DOWN
8 — Friday, March 13, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The top-seeded
Badgers await
Michigan in second-
round matchup
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
CHICAGO
—
When
the
Michigan men’s basketball team
took on Illinois in the second
round of the Big Ten tournament
Thursday, it was a team with
nothing to lose versus one with
everything to lose.
And in the Wolverines 73-55
blowout win, “nothing to lose”
prevailed. Buoyed by a burst of
energy at the start, Michigan
was all over a sluggish Illini
team from the opening tip.
Friday,
though,
the
Wolverines will face a much
stiffer test when they take on No.
1 seed Wisconsin. The Badgers
have only NCAA Tournament
seeding position on the line, and
with their smart, veteran lineup,
they’re a safe
bet
to
be
steady on the
big stage at the
United Center.
But with a
resounding
win
over
the Illini in
hand,
the
Wolverines
aren’t ready to concede to the
tournament favorites.
“I think we match up pretty
good,” said freshman forward
Kameron Chatman. “I think
we’re gonna come out with the
same energy we did today and
hopefully get the victory. …
We’re not ready to go home yet.”
The last time Michigan met
the Badgers — a 69-64 Wisconsin
win on Jan. 24 — just about
everything was different for
the Wolverines. They were still
searching for an identity after
junior
guard
Caris
LeVert’s
season-ending
foot
injury,
and sophomore guard Derrick
Walton Jr. was still in the lineup.
Friday, with Walton doubtful,
the Wolverines will be relying
on sophomore guard Zak Irvin,
junior
guard
Spike Albrecht
and freshman
guard Aubrey
Dawkins
for
their
offense.
To be fair, they
were
leaning
on those three
in
the
last
meeting
too.
But Friday, the three are much
safer bets to generate offense.
Against
the
Illini,
Irvin
finished with 14 points, six
rebounds and six assists. He
made plays he wouldn’t have
dreamed of making in late
January, with timely passes
through traffic and rebounds
over much taller players.
He scored 12 points on 5-for-
15 shooting in the earlier game
against Wisconsin. Now, he’s
evolved to a level where the
Badgers won’t be able to rely on
him simply throwing up a prayer
with the shot clock dwindling.
At
the
other
wing
spot,
Dawkins has developed into
a reliable shooter, a far cry
from his three points on 1-for-3
shooting in January.
But while this isn’t the same
Michigan team, this is the same
Wisconsin team. And that’s what
the Wolverines will be worried
about.
“They’re
an
extremely
good team, they’re extremely
fundamental and they can all
shoot,” Albrecht said. “We’re just
going to need to do some things
to keep them to mix up defenses,
keep them out of a good rhythm.
“That’s the one thing about
Wisconsin:
They
don’t
beat
themselves. You’re going to have
to beat them.”
The Badgers trot out a starting
five that includes a National
Player of the Year candidate in
seven-footer Frank Kaminsky, a
bona fide scorer in Sam Dekker,
an athletic swingman in Nigel
Hayes and a gifted backcourt
of Josh Gasser and Bronson
Koenig.
With those five, Wisconsin
can score from anywhere on the
court. And it does. Kaminsky
is one of the deadliest inside-
outside threats in the nation, and
he had a 22-point field day the
last time he took on Michigan.
The tall task
of
guarding
him
could
go
to
senior
forward
Max
Bielfeldt,
who
has
somehow
been
able
to
outperform
bigger
centers
multiple
times
this
season.
But
Kaminsky
is
a
different
animal.
“We’ve done a little cross-
matching in the past where we
put the ‘4’ on him and the ‘5’
on Nigel Hayes,” Bielfeldt said.
“(We’ll) try to force him to do
things he doesn’t want to do and
just go from there.”
It
starts
with
keeping
Kaminsky in check, but the
Wolverines will need a herculean
effort to upset the Badgers.
They’ll need to do everything
right and force Wisconsin to
make mistakes.
But they’ve still got nothing
to lose. And with a win over
Wisconsin,
they
could
have
everything to gain.
ON (TO) WISCONSIN
Michigan opens the
Big Ten Tournament
with a blowout win
over Illinois
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
CHICAGO — The last time the
Michigan men’s basketball team
was on the court against Illinois,
exactly
one
month
ago,
the
Wolverines looked flustered.
They coughed up a lead in the
final minute of regulation and
were outscored in overtime, 14-2,
losing at the State Farm Center.
The
rubber
match
was
Thursday at the United Center
in the Big Ten Tournament, and
Michigan (8-10 Big Ten, 16-15
overall) didn’t look scared one bit
in a 73-55 rout of Illinois (9-9 Big
Ten, 19-13 overall).
Sophomore forward Zak Irvin
spotted up and hit a long 3-pointer,
freshman
guard
Muhammad-
Ali Abdur Rahkman drove at
Illinois center Nnanna Egwu for
a layup and the Wolverines forced
repeated bad shots on the other
end — and that was just before the
first media timeout.
“They just threw the first
punch, and we was just unable
to answer,” said Illinois guard
Rayvonte Rice. “Just gave it all we
got. They were just a better team.”
Michigan disappeared for the
next few minutes, but that ended
up being little more than a hiccup.
It pulled ahead in the opening
minutes, 12-2, before losing the
lead
entirely,
then
recovered
quickly going into halftime ahead
40-23.
Within six minutes, Illinois
turned the 12-2 deficit into a
15-14 lead after a 3-pointer by
Malcolm Hill. But the Wolverines
never wavered, answering right
away with junior guard Spike
Albrecht’s 3-pointer to spark a
17-2 run and take the pro-Illinois
crowd out of it for good.
“That was the best part of the
game to me — when we were up
big, and they ended up answering,
and we went right back up big,”
said Michigan coach John Beilein.
“That showed a lot of growth.”
Michigan had another double-
digit lead — and this one stuck. The
final result was the Wolverines’
third-largest margin of victory in
a Big Ten Tournament game, as
well as Illinois’ largest margin of
defeat.
Michigan now has under 24
hours to prepare for a quarterfinal
matchup
with
No.
1
seed
Wisconsin at noon Friday.
“It’s definitely a big confidence
boost,” Albrecht said. “We came
out and played extremely well
today, especially the younger
guys, so I think they’ll have a lot of
confidence going into tomorrow’s
game.”
Michigan finished with four
scorers
in
double
figures
—
freshman guard Dawkins (18),
Abdur-Rahkman (15), Irvin (14)
and senior forward Max Bielfeldt
(10) — and shot 49 percent from
the floor.
Irvin opened the second half
with a turnaround jumper from
the free-throw line. A moment
later, Abdur-Rahkman drove at
Egwu again, absorbed the contact
and laid it in. The rout was on.
As
the
second
half
went
on, Illinois turned up its full-
court pressure, but Michigan
had no trouble breaking it. The
Wolverines finished with just
nine turnovers, never giving the
Illini chances to make up the
deficit quickly. Their undersized
big men outhustled Egwu on the
glass, and their perimeter defense
limited
the
Illini to a
season-low
shooting
percentage
from
long
range (1-for-
13).
“(Egwu is) a
long, athletic guy,
and on our inbounds
plays
we
worked
on spacing, cutting
and
all
that
stuff,
and keeping him off
the
offensive
glass,”
Bielfeldt said. “I think we
did a really nice job with
just
team
rebounding
and getting
everybody
out
of
there.”
Their
crisp
passing dissected
the
press
and
led to fast-break
opportunities
—
Michigan refused to
slow down, bring the
ball back out and milk
the clock.
The
Wolverines’
aggressive, energetic
play
from
wire
to
wire
sent
a
statement
from
a
team that came into
the
weekend
as
sizable underdogs.
“We’re
going
to
try
and
step
up
and
keep
getting
better,”
Dawkins
said.
“We’re
not going
to let a
couple
setbacks
hold
us
back.
We’re going
to try and
get better, no
matter
what
the
situation
is.”
Young players step
up when it matters
most in opening-
round victory
By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
CHICAGO — Before Thursday’s
game against Illinois, Michigan
assistant coach Bacari Alexander
wanted the Wolverines to be
loose, but also to remember what
happened the last time the two
teams played — a heartbreaking
64-52 overtime loss for Michigan.
“I
gave the guys an acronym
to
kind
of
concentrate
on
today,”
Alexander
said. “And
it
was
‘payback.’
Each
letter
meant
something.”
While
Alexander
wouldn’t
admit what each letter
stood for, he was adamant
in addressing what the game
represented.
“Everybody’s 0-0,” Alexander
said. “(It’s the time of the year)
where you want to preach new life.
But the reality is they do have new
life. The confidence you can have
from that conversation you saw
today.
For the Wolverines, there’s
nothing to lose. To have any
chance at a NCAA Tournament
bid, they’ll have to win the Big Ten
Tournament. Even to make the
NIT, they’ll need at least two wins.
Thursday
afternoon,
the
Wolverines faced a team in a
different situation. Everything was
riding on the game for Illinois.
Being a bubble team for
the Big Dance, the
Illini needed to win.
A loss would send
them to the NIT.
Aside from a
10-0 run early in
the first half by
Illinois, that new life was evident.
With Michigan’s starting five
combining for 65 points, including
18 by freshman forward Aubrey
Dawkins and 15 by freshman guard
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman,
the Wolverines looked like a new
team, playing their best basketball
of the season in the 73-55 victory.
Michigan
looked
relaxed.
Throwing
alley-oops,
shooting
uncontested 3-pointers due to
great ball movement and even
dishing over-the-shoulder, no-look
passes, the Wolverines resembled a
team finally finding its chemistry.
With so many freshmen coming
into this year’s team, there was
no doubt there would be an
adjustment
period.
And
with
injuries to junior guard Caris
LeVert and sophomore guard
Derrick Walton Jr., that period had
to be accelerated.
“They’re not worried about
making mistakes, looking over
their shoulder for someone coming
in for them if they don’t make
a shot or turning the ball over,”
Albrecht said. “I tell them all the
time: ‘Just go out there and play.
Have fun. Who is else is going to
play? You guys are going to play.
Don’t worry about it.’
“There’s absolutely no pressure
on us. … We’re playing just to have
fun. If we continue to win games,
anything could happen. There’s
no pressure on us because no one’s
expecting us to do any damage in
this tournament.”
While Alexander wanted the
Wolverines to remember its past
games Thursday, he knows being
able to separate the season into
different pieces helps too.
“What we try to do is break
the season down into segments:
you’ve got the preseason, the regu-
lar season, the conference season
and
postseason,”
he said. “And
for our guys,
when you can
compartmen-
talize the season
like that, it’s not so
overwhelming.”
Though the pregame
message
will
carry
a
similar message for Friday’s
rematch against Wisconsin,
another team that beat
Michigan in overtime this
season, Alexander knows
he’ll need a new creative
method to express it.
What that’ll be, though,
is still to be determined.
“I never divulge that
stuff early,” he said.
ONE
Wisconsin
vs. Michigan
Matchup:
Wisconsin
28-3; Michi-
gan 16-15
When: Fri-
day 12 P.M.
Where: United
Center
TV/Radio:
ESPN
PHOTOS BY ALLISON FARRAND
“We’re not
ready to go
home yet.”