8 — Friday, January 8, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Purdue too much for ‘M’
By SIMON KAUFMAN
Daily Sports Editor
WEST LAFAYETTE — Five
minutes into the second half of
the Michigan men’s basketball
team’s game
against
Purdue
on
Thursday
night, 7-foot Boilermaker center
A.J.
Hammons
received
the
ball just outside of the paint. He
dribbled once, thrust his backside
against junior forward Mark
Donnal, bodied himself into the
paint, turned around and put
away an easy shot.
Three minutes later, 7-foot-2
center Isaac Haas used a screen
to slip by redshirt freshman
forward D.J. Wilson. Teammate
P.J. Thompson lobbed up a pass,
and Haas threw down a dunk to
complete the alley-oop play.
The Wolverines (2-1 Big Ten,
12-4 overall) played each of
their four big men in an attempt
to
combat
the
20th-ranked
Boilermakers’ size, but Purdue’s
(2-1, 14-2) frontcourt proved too
much to handle, as Michigan
fell, 87-70.
The
Boilermakers
bullied
Michigan’s bigs, outscoring the
Wolverines 42-18 in the paint.
Donnal
started
at
the
‘5’
position
for
the
second
straight game after impressive
performances against Illinois and
Penn State. But Michigan coach
John Beilein had a short leash on
his big men in the first half.
Wilson
—
who
has
been
Michigan’s last big off the bench
this season — was the first one
off it Thursday. Wilson replaced
Donnal less than two minutes into
the contest after Donnal picked
up his first foul. But Wilson didn’t
last long himself and was replaced
by sophomore forward Ricky
Doyle after committing a foul of
his own. The rotation continued
with freshman forward Moritz
Wagner subbing in for Doyle and
eventually exiting soon after
picking up his own foul.
Four minutes. Four different
big men. Four fouls.
On the offensive end, both
teams struggled to find their
respective strokes early on,
combining to shoot 2-for-10
from the field in the game’s
opening minutes.
Michigan was able to keep pace
in the first half, limiting Purdue’s
bigs from finishing down low.
The Wolverines held a four-point
lead with less than five minutes,
but a 12-0 Purdue run gave the
Boilermakers a 35-28 lead into
halftime.
“The first half, I was so proud of
the way our guys played defense,”
Beilein said. “We were all over the
place, we had the right — quick
man we call it — when you can
get the shooters, when you can
give help off somebody. We made
it tough for them. Second half, we
just were not as good defensively.
“Post defense is something you
try to work at. Then you play the
best in the country at post offense
and it’s an eye opener.”
Michigan’s
second-half
shooting was not enough to make
up for its 10-for-31 first-half clip.
The
Wolverines’
big
men
struggled against Purdue’s size.
Hammons tallied 11 points in the
frame. After shooting 42 percent
from the field in the first half, the
Boilermakers went 16-for-21 in
the second frame, including 7-for-
10 from 3-point range.
As well as being undersized,
Michigan was undermanned, too.
Caris LeVert sat out for the
second straight game with a left
leg injury and did not partake in
pregame warmups. Beilein said he
shot around earlier in the day and
was still in pain.
Sophomore guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman started in
his place and did his best to fill
the shoes of Michigan’s leading
scorer. Abdur-Rahkman used a
quick dribble drive to penetrate
Purdue’s defense and finished
10-for-16 for a game-high and new
career-best 25 points.
“We were dialing him up,”
Beilein said. “He’s got that ability
— I call it an East Coast type of
thing — where he can get buckets,
in the wind, in the rain, outdoors,
indoors, crooked rims, anything.
He just finds ways to score.”
But the rest of Michigan’s
roster struggled from the field,
and Purdue turned defensive
rebounds into made baskets on
the other end.
Purdue guard Rapheal Davis
guarded
redshirt
sophomore
Duncan Robinson — Michigan’s
best option from deep — and
helped limit him to just five
attempts from beyond the arc and
two makes.
Junior guards Derrick Walton
Jr. and Zak Irvin also struggled
to find their strokes. Walton went
3-for-9 from the field for 12 points,
and Irvin made just two field
goals in 38 minutes.
Abdur-Rahkman’s
15
second-half
points
helped
keep Michigan in it, and the
Wolverines trailed by just six
with five minutes left. But they
were never able to close the gap,
and another 12-0 run by Purdue
put the game out of reach.
“We just tried to (cut the lead)
as a team,” Abdur-Rahkman
said. “Try to get back into a flow
of offense and not be hammered
by their defense, just get into our
offense, play our game.”
But Michigan’s game wasn’t
enough to overcome Purdue’s size
on both ends of the court.
“They’re
better
defensively
than us, there’s no question about
that,” Beilein said. “We were
getting tough baskets. They were
getting easy baskets. We answered
with it tough — they were getting
it easy. Pretty soon, you’re not
going to make the tough, they’re
going to make the easy.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored a career-high 25 points Thursday.
MICHIGAN
PURDUE
70
87
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Abdur-Rahkman
steps in for LeVert
By LEV FACHER
Daily Sports Writer
WEST
LAFAYETTE
—
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman
was
raised
in
Allentown,
Pennsylvania — close enough to
the Atlantic Ocean, in Michigan
men’s
basketball
coach
John
Beilein’s estimation, to qualify him
as a basketball player of the “East
Coast” variety.
Or, translated from Beilein-
ism to English: On certain nights,
Abdur-Rahkman can essentially
score at will.
“He’s got this ability — I call
it an East Coast type of thing —
where he can get buckets in the
rim, in the rain, outdoors, indoors,
crooked rim, anything,” Beilein
said Thursday after Michigan’s
87-70 loss at Purdue. “He just can
find ways to score.”
It certainly seemed that way,
as Abdur-Rahkman dropped a
career-high 25 points and almost
singlehandedly kept Michigan
close in a game that, despite the
lopsided final score, remained
competitive through its first 34
minutes.
The outburst eclipsed the
sophomore’s
previous
career
best of 18 last season at Michigan
State, a game that forced Abdur-
Rahkman into the spotlight with
then-junior guard Caris LeVert
sidelined by a fractured foot.
Eleven months later, with
LeVert nursing an injury to
his left leg once again, Abdur-
Rahkman went a step further.
Undaunted by the Boilermakers’
size, he took the ball to the rack
repeatedly, lowering his shoulder
and refusing to shy away from
contact even in the face of his
defenders’ chests.
Though
Abdur-Rahkman
found ways to score last season,
attempting to replace LeVert’s
production for the first time,
this type of performance on
the offensive end was out of the
question.
“Last year, early in the year,
any time there was body contact,
he wasn’t finishing,” Beilein said.
“He’s probably made the best
(season-to-season) jump. He just
really takes it at you.”
Abdur-Rahkman
finished
through contact, and when he
did bounce away from a body-to-
body blow, he seemed to always
finish — most notably with a pair
of twisting, turning layups on
consecutive
possessions
early
in the second half that kissed
high off the glass before finding
their way down. He got the job
done outside the paint as well,
bookending
his
performance
with 3-pointers early in the first
half and late in the second.
The
ability
to
avoid
the
outstretched arms of Purdue’s
outsized
front
line
was
no
accident. There’s no way to truly
prepare for a game against a
team with multiple 7-footers in a
hostile Big Ten arena, especially
as a 6-foot-4 guard. But somehow,
Abdur-Rahkman’s shooting kept
the Mackey Arena crowd of 13,063
grumbling throughout the second
half, keeping Michigan alive as
Purdue threatened to pull away.
“I’m usually left open,” Abdur-
Rahkman said. “I just try to
knock down shots and keep the
same game plan as usual.”
Abdur-Rahkman was guarded
closely far more often than he was
left open Thursday, but regardless
of his defenders, he may have to
stick to the game plan a while
longer. Beilein, as usual, gave few
specifics as to LeVert’s status,
saying merely that he participated
in shootaround, experienced pain
and did not play. But whether
LeVert is out for another game
or for another month, Abdur-
Rahkman’s ability to shoulder
the scoring load should provide at
least some solace.
Michigan rallies past
Oregon State at home
Wolverines go on
13-0 scoring run
after falling behind
6-0 vs. Beavers
By JORDAN HERBSTMAN
For the Daily
The Michigan wrestling team
was down, 6-0, and decided
to turn to redshirt sophomore
George Fisher to get the team
going.
For
a
sudden
and much-
needed
victory, Fisher defeated Oregon
State’s Jack Hathaway, 3-1, to
break the Beaver shutout and
catapult No. 13 Michigan to a 13-0
scoring run.
The scoring run launched
the Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 5-1
overall) to a come-from-behind
victory over the Beavers (3-4).
The Wolverines continued to
show signs of dominance after
Fisher’s victory when sophomore
Alec Pantaleo took to the mat
and carried the momentum from
Fisher’s victory.
Pantaleo started his match
strong with two quick takedowns
and
ended
the
first
period
with a 4-1 lead. In the second
period, Pantaleo took control
of his opponent, scoring both a
takedown and a four-point near
fall to give him a 10-2 lead going
into the third period. Pantaleo
finished off his match with three
takedowns in the third period,
leading to an 18-4 personal
victory and a 7-6 overall lead for
Michigan in the match.
But this wasn’t Pantaleo’s
first time facing redshirt junior
Joey Delgado.
“I wrestled that kid actually
a month before at the Cliff Keen
tournament and it was only a two
or three-point match,” Pantaleo
said. “I watched my match against
him. I knew exactly what he was
gonna do, and that’s why when I
wrestled him, I didn’t go charging
at him. I stayed back. The wrestling
was a lot smarter. The little tweaks
make a big difference.”
After
going
up
7-6,
the
Wolverines did not look back,
losing only one of the six
remaining
matches.
Another
burst of dominance came right
after Pantaleo’s match, when
junior Brian Murphy earned a
pin over Oregon State wrestler
Abraham Rodriguez in the second
period of their match. After a four-
point near fall in the first period,
Murphy finished off his opponent
with the pin to give Michigan a
13-6 lead.
“I brought up the intensity a
little bit,” Murphy said. “I think
that he wasn’t going to be able to
hang with me, and I was able to
eventually get the pin.”
After an Oregon State victory
to push the score to 13-9,
Michigan turned to redshirt
sophomore Davonte Mahomes to
regain the momentum.
After leading 4-1 after the
second period, Mahomes turned
up the intensity and scored
10 points, en route to a major
decision with a 14-2 victory. This
gave the Wolverines a 17-9 lead
and squashed any hopes of a
Beaver comeback.
“At first I started off a little
slow,” Mahomes said. “But once
I got really into the match, I
started getting warmer and was
constantly thinking scoring point
after point.”
The team effort put away
Oregon
State,
and
helped
Michigan end on a 14-0 scoring
run, leading a 27-9 final victory.
“I’m happy with the way that
I’m training and the way the team
is training and how everything is
looking right now,” Mahomes said.
“It’s very important. It’s a team,
so everyone has to perform at that
high level, at the high caliber.”
Underclassmen shine for ‘M’
By ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer
It has been a month since the
Michigan wrestling team last
used its starters in a match. Yet
on Thursday, the Wolverines’ top
group had no problem picking up
right where it left off.
Michigan
hosted
Oregon
State in the first annual Joe
Wells Classic, honoring former
Michigan assistant coach and
Oregon State head coach Joe
Wells, who passed away last
April.
The
match
showcased
quickness from the 13th-ranked
Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 5-1
overall), who overwhelmed the
Beavers (0-0 Pac 12, 3-4 overall)
en route to a 27-9 victory.
But
the
most
significant
takeaway
from
Thursday’s
match was the performance
of Michigan’s underclassmen:
redshirt
sophomore
George
Fisher, sophomore Alec Pantaleo,
and redshirt freshman Davonte
Mahomes.
Fisher had been fighting a
near-even match against Oregon
State’s Joey Palmer in the 133-
pound match, but Fisher gained
momentum after a late 3rd-round
escape, eventually earning a
takedown in an overtime round
to win the match, 3-1.
At the Cliff Keen Las Vegas
Invitational
in
early
December,
Pantaleo
was
only
able
to
amass a slight
5-3
decision
over
the
Beavers’ Joey
Delgado.
But
on
Thursday,
Pantaleo
dominated,
beating Delgado handily in the
149-pound match, 18-3, to earn a
major decision. Pantaleo finished
with six takedowns and a near
fall.
One of the youngest members
on the team, Pantaleo dismisses
the notion that age matters.
“With our team, there is no
kind of age barrier,” Pantaleo said.
“Whether it be Max (Huntley)
being a fifth-year senior or me
being a true sophomore, we all
know that when we step on the
mat, it doesn’t matter.”
Mahomes
had
a
similar
outlook.
“It’s a team, so everyone has
to
perform
at
that
high
level,”
Mahomes
said.
“That
has to happen
to
everyone
no
matter
if
you’re
a
freshman,
sophomore,
junior, senior.”
Mahomes
handled Oregon State’s Tyler
Chay with ease, winning 14-2 in
what was his best match of the
season. Mahomes tallied three
takedowns and a four-point near
fall. Mahomes nearly got the fall,
but he ran out of time in the final
round.
Junior
Brian
Murphy,
who had the only pin of the
night against Beaver wrestler
Abraham Rodriguez in the 157-
pound match, spoke highly of
the underclassmen and their
performances
against
the
Beavers.
“We don’t think of them
as
underclassmen
anymore,”
Murphy
said.
“They’re
so
mature in their wrestling and
everywhere else, so I don’t really
notice it. I don’t think of them as
underclassmen.”
If
Fisher,
Mahomes
and
Pantaleo
can
continue
to
perform like they did against the
Beavers, the Wolverines may find
themselves back in contention
for a national championship.
“We don’t think of them
as
underclassmen
anymore,”
Murphy
said.
“They’re
so
mature in their wrestling and
everywhere else so I don’t really
notice it. I don’t think of them as
underclassmen.”
If
Fisher,
Mahomes
and
Pantaleo
can
continue
to
perform like they did against
the Beavers, the Wolverines
may find themselves back in
the conversation for a national
championship.
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Sophomore Alec Pantaleo started his match with two quick takedowns and finished with an 18-4 victory during Michigan’s decisive 13-0 scoring streak.
OREGON ST.
MICHIGAN
9
27
“With our
team, there is
no kind of age
barrier.”