‘M’ wins tourney opener

Irvin’s late jumper
sends Michigan to

quarterfinals

By LEV FACHER

Daily Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — In a game

filled with big shots, a player
whose coaches call him “Big
Shot” made
the biggest
shot of all.

Junior

forward Zak Irvin’s twisting,
mid-range jumper with three
seconds remaining in overtime
gave Michigan a 72-70 win and a
berth in the Big Ten Tournament
quarterfinals, setting up a Friday
clash with top-seeded Indiana
that gives the Wolverines a final
opportunity to punch an NCAA
Tournament ticket.

Playing in his home state, a

short drive from his home town,
Irvin wanted the basketball, and
Michigan coach John Beilein
made sure to give it to him on
the Wolverines’ final offensive
possession.

“The guys had been joking

around, on the bus and earlier
today, that since this is my home
town, saying this is my city,”
Irvin said. “I was just jumping
around with them, saying that
(again), after I made the play.”

Early on, it seemed that

Irvin’s big shot wouldn’t be
necessary. As it opened up a
13-point lead early in the first
half, Michigan seemed poised
to coast to victory, rest its
starters and enter tomorrow’s
matchup
at
least
somewhat

rested.
Redshirt
sophomore

forward Duncan Robinson was
shooting 3-pointers, sophomore
guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman was scoring inside and
out, and Michigan’s defensive
energy shut down Northwestern

center Alex Olah.

Olah had other ideas, riding

Northwestern’s
second-half

rally
into
the
game’s
final

minute, when he cut Michigan’s
lead to one point with a 3 from
the left wing, then sent the game
to overtime on a putback with 0.1
seconds remaining.

Olah
entered
the
game

averaging 22 points in his last
three tries against Michigan,
but was limited in the first half
to just two points and three
rebounds, in large part because
redshirt junior Mark Donnal was
able to repeatedly swat rebounds
inches away from Olah’s grasp to
the perimeter.

“That’s just the way it played

out,” Donnal said, comparing
the first half to Olah’s 19-point
performance on Feb. 24 at
Crisler Center. “We had a better
game plan going in on Olah. We
had a little more help this game.”

Olah
finished
strong
and

ended up with 20 points and 13

rebounds, again in a losing effort.
Northwestern’s
Trey
Demps

tied Robinson for a game-high
21 points, while Irvin and the
Wildcats’ Bryant McIntosh each
scored 19 and Abdur-Rahkman
scored 14.

Robinson could easily have had

22, but he missed a critical free
throw that would have put the
game away late in the second half.

Charity-stripe
miss

notwithstanding, Beilein didn’t
hesitate to dial his number in
overtime, and the gamble paid
off. Robinson’s 3-pointers in the
overtime period’s first and last
minutes helped the Wolverines
avoid disaster, and the second
set up Irvin’s game-winner.

“I told him, ‘We’re going

right back at you,’ ” Beilein said.
“ ‘You’re going to get 3s to help
us win the game.’ Exactly what
I said. … We needed to pick
everybody up, and he was one of
the guys that we looked in the eye
and said, ‘You’re gonna bounce

back and help us win this game.’ ”

Michigan, notorious in recent

years for its struggles inbounding
the basketball, needed three
tries to get the ball in against a
ferocious Northwestern press,
but eventually got the ball in to
Robinson, who got away with
a travel and made a pair of free
throws to give Michigan another
two-point lead.

“Yeah, that was ugly again,

wasn’t it?” Beilein said of his
team’s recurring struggles on
inbounds plays.

Michigan didn’t win in the

way it wanted to, given the early
lopsidedness and its game less
than 24 hours from now. Irvin,
Abdur-Rahkman
and
Walton

played 42, 41 and 41 minutes,
respectively, meaning they won’t
have fresh legs for tomorrow’s
win-or-go-home clash against
Indiana.

For
now,
however,
the

Wolverines are simply happy to
be alive.

Indiana awaits

By KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS — The first

thing that comes to mind when
Michigan fans think of No. 10
Indiana
is

the 25-0 first-
half run that
effectively
ended
the

teams’
Feb.

2
contest
at

halftime.

The

Wolverines
came out of the
Crisler
Center

locker
room

to
claw
back

from a 21-point
deficit, but the
Hoosiers — specifically guards
Yogi Ferrell and Robert Johnson —
were too much for the Wolverines.

But that was a month ago.
Friday, Michigan (10-8 Big

Ten,
21-11
overall),
will
get

the chance to face the Big Ten
champion Hoosiers (15-3, 25-6)
in Indianapolis in the Big Ten
Tournament quarterfinals with
the team’s postseason fate hanging
in the balance.

After
a
down-to-the-wire

victory over Northwestern on
Thursday, the Wolverines will
have to recoup and recover quickly
before the Friday matchup.

“We gotta rest right now,” said

Michigan coach John Beilein.
“We gotta rest and get ready
for tomorrow. We’ll have shoot
around time here — we won’t use
it — we’ll just walk and talk and
watch clips of the Indiana game,
as well as watch for similarities
between this game and what
Indiana will do.”

The Wolverines can’t afford

that kind of run right now, with
an NCAA Tournament bid on the
line.

“That run was something crazy,

for sure,” said redshirt sophomore

guard Duncan Robinson following
Thursday’s
game
against

Northwestern. “They have a lot of
firepower on the offensive end, so
we (have to) just try to make them
uncomfortable, don’t let them get
easy catches, that sort of thing.
Yogi Ferrell is a great player, so you
do what you can to try to take him
out of his groove. I’m sure Coach B
is already thinking about the game
plan for that sort of thing, so we’re
excited for it.”

The Hoosiers have four players

scoring in double digits, and they
will also be coming off a five-day
break from game action.

Sophomore guard Muhammad-

Ali Abdur-Rahkman noted that
the Wolverines would have to
key in on defense on Friday if
they want a chance. After all, the
Hoosiers are averaging 82.7 points
per game compared to Michigan’s
74.8 points.

“They’re a great team and can

put five guys out there on the court
who can all shoot the ball,” Abdur-
Rahkman said. “You gotta play
tough on defense and you’ve gotta
be more on the help and in the
gaps and things like that.”

Junior forward Zak Irvin

added more to Michigan’s defense
on Thursday, grabbing eight
boards while also scoring the
Wolverines’ winning jumper and
logging 42 minutes in his home
state of Indiana. Friday, Irvin
will hope to lead the Wolverines
against the Hoosiers as he did
on Feb. 2, but with a different
outcome in mind.

Though
the
Hoosiers
will

effectively have a home crowd
against Michigan in Indianapolis,
Irvin will, too.

“It helped (Irvin) a little

bit,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “A
little
home-court
advantage

kind of thing. Playing in your
hometown definitely helps, and
it gives you that extra chip and
that extra grit that you want to
win the game.”

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Junior forward Zak Irvin hit the game-winning shot in overtime of Michigan’s win against Northwestern.

Robinson leads ‘M’

By SIMON KAUFMAN

Daily Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS — After the

Michigan men’s basketball team’s
overtime win versus Northwestern
in its first day of play at the Big Ten
Tournament, redshirt sophomore
guard Duncan Robinson described
the game as one with “a lot of ebbs
and flows.”

The game, in some way, was

a perfect picture of Robinson’s
season — one with ebb and flow.

Robinson started the season as

Michigan’s most lethal option from
deep and turned heads early on for
his ability to hit from anywhere
beyond the arc. But as the season
wore on, it appeared as if Robinson
had lost his stroke.

Going into Michigan’s game

against
Rutgers
on
Jan.
27,

Robinson was shooting better than
50 percent from 3-point range. In
the Wolverines’ final 10 games to
close out the regular season, he
shot worse than 30 percent from
deep, struggling to find his rhythm.

Thursday,
at
Bankers
Life

Fieldhouse, it looked as though
Robinson’s season was playing out
in a single game. In the first half,
the 6-foot-8 guard couldn’t miss.
He drained his first try from deep
to help Michigan push out to an
early 11-3 lead.

“I just think when he makes his

first or second shot, he may be a
little bit more — have more energy
to shoot it again, have a better
attitude about shooting it again,”
said Michigan coach John Beilein.

Later in the half, when a

3-point opportunity wasn’t there,
Robinson
didn’t
hesitate.
He

dribbled in and knocked down a
jumper. Two minutes later, when
the defense was tough on him from
deep again, he pump faked and
drove to the hoop, drawing a foul.
On Michigan’s next possession, he
drew another foul, this time from
beyond the arc. He knocked down
all of his free throws, picking up
five points from the charity stripe
in a span of 19 seconds.

Robinson finished the half with

14 points on 4-for-5 from the field.
In the second half, though, much
like in the second half of Michigan’s
season, Robinson was a nonfactor.

With
14
seconds
left
and

Michigan
up
one
point,

Northwestern fouled Robinson
to send him to the line. Robinson
made the front end of a 1-and-1
opportunity — his first point of the
half — but couldn’t convert on the
backend, setting up Northwestern
center Alex Olah for a put-back
basket that forced overtime.

Between the end of regulation

and the extra five-minute period,
senior guard Spike Albrecht made
sure to tell Robinson to keep his
head up.

“I was just like, ‘Keep your

head up, man,’ ” Albrecht said. “I
think he kinda blamed himself. So
I was like, ‘Dude, you’re fine. Stay
confident. We’re going to get you
shots in overtime.’ ”

Beilein shared a similar message

with his guard after the missed
free throw.

“I told him, ‘We’re going right

back at you. You’re going to gets
3s to help us win the game,’
exactly what I said.” Beilein
said. “He was one of the guys
we looked in the eyes and said,
‘You’re gonna bounce back and
help us win this game.’ ”

The confidence from his coach

and teammates paid off. On his first
touch in overtime, Robinson nailed
a 3-pointer to give Michigan some
much-needed momentum.

Later in the half, after two

Northwestern free throws pushed
its lead to three, Michigan took
a 30-second timeout and drew
up another play for Robinson.
On the ensuing trip down the
court, the Wolverines executed.
Robinson came off of a screen from
sophomore forward Ricky Doyle,
caught a pass from junior guard
Zak Irvin and fired.

“I couldn’t see the rim because

Olah was on it — he was so large, he
looked nine feet tall to me when he
came out,” Beilein said. “Duncan
put a little extra arch on it, and all
I could see was the net swishing at
the very end.”

When Michigan needed him

most, Robinson came through.
Asked after the game if it was
the biggest shot of his career, the
former DIII player hesitated for a
minute.

“Can’t think of anything else,”

Robinson said. “So yeah, I guess
you could say that for now.”

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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, March 11, 2016 — 7

Indiana vs.
Michigan

Matchup:
Indiana 25-6;
Michigan 21-11

When: Friday
12 P.M.

Where:
Bankers Life
Fieldhouse

TV/Radio:
ESPN

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