SportsMonday
NO PRESSURE
n With little margin for error, Michigan
seeks a national championship.
SportsMonday Column, Page 2B
THE NEW BOSS
n Warde Manuel was introduced
as Michigan’s new athletic
director on Friday. Page 2B
B
y rk
Michigan 79, Penn State 72
blue
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | February 1, 2016
N
EW YORK — Frank
Sinatra said if you can
make it in New York,
you could
make it
anywhere.
In 2013,
the Big Ten
took note
and decided
it wanted
to be a part
of it: New
York, New
York.
So
the conference, once called
the Western Conference,
started spreading the news
— it was headed east. The
Big Ten penned an eight-
year partnership with the
Pinstripe Bowl to have one of
its schools play in the annual
post-season game at Yankee
Stadium. Next, it added
two East Coast schools in
Rutgers and Maryland. Then,
it announced plans to host
the men’s basketball Big Ten
Tournament in the Verizon
Center in Washington D.C.
and Madison Square Garden
in New York in 2017 and 2018,
respectively.
The deal with Madison
Square Garden also included
the arena being the home
of the inaugural “Super
Saturday,” a basketball-hockey
double header between
Michigan and Penn State, the
first true test to see if the Big
Ten could make it there.
An hour after the Michigan
men’s basketball team edged
Penn State on Saturday at
Madison Square Garden, it
looked like Sinatra was right —
the Big Apple would be fruitful
for the Big Ten. American
Whiskey — a restaurant and
bar just three blocks from the
arena — played host to hoards
of Wolverines fans celebrating
the victory.
And why not celebrate?
Michigan, their Michigan,
played just around the
corner in The World’s Most
Famous Arena, and thanks
to a 20-point performance
from Zak Irvin and a double-
double from Derrick Walton
Jr., they were winners for the
afternoon. So they turned
the Midtown bar into a sea
of maize and blue — a scene
you’d expect at Skeeps, but not
at a bar just a few blocks from
Times Square.
The schools took to the
hardwood first, before the the
floor came up and the ice came
out.
Michigan started the day
with a 7-0 run on the court
and never gave the lead back,
downing Penn State, 79-72.
Then, at night, the Michigan
hockey team used four third-
period goals to roll past the
Nittany Lions, 6-3.
One venue. Two Michigan
wins.
Michigan 6, Penn State 3
See KAUFMAN, Page 4B
SIMON
KAUFMAN
JAMES COLLER/Daily
JAMES COLLER/Daily