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January 11, 2016 - Image 10

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4B — January 11, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan opens
series with rout
in East Lansing

Wolverines knock
out Hildebrand in
second period after

seven goals

By MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Editor

EAST LANSING — If it wasn’t

already clear this season, the
Michigan
hockey
team
can

score goals.

Friday, the Wolverine offense

exploded once again in a win
over Michigan State (1-4-0 Big
Ten, 5-14-2 overall) by a score of
9-2 at Munn Ice Arena.

“It’s obviously nice when you

beat State,” said junior forward
JT Compher. “The offense was
going today, which it has been
most of the year.”

It didn’t start out well for

the Wolverines (3-1-1, 12-3-3),
though.

The Spartans put the first

point on the scoreboard 9:26
into the first period. Michigan
State defenseman John Draeger
found forward
Mason
Appleton
alone
inside

the left faceoff
circle
and

made
the

cross-ice pass.
Appleton
took the one-
timer off the
shot,
which

ricocheted off
a skate past senior goaltender
Steve Racine for the freshman’s
fourth tally of the season.

But as Michigan has done

many times already this season,
the Wolverines came right back,
pouncing on a Spartan mistake
less than three minutes later.
Compher collected the puck off
a Michigan State miscue and put
the puck upstairs past Spartan
goaltender Jake Hildebrand.

“(Junior
forward
Tyler

Motte) did a great job keeping
the puck in,” Compher said. “I
was able to have a two-on-one
with (freshman forward Kyle
Connor), and saw (Hildebrand)
creeping a little bit and put it
over his shoulder.”

The Wolverines weren’t done,

though — not by a long shot.

Fifty-seven
seconds
after

Compher’s goal, with Michigan
State forward Ryan Keller in
the box less than 10 seconds,
Michigan scored again.

A tic-tac-toe play saw senior

forwards
Boo
Nieves
and

Justin Selman pass the puck
before
sophomore
forward

Tony Calderone finished off the
play, one-timing the puck past
Hildebrand.

And just 18 seconds later,

junior forward Alex Kile found

himself alone just outside the
left faceoff circle and hit twine.

After Michigan State came

back with a power-play goal
of its own, Michigan cruised.
Freshman forward Kyle Connor
tallied his team-leading 13th goal
of the season, and sophomore
forward Dexter Dancs added his
own to close out the scoring in
the first period.

While the second featured

much less scoring, Michigan
tallied each goal.

On the power play, junior

forward Alex Kile found a
trailing sophomore defenseman
Zach
Werenski,
who
had

returned two days prior from
captaining the U.S Junior Team
at the World Championships,
wide open in the slot. Werenski
gathered the puck and buried it
past Hildebrand.

Another Michigan goal from

Connor was all Michigan State
coach Tom Anastos needed to
see to pull Hildebrand, the 2015
Big Ten Player and Goaltender
of the Year.

“You know you have to move

(Hildebrand)
side
to
side,”

Compher said. “You have to try
to beat him up top. You got to try

get people to
the net.”

Compher

and
Motte

scored in the
third
period

to round out
the
game’s

scoring. Their
line,
which

also includes
Connor,
finished
the

game with five goals and 13
points.

“JT and Tyler have played

solid all year,” said Michigan
coach
Red
Berenson.
“And

with this kid (Connor) on the
left wing, he just adds another
dimension.

“It’s
been
good.
They’ve

been moving the puck, they’re
working
hard
and
they’re

leaders. They’re a big part of our
team.”

In net, Racine continued his

run of good play since coming
back from injury, stopping 24
shots for his third straight win.

“(Racine’s) goals against are

two a night,” Berenson said.
“He’s made some good saves.
Now, he’s only played three
games in a row so I can’t tell you
this is a trend, but good for him.”

It’s no surprise that Michigan

can score goals. What the
Wolverines
have
lacked,

though, is consistency. After
scoring seven and eight goals
on Dartmouth and Minnesota,
respectively, Michigan could
muster just one and two goals
the following nights.

So the real question for the

Wolverines is: Can they come
back and score nine goals
tomorrow night?

‘M’ seeks scoring answer

Wolverines struggle

to score against
Purdue’s tough

inside-outside ‘D’

By LEV FACHER

Daily Sports Writer

Purdue coach Matt Painter

waited eight minutes before
sending Michigan’s nightmare
onto the court: two men who,
stacked one atop the other,
would weigh 532 pounds and
stand an inch shy of 14 feet tall.

Caleb Swanigan, at 6-foot-

9 and 250 pounds, was more
physically
imposing
than

anybody on Michigan’s roster.
Isaac Haas, at 7-foot-2 and 282
pounds, was just there as a
redundancy measure.

With
Michigan
junior

forward Zak Irvin, 35 pounds
lighter and three inches shorter
than
Swanigan,
and
junior

forward
Mark
Donnal,
42

pounds lighter and five inches
shorter than Haas, attempting
to guard them, respectively,
the result was a predictable
dismantling.
The
Wolverines

(2-1 Big Ten, 12-4 overall) were
eaten alive Thursday in their
87-70 loss, the fourth time this
season they have crumbled in
the face of larger opposition.

“Post defense is something

that you try and work at,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
“But when you play the best in
the country at post offense, it’s an
eye-opener. That didn’t help us.”

Irvin’s defensive play against

Swanigan, as it turned out, was
one of Michigan’s best individual
efforts of the evening. However,
the image of Irvin, known
principally as a shooter and
undersized as a power forward,
that remained was him getting
physical in the post with a 250-
pound freshman.

Swanigan
and
Haas

combined for 10 points and 14

rebounds, and the Boilermakers
outperformed Michigan on the
defensive glass, 30-19. Purdue’s
other 7-footer, A.J. Hammons,
did even more damage, scoring
17 points and recording four
thunderous blocks.

“You can run some cute stuff

and get right to the rim, and
somebody’s sending you back,”
Beilein said. “It really deflates you.”

Outgunned inside, Michigan’s

only option was to win from
behind the 3-point arc, a task made
considerably more difficult by
the absence of senior guard Caris
LeVert, who missed his second
consecutive game with a leg injury.

Redshirt
sophomore
guard

Duncan Robinson, who ranks
fifth nationally in 3-point shooting
percentage, was healthy. But
with the defensive blanketing he
received from Purdue’s Rapheal
Davis, he might as well have been
on the bench as well.

Davis, one of the country’s

elite
defenders,
stuck
to

Robinson
like
ice
on
an

unshoveled Ann Arbor sidewalk,
holding him to five attempts
from beyond the arc, two of
which were desperation heaves

with the shot clock winding
down. Robinson did what he
could, impressively nailing a
transition 3 with a shooting
motion that began before he
landed in his preferred spot on
the right wing. But his 10 points
weren’t enough, especially with
Irvin shooting a frigid 2-for-10
from the field.

“(Davis) is a really good

defender,”
Robinson
said,

offering little else by way of
explanation.
“That
poses
a

challenge for us.”

With
Michigan’s
shooters

either injured, locked down
or unable to find twine, the
outside game turned to two of
the Wolverines’ own big men:
Donnal and redshirt freshman
D.J. Wilson, who combined to
shoot 3-for-7 from 3-point range.

That was in line with the

game plan, Beilein said. If the
Wolverines could make one-
third of their 3-point attempts,
the
strategy
would
prove

a
bargain
against
Purdue’s

defensive efficiency rating of
83.6 points per 100 possessions,
which leads the nation. The
hope was for Michigan’s bigs

to attempt between five and 10
shots from that range.

Wilson had attempted just

13 3-pointers this season before
Thursday,
the
majority
of

which came in garbage time
against markedly inferior non-
conference
opponents.
He

attempted five from beyond the
arc Thursday, making only one.
Donnal fared better, draining
both of his attempts.

“Those guys, they can make

’em in practice,” Beilein said.
“They’ve got to make them,
obviously, at Mackey Arena, in
front of a crowd.”

The formula could be one

Michigan turns to more often,
especially
if
size
continues

to
limit
the
Wolverines’

inside presence and if a single
perimeter defender like Davis
can
wreak
havoc
on
their

traditional, guard-based outside
game. Even against Purdue’s
impressive perimeter defense,
Wilson
and
Donnal
were

reliably open from straightaway
after
early-possession
ball

screens. Whether that pair can
consistently shoot 3-for-7 is a
different discussion.

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Junior forward Mark Donnal had his hands full with Purdue’s massive front line in Thursday’s 87-70 road loss.

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Michael Downing and Michigan routed Michigan State in East Lansing on Friday.

MICHIGAN
MICH. STATE

9
2

“The offense

was going today,
which it has been
most of the year.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
WRESTLING

Wolverines win
second straight

Michigan holds

off late Minnesota

rally for win

By TED JANES

Daily Sports Writer

The
Minnesota
women’s

basketball team nearly created
déjà vu for Michigan on Sunday
afternoon.

At
one

point
in

the
first

quarter, Michigan led by 17 —
the same deficit it overcame
Thursday in a comeback against
Iowa. Minnesota chipped away
at the Wolverines’ early lead, but
it could not catch up late.

Sophomore guard Katelynn

Flaherty iced the game from the
free-throw line, and Michigan
(2-2 Big Ten, 10-5 overall) came
out on top, 93-86.

The Gophers (2-2, 10-5) face-

guarded Flaherty, even away
from the ball, but Michigan’s
leading scorer shot 9-for-14 to
earn 33 points.

Flaherty, who averaged 21.2

points before Sunday, passed
that mark midway through the
third quarter.

The Wolverines’ win moves

them to .500 in conference play
after they opened the Big Ten
season with devastating back-to-
back losses to Purdue and Indiana.

What they couldn’t do against

either
of
those
opponents,

though, was jump ahead early,
but Sunday they had no trouble
lighting up the field from the
opening tip. Michigan scored
35 points in the first quarter,
leaving its coach amazed.

“I didn’t know we could score

35 points,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico in an interview
with MGoBlue after the game.
“To do that in one quarter, that’s
pretty incredible.”

Michigan
embarrassed

the Gophers’ defense in the
first quarter. During the first

10 minutes, the Wolverines
built up a 17-point lead and
outrebounded Minnesota, 14-5.
Seven of those 14 rebounds were
offensive rebounds.

“(Minnesota) has only been

outrebounded one time this year,
and really that was our number-
one goal today — to outrebound
them,” Barnes Arico said. “We
did a terrific job. They had a lot
of long shots down the stretch,
and we had to battle, and we had
to fight, and we missed a couple
long ones in the end, but we did a
great job on the boards.”

Sophomore
guard
Jillian

Dunston led the team with 15
rebounds, an impressive showing
in just 22 minutes off the bench.
She averaged 5.7 rebounds before
the contest. Dunston was also
one bucket away from a double-
double, scoring eight points.

Aided by Dunston’s ferocity

on the boards, Michigan won
the rebounding battle, 46-33.

Dunston was not alone in

the race for the double-double,
though, as junior guard Siera
Thompson (18 points, eight
assists), senior forward Kelsey
Mitchell
(13
points,
nine

rebounds) and freshman center
Hallie Thome (16 points, eight
rebounds) were all knocking on
the door of the feat.

Three Gophers scored 20-plus

points
to
help
Minnesota

creep back into the game, but
the
Wolverines’
consistency

from the free-throw line kept
stretching the lead.

Michigan is now 9-0 this season

when scoring at least 80 points.

Consecutive
wins
after

consecutive losses brought out
the Wolverines’ strengths and
weaknesses. Two games saw
Michigan fail to convert free
throws and struggle to score in
the paint. Two others featured
the
Wolverines
lighting
up

opponents from beyond the arc
and dominating on the glass.

Sunday, Michigan was the

latter, and Minnesota’s time
ran out.

MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA

93
86

‘M’ beats Buckeyes

Michigan rallies

again with 12

unanswered points

By NATHANIEL CLARK

Daily Sports Writer

Even though the No. 13

Michigan
wrestling
team

defeated No. 6 Ohio State, 21-11
on Saturday, there was a time
when
things
appeared
to
be

trending the Buckeyes’ way.

In
the
165-pound
class,

Wolverine sophomore Garrett
Sutton was dominated by the
Buckeyes’ second-ranked Bo
Jordan, 19-4. Jordan won by 15
points, earning the Buckeyes
five team points and giving
them an 11-9 lead with No. 19
redshirt
freshman
Davonte

Mahomes
of
Michigan

scheduled
to
take
on

No. 15 Myles
Martin.

Mahomes

turned
the

tide. Trailing
1-0 with 1:30
to go in the
third period, Mahomes nabbed
an escape point to send the bout
into overtime. The sudden-death
extra frame didn’t last long.

Mahomes was awarded a

takedown 13 seconds into the
period to earn a 3-1 victory,
which
put
the
Wolverines

ahead, 12-11.

“Mahomes is really tough,”

said
Michigan
coach
Joe

McFarland. “It was a great win
for us and for him, and it put the
momentum on our side.”

It was all Michigan from

there. After a scoreless first
period, No. 10 junior Domenic
Abounader took total control
of the 184-pound match to
top No. 12 Kenny Courts, 5-0.
Abounader accumulated 3:16 of
riding time in the process.

It was fifth-year senior Max

Huntley, though, who clinched
the meet for the Wolverines.

He defeated Mark Martin, 8-3,
in the 197-pound class, giving
Michigan an insurmountable
18-11 edge and a signature
road victory.

Junior heavyweight Adam

Coon put the icing on the cake
as he scored a win over Nick
Tavanello, 4-1.

“It was a great team effort,”

McFarland said. “We got our
offense going, and I think that
is important.”

Added Mahomes: “I feel like

the team performed at a very high
level. We were all fired up and
ready to go. It was really awesome
to get to experience a dual meet of
this caliber with so much heat and
tension against each other.”

Yet, what was arguably the

Wolverines’ most impressive
individual victory came in the
133-pound class.

In a match that many picked

to end in favor of Ohio State, No.
16 senior Rossi Bruno notched

two
escape

points
and

2:09 of riding
time to upset
No. 8 Johnni
DiJulius, 4-1.

Bruno’s

win
knotted

up the score
at three, as it
came on the

heels of a close loss by No. 19
redshirt junior Conor Youtsey
at the hands of No. 1 Nathan
Tomasello, 4-2, in the 125-
pound match.

“Even though he didn’t win,

I thought (Youtsey) controlled
most of his match,” Bruno
said. “That really helped me
out with my match in terms of
getting momentum.”

While Michigan is riding

high following its triumph
over the defending national
champion,
the
Wolverines

will not have much time to
celebrate. They will have to
face No. 11 Illinois at Cliff Keen
Arena on Jan. 15.

“We
have
to
keep
an

aggressive mindset,” McFarland
said. “If we go out there,
concentrate and focus on our
execution, the wins will take
care of themselves.”

MICHIGAN
OHIO STATE

21
11

“We were all
fired up and
ready to go.”

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