8 — Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com RUBY WALLAU/Daily Freshman Moritz Wagner (right) has worked his way into Michigan’s rotation. Michigan’s big men getting opportunity By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Editor After his team’s regular-season opener on Friday, Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein said earning minutes at the ‘5’ spot would be “very competitive.” He never said it would be a blood battle. But that didn’t stop freshman forward Moritz Wagner from stiffening his 6-foot-10 frame and setting his feet to take a charge midway through the second half of the Wolverines’ win against Elon on Monday. When he stood up, blood dripped down from a gash in his forehead. He slapped his chest twice and returned to the bench to wipe away the blood. Wagner was one of four big men whom Beilein rotated in during the Wolverines’ 88-68 win over the Phoenix. In each half, the situation down low looked more or less like this: Junior forward Mark Donnal started, then redshirt freshman D.J. Wilson and sophomore Ricky Doyle subbed in after five minutes, then Wagner for a few. And then, late in each frame, Beilein mixed it up. After getting the start for the second game in a row, Donnal grabbed an offensive board early in the first half and put it back in. Two minutes later, he committed an off-ball foul, and soon after that Beilein pulled him and sophomore guard Kameron Chatman in exchange for Wilson and Doyle, with Doyle playing the ‘5’ and Wilson playing as a stretch forward. Wilson nailed his first 3-point attempt, but then, like Donnal, he committed a foul on the other end. Beilein opted to go with a smaller lineup and pulled Wilson. Then, in keeping with the theme, Doyle committed his first foul and found himself on the bench with Wilson taking his spot. Wilson scored on a layup quickly after reentering, then committed his second foul. Wilson out. Wagner in. It was a big-man merry-go- round. Wagner lasted less than three minutes in the first half, but his physical play was enough to impress Beilein. He did a nice job of boxing out his man on the defensive end and fought for a rebound off the offensive glass, forcing the ball off an Elon defender and giving Michigan possession. Each big earned his turn on the floor on Monday. Donnal tallied 15 minutes, Doyle and Wilson 13 each and Wagner seven. But Beilein knows it isn’t realistic to play four bigs every game. “We hope we’ll get a rotation,” Beilein said. “We can’t be rotating four guys there. Somebody’s gonna beat somebody out, and we’ll go with two or three (big men). Usually you need three, but we’ll go with two primarily and a third guy will back up, and a fourth guy will have to wait his turn.” Based on minutes alone, Donnal has been Beilein’s most trusted manut Doyle has been the most productive. Doyle went 3-for-4 from the field, including a big dunk. On the defensive side, he grabbed three boards. Wilson struggled against the Phoenix. He had twice as many fouls (four) as he had field goals (two). But in Michigan’s first game, he looked more poised, going 2-for-4 from the field and dishing out three assists in 23 minutes. The biggest wild card is still Wagner. The Berlin product was an option to redshirt at the beginning of the year, but Beilein opted to play him. In two games, he’s just 1-for-3 from the field but has shown an ability to step up on defense, which he demonstrated by taking a charge on Monday. “That was awesome,” said redshirt sophomore Duncan Robinson. “He brings a ton of energy, to get up and pump his chest like that. That was a lot of fun. … He’s talking a lot, bringing a lot of energy, so he’s a great teammate.” Results mixed across Big Ten Wisconsin’s upset of North Dakota stands out, but most teams still mediocre By JASON RUBINSTEIN Daily Sports Editor The Michigan hockey team has been quite an enigma this season. While a 5-1-1 record looks great on paper, the team is far from satisfied. Once again, it appears the 12th-ranked Wolverines boast one of the nation’s top offenses — Michigan is second in the country with 4.43 goals per game — while the defense ranks 45th out of 60 teams, allowing 3.29 goals per game. Regardless, the Wolverines are currently in the top 16 in the Pairwise Rankings heading into their biggest non-conference series of the year, a two-game set at Boston University. Michigan aside, no other Big Ten team is ranked. The Daily gives a team- by-team breakdown of what the Wolverines’ five Big Ten counterparts have (or have not) accomplished in the season’s first five weeks: Michigan State (4-4-1) The Spartans have to be disappointed with their start to the season. Michigan State went winless in its three marquee games: two against Denver and one against Boston College. Prior to the season, Spartans coach Tom Anastos knew his team would win with its goaltending. They returned the reigning Big Ten Goalie of the Year, Jake Hildebrand, who has a career .926 save percentage and 2.23 goals per game average. Through nine games, the netminder’s stats are below his career mark, but he still has an impressive .916 save percentage while allowing 2.44 goals per game. Michigan State had a real chance to bump its RPI when it traveled to play Boston College. In a game that boasted arguably the nation’s top two goalies in Hildebrand and the Eagles’ Thatcher Demko, there were 10 goals allowed. Boston College escaped with a 6-4 win. The Spartans’ win column stems from a sweep of New Hampshire and two wins over Lake Superior State. Wisconsin (3-4-1) It’s been another wild start for the Badgers after they tallied just four wins a season ago. Wisconsin garnered the Big Ten’s biggest non-conference win, beating No. 4 North Dakota on the road, 3-1. That means each Michigan-Wisconsin tilt is of great importance for the Wolverines, as a win over the Badgers would improve Michigan’s RPI. Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said after the game: “To have that signature win really could be something special for this group as we move forward.” Aside from their win in Fargo, North Dakota, the Badgers’ only other wins came against Arizona State, which is in its first season as a Division I program. Minnesota (4-5) Minnesota lost most of its premier players in the offseason due to graduation or to the NHL. How the Gophers replace those players will define their season. First, coach Don Lucia needed to fill the void left by netminder Adam Wilcox, who gave the Wolverines fits in the past. It appears he has done that successfully, starting freshman Eric Schierhorn, who has a .931 save percentage and 2.11 goals- allowed average. A sluggish start to the season has held Minnesota back — the Gophers lost to Vermont and were swept by Minnesota- Duluth to begin the year — but the team is starting to trend upward. Just recently, Minnesota stole one from Minnesota State on the road. Penn State (6-2-2) After losing Casey Bailey, who led the Nittany Lions in goals (22) and points (40) last season, to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Penn State’s offense had multiple question marks. However, the Nittany Lions haven’t skipped a beat. They boast the nation’s third-best offense, scoring 4.40 goals per game. Freshman forward Chase Berger is leading that charge, already having tallied eight goals. Penn State has been aided by a porous non-conference schedule, with its best win coming over Notre Dame at home. Ohio State (3-7) The Buckeyes had an ultra- slow start to the season, losing their first seven games. Ohio State was swept by both Miami (Ohio) and Providence — its toughest non-conference opponents. Forward Nick Schilkey has come out of the gates firing, registering six goals and six assists, and the junior has been a large reason for the Buckeyes’ current three-game winning streak. Still, it’s looking like it could be a long season for the Buckeyes. LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily Michigan coach Red Berenson’s team has the best offense in the Big Ten. BY THE NUMBERS Big Ten Hockey 12 Points Ohio State’s Nick Schilkey has through 10 games, good for first in the Big Ten 2.22 Goals per game allowed by Minnesota (best in the Big Ten) 4.40 Goals per game scored by Penn State (second in the Big Ten behind Michigan) 25-23-5 The conference’s combined record, including Michigan ‘M’ pulls away from Elon Walton, Robinson combine for 43 points to power another home win By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Writer Duncan Robinson sank a 3 from the corner. Then he did it again. And again. By the end of the first half, the redshirt sophomore was 4-for-4 from the field. Robinson and junior guard Derrick Walton Jr. combined for 43 points Monday in the No. 24 Michigan men’s basketball team’s win over Elon, with 33 of those coming on 3-pointers. The offense shot 51.7 percent, and though it looked explosive at some times, it looked sloppy at others. But the Wolverines didn’t have trouble dropping the Phoenix, 88-68, in a Battle 4 Atlantis Mainland Game just three days after defeating Northern Michigan. Though Elon didn’t provide a true test of his team’s talent, the game gave Michigan coach John Beilein more time to work out his starting lineup. On the first possession, sophomore forward Kameron Chatman threw the ball to an open Derrick Walton Jr. as the shot clock dwindled to four seconds. The junior guard threw it up from beyond the arc without hesitation, and the student section erupted as the Wolverines won an early lead 28 seconds into the game. “(Walton) played great,” Robinson said. “That’s a big thing for him, just staying aggressive. That’s when he plays his best. He was finding people all over the floor and was really efficient at scoring the ball as well.” But minutes later, the Wolverines went on a six-minute scoring drought to allow Elon to tie it up at 12, only to snap out of it by hitting their next three attempts. Redshirt freshman D.J. Wilson ended the drought with a tip-in, and then, seconds later, Robinson scored his first points as a Wolverine with a dunk to get Michigan to a 16-15 lead. Robinson got the ball again after picking off an inbounds pass and fed it to sophomore guard Muhammad- Ali Abdur- Rahkman, who took it the length of the court for a layup. There were still clumsy moments, though. Four minutes into the game, sophomore guard Aubrey Dawkins let the ball slip through his fingers and go out of bounds after LeVert threw it to him from half-court. LeVert was burned by Phoenix guard Steven Santa Ana, who stole the ball and drove it to the net for a layup. Elsewhere, junior big man Mark Donnal missed multiple shots from under the basket. Junior forward Zak Irvin played his first minutes since his early-September back surgery and went 0-for-5 from the floor. Michigan entered halftime with just a 10-point lead. “The funny thing about Zak is that one shot doesn’t phase him, so until he gets his rhythm back, you can expect him to get ‘em up,” Walton said. “So we know we can expect him to make the right play, but until then, we’re trying to get him back to a rhythm to find his niche and get his condition back.” The Wolverines came out of the locker room on a 10-0 run by correcting some of those mistakes and continuing what they had been doing well. Walton and Robinson had more 3-pointers, and LeVert had two monster dunks. Forward Ricky Doyle came in and outplayed Donnal by making all three of his second-half shots and looking more composed on the defensive end. “(Elon) played a really, really fast pace,” Robinson said. “From that standpoint, we definitely have a lot of room to grow defensively, just being a little bit closer in communication, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.” In a high-scoring game where Walton led with 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds, Beilein took full advantage of his team’s depth. Against Northern Michigan, Dawkins and LeVert led the charge, but against Elon, it was Walton and Robinson. “I mean, any night it could be anyone else, which is a great quality to have in a team,” Robinson said. “We all know that. Last Friday, everyone was excited for those two, and tonight, everyone’s excited for us. It’s whoever can get it done on a given night.” RUBY WALLAU/Daily Redshirt sophomore forward Duncan Robinson scored 19 points on 6-for-7 shooting in Michigan’s win over Elon. “Any night it could be anyone else, which is a great quality to have.” ELON MICHIGAN 68 88