The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 25, 2016 — 6A

‘M’ tops Northwestern

By KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Editor

Just like it did in its game 

against then-No. 6 Maryland 
on Sunday, the Michigan men’s 
basketball 
team 
(10-6 
Big 

Ten, 
20-9 

overall) started slow in their 
Wednesday night matchup with 
Northwestern. The difference, 
however, was that the Wolverines 
were 
at 
Crisler 
Center 
on 

Wednesday, not in a hostile road 
environment, and their opponent 
wasn’t on the same level.

Michigan was able to hold out, 

despite multiple scoring droughts, 
thanks 
to 
hot 
second-half 

scoring from sophomore guards 
Muhammad-Ali Abdur Rahkman 
and Aubrey Dawkins, beating the 
Wildcats, 72-63.

The duo combined for 30 

points, with 21 coming in the 
second frame alone.

“(Abdur-Rahkman) is really 

good 
off 
the 
dribble,” 
said 

Northwestern 
coach 
Chris 

Collins. “He did a great job 
driving the whole night. Like I 
said, he either got to the paint or 
got us in foul trouble. He wasn’t 
afraid. I thought he had some 
really impressive drives where 
he went right into our big guys — 
right into their chests — and had a 
couple big-time finishes.

“I thought he was a huge, huge 

deciding factor in why (Michigan) 
won tonight.”

Northwestern 
(5-10, 
17-11) 

steamrolled the Wolverines for 
nearly six minutes to start the 
first half, scoring 10 unanswered 
points. Junior forward Zak Irvin 
finally ended Michigan’s 0-for-8 
stretch with a layup that started 
the Wolverines’ steady comeback.

Junior guard Derrick Walton 

Jr. helped spark Michigan’s 
rally, 
scoring 
back-to-back 

underhand layups to bring the 
Wolverines within two points of 
the Wildcats with seven minutes 

to go in the first half. Abdur-
Rahkman tacked on nine more 
points in the frame, including 
three made free throws to cap 
a 9-0 Michigan run after being 
fouled on a shot-clock-beating 
3-point attempt.

The Wolverines missed their 

first eight attempts from beyond 
the arc and didn’t score their first 
triple until junior guard Duncan 
Robinson hit a buzzer-beating 3 
heading into halftime to make it 
29-28, Northwestern. 

But 
Michigan’s 
first-half 

comeback wasn’t quite enough 
to jumpstart the team, as the 
Wolverines started the second half 
in a similar fashion to the first. 

It took Michigan 5:43 to get on 

the board to start the game, and it 
took another 4:10 to score in the 
second frame. The Wildcats went 
on an 8-0 run to start the second 
half before being stopped by an 
Abdur-Rahkman layup. Again, 
Michigan had to claw back from a 
hefty deficit.

“(Northwestern) 
just 
runs 

some 
really 
good 
offense,” 

Walton said. “They ran some sets 
at a speed that it’s really hard 

to guard and protect the basket 
and worry about who you’re 
guarding. Tip your hat to them 
— a really potent offensive group, 
pretty much. We’re going to look 
at some things we can adjust, like 
always, but you’ve gotta tip your 
hat to them, they made some 
really good buckets.”

Dawkins hit a big triple, 

Michigan’s second of the game, 
at an opportune time to get the 
Wolverines within one point of 
the Wildcats. Eighty seconds 
later, he hit another one to tie up 
the game at 44. 

“It was big,” Abdur-Rakhman 

said of Dawkins’ 3-pointers. “Not 
everybody was hitting shots, but 
for him to come in off the bench 
and hit those 3s is big for us.”

Added Walton: “I don’t even 

know what we shot from 3 today, 
but I know it wasn’t too good. 
That really was a big lift, but that’s 
what he does. Time and time 
again, he just comes in and checks 
in and is making big shots. At this 
point, I’m not surprised. At this 
point, I’m just making sure that 
when he’s on the court, I’m trying 
to find him.”

With the momentum building, 

sophomore 
forward 
Kam 

Chatman grabbed Michigan’s first 
lead of the game after sinking two 
at the charity stripe.

From 
then 
on, 
Michigan 

and Northwestern traded leads 
twice, but Dawkins hit another 
important 
trey 
to 
put 
the 

Wolverines up 57-54 with 4:26 left 
to go.

Michigan didn’t look back from 

there, securing the victory when 
Dawkins went coast to coast for 
a layup to give the Wolverines a 
68-61 lead with 1:19 left. 

Junior forward Mark Donnal 

and sophomore forward Ricky 
Doyle had a tough time defending 
Northwestern big man Alex Olah 
in the first half, allowing him 
to shoot 6-for-11 for 14 points. 
Olah led the Wildcats with a 
game-high 19 points, but Abdur-
Rahkman was able to match him 
with 19 points of his own for a 
Michigan victory.

The Wolverines are keeping 

their NCAA tournament hopes 
alive, despite cutting it close 
against a mediocre Big Ten team 
at home.

N’WESTERN
MICHIGAN 

63
72

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman led Michigan with 19 points.
Abdur-Rahkman 
helps lead pair of 
Michigan rallies

Sophomore guard 
halts Northwestern 
runs as Wolverines 
avoid crushing loss

By LEV FACHER 

Daily Sports Writer

The 
Michigan 
men’s 

basketball team has struggled 
to find an identity this season, 
and in the absence of their two 
senior stars, the Wolverines 
have taken on a few traits they 
would prefer to live without.

Among them recently has 

been a propensity to fall victim 
to game-ending runs, which 
happened twice in a five-day 
span earlier this month in home 
losses to Indiana and Michigan 
State.

The Wolverines twice seemed 

destined 
to 
suffer 
a 
third 

such run on Wednesday, until 
sophomore guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman stepped in.

Michigan 

began 
the 

game shooting 
0-for-8 
from 

the field and 
trailed, 
10-0, 

after 
six 

minutes 
of 

play. 
Junior 

forward 
Zak 

Irvin 
finally 

broke 
the 

drought with 
a layup, but down 13-2, it was 
Abdur-Rahkman who continued 
to chip away.

“It’s what we don’t have,” said 

Michigan coach John Beilein 
of 
Abdur-Rahkman’s 
run-

stopping effort. “It’s something 
that (senior guard Caris LeVert) 
certainly did for us.”

Abdur-Rahkman 
scored 

Michigan’s next six points to 
whittle the deficit and finished 
with 19 points, three rebounds 
and a pair of assists.

“The coaches are emphasizing 

that I have to get downhill 
and get to the basket,” Abdur-
Rahkman said. “Even Caris 
encourages me to be aggressive.”

The 
timing 
of 
Abdur-

Rahkman’s 19 points proved 
just as important as the points 
themselves, as Michigan fell 
victim to another run — this one 
8-0 — to begin the second half.

For the second time, the 

player of the night put a stop to 
the Wildcats’ momentum, this 
time with a slashing layup, then 
a lightning-quick leftward spin 
to reach the rim minutes later.

“Credit (Abdur)-Rahkman,” 

said Northwestern coach Chris 
Collins. “I thought he was 
tremendous. His ability to drive 
the ball, get by our guys, get to 
the basket, draw fouls. … If he 
did miss, we were in rotations 
so they got offensive rebounds. I 
thought he played a great game, 

and was a big difference.”

The Wolverines’ mentality 

has changed in light of the 
embarrassing losses to Indiana 
and Michigan State, and so 
has 
their 
position 
on 
the 

NCAA 
Tournament 
bubble. 

Nonetheless, 
Abdur-Rahkman 

says 
he 
hasn’t 
taken 
the 

responsibility intentionally.

On a night Michigan wasn’t 

hitting 
from 
3-point 
range, 

however, the Wolverines had 
few other options than to lean 
on the player equipped with 
moves Beilein refers to as the 
“Ali Shuffle.”

“I just know we have to get 

to the basket,” Abdur-Rahkman 
said, acknowledging his goal 
Wednesday was to “get downhill 
and just try to finish or get a foul 
and stop the run.”

Scoring in the paint has never 

been Beilein’s concern, however 
— 
it’s 
Abdur-Rahkman’s 

room for improvement in his 
distribution game that has kept 
him from having his number 
called on set plays more often.

After 

practices, 
Beilein 
said 

Wednesday, 
he 
and 

Michigan’s 
assistant 
coaches 
run 
Abdur-

Rahkman 
through 
“a 

steady diet of 
reads in the 

ball screen,” the keystone of 
Michigan’s 
perimeter-driven 

offense.

“Because his assist numbers 

weren’t what we’d like them to 
be, we were hesitant to put him 
in situations where he’s got to 
make a lot of reads,” Beilein said.

Then again, sometimes the 

potential for distribution isn’t 
what counts most.

“Reading 
is 
one 
thing,” 

Beilein said. “He also can just 
take the ball to the basket and 
get a hoop.”

Entering the season, LeVert 

was expected to be the player 
Michigan could rely on for 
a basket when the rest of its 
offense 
wasn’t 
executing. 

Though 
Irvin 
and 
junior 

guard Derrick Walton Jr. have 
shown periodic flashes of that 
takeover ability, the biggest 
value in Abdur-Rahkman’s play 
this season is his emergence as 
another go-to option.

With 
the 
two 
juniors 

suffering from fatigue entering 
Wednesday’s 
game, 
Beilein 

dialed up Abdur-Rahkman far 
more than he has in most games 
this season, and the decision 
paid off.

“Muhammad is becoming a 

guy that just gets there,” Beilein 
said. “I’d like to have more of 
those guys. We thought we had 
it with Caris, and hopefully the 
rest of our guys can grow.”

“He also can 

just take the ball 

to the basket 

and get a hoop.”

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Michigan coach Red Berenson’s team could be playing for the Big Ten regular-season championship in road games Thursday and Friday at Minnesota.
Wolverines head to Minnesota

By JUSTIN MEYER 

Daily Sports Writer

The two titans of Big Ten 

hockey have spent all season 
battling for a chance to win the 
regular-season crown. Fittingly, 
that fight may 
come down to 
this weekend.

Minnesota 

(11-3 Big Ten, 
16-13 overall) 
hosts 
No. 
6 

Michigan 
on 
Thursday 

night in the 
first game of 
a 
weekend 

series 
that 

could 
shake 

up the Big Ten 
and 
national 

standings.

The Gophers are in the driver’s 

seat in the conference, with 33 
points to the Wolverines’ 32, but 
they are on the outside looking 
in on the race to the NCAA 
Tournament. Ranked at No. 16 in 
the PairWise, Minnesota needs a 

late push or a Big Ten Tournament 
title for a chance to play in April.

For Michigan (9-2-3-2, 19-4-5), 

the matchup is no less important. 
The Wolverines are desperate 
for a chance to return to the 
postseason, but a late collapse 
could still derail those hopes. A 
sweep against Minnesota would 
lock up a NCAA Tournament spot, 
while a split would also put the 
team in a strong position.

“Minnesota is a huge weekend 

for us,” said sophomore forward 
Cutler Martin. “It is going to be 
one of those miracle weekends 
where you either come away with 
the victories, and it defines our 
season, or we don’t.

“We know that this is our 

season. This is something that we 
have to be ready for.”

The two teams split an early 

conference series at Yost Ice 
Arena. 
Michigan 
dominated 

the possession in the first game, 
coasting to an 8-3 win, but fell 3-2 
the next night.

“We know how important these 

games are,” said Michigan coach 
Red Berenson. “You don’t have to 

turn it into the Stanley Cup, but 
we’re trying to play better every 
week. We think we can play better, 
and a series like this should bring 
out the best in our team.”

 The Wolverines are riding 

a tide of historic scoring and 
improved 
goaltending 
toward 

a strong regular-season finish. 
The top line of junior forwards 
Tyler Motte and JT Compher and 
freshman forward Kyle Connor 
leads the nation in nearly every 
offensive category. Motte has 
scored the opening goal in three 
consecutive games as part of a 
12-game goal streak — the longest 
in the Berenson era.

It has been a down year for 

the Gophers. After opening the 
season 4-7 in non-conference 
play, the perennial powerhouse 
has looked like at contender 
a times, and much less so at 
others. Freshman netminder Eric 
Schierhorn has been strong in 
goal, but Minnesota’s offense has 
never quite materialized.

Michigan, on the other hand, 

hasn’t lost a game in regulation 
since 
its 
last 
game 
against 

Minnesota on Dec. 12, and has 
shored up problems in net with 
the improved play of senior 
goaltender Steve Racine.

The 
Wolverines’ 
defense 

underwent a third retooling 
before the matchup against 
Ferris 
State 
last 
weekend. 

Berenson 
has 
consistently 

pointed to team defense as the 
biggest remaining concern.

Martin moved to forward while 

sophomore 
defenseman 
Sam 

Piazza moved into Martin’s place 
on the blue line. The switch gives 
the defensive unit more speed and 
adds a physical element on offense 
in the absence of sophomore 
forward Tony Calderone.

Calderone sat out against Ferris 

State, but did travel with the team 
on Wednesday.

A decisive sweep this weekend 

would cement Michigan as a 
national-title contender — and the 
Gophers know that all too well. 
That alone is enough to ensure 
that this weekend will at the very 
least provide more of the grade-A 
entertainment 
the 
Wolverines 

have delivered all season.

Michigan at 
Minnesota

Matchup: 
Michigan 19-4-
5, Minnesota 
16-13

When: 
Thursday 
8:30 P.M., 
Friday 9 P.M.

Where: 
Mariucci Arena

TV/Radio: 
BTN

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Sophomore guard Aubrey Dawkins hit three huge 3-pointers to lift Michigan over Northwestern on Wednesday night.

