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.”