8A — Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

GRANT HARDY/Daily

MICHIGAN 70, MARYLAND 67

LIVE BY THE THREE

Irvin returns to his 
former self with 22 
points in Michigan’s 

marquee victory

By LEV FACHER

Daily Sports Writer

In late December, Michigan 

men’s basketball coach John 
Beilein 
acknowledged 
what 

seemed like an inevitable truth: 
Zak Irvin might not return to 
100 percent, in terms of health or 
rhythm, at any point during the 
2015-16 season.

Tuesday, the junior forward 

made a simple assertion.

“I feel healthy,” Irvin said. “My 

body is 100 percent.”

At that point, Irvin barely had 

to say it. He had just scored 22 
points during Michigan’s 70-67 
stunner over No. 3 Maryland, 
playing with the confidence he 
had seemed to lack in the 15 games 
leading up to the breakthrough as 
he recovered from an offseason 
back surgery.

“We couldn’t guard him,” said 

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon.

Irvin’s confidence, and his 

irrepressible shot, were never 
more evident than with just 
under three minutes remaining in 
the game, as junior guard Derrick 
Walton Jr. clung to a defensive 
rebound as tightly as Michigan 
clung to its five-point lead. Beilein 
signaled to his point guard to 
play slowly and burn clock as he 
brought the Wolverines into their 
half-court set.

Irvin wasn’t having any of it. He 

received the ball from Walton at 
the top of the key, and knowing it 
was his night, he rose, off balance, 
and brought the house down with 
his third trey of the night.

Asked if he would have made, 

or even attempted, the same shot 
just two weeks ago, Irvin could 
only smile.

“I’m getting more confident 

each game,” he said. “I think I 
would have taken that shot, but I 
was definitely in a rhythm tonight, 
which made that shot easier.”

It was the proverbial dagger 

— the shot that gave Michigan 
its first win in five tries against 
ranked opponents this season. 
And while in a Beilein-designed 
utopia it might have come with 10 
fewer seconds on the shot clock, 
Irvin recognized the opportunity 
when he saw it.

“I think everybody knows, 

once I see one go in, I feel like 
every one can go in,” Irvin said. 
“We have different options in that 
set, but I felt like I had enough 
room to be able to make the shot, 
and I did. It just felt good when it 
left my hand.”

For two months, Irvin had 

looked like a shell of his former 
self. After working for two years 
to do away with a longstanding 
label — “just a shooter” — the 
junior forward struggled in the 
early season to prove himself 
as 
even 
that. 
His 
3-point 

percentages dipped into the low 
20s, and his attempts from long 
range were often discernibly off 
target almost from the moment 
they left his hand.

The return to grace hasn’t been 

smooth — just as Irvin seemed 
to regain some semblance of 

a rhythm, senior guard Caris 
LeVert fell out of commission 
with a left leg injury. So the 
Wolverines 
have 
turned 
to 

Irvin, among others, to shoulder 
the scoring load, especially in 
Thursday’s 87-70 loss at Purdue. 
With redshirt sophomore guard 
Duncan Robinson locked down 
by the Boilermakers’ Raphael 
Davis, the ball wound up in 
Irvin’s hands frequently.

It was to no avail. With the 

burden of LeVert’s scoring on 
his shoulders, Irvin shot just 
2-for-10 from the field, and he 
said Tuesday that the pressure 
of playing in his home state took 
him out of the mindset he needed 
to be successful.

Against Maryland, it was a 

different story.

“He’s doing some things,” 

Beilein said. “He’s driving the ball 
to the basket. He’s driving it under 
control. That was a good night 
for him — a really good night for 
him — and if we can just get him 
(to play) with the consistency that 
he expects of himself, that will 
really help us.”

Michigan’s assistant coaches, 

as Beilein mentioned offhandedly 
after Tuesday’s game, call Irvin 
“big shot,” in reference to his 
reputation in high school and 
across youth leagues in his 
teenage years.

They might want to update the 

rationale behind the nickname, as 
Tuesday made it clear that Irvin 
still has his ability as a playmaker. 
Calling Irvin a big shot, at times 
like these, is only fair. Sometimes, 
and perhaps more often going 
forward, he acts like a big shot, and 
sometimes, he makes big shots.

converted an and-1 play to give 
the Wolverines a 59-57 lead, 
redshirt 
sophomore 
guard 

Duncan 
Robinson 
sank 
a 

difficult underhanded reverse 
layup and junior guard Derrick 
Walton Jr. buried a 3-pointer to 
extend the lead.

Maryland (4-1, 15-2) rallied 

furiously in the closing minutes, 
with guard Rasheed Sulaimon 
sinking 
two 
3-pointers 
in 

the final three minutes and 
Stone knocking down two free 
throws to cut the lead to two. 
But Donnal grabbed a crucial 
offensive rebound and made 
one of two shots at the foul line 
on Michigan’s next possession, 
which was followed up by a 
missed triple from Sulaimon just 
before the buzzer to give the 
Wolverines the upset win.

Irvin 
— 
who 
Maryland 

coach Mark Turgeon said was 
“unguardable” tonight — finished 
the game with 22 points, Robinson 
added 17 and Michigan hit 12 
3-pointers, the most the Terrapins 
have allowed in a game all season.

In Beilein’s mind, the victory 

was a glimpse of the full potential 
of Irvin and Walton — two 
players who have been forced into 
important roles since they were 
sophomores, and two players 
who were tasked with closing out 
the game as the most experienced 

leaders on the court.

“This is that next step for 

them,” Beilein said. “It’s the 
feeling right now that (they can 
be like) Tim Hardaway, Trey 
Burke, Nik Stauskas or Caris 
LeVert — make a big play to win 
the game.”

Even without LeVert — the 

Wolverines’ 
leading 
scorer, 

rebounder and assist man — 
Michigan 
initially 
had 
little 

trouble getting off to a quick 
start, thanks in no small part to 
the 3-pointer.

After 

Maryland 
bullied 
its 

way to four 
points 
off 

two offensive 
rebounds 
to 

start the game, 
the Wolverines 
turned to the 
outside, where 
Walton, Irvin and Robinson 
buried three straight triples to 
give Michigan an 11-6 lead and 
get the Crisler Center crowd 
involved early.

Maryland 
was 
without 

Trimble for much of the first 
half, as he exited the game with 
two fouls with 9:40 remaining. 
He finished the game with just 
two points.

The first half ended in a 3-point 

battle, with Maryland forward 
Robert 
Carter 
Jr. 
knocking 

down a shot-clock-beating triple 
to give Maryland a 22-21 lead 

and Layman hitting a trey of his 
own a few moments later. But 
Robinson answered every blow, 
hitting three 3-pointers in less 
than three minutes to retake a 
five-point lead.

The Wolverines still couldn’t 

match the Terrapins’ size early on 
— they were outrebounded 16-12 
in the opening frame and 36-27 
in total — but they stepped up the 
effort and physicality. Before he 
closed the game with the offensive 
rebound, Donnal ended the first 

half 
on 
an 

outstanding 
stretch 
in 

which 
he 

blocked 
Sulaimon 
and Carter on 
back-to-back 
possessions 
and 
tipped 

in 
a 
missed 

3-pointer at the 

buzzer to give Michigan a 37-29 
lead at the half.

The Wolverines nearly gave 

that lead away in the second 
frame, but after a few more 
timely threes and free throws, 
they secured their biggest win of 
the season.

“This is the Big Ten. It’s 

gonna be a dogfight each game,” 
Irvin said. “I think teams are 
overlooking us with (senior guard 
Spike Albrecht) and Caris out, 
and we’ve just got to let everyone 
know we are a good ballclub 
without them.”

BASKETBALL
From Page 1A

“It just feels good 

to get this win 
today, against a 

really good team.”

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Junior guard Derrick Walton Jr. turned in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Maryland.

