B
 SportsMonday

UNHAPPY SPLIT

n Michigan failed to capture the season 
sweep of Michigan State. Page 4B

KATE IS GREAT

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | February 8, 2016

n Katelynn Flaherty eclipsed the 1,000-
point mark during Sunday’s win. Page 4B

WAKE-UP CALL

SHARPSHOOTING SPARTANS BLOW BY WOLVERINES

By JACOB GASE

Daily Sports Editor

Normally, 
it’s 
redshirt 

sophomore 
guard 
Duncan 

Robinson who puts on a 
3-point-shooting 
clinic 
at 

Crisler Center.

But 
Saturday, 
that 
role 

belonged to a different 3-point 
specialist: 
Michigan 
State 

guard Bryn Forbes.

Forbes 
connected 
on 

his first five attempts from 
downtown and finished the 
game with eight 3s on his way 
to a team-high 29 points, and 
the 10th-ranked Spartans in 
total shot a blistering 14-for-
22 from beyond the arc in the 
game to capture the 89-73 
victory. The one-sided loss was 
the Wolverines’ second this 
week, coming just five days 
after they allowed a 28-0 run 
and fell to Indiana.

“It’s very frustrating no 

matter who we’re playing,” 
said junior forward Zak Irvin. 
“But especially Michigan State, 
we really wanted to win this 
game ... especially when we’ve 
got them laughing at us on our 
home court. These past two 
games, teams have just punked 
us. We can’t let that happen.”

National Player of the Year 

candidate 
Denzel 
Valentine 

was his usual do-it-all self for 
Michigan State, flirting with 
a triple-double with 21 points, 
eight assists and nine rebounds. 
Valentine 
proved 
difficult 

to stop even when double-
teamed, as he knocked down 
an improbable rainbow jumper 
early in the first half with four 
Michigan hands in his face.

The Wolverines, meanwhile, 

struggled to find a shooting 
rhythm, missing their next 
eight 3-point attempts after 
junior guard Derrick Walton 
Jr. knocked down a triple for 
their first points of the game. 
They finished 4-for-16 from 

beyond the arc in the first half.

Michigan (7-4 Big Ten, 

17-7 
overall) 
found 
itself 

down 32-15 after Forbes’ fifth 
3-pointer, but the Wolverines 
made a late push to cut the 
lead to 11 following a stretch 
in which the Spartans lost 
three turnovers in under two 
minutes and Forbes missed his 
first two shots of the game.

The half closed on a 3-point 

shooting 
battle 
between 

Walton and Forbes, with each 
player hitting two triples in a 
50-second span before Walton 
missed a shot at the buzzer 
and sent the Wolverines into 
the locker room trailing by 
16 
points. 

They 
weren’t 
able 
to 

recover 
in 

the second.

Thanks 

to 
their 

two-big 
man set of 
freshman 
Deyonta 
Davis 
and 
senior 
Matt 
Costello, 

the Spartans (7-4, 20-4) also 
had a significant advantage 
down low, which they finally 
exploited in the second frame 
to put their in-state rival away.

Costello took it to Michigan 

junior forward Mark Donnal 
early in the half, scoring the 
Spartans’ 
first 
six 
points 

after being limited to just 
one in the first. Donnal, 
clearly overmatched, wound 
up picking up his third foul 
and sat on the bench for the 
remainder of the half.

“We have to get to the point 

where enough is enough,” 
Irvin said. “We have to have 
the mentality that we have to 
play defense in order to win 
games, especially against these 
past two opponents that we’ve 
played. We’re not just gonna 

beat people by shooting 3s and 
making jump shots.”

Behind Irvin — who scored 

12 points in the second half and 
a team-high 19 in the game — 
the Wolverines made a small 
effort to stay in the game, but 
a 3-pointer from freshman 
Matt McQuaid and a steal-
turned-fast-break dunk from 
Costello brought the Spartans’ 
lead to 69-42 with just over 10 
minutes to play.

Costello made a face at the 

CBS television camera below 
the basket, knowing the game 
was effectively over.

He was right. The Spartans 

hardly let up from there, only 

allowing 
a 

futile 
14-2 

Michigan 
run 
in 

garbage 
time to cut 
the 
deficit 

to 16 — the 
Wolverines’ 
second 
straight 
double-digit 
home loss.

Michigan was without star 

senior guard Caris LeVert 
for the 10th straight game 
due to injury, but coach John 
Beilein refused to make any 
excuses, branding Indiana and 
Michigan State as elite teams.

The Wolverines have shown 

glimpses of being able to play 
with elite teams — it has only 
been a month since they beat 
then-No. 3 Maryland at home 
without LeVert — but they 
are now left trying to find a 
way to fix things after getting 
overwhelmed this week.

“We really just need to do 

some soul-searching,” Irvin 
said. “We’ve gotta get back on 
track. It’s been a tough week 
for us, and no one’s gonna feel 
sorry for us. We’re just gonna 
learn from this experience 
and move on.”

Michigan State 89,

Michigan 73

DESIGNED BY: MIRANDA RIGGS AND SINDHU GIRI 

PHOTOS BY LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

“These past 
two games, 

teams have just 

punked us.”

