6A — Thursday, January 21, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Another tough home test
lies ahead for Wolverines
By TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
Two players by the name of
Kelsey Mitchell will step onto the
Crisler Center court Thursday
evening — one
of
them
for
Michigan,
the
other for Ohio
State.
One
of
them
recently
notched
personal highs
for
her
first
career
double-
double, and the
other is second
in
the
entire
country,
and
first in the Big
Ten, in scoring.
Michigan
senior
forward
Kelsey Mitchell and Ohio State
sophomore guard Kelsey Mitchell
will meet for the first time in their
careers Thursday night, when the
Michigan women’s basketball team
(3-3 Big Ten, 11-6 overall) hosts the
seventh-ranked Buckeyes.
Mitchell,
the
Buckeye,
is
averaging 25.3 points, 2.7 rebounds
and 2.1 steals. Last year, she led the
nation in scoring and helped Ohio
State reach the Sweet 16.
“Ohio
State
has
everyone
returning from a great season
last year,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico in her weekly
interview with WTKA. “(Ohio
State’s Mitchell) is one of the top
players in the nation. She’s just an
incredible scorer.”
The Buckeyes (5-1, 13-4) don’t
need to rely solely on Mitchell,
though, as they have a solid,
balanced attack force alongside
her. Guard Ameryst Alston, who
is averaging more than 18 points
per game, and forward Alexa
Hart (10.8 points per game, 6.7
rebounds per game) have been
making themselves heard as well.
Mitchell, the Wolverine, was
injured last season for both games
against Ohio State. Michigan split
the season series, with both teams
winning at home.
This year, the two teams meet
only once in the regular season,
which could help or hurt Michigan.
Last week, Michigan nearly
took down now-No. 5 Maryland,
but fell behind late when Mitchell
and
freshman
center
Hallie
Thome got into foul trouble.
Michigan added a loss to the
record, but more importantly, it
gave up the chance to snag a big win
against a top-ranked opponent.
The Wolverines have put up
performances similar to that one
earlier this season, nearly beating
now-No. 20 UCLA, but they still
lack a marquee win to boost their
NCAA Tournament aspirations.
Just like the Maryland and
UCLA
matchups,
Michigan’s
opponent Thursday is the favorite,
but a win would significantly aid
the Wolverines’ resume.
With
the
way
Michigan’s
Mitchell has been playing lately,
the Wolverines will have a fighting
chance. Against Iowa in early
January, she had 15 points and 11
rebounds, both career highs.
“I don’t remember playing like
this since high school,” Mitchell
said after the game.
The
senior
forward
has
sustained multiple injuries over
her four years at Michigan, and
she barely saw any playing time
until this year. At the beginning
of the season, Barnes Arico
praised her impressive preseason
performances, and even felt like
she might have a breakout season
similar
to
former
Wolverine
forward Cyesha Goree.
Sunday, the Wolverines left
Penn State with their first win in
State College since 2001, thanks
in part to a performance from
Flaherty, who scored 23 points on
5-for-10 shooting.
However, the Nittany Lions are
no Buckeyes.
“(Ohio State is) gonna be tough,”
Barnes Arico said. “They’re off to a
great season. They do the dribble
drive. They try to draw fouls. They
shoot the 3 exceptionally well.
They’re gonna be another great test
and great game for us at home.”
Ohio State
at Michigan
Matchup: Ohio
State 13-4;
Michigan 11-6
When:
Thursday
6 P.M.
Where: Crisler
Center
TV/Radio:
BTN
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein’s team didn’t play its best basketball Wednesday, but pulled out a win over Minnesota.
‘M’ overcomes
shooting woes
Wolverines fail
to pull away from
Minnesota, but
hold on for win
By LEV FACHER
Daily Sports Writer
To kick off Wednesday’s
halftime entertainment, two
fans were given the opportunity
to make a half-court shot and,
in
doing
so, win a
free Delta
Airlines flight to a U.S. city of
their choosing. Within seconds,
as one feeble attempt after
another failed to reach the free-
throw line, much less the rim,
it became readily apparent that
neither contestant was leaving
the state of Michigan for free
any time soon.
The duo’s only success was
in impersonating the half it had
just witnessed — a mistake-
riddled period that saw the
Michigan
men’s
basketball
team’s 15-point lead whittled to
a 37-30 deficit by halftime.
Unlike
the
fans,
the
Wolverines (4-2 Big Ten, 14-5
overall) figured it out in the end,
denying the Golden Gophers
(6-13, 0-7) their first Big Ten
victory,
74-69.
Michigan
appeared lucky to be playing a
Big Ten bottom dweller, though,
as it struggled in all aspects of
the game.
Though
the
Wolverines
turned the ball over just six
times, their mistakes came
mainly in their shot attempts,
as even their elite shooters had
little success finding twine.
It took some shaking and
baking
from
junior
guard
Derrick Walton Jr. to get the job
done. Walton saved possessions
late in the shot clock numerous
times with twisting, scooping
baskets at the rim, finishing
with 22 points.
“I tried to steal a little bit from
the Stephen Curry package,”
Walton said.
But even Walton struggled
from the field, shooting just
1-for-6 from 3-point range. As
Minnesota kept the margin
in
single
digits
throughout
the game, Walton’s 11-for-12
free-throw shooting made the
difference. The point guard’s
performance
from
the
line
brought Beilein a sigh of relief,
having minced no words with
sophomore guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman moments
earlier before Abdur-Rahkman
shot a one-and-one.
“I had tried to be positive
with him and told him to make
his damn foul shots in the
huddle,” Beilein said. “So that
really worked. He went out
there and made them.”
Sharpshooting
redshirt
sophomore
guard
Duncan
Robinson shot just 3-for-12
from the field and missed an
uncharacteristic seven times
in 10 attempts from 3-point
range.
The
Wolverines
collectively
shot
23-for-
63,
and
the
teams
combined
to
shoot
an
anemic
15-for-53 from
3-point range.
“He
got
some really good looks,” Beilein
said of Robinson’s seemingly
flukish
performance.
“He
practices so much. … He’s got
to pick his pockets to practice.
They tell me how many 3s he
makes before the game — it’s like
hundreds. I can assure you, and
I was away recruiting, that on
the day off (Monday), he found
his in there, with obviously no
instruction from us, and had
some manager come, and made
a couple hundred.”
As strange as Robinson’s
performance was, the first half’s
final sequence, which entailed
junior walk-on Andrew Dakich
attempting a jump shot with his
foot on the 3-point line, was odd
as well. The shot rimmed out
and into the hands of sophomore
forward
Ricky
Doyle,
who
missed a point-blank attempt at
the buzzer.
Another peculiar moment
saw redshirt freshman forward
D.J. Wilson miss a second-half
dunk only to find the ball in
his hands seconds later in the
same spot. The ensuing missed
layup might as well have been
the theme of the night for
Michigan, which didn’t put
Minnesota
away
until
the
game’s final minutes.
Walton’s 3-pointer with just
over six minutes remaining
in the game gave Michigan a
nine-point lead that it clung to
as it the clock dwindled toward
all zeroes.
The Wolverines showed an
impressive
ability
to
fight through
Minnesota’s
uncommon
approach
on
guarding ball
screens.
“They
defended
it
differently
than
anybody’s defended all year
long,” Beilein said, divulging
only
that
the
speed
of
Minnesota’s frontcourt players
afforded the Golden Gophers
extra flexibility in how they
helped and switched.“We’ve
just got to have a different
strategy or be better at what
we do.”
Irvin, Walton make
difference in victory
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Editor
If
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball team’s upset of then-
No. 3 Maryland was a pretty
performance — just the right mix
of 3-point bombs, high-energy
defense and timely shooting
—
Wednesday’s
win
over
Minnesota at Crisler Center was
downright ugly.
The Wolverines couldn’t rely
on the 3, shooting just 29 percent
from beyond the arc — 13 percent
below their season average. Even
their most prolific sharpshooter,
redshirt sophomore guard Duncan
Robinson, clanked multiple wide-
open attempts off the back of the
rim in the first half and shot an
abysmal 3-for-12 from the floor in
the game.
And they certainly weren’t
playing
high-energy
defense
either,
allowing
the
Golden
Gophers — who remain winless
in their seven Big Ten games — to
close the first half on a 9-0 run
and stay in the game well into the
second half.
But luckily for Michigan, even
when the rest of its offense seemed
to be asleep — Minnesota outshot
the Wolverines 42 percent to 37
— its two on-court junior leaders,
forward Zak Irvin and guard
Derrick Walton Jr., came ready to
play, and that was enough to allow
Michigan to narrowly escape with
a 74-69 victory.
On a night when his teammates
shot a combined 15-for-46 and tied
the rebounding battle with one of
the worst rebounding teams in
the conference, Irvin came out
strong with 19 points and a team-
high 11 boards. Irvin didn’t make
a basket in the last 17 minutes of
the game, but he helped carry the
Wolverines with 15 points in the
first half.
“Guys need to step up,” Irvin
said. “I had to go through that a bit
last year with Derrick and (senior
guard Caris LeVert) being out,
so I’m used to it now. It’s a team
game — all of us are just trying to
do what we can.”
In the second half, it was
Walton’s turn to take over. Like
most of his teammates, Walton
didn’t have a great shooting
performance — he made just five
of his 13 shots — but in the second
half, he made 10 of 11 free throws
and a big 3-pointer to help ice the
game for the Wolverines.
“Derrick’s been playing with
great poise, especially once we got
into the Big Ten (season),” Irvin
said. “He’s been able to be there
when things are going tough for
us. He was able to make some big
shots tonight when we couldn’t
really get the ball in the basket.”
And
crucially,
Walton’s
performance at the line proved to
be the difference for a team that
hadn’t gotten into many free-
throw battles late in games —
Beilein said the only true example
of that this year was at North
Carolina
State
in
December,
where LeVert sank eight of eight
foul shots down the stretch to seal
a victory.
The victory wasn’t especially
pleasing to Beilein, the fans or
the players, but in the end the
Wolverines were still proud to say
they had successfully closed out
the game.
“It wasn’t a pretty win,” Irvin
said, “but it was gritty. We had to
do the things we don’t normally
have to do — we had to fight.”
MINNESOTA
MICHIGAN
69
74
“I tried to steal
a little bit from
the Stephen
Curry package.”
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Zak Irvin led Michigan with 19 points and 11 rebounds against Minnesota.
SINDU KILARU/Daily
Kelsey Mitchell faces another Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State’s star, on Thursday.