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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.