Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, October 16, 2015 — 7A

Beilein gives injury updates

By JACOB GASE

Daily Sports Editor

ROSEMONT, Ill. — When

Michigan coach John Beilein
arrived at the Chicago Marriott
O’Hare for Big Ten Basketball
Media Day, he picked up right on
the same grim note he left off on
last season: Answering questions
about his players’ freak injuries.

Senior guard Caris LeVert and

junior guard Derrick Walton Jr.
are finally back to full strength,
Beilein said two weeks ago, but the
same still can’t be said for junior
forward Zak Irvin (back) and
senior guard Spike Albrecht (hips),
both of whom are recovering from
offseason surgeries.

Irvin had been suffering from

“a few aches and pains” late in the
summer before his back suddenly
flared up in an open gym session,
forcing him to undergo an MRI
and ultimately go under the knife
to correct the problem. Beilein
declined to provide a medical
term for Irvin’s injury, but he
believes his starting forward will
be ready to go soon.

“We’re still on schedule for the

beginning of the season,” Beilein
said. “Hopefully in November,
he will be back playing — that’s
our hope. He’s going to begin
(conditioning) this week. We have
all the underwater treadmills
and the different things, that (he
is still) conditioning. Basketball-
wise, he’s shooting foul shots now.”

Albrecht is much farther along

on the road to recovery, but he
still has been frequently spelled
by junior Andrew Dakich to get
extra rest during practice.

“He’s progressing,” Beilein said.

“I feel somewhere near the start of
the season, he’ll be at 100 percent,
but he’s not as limited as Zak is
right now. He was absolutely shut
down from April (to) August. He’s
shooting the ball really well, and
he’s seeing the floor really well, but
right now, defense, ball-handling,
all those things — (he’s) still trying

to catch up.”

NEW RULES: One of the major

challenges facing every college
basketball coach this season is the
NCAA’s recent rule changes, which
include a 30-second shot clock and
a rule that players, not coaches,
must call live-ball timeouts.

The Big Ten coaches expressed

varying opinions on the NCAA’s
decision.

“I’m not sure I love the

no-timeout deal,” said Nebraska
coach Tim Miles. “There’s some of
the timeout stuff I like, but at the
same time, the no live-ball thing —
it’s kind of our livelihood, so I think
I’d prefer to have that control.”

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo

disagreed.

“If it were up to me, if I was the

Czar for the day, I’d try to get every
rule like the NBA, personally,” he
said. “I just think that we’d have
a better working relationship. It
would make sense to me.”

Beilein, citing the fact that

the live-ball timeout rules have
changed on other occasions over
the course of his career, seemed
indifferent to the new rule.

“It’s not a big adjustment,”

Beilein said. “The players are
going to look at (me), I’m gonna
say, ‘Call timeout,’ and they’re
gonna call timeout.”

RYAN’S FINAL SEASON:

Apart from the rule changes,
Wisconsin
coach
Bo
Ryan’s

impending
retirement
was

another hot topic among the
coaches gathered in Rosemont.
Some,
like
Maryland’s
Mark

Turgeon, were skeptical that the
legendary coach would actually
hang it up following the season.
Others
sounded
practically

excited to see him go.

“I was very hopeful that he’d

make that announcement,” Beilein
joked. “If you look at our record
against him, I was very hopeful.”

He may be glad to be rid of

Ryan, but Beilein had no shortage
of praise for the Badgers’ coach.

“He’s just a tremendous coach,”

Beilein said, “But what I love is
that he’s done it at the other levels
that a lot of coaches don’t know
about, and I know about. Those
championships in Division III are
so hard to do, and he wins those.

And
then
Wisconsin
doesn’t

know what it’s like not to go to the
NCAA Tournament.”

RIVALRY WEEK: The Big

Ten coaches may have come
to Chicago to talk basketball,
but the events surrounding the
Michigan-Michigan State football
matchup this weekend had Tom
Izzo’s mind wandering elsewhere.

A year after the Diag’s block

‘M’ was painted green, the statue
of Magic Johnson on Michigan
State’s campus was discovered
Thursday morning bearing a
block ‘M’ and ‘BEAT STATE’ in
maize spraypaint.

“First, I’ve gotta say that this

is rivalry week, and you’re not
supposed to like your opponent,”
Izzo said. “There’s a lot of great
Michigan kids, but there’s some
idiots. There’s some idiots on our
side, too, that do crazy things.
Messing with Sparty is a bad
thing, like messing with their ‘M’
is a bad thing. But messing with
Magic, that’s the worst thing.
I’ll make sure that, from now on,
maybe the basketball team will
sleep (out there).”

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Senior guard Spike Albrecht is progressing after offseason hip surgery and should be ready for the start of the season.

‘M’ squanders late
lead at Wisconsin

Wolverines give up
three late goals in
Big Ten road game

By THERESA ROSS

For the Daily

The Wisconsin women’s soccer

team came back from a two-
goal deficit against Michigan on
Thursday
night
in

Madison,
scoring three
goals in the last 30 minutes for a
3-2 win.

The Wolverines (5-2 Big Ten,

10-5 overall) and Badgers went
into the game tied for second in
the Big Ten. After a last-second
Michigan win in the match a year
ago, Wisconsin was eager for
revenge.

With the majority of the

posession split between the two
teams, Michigan put its focus
toward
offense,
outshooting

Wisconsin, 15-9.

“The few chances they got,

they put in the back of the net,
and I think that was really the
difference of the game,” said
Michigan coach Greg Ryan.

The
Wolverines
lost

momentum in the second half
after the Badgers scored their
first goal in the 66th minute,
when
midfielder
McKenna

Meuer scored on a corner kick by
midfielder Micaela Powers.

In the last 10 minutes of the

game, Wisconsin (6-1, 9-4) both
equalized the score and took
the lead. With 10:54 to go in
the match, midfielder Kinley
McNicoll answered a cross from
forward Sydney McGinnis, which
was followed by a goal just two
minutes later from forward Nikki

Greenhalgh straight into the back
corner past Michigan sophomore
goalie Megan Hinz.

The Wolverines allowed the

Badgers a comeback after failing
to capitalize on on opportunities
in the second half. With six
more shots than the Badgers, the
Wolverines were left with many
near-goal opportunities.

“I
honestly
thought
we

dominated the second half and
had multiple chances for goals
number three, four and five,”
Ryan said.

Following
a
hat
trick
in

Michigan’s 3-1 win over Illinois
on Oct. 11, redshirt sophomore
forward Ani Sarkisian scored
the first goal of the game at
the 25-minute mark. Sarkisian
dribbled past five defenders and
finished a shot just inside the
18-yard box, sliding the ball past
Wisconsin goalie Caitlyn Clem.

The Wolverines ended the first

half with a 1-0 lead, outshooting
the Badgers, 3-1. The Badgers’
first shot on goal was a header
from midfielder Victoria Pickett
that was called off based on a foul.

Michigan
junior
midfielder

Jessica Heifetz took advantage
of a loose ball in the box after a
corner kick, giving the Wolverines
a 2-0 lead. With an assist from
senior
midfielder
Christina

Murillo, Heifetz was in the right
place at the right time.

The
Wolverines
face

Minnesota on Sunday, followed
by Purdue and Penn State. With
the Big Ten Tournament starting
Nov.
1,
the
Wolverines
are

looking forward to games against
competitive conference foes.

“I told the team tonight if we

play as well as we did today, we’re
gonna win the most of the rest of
the games,” Ryan said. “I think the
key is getting ready for Sunday.”

WOMEN’S SOCCER

MICHIGAN
WISCONSIN

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