michigan made
its run, it didn’t amount to
much.
And
Michigan
did
make
its
run.
Freshman
guard
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-
Rahkman
hit
back-to-back
3-pointers on the Wolverines’
first two possessions of the half
and a jumper from the key on
their third, but it was always
met with a response from the
Spartans.
Dawson and Gavin Schilling
hit floaters, grabbed offensive
rebounds
and
threw
down
thunderous dunks to prevent
Michigan
from
generating
much momentum.
The Wolverines’ hot start
included 12 points in the first
5:09 of the second half, but that
spurt only got them within 11.
Michigan trimmed the margin
to as slim as 10 points in the
second half, but didn’t have
nearly enough to erase the wide
halftime deficit.
“The problem is, we were
going on our runs, we were
scoring the basketball, we were
just trading buckets,” said junior
guard Spike Albrecht. “You’ve
got to be able to get stops to go
on runs, and things like that and
we just couldn’t seem to get that
one stop or that one big rebound
to get us over the hump. You’ve
got to credit them for that.”
The game got out of hand
early, as the Wolverines trailed
38-23 at the end of the first half
and looked bad doing so. The
Spartans used a 3-point barrage
from guards Travis Trice, Bryn
Forbes and Lourawls “Tum
Tum” Nairn to build their lead
to as much as 19.
Part of that huge tally was the
fact that Michigan State simply
couldn’t be stopped, shooting
16-for-27 from the field in the
first half. Dawson shot 4-for-4
from the floor in the opening
frame and Trice was 4-for-
7, including 75 percent from
behind the arc.
But the Wolverines couldn’t
get anything going on offense
to counter in the first half.
Sophomore forward Zak Irvin
scored
Michigan’s
first
six
points on three layups, but the
Wolverines struggled mightily,
especially when forced into
jump shots.
Michigan State’s persistence
made a comeback too tall a task
for Michigan, despite the fact
that the Wolverines actually
outscored the Spartans in the
second half. Michigan State,
which hadn’t won at Crisler
Center
since
2010,
simply
wouldn’t let this one slip away.
“We were going to have
to
everything
right
(to
make a comeback) and we
didn’t do that,” Beilein said.
“That first-half lead was not
insurmountable. We’ve done
that before. It’s tough against
these guys, just because they
get
their
second-chance
opportunities, and they didn’t
get wild and crazy with the
ball. They didn’t turn the ball
over. … They didn’t help us
get back in. They didn’t beat
themselves.”
MICH. STATE
MICHIGAN
80
67