BSportsMonday
A LATE LET-DOWN
n After a shootout victory Saturday, the
Michigan hockey team settled for five
out of six points in a two-game series at
Wisconsin. Page 4B
TALK OF THE TOWN
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | February 15, 2016
n Is it true that everyone is talking about
Jim Harbaugh these days? We went to
North Campus to find out.
SportsMonday Column, Page 2B
Michigan 61, Purdue 56
O V E R D U E
GRANT HARDY/Daily
GRANT HARDY/Daily
GRANT HARDY/Daily
‘M’ earns physical
victory at Crisler
Wolverines upset Purdue as LeVert
makes return from 11-game absence
Michigan becomes
first team this
season to beat
Purdue on the glass
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan men’s basketball
team’s upset of No. 18 Purdue on
Saturday wasn’t the first signature
win the Wolverines have picked
up this season, but it certainly
looked much different than the
others.
In Michigan’s wins against No.
24 Texas and No. 2 Maryland,
the Wolverines excelled largely
because of their knack for hitting
long-range bombs — 14 3-pointers
against the Longhorns and 11
against the Terrapins.
But thanks to pressure from
elite
guard
Raphael
Davis,
the Boilermakers snuffed out
Michigan’s
3-point
chances,
leaving the team with just five
successful triples. And things
weren’t
any
easier
for
the
Wolverines down low — in the
teams’ first meeting this season
back in January, the monstrous
trio of 6-foot-9 Caleb Swanigan,
7-foot A.J. Hammons and 7-foot-
2 Isaac Haas helped Purdue
outrebound Michigan, 36-28, and
outscore it in the paint, 42-18.
Instead of succumbing to the
Walton’s heroics
lift Michigan to
big win in game’s
final seconds
By SIMON KAUFMAN
Daily Sports Editor
After Derrick Walton Jr.
missed his third straight open
look in the first half against
Purdue,
Michigan
men’s
basketball coach John Beilein
called him over to the bench.
“Make the shots, damn it,”
Beilein told Walton.
The advice wasn’t a quick
fix. The junior guard missed
his first nine shots Saturday,
but Beilein’s belief in sticking
with Walton paid off on his
10th attempt from the field, a
drive to the hoop that pulled the
Wolverines (9-4 Big Ten, 19-7
overall) within one point of the
18th-ranked Boilermakers (8-5,
20-6) and eventually helped
push them to a 61-56 win.
With just two minutes left
in the first half and Michigan
trailing by three, Walton put
his head down and penetrated
toward the rim, laying in a right-
handed lay-up against Purdue
big man A.J. Hammons, who
fouled him on the play.
“Honestly, I didn’t see it,”
Walton said. “I kind of got
clobbered, kind of reacted when
the crowd reacted.”
The layup electrified Crisler
Center and set Michigan up
for a come-from-behind win.
Walton missed the ensuing
free throw, but a defensive stop
on Purdue’s next possession
led to a made jumper from
junior guard Zak Irvin, giving
Michigan its first lead since
early in the first half.
The Wolverines put together
two more stops, forcing the
Boilermakers to foul. Walton
went to the line twice in
the game’s final 15 seconds,
knocking down four straight
free throws to clinch the win.
For 38 minutes, though,
it looked like Walton and
Michigan’s
shooting
woes
would be the latest excuse
in another home loss after
lackluster
performances
spelled disaster against Indiana
and Michigan State at home
last week. Even with Walton’s
early 0-for-9 from the field,
Beilein didn’t want anyone else
See REBOUNDS, Page 4B
See UPSET, Page 4B