4B — March 16, 2015
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan rebounds, 
cruises past Niagara

By BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer

After 
Wednesday’s 

heartbreaking loss to Virginia 
Tech in the waning seconds of 
overtime, the Michigan women’s 
lacrosse team was left picking up 
the pieces in its matchup with 
Niagara on Saturday.

While the Wolverines showed 

the full effects of their midweek 
loss in the first half, adjustments 
at the break proved to be the 
difference as Michigan (4-3) 
cruised to a 15-8 victory.

The Purple Eagles (2-4) had 

no answer to an incredibly 
efficient performance from the 
Wolverines’ 
starting 
midfield 

unit. 
Sophomore 
midfielders 

Anna Schueler, Kim Coughlan 
and Lauren Oberlander combined 
to score 11 of Michigan’s 15 goals 
while failing to clear the ball just 
twice. Successfully maintaining 
possession while in transition 
was a huge boost for the 
Wolverines and built confidence 
for the team to attack.

“We worked on (clearing) a lot 

in practice, and it finally clicked 
for us,” Oberlander said. “We 
spread out, communicated with 
each other and kept our heads 
up so we were able to find each 
other on the attack. Getting the 
fast break was an important part 
of our game.”

Outside of Schueler’s three 

goals in the first half, the 
Wolverines came out shaky in 
the opening period. Michigan’s 
defense was forced to take on 
more pressure than it expected 
and committed 11 more fouls 
than Niagara in the first half.

On 
the 
other 
end, 
the 

Wolverine 
attackers 
were 

constantly 
disconnected 

from one another. Michigan 
committed 12 turnovers, and 
despite outshooting the Purple 
Eagles, 15-8, the teams went into 
the break knotted at five.

“We 
want 
quality 

opportunities, but in the first 
half, we weren’t being as smart 
as we should have been,” said 
sophomore attacker Tess Korten. 

“And that’s why our shooting 
percentage was so low.”

Michigan 
coach 
Jennifer 

Ulehla sensed from the poor 
period that her young team 
was 
emotionally 
drained 

from 
Wednesday’s 
loss 
and 

struggling 
because 
of 
the 

short week of preparation. But 
Ulehla challenged her team 
at halftime to change its work 
ethic and try to use whatever 
remaining energy it had to find a 
breakthrough.

Coming 
out 
of 
halftime, 

the 
Wolverines 
looked 
like 

a different team. It took 64 
seconds for Michigan to find 
the opening goal of the period 
off Oberlander’s stick. Then, the 
Wolverines went on a 4-0 run, 
displaying their highest level of 
confidence of the day.

While 
Michigan’s 
midfield 

and especially Coughlan — who 
scored four of her five goals in the 
second half — continued to make 
all the right plays, the Wolverine 
attackers picked up their game. 
Ulehla was impressed by how 
her attack unit calmed down and 
distributed the ball.

Shooting efficiently was the 

largest area of improvement for 
Michigan in the second half. The 
Wolverines netted 10 of their 17 
shots in the period.

“The first half, we had a lot of 

great looks, but we shot right to 
the goalie’s stick,” Ulehla said. 
“They made the adjustment in 
the second half and shot a lot 
better. We’re still trying to find 
the balance between going hard 
to goal and getting opportunities 
while being able to finish.”

Michigan’s 
adversity 
and 

ability to adjust quickly could 
be the young team’s biggest 
takeaway 
from 
Saturday’s 

matchup. When their gameplan 
wasn’t clicking in the first half, 
the Wolverines were able to make 
the necessary changes to bring 
together a disconnected team.

By the end of the Niagara 

game, Michigan appeared to 
have put back together all the 
pieces that shattered in a tough 
week.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Season ends without NIT

By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

The 
Michigan 
men’s 

basketball 
team’s 
season 
is 

over. After a 16-16 finish, the 
Wolverines failed to secure an 
NIT bid Sunday night, getting 
beaten out for at-large bids by 
teams like Alabama, George 
Washington and Arizona State.

After a rough showing in 

non-conference 
play 
and 
a 

pair of devastating midseason 
injuries, the Wolverines showed 
flashes of promise in the second 
half of the season, making a late 
push for a postseason bid.

A Feb. 22 win over Ohio 

State, in particular, proved the 
Wolverines were capable of 
contending with postseason-
caliber teams, even without 
two of their leading scorers: 
junior guard Caris LeVert and 
sophomore 
guard 
Derrick 

Walton Jr.

But a season-long string of 

close 
losses 
kept 
Michigan 

from a postseason bid, starting 
with a Nov. 25 loss to eventual 
NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed 
Villanova in Brooklyn, New 
York. 
Then 
came 
missteps 

against teams like New Jersey 
Institute of Technology and 

Eastern Michigan, and finally, 
the 
late-game 
ineptitude 

continued against Big Ten foes 
like Illinois, Wisconsin and 
Michigan State.

“You don’t go to tournaments 

when you just come close so 
many times,” said Michigan 
coach John Beilein. “You’ve got 
to win more games, and you’ve 
got to do better than we did, and 
that’s the fact.”

While the Wolverines, who 

finished just on the wrong 
side 
of 
the 

NIT 
bubble, 

would 
have 

been 
strong 

candidates 
for a bid to 
lower-tier 
postseason 
tournaments 
like the CIT 
or the CBI, 
Beilein said weeks ago that 
Michigan would only pursue 
opportunities in the NIT or 
NCAA Tournament.

Beilein told his team its 

fate in a mass text, he said 
Sunday night. Junior guard 
Spike Albrecht was the first 
to respond. He replied, “I 
wish next season was here 
tomorrow.”

The end of Michigan’s season, 

though, is ill-timed, as the post-
injury iteration of the Wolverines 
seemed to find their stride in the 
season’s final weeks.

Freshman 
guard 
Aubrey 

Dawkins 
emerged 
as 
a 

backcourt 
force, 
alongside 

nascent 
scoring 
threat 
and 

fellow freshman Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman.

Freshman 
forward 
Ricky 

Doyle put up an impressive 
performance 
against 

Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky in 
the teams’ Friday clash, which 
eliminated 
Michigan 
from 

the Big Ten Tournament, and 
Albrecht and senior forward 
Max Bielfeldt took up their 
newfound responsibilities as 
leaders on and off the court in 
stride.

And 
perhaps 
most 

importantly, 
after 
a 
rough 

start to the season, sophomore 
forward Zak Irvin emerged 
again as a key component of the 
Wolverines’ future. In the final 
weeks, he displayed previously 
unseen potential on the glass 
and 
defensively, 
perfect 

complements to his already 
documented shooting skills and 
newfound ability to put the ball 
on the floor.

“In the Big Ten, we know 

each 
other 

pretty 
well,” 

Beilein 
said. 

“But 
usually, 

when we get 
out 
of 
the 

conference 
at 

this time of the 
year, we’ve had 
some success.”

Nonetheless, 
Beilein 
was 

encouraged by his team’s late-
season resilience, and by Irvin’s 
improvement in particular.

“He is truly becoming a 

multi-position player,” Beilein 
said. “Last year, (he was) just a 
shooter, and a freshman type of 
defender, certainly not a passer 
or a rebounder. And now, he’s 
become a passer, a rebounder, a 
better shooter, a scorer.”

With no more games to be had 

until November, the Wolverines 
will shift from a 20-hours-per-
week schedule to just a two-
hour weekly slate.

Off the court, attention will 

turn to the status of junior 
guard Caris LeVert, who has 
been projected as a mid-first 
round pick in the NBA Draft but 
has yet to announce whether 
he’ll return to Ann Arbor for his 
senior season. The deadline to 
declare draft entry is April 25.

Beilein and Bielfeldt have also 

indicated that the latter’s status 
is up in the air, and that the two 
will meet in the coming weeks 
to 
discuss 
their 
respective 

options and decide whether a 
potential fifth year for “Moose” 
is mutually agreeable.

Wisconsin holds off upset 
bid in Big Ten Tournament

By MAX BULTMAN

Daily Sports Editor

CHICAGO 
— 
Even 
when 

Aubrey Dawkins finally took off 
his jersey and started the laundry 
pile in the center of the Michigan 
men’s basketball team’s locker 
room, there were no tears.

There 

were 
long 

faces, and 
moments 
the Wolverines wished they 
could have back, but no real 
regrets. Michigan made it closer 
than anyone would have expect-
ed against No. 1 seed Wisconsin, 
even if the 71-60 final score didn’t 
reflect it.

After an emphatic win over Illi-

nois on Thursday, Michigan came 
out with similar fire to face Wis-
consin on Friday. The Wolverines 
ran the floor, they worked the ball 
around and they shot well. But 
none of it was enough to knock off 
the top-seeded Badgers.

Led by a dominant perfor-

mance inside by Frank Kamin-
sky and Sam Dekker, Wisconsin 
pulled away late to beat the Wol-
verines, eliminating them from 
the Big Ten Tournament.

“We gave them our all,” said 

freshman guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman. “They’re a 
great team, but I think we played 
well against them. We just didn’t 
come out with the ‘W.’ ”

But the Wolverines didn’t go 

quietly. With 6:09 remaining, 
sophomore forward Zak Irvin 
sank a 3-pointer from the wing 
to tie the game at 54. Playing 
against a bigger, more experi-
enced Wisconsin team, Michigan 
was holding its own.

There were occasional bouts 

of Badger dominance in the post, 
but they always seemed to be 
followed by spurts of lights-out 
shooting by the Wolverines.

For a moment, the heavily pro-

Wisconsin crowd at the United 

Center even got nervous. Fresh-
man forward Aubrey Dawkins 
flushed a put-back dunk to give 
Michigan a 42-41 lead with 12:52 
to play, and freshman guard 
Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-Rahk-

man picked up a turnover and 
brought it coast-to-coast for a fin-
ger roll seconds later.

But Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan 

called a timeout, settled his team 
and got the results he was look-
ing for. Forward Duje Dukan tied 
the game with a triple out of the 
timeout, and Wisconsin relied on 
its post game the rest of the way.

“They did a good job weather-

ing the storm,” Abdur-Rahkman 
said. “They just countered our 
runs and it was hard to guard 
them … their length, how tall 
they are and they’re a great pass-
ing team as well as a great shoot-
ing team.”

Even in a loss, Irvin looked 

phenomenal for the Wolverines. 
He had 21 points and 11 rebounds 
in the loss, and although he 
missed a pair of late free throws, 
the game was already out of hand 
at that point. He hit mid-range 
jumpers with ease and pulled 
down rebounds at an astounding 
rate. He found open teammates 
and disrupted passes on defense, 
but he couldn’t do enough to 
match the Badgers.

Kaminsky and Dekker used 

their size to back down Michi-
gan’s forwards all the way down 
to the basket, where they usually 
got an easy layup, if not an offen-
sive board. The Badgers out-
rebounded Michigan 34-19, 12-4 
on the offensive glass.

“They have a variety of post 

moves that it’s tough to stop, 
especially with their height,” 
said senior forward Max Bielf-
eldt. “It’s tough to double because 
they have so many lethal shoot-
ers waiting out there behind the 
3-point line.”

For most of the first half, 

though, Wisconsin went cold 

from the perimeter, and Michi-
gan was able to set the pace of the 
game. They sped Wisconsin up 
in transition and, for the first 16 
minutes, they were able to limit 
them outside.

Junior guard Spike Albrecht 

showed off a smooth jumper at 
the outset, drilling a turnaround 
jumper in traffic to give Michi-
gan a 13-9 lead seven minutes in. 
Bielfeldt came up with a big block 
on Hayes under the basket, open-
ing up a 3-pointer by Irvin that 
stretched the lead to seven.

But that’s when the Badgers 

started to get going. They cut the 
deficit to 16-13 and looked to be 
hitting their stride.

Irvin and Albrecht hit a pair 

of back-to-back triples minutes 
later, stretching Michigan’s lead 
to nine, the widest it would get all 
day. But even that wasn’t able to 
hold off a Wisconsin rally at the 
end of the half, and ultimately, at 
the end of the game.

Down the stretch, the Bad-

gers were composed, hitting free 
throws and making easy layups 
to prevent any chance for a Mich-
igan comeback.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

The Wolverines fell short against Wisconsin and just missed out on an NIT bid.

MICHIGAN
WISCONSIN 

60
71

“I wish next 

season was here 

tomorrow.”

‘M’ captures regular-season title

By CINDY YU

Daily Sports Writer

Inside the Donald R. Shepherd 

Training Center, where the No. 6 
Michigan women’s gymnastics 
team practices, mason jars with 
the names of each gymnast are 
neatly aligned before a large wall 
of windows.

The jars represent a reward 

system 
to 
further 
motivate 

and incentivize the athletes to 
excel both in and out of the gym 
throughout the season. After 
each meet, a gymnast is reward-
ed with a marble every time she 
scores a 9.900 or higher on an 
event or sticks a landing.

At the Big Five meet on Sat-

urday, three marbles were given 
out on the final rotation, vault, 
the event where Michigan has 
its lowest team average (49.260) 
and national ranking (tied for 
No. 12).

After trailing No. 12 Penn 

State (6-3 Big Ten, 14-3 overall) 
the entire meet, the Wolverines 
were able to not only surpass the 
Nittany Lions, 197.000-196.650, 
to win the Big Ten regular-sea-
son title, but also record their 
season-best total of 49.525 on 
vault. In addition, they earned a 
berth into the evening session of 
the Big Ten Championships.

Junior Austin Sheppard com-

pleted a powerful Yurchenko 
full to match her season-best 
score of 9.900 from the previ-
ous week. Leading the team 
were sophomore Nicole Artz 
and senior Sachi Sugiyama, who 
also finished top two in the all-
around. Each scored 9.950 to tie 
Minnesota junior Lindsay Mable 
for first place on the event.

Artz nearly stuck her Yurch-

enko full to put up a career high 
on the event, whereas Sugiyama 
extended her streak of scoring at 
least 9.900 on the event to five 
consecutive meets. The Keller, 
Texas native looks to pick up her 
second Big Ten vault title next 
week.

Michigan will have the home 

crowd advantage at the Big Ten 
Championships inside Crisler 
Center, but at the Sports Pavil-
ion in Minneapolis, the team 
was able to recreate a home floor 

advantage of its own.

“It was time to hold nothing 

back,” Sugiyama said. “I’m sur-
prised any of us had voices after 
screaming and yelling, and just 
really putting all of our energy 
into each other and into each 
vault.”

Another 
standout 
perfor-

mance on vault came from senior 
Brooke Parker, who scored a 
career-best 9.875. Competing in 
the leadoff position, the captain 
set the tone for the rest of the 
lineup that was highlighted by 
clean landings.

Prior to the stellar vault rota-

tion, Michigan overcame some 
nerves and uncharacteristic per-
formances that put them in dan-
ger of not securing the win.

“We didn’t have falls, but we 

were not as crisp and as good as 
we could have been,” said Michi-
gan coach Bev Plocki. “We have 
to make sure that as we get into 
the championship part of the 
season, we go out there and com-
pete aggressively from the very 
first routine to the last one.”

The Wolverines started on the 

uneven bars, where their scores 
ranged from 9.775 to 9.850. 
Under tight scoring circum-
stances, they totaled 49.125 after 
the first rotation.

“We weren’t at prime form 

as we had been in the past, but I 
think that we just got a little ner-
vous and were a little tentative 
on our handstands and our land-
ings,” Sugiyama said.

As they moved to the balance 

beam, Artz scored the team’s 
sole 9.900 on the event. Ranked 
No. 4 in the NCAA, she showed 
consistency by putting up her 
sixth consecutive score of at 
least 9.900 on beam and was able 
to tie Iowa sophomore Mollie 
Drenth for first place.

At the halfway mark, Penn 

State led Michigan, 98.550-
98.325.

Before competing on floor 

exercise and vault, the Wolver-
ines had a bye that reenergized 
them in preparation of the two 
power events.

Though there was inconsis-

tent scoring on floor, the season-
low total of 49.150 may not have 
accurately portrayed the actual 
performances.

Sugiyama and Parker led the 

team with scores of 9.925 and 
9.875, respectively. Sugiyama 
added three marbles to her jar 
after sticking two tumbling 
passes and matching her career 
high score for the third week in 
a row. Parker nailed her unique 
routine in which she sets up 
her tumbling passes with just 

a round-off rather than adding 
a back handspring connection, 
as most gymnasts do, to build 
momentum into her tumbling 
passes.

Though the team is happy 

with the outcome of the regular 
season, it sees the Big Five meet 
as more of a warm-up for Big Ten 
Championships on Saturday.

“It’s really great that we were 

able to win and become regular-
season champions, but our main 
focus will be next weekend,” 
Parker said.

Joining Michigan (9-0 Big 

Ten, 12-2 overall) and Penn State 
in the evening session will be 
No. 20 Minnesota, while Iowa 
and Rutgers will compete in the 
afternoon session. No. 9 Nebras-
ka, No. 13 Illinois and Ohio State 
also qualified into the evening 
session at the other Big Five 
qualifying meet, implying Mary-
land and Michigan State will 
compete in the earlier session.

While Michigan made history 

last year by becoming the first 
team to win the Big Ten Cham-
pionships from the afternoon 
session, the team was relieved to 
not have to be put in a difficult 
situation again.

The jars are getting full, but 

there are still plenty of marbles 
to earn.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Sachi Sugiyama finished in the top two in the all-around competition as Michigan won the Big Ten regular-season title.

