‘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.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

N’WESTERN
MICHIGAN 

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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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