4B — February 15, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
quarterbacking his defense.
“There was a point in the
game where some people on my
bench were saying, ‘Get him out
of there,’ ” Beilein said. “But the
dude scored 26 points the other
night. I’m not taking him out.”
On a day in which Michigan
couldn’t
find
its
shooting
rhythm — it finished the game
5-for-20 from 3-point range and
shot at a 36-percent clip overall
from the field — it took grit from
Walton and his teammates to
steal the game against a bigger
Purdue team.
“Shooting numbers right now
are just going out the window at
this point,” Walton said. “When
guys look back at the stat sheet,
we don’t really care at this
point. We just want to make
sure that we did exactly what
we needed to and then a little
more than needed.”
Zak Irvin did more than
needed in the second half. After
getting bullied early by Purdue
forward Caleb Swanigan and
going just 2-for-7 from the
field in the first frame, Irvin
flipped the script. Irvin went
off for four 3s in the second
half, including two on back-
to-back possessions to answer
two straight treys from Purdue.
Irvin finished with a game-
high 22 points and was the
only Wolverine to reach double
digits in scoring.
In the first half, it looked
like Purdue’s big men would
overpower Michigan’s, just as
they had five weeks earlier in
West Lafayette. Swanigan got
easy looks in the paint, as did
Hammons and 7-foot-2 center
Isaac Haas. But in the second
half, Michigan outrebounded
Purdue 23-18 and outscored the
Boilermakers in the paint.
“I’m just proud of how hard
we fought,” Irvin said. “I don’t
think anyone would’ve expected
us to outrebound them, get more
points in the paint. Our goal is
always to hold them to under
40 percent (from the field), and
they shot 39 percent, which is
huge, and you really win this
game on defense.”
Swanigan outmatched Irvin
early, bodying his way into
the paint and putting in easy
buckets. Forward Isaac Haas
did the same against Michigan
forwards
Mark
Donnal
and
Moritz Wagner, using his 7-foot-
2 frame to bully them down low,
but the Wolverines were able to
hang in and take just a four-point
deficit into the locker room at
half time, setting up a second-
half comeback.
Beilein called it a “gritty not
pretty” performance and said
that it’s proof that this team can
win in more than one way.
The win gives Michigan its
second victory over a ranked
opponent, the other coming last
month against No. 3 Maryland,
and helps boost the Wolverines
resume come NCAA Tournament
time. The win also marked the
return of senior guard Caris
LeVert. LeVert missed the prior
11 games due to a lower left leg
injury and was a game-time
decision.
He came off the bench seven
minutes into the first half and
tallied 11 minutes in the frame
but did not score. He did not play
in the second half.
Beilein said LeVert is still
getting back into basketball
shape and will continue to
evaluate his playing time.
size disadvantage, though, the
Wolverines played one of their
more inspired, physical games
of the season and wound up
beating the Boilermakers in
both categories — 39-35 in the
rebounding battle, 24 points to
22 in the paint.
It was the first time Purdue has
been outrebounded all season,
and seven different Michigan
players grabbed three or more
boards. With the performance,
the
Wolverines
effectively
proved they have what it takes to
pull off what they called a “gritty,
not pretty” win without shooting
particularly well.
They also managed to hold
Purdue scoreless for the final
three minutes of the game, sealing
the victory with an 11-0 run.
“There are different ways to
win,” said Michigan coach John
Beilein. “We have to take what
the defense gives us. That was
surprising, because you can’t
get to the rim as well as you’d
like to (against Purdue). ... It is
good for our guys to realize that
we’re more than just (a 3-point
shooting team).”
Despite giving up 35 pounds
in his defensive matchup with
Swanigan,
junior
forward
Zak Irvin was crucial to the
Wolverines’
effort.
Swanigan
still finished the game with 14
points, but Irvin made a point of
making the talented freshman
work hard on the defensive end
as well.
“(Swanigan’s) a great player,
a great freshman,” Irvin said.
“We were battling down low, but
then also, he has to guard me on
the perimeter on the other end.
That’s just the mindset I had in
the second half.”
It worked perfectly — Irvin
scored a team-high 22 points,
including a huge mid-range
floater that gave the Wolverines a
57-56 lead with 1:09 remaining in
the game.
“Zak was the key guy,” Beilein
said. “There’s always a matchup
with another team that maybe
we can exploit, and we tried to
use whoever was guarding Zak.”
Irvin was really the only
Wolverine who had any kind of
shooting success, finishing as
the only double-digit scorer and
hitting four of Michigan’s five
3-pointers.
His explosion was key on a
day when the Wolverines’ best
scorers couldn’t knock down
shots. Junior guard Derrick
Walton Jr. only made one basket
Saturday, and senior guard Caris
LeVert — who played in his first
game since sustaining a lower-
left-leg injury Dec. 30 — missed
the only shot he took in his 11
minutes on the floor.
But though those two guards
weren’t able to contribute to the
scoring, they boosted Michigan’s
defensive effort by combining
for 12 rebounds despite the
Boilermakers’ daunting size. And
in the end, that effort was enough
to pull off the upset on a day when
the Wolverines honored the
late Chad Carr and his family’s
ChadTough foundation.
“If you look at this (box score),
we outrebounded Purdue — that
may be the only time you ever see
that stat,” Beilein said. “We got
it done somehow — Chad Carr, I
think, was batting the ball around
to us as a little angel somewhere,
and we were getting the ball. We
ended being able to get enough
done so they didn’t get too many
second opportunities.”
REBOUNDS
From Page 1B
UPSET
From Page 1B
Wolverines put
on the greatest
show on ice
M
ADISON — Michigan
is far from perfect
this season, but there
may be no
squad in all
of college
hockey that
is more fun
to watch.
The
Wolverines
are leading
the nation
in scoring
offense
(4.78 goals
per game) for the second
consecutive season, and are
playing a blend of attacking
hockey made for primetime.
Take this weekend for
example, when Michigan fell
just short of a clean sweep
against Wisconsin. In two
contests, the Wolverines tallied
eight goals, gave away five leads
and saw three players settle
into the top four in the NCAA
for points per game.
There was a shootout, a
flurry of late-period goals
and even some official review
drama. Michigan won Friday’s
matchup, 4-1, and salvaged
Saturday’s contest with a 5-4
shootout win.
Through all of it, the sixth-
ranked Wolverines played a
wide-open game — beating
defenders to the net with a
combination of speed and
creativity. It’s a contrasting
style to hard-nosed “East Coast
Hockey” that has defined the
NCAA for years, but that’s part
of the fun.
By playing to its strengths,
Michigan has eschewed the
conventional blueprint for
NCAA title contention in favor
of run-and-gun abandon. It’s
tempting to debate whether this
strategy can pay championship
dividends, but the better
reaction might be just to sit
back and watch history unfold.
* * *
There has perhaps never
been an offense as prolific
as Michigan’s in the modern
history of college hockey.
No team since the 1999-2000
season has surpassed the scoring
offense mark the Wolverines
have set so far this season. The
closest was Minnesota with 4.48
goals per game in 2001-2002.
On an individual level, the
case is perhaps even stronger.
Freshman forward and
budding superstar Kyle Connor
leads the nation in points per
game (1.78) by a staggering 12
percent. In
second place
is his center,
junior JT
Compher,
who leads
the nation
in assists. In
fourth place
is junior Tyler
Motte, the
right winger
on that line.
Motte’s tally of 27 goals not
only leads the country, but is
also already the highest NCAA
regular-season total in years.
And that’s just the first line.
The Wolverines have a deep
roster of speed and finesse.
Senior Boo Nieves centers the
second line and became the
first Michigan player to join the
100-point club since 2012 on
Saturday night.
Senior Justin Selman and
junior Alex Kile have made
their mark on the score sheet
as well, combining for a total of
44 points. And that’s without
mentioning freshman Cooper
Marody, who led the team in
scoring early this season before
being sidelined by sickness.
The level of success on the
offensive end, even against
inferior Big Ten defenses, is
simply astounding. There’s little
precedent for how to play such
an aggressive brand of hockey,
especially when it comes to
tournament time, but there
doesn’t appear to be one for
defending it either.
* * *
Michigan’s success this
season has largely resonated
from an ability to adapt.
Opponents’ attempts to stifle
the scoring onslaught have been
stymied by the the Wolverines’
depth and perseverance.
Early in the season,
rocky goaltending and an
inexperienced defense
hampered the team’s offensive
momentum. Conceding easy
goals would disrupt the flow
of the game and leave players
clearly frustrated. That
frustration would snuff the
Wolverines’ offense out like a
light.
Fast forward to this
weekend, when a defensive
gamble resulted in a game-
tying goal for the Badgers with
26.1 seconds remaining in
regulation.
This time, frustration wasn’t
the right word — players were
pissed off. Compher slammed
his stick into the endboards
following the horn, and tempers
continued to flare long after the
team left the ice.
But in the overtime period,
there was no sign of slowing
down. Michigan’s offense
continued to push the pace,
trust the defense and play the
brand of hockey it knows best.
Senior goaltender Steve
Racine took the spotlight with a
string of show-stopping saves —
including denying a breakaway
by Wisconsin star forward Luke
Kunin in the final minute. That
kind of poise was completely
absent from Michigan’s net just
a few months ago, but today this
is a more complete team.
* * *
The unprecedented offensive
production shouldn’t come as a
complete surprise.
Michigan coach Red
Berenson has been one of the
game’s great proponents of
offense, dating all the way back
to his playing days. His storied
time behind the Wolverines’
bench has long since become
the focal point of his career,
but he is also one of just two
players to score six goals — a
double hat-trick — in a National
Hockey League game since the
end of World War II.
In the week leading up to
the Wisconsin series, Berenson
commented that offense wasn’t
the only key to winning a game,
but that it was certainly part of
the answer.
Since
missing the
tournament
for the first
time in over
two decades
in 2013,
it’s been
Berenson’s
formidable
task to rebuild
the program
amid a changing landscape in
college hockey.
Well, the product finally
materialized in this year’s team,
and it’s wildly enjoyable.
College hockey has always
been about scoring goals, but
this feels different. Michigan
threatens to score on every shift
and its passing around the net
borders on telepathic.
Maybe the Wolverines’
success will usher in a new
era of offense in the NCAA,
or maybe it will never be
replicated again. But those
aren’t questions that need
answering right now.
March will likely bring
Michigan back to the NCAA
Tournament for the first time
since 2012. It’s anyone’s guess
how this high-octane offense
will fare in that setting, but
one thing’s for sure — it will be
entertaining as hell.
Meyer can be reached at
jfmeye@umich.edu and on
Twitter @justinfmeyer.
JUSTIN
MEYER
ICE HOCKEY
There may be no
squad in college
hockey that is
more fun to watch.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Junior forward Zak Irvin led Michigan with 22 points Saturday against Purdue.
‘M’ settles for shootout win
By JUSTIN MEYER
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON — With a minute
to play in overtime, Wisconsin’s
Luke Kunin barreled down the
ice toward
senior
Michigan
netminder
Steve Racine. Racine played the
breakaway calmly, slamming
his pads shut and scrambling to
cover the loose rebound.
It was the save of the game in a
dramatic 5-4 shootout win for the
sixth-ranked Wolverines (9-2-3-2
Big Ten, 18-4-5 overall).
JT
Compher
embodied
Michigan’s frustration at the
inability to put the game away in
regulation when he slammed his
stick against the endboards after
the horn marked the end of the
third period. But in a weekend
full of momentum shifts, odd
bounces and wacky calls, the
Wolverines took the result and
ran for the team buses.
“We were lucky to come out
of here with two points,” said
Michigan coach Red Berenson.
“If it weren’t for our goalie, we
wouldn’t have gotten anything.”
Added Racine: “Luckily we got
the extra point, but it still kind of
felt like a loss.”
The storyline of the first
period was special teams. After
taking just two penalties in
Friday’s
contest,
a
Michigan
player headed to the box twice in
the first 20 minutes. Wisconsin
came out flying in its first power
play opportunity, moving the
puck across the offensive zone
with ease and flustering the
Wolverines’ penalty killers.
But on the second power play,
everything fell apart for the
Badgers. Michigan junior forward
JT Compher broke up a Wisconsin
pass in the defensive zone and
streaked up the ice with fellow
junior forward Tyler Motte in
tow. Compher then floated a pass
to the NCAA’s leading goal scorer,
and Motte roofed a backhand into
the upper netting.
The goal was Motte’s 27th of
the year, his 11th straight contest
with a goal and his second game-
opening tally of the weekend. All
series against the Badgers, he made
the extraordinary look routine.
But Wisconsin wasn’t out of
fight yet. The Badgers tied the
game at one apiece for the second
night in a row on a well-placed
pass from the point. Freshman
forward Luke Kunin carved out
space for himself in the slot and
redirected the puck just past
Wolverines’
senior
goaltender
Steve Racine.
Freshman forward Kyle Connor
answered with another Michigan
goal halfway through the period.
The breakout star (Connor leads
the NCAA in points per game with
1.77) fielded a perfect pass from
junior defenseman Nolan De Jong
and walked into the offensive
zone with just the goalie to beat.
A Wisconsin defender drew a
penalty with a desperate slash,
but Connor fought off the contact,
besting the Badger’s netminder
with an emphatic one-two move.
It appeared that Michigan
might fend off Wisconsin in a
similar fashion to the previous
night, but Grant Besse changed the
course of the game. With under 13
seconds to play in the second, the
Badgers forward cut down the
right side of the ice and blasted a
wrist shot past Racine’s glove.
It was a disheartening goal for
the Wolverines, and a tally that
breathed life into Wisconsin.
A wild third period capped off
the entertaining contest.
Compher wasted no time in
taking the lead back for Michigan,
jumping into the offensive zone
and blasting a wrist shot off the
cross bar just 15 seconds into the
period.
Just 30 seconds later, the
Badgers’ Ryan Wagner tied it
again with his second goal of the
series. The sophomore forward
caught
Michigan
sophomore
defenseman
Zach
Werenski
out of position at the blue line,
and capitalized on a breakaway
opportunity. Werenski hooked
Wagner in an attempt to stop a
goal, but the shot beat Racine
between the pads.
Fittingly in a game full of
penalties, it was special teams
that gave the Wolverines the lead
late into the period. Sophomore
forward Dexter Dancs found a
chance by creating traffic in front
and lifting a short rebound into the
upper left corner.
The goal gave Michigan a
4-3 lead for which Wisconsin
appeared to have no answer. The
final 10 minutes were tense, and
chances abounded on both ends
of the ice.
And then, with 26.1 seconds
to play, a Wisconsin forward
slipped backdoor and buried
the one-time attempt. The game
headed to overtime.
“It was just kind of a D-zone
breakdown,” Motte said. “We
basically had two guys covering
three, which makes it tough,
especially late in the game. They
found a way to squeeze one
by. That’s the second time it’s
happened this year, which makes it
hurt a little bit more. Five (points)
of six on the road isn’t too bad, but
you always want to get six.”
The extra period was wide open,
with each team taking chances. JT
Compher sealed the victory with
his shootout goal, but it didn’t
erase the sting of how close those
three points were for Michigan.
MICHIGAN
WISCONSIN
5
4
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Junior forward Tyler Motte remained the nation’s leader in scoring, adding two more goals this weekend at Wisconsin.