The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
November 21, 2016 — 3B
‘M’ captures 2K Classic title
NEW YORK CITY — For the
past two seasons, the Michigan
men’s basketball team has been
thoroughly
manhandled
by Southern
Methodist.
Last
season
in
Dallas,
the Mustangs (3-1) held the
Wolverines scoreless for the last
10 minutes of play to win, 82-58.
The year before that, SMU won
handily by 24 points.
But Friday night at Madison
Square
Garden,
it
was
a
completely different storyline.
Michigan (4-0) flipped the
script from the past two seasons
and came out strong, running
up a 15-point lead with 3:43 left
in the first half. The Wolverines
never gave up that lead en route
to a 76-54 win and a 2K Classic
championship.
“The last loss to SMU, we got
punked throughout the whole
game,” said senior guard Zak
Irvin. “We didn’t want that to
happen this game, and we came
out with a chip on our shoulder.”
Almost a carbon copy of
Thursday night’s game against
Marquette, Michigan came out
swinging in all facets of the
game in the first half.
Senior guard Derrick Walton
Jr. came out on fire, starting
the game with three made
3-pointers in a row. Walton
finished with 23 points to lead
all scorers after not scoring at
all against the Golden Eagles the
night before.
“It was good to see (Walton)
come
out
and
play,”
said
Michigan coach John Beilein
“He can be an elite shooter, and
we’ve seen that. We try to create
opportunities for him as well as
(let him) lead the floor.”
Overall,
Michigan
shot
a
whopping
57.1
percent
(16-
for-28) in the first half. The
Wolverines continued the hot
shooting into the second half
and finished the game 27-for-51.
In
the
paint,
sophomore
forward Moritz Wagner and
senior forward Mark Donnal
produced a combined 12 points
and 7 rebounds in the first
half. Even more
impressive,
the
duo held SMU
forward
and
Duke
transfer
Semi Ojeleye to
just 13 points, a
far cry from the
22.7 that he had
averaged in the
first three games
of the season.
“(Michigan)
did
a
really
good job of taking us out of our
rhythm,” said SMU coach Tim
Jankovich. “I give them some
credit, they took us out of some
things, and we didn’t really
handle it like we needed to.”
Added
Irvin:
“We
know
(Ojeleye) is a great player. We
knew he was going to come
out aggressive, so it was a good
matchup with (Wilson), credit
to DJ.”
Redshirt
sophomore
DJ
Wilson, in his second start
of the season,
wasn’t able to
replicate
his
10-plus rebound
stat
from
the
first three games
of the season,
but he had a
respectable
six points and
four boards in
39
minutes
of
action.
On the other
end of the court, the Wolverines’
aggressive defense held a team
that had averaged just under 40
points a half to 26 in the first
half as Michigan went into the
break up 19.
“We took pride in guarding
our man,” Irvin said. “It was
huge for us, and especially in the
first half, we held SMU to two
offensive rebounds.”
In the second half, SMU’s
offense did a much better job in
its half-court offense setting,
but Michigan’s offense was up to
the task. The two teams traded
buckets for the first five minutes,
but the Wolverines’ attack was
too much for the Mustangs, and
Michigan’s defense stayed steady
and ran away with the game.
Many pundits labeled the
Wolverines’ trip to New York as
their first real test of the season.
Leaving Madison Square Garden
with two dominant wins, it’s
safe to say Michigan passed
with flying colors.
“We’re playing with a lot
of confidence,” Donnal said.
“Every single year, we’ve had
these preseason tournaments, I
think this is the first year we’ve
actually won one. It says a lot
about this group to start off 4-0.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Redshirt sophomore forward D.J. Wilson has been a breakout player for Michigan in the season’s opening games.
SMU
MICHIGAN
54
76
MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Editor
“That last loss
to SMU, we
got punked the
whole game.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
This Friday night
N
EW YORK CITY — The
buzzer sounded, the
celebration was modest
and the
theatrics
were few.
Sure, the
Wolverines
got to stand
behind a
banner that
dubbed
them the
champions
of the
2K Classic at the center of
Madison Square Garden. And
yes, senior guard Derrick
Walton Jr. got to hold his
team’s new trophy as pictures
were taken to commemorate
the moment.
There was no confetti. There
weren’t fans storming the court.
This wasn’t one shining moment
— and we still don’t know if
Michigan will even come close to
having one.
In fact, there are a lot of things
we still don’t know about the
Wolverines.
Are they going to live and
die by the 3? Is this new
defense under assistant coach
Billy Donlon sustainable?
When are the freshmen
going to make the impact
Michigan coach John Beilein is
expecting? Can they really stay
healthy for a whole season?
Still, for 40 minutes Friday
night, in the mecca of basketball,
Michigan threw those doubts
out the window. For 40 minutes,
it imposed its will against
Southern Methodist to the tune
of a 22-point victory. And that’s a
damn good start.
The Wolverines entered
Friday night having played their
best half of the season against
Marquette, eventually beating the
Golden Eagles by 18.
But the Mustangs were a whole
different monster. It seemed no
half of basketball could have been
good enough for Michigan to
forget recent history.
In 2014, SMU went onto the
Wolverines’ home floor, poured on
17 unanswered points in the last
10 minutes and walked away from
Crisler Center with a 62-51 victory.
And last season, the
Mustangs didn’t just beat
Michigan. They flat-out
embarrassed the Wolverines.
Michigan traveled to Dallas,
only to get outrebounded by
25, lose by 24 and let SMU turn
the game into a one-sided dunk
contest.
But this Friday night, for the
first time in a long time, it felt
like the Wolverines had their
swagger back.
This Friday night, redshirt
sophomore forward DJ Wilson
wasn’t just dunking. He was
rocking the rim and then
strutting the baseline as if to tell
the fans he’d be doing it all night.
This Friday night, the college
3-point line wasn’t quite difficult
enough, as the Wolverines pulled
up from NBA range time and
time again.
And when they made it, they
let SMU know.
With under a minute left to
play in the first half, junior guard
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman
connected from deep. Then he let
his hand stay in the air for just a
few seconds extra.
This Friday night, Michigan
boarded a plane with a trophy
in tow.
There’s no telling if this is
the preview of things to come.
Entering the season, there was
a sentiment that the Wolverines
had the pieces for success in
place. But those also came with
the same doubts that will still
exist tomorrow.
Yet this Friday night, Michigan
put its pieces together. It did so
against a team that has owned the
matchup the past two years. And
it happened in the World’s Most
Famous Arena.
Doubts or not, that’s a hell of
a start.
KEVIN
SANTO
‘M’ tops USNTDP, 6-3
In its first action of the season,
the Michigan hockey team played
Windsor in a preseason game
before beginning its regular slate.
After a preseason filled with
injury and uncertainty, freshman
forward Nick Pastujov played for
the first time against the Lancers,
and with two minutes remaining
in the first period, he scored
the Wolverines’ first goal of the
season on the power play.
Since that exhibition game,
Pastujov had been held scoreless.
Friday night, though, he found
the net, and in an exhibition once
again. With the game tied at two
in the third period, freshman
forward Steven Merl crossed
the puck to the middle toward
Pastujov, who knocked it past
U.S. National Team Development
Program goaltender and Michigan
recruit Dylan St. Cyr for a 3-2 lead,
one the 18th-ranked Wolverines
would never relinquish, as they
defeated the USNTDP at Yost Ice
Arena, 6-3.
“I thought that this was far and
away Nick Pastujov’s best of the
game of the year,” said Michigan
coach Red Berenson. “And it came
at a good time.”
Two other Wolverine recruits
played in the game for the
USNTDP: center Josh Norris
— a good friend of Michigan
forward Will Lockwood — and
defenseman Quinn Hughes.
“It was cool,” said freshman
forward James Sanchez. “It was
good to see what they got, and
what they’re going to bring next
year.”
For the first 10-plus minutes,
the game moved rather slowly,
with the teams nearly even
in shots. Then with about six
minutes remaining in the period,
Lockwood earned a trip to the
penalty box for hooking.
The Wolverines looked to kill
the penalty as they cleared the
puck to the opposite zone with 11
seconds remaining on the power
play.
Hughes skated toward the
net and grabbed the puck before
seeing a hole in the Michigan
defense and passing the puck to
a wide-open Jacob Tortora, who
slapped it past senior goaltender
Zach Nagelvoort. The USNTDP
held onto that lead heading into
the first intermission.
In
the
second,
though,
the Wolverines answered, as
Lockwood struck to tie it at one.
“I thought we played well,”
Pastujov said. “We were there
last year, so we know no matter
what the score is, we know they’re
going to put up a fight ’til the end,
and that’s what they did. I thought
it was a good, high-paced, really
smooth game.”
The
USNTDP
remained
focused
against
its
older
opponents and continued to play
aggressively throughout the game.
With about a minute remaining
in the second period, it pressed
forward on offense. Norris skated
to the Wolverines’ offensive zone
and passed the puck across the
ice to forward Brady Tkachuk.
Tkachuk then hesitated, before
feeding it to Tortora in the middle,
who then backhanded it into the
net to take the lead once again.
Michigan quickly responded
and tied the game up about
20 seconds later. Senior right
wing Alex Kile zoomed to the
USNTDP’s zone and fired a
long pass to Luke Martin, who
slapped the puck toward the goal.
Fortunately for the Wolverines,
freshman forward Adam Winborg
managed to get his stick on it,
tapping it in to tie the game at two.
It took until the third period for
Michigan’s offense to really click.
Two minutes after Pastujov’s
early goal, Sanchez stole the puck
in the corner of the USNTDP’s
zone and deked out St. Cyr to
make it a 4-3 game with his first
goal of the third. His second came
with five seconds remaining in the
period. Kile added a goal off a pass
from Winborg at the 15:59 mark.
“The game is on the line on the
third,” Berenson said. “Tonight I
didn’t think we got off to a good
start. A week ago on Saturday
we had a great first period, so-so
second and not a good third.
Tonight I thought our best period
was the third. You want to be able
to close out a game.”
ICE HOCKEY
Wolverines go on 52-0 run, beat Howard
Though
the
game
was
supposed to be a walk in the
park, the Michigan women’s
basketball team transformed
it into a leisurely stroll on the
beach — and made it into its top-
three scoring game of all time.
The
Wolverines
pounded
Howard, 109-41, in the teams’
first-ever meeting Friday at
Crisler Center. It was just the
15th time in program history
that Michigan has reached the
triple-digit milestone — with the
most recent being last weekend’s
matchup with Niagara. This is
the first time in school history
that the team has gone three
games in a row beating the
century mark.
And a large chunk of that,
expectedly, came from Katelynn
Flaherty.
Before the first half was up,
the junior guard tied her career
high in assists at six. Flaherty
went on to set her new record
with a total of seven.
“For (Flaherty) to do that, it’s
just like a typical day for her,”
sophomore center Hallie Thome
said. “She’s one of the most
outstanding shooters we have
and in the NCAA.”
Added
Michigan
coach
Kim Barnes Arico: “She’s an
incredible scorer. But when she
finishes the night with (those
statistics), she’s doing other
things to help our team be
successful. I think us having 32
assists on the night shows our
ability to be unselfish and our
ability to make that extra pass
and score the basketball.”
Barnes Arico chose to keep
her starting lineup from the past
two games: Thome, Flaherty,
junior forward Jillian Dunston
senior guards Siera Thompson
and Danielle Williams.
The Bison started off with
a quick 6-0 lead within the
first minute — surprising the
Wolverines, who have never
trailed that much this season.
But Flaherty, in the second
minute of play, bumped the
Wolverines up by three, quickly
followed by another 3-pointer
from Williams.
Thome pointed out that going
forward it will be tougher to
erase that deficit if the team
trails that early, and by that
margin, when facing future
competition.
To
its
credit,
Michigan never let Howard take
the lead again — or score another
point in the first quarter. The
Wolverines went on a 36-0 run
for a final tally of 36-6.
The second quarter passed in
much the same manner. By the
end of the half, Flaherty led with
17 points, and Gondzrezick and
Thome followed her with 15 and
12 points, respectively.
Michigan extended its run
to 52-0 in the second quarter,
but the streak broke with a pair
of mid-range shots from the
Bison around the four-minute
mark. Barnes Arico said she
didn’t even notice the streak,
though, and only recognized the
efficient play.
“I think it’s just exciting to
see that we have a lot of people
contributing to our (100-point
streaks), and that’s exciting,”
Thome said. “Any night can be
anyone’s game.”
The
Wolverines’
defense
contributed to the standout
performance with 16 steals for
the night.
Thome set the mark with
three turnovers. Dunston also
was a force on the field and set
the bar for rebounds, with a
total of 13.
Barnes Arico also pointed
out the all-around flexibility
that sophomore guards Boogie
Brozoski and Nicole Munger
give the team. Combined, the
two dished out 11 assists.
Freshmen were a large part
of the depth on the team that
Barnes Arico noted. Notably, it
was freshman Kayla Robbins
who made the breakaway layup
to push the Wolverines over the
99-point mark. It was guard
KeAsja Peace who put Friday’s
performance in a tie for the
third-highest scoring game in
program history. And it was
guard Akenrieh Johnson who
pushed the game over that mark.
Gondrezick
finished
the
game with 22 points and went
5-for-7 on 3-pointers, making
her
teammates
notice
the
similarities between her and
Flaherty.
“(Gondrezick) is hitting it
lights out too,” Thome said.
“Her and (Flaherty) on the court
is something you just can’t mess
with.”
Despite all the milestones in
the game, Barnes Arico is still
striving to tweak her team to get
ready for heavier competition.
“Coaches
are
always
pessimistic by nature,” Barnes
Arico said. “I tell them to just
take us on a run to the national
championship
and
keep
on
taking those shots. I think our
kids spend a lot of time in the
gym and make an effort to be
great shooters.
“It’s been really positive, but
it’s important for us as coaches
to keep everyone grounded. It
was fun, let’s enjoy the moment,
but tomorrow we get back to
work.”
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Sophomore center Hallie Thome was a force on defense for Michigan in the Wolverines’ 109-41 win over Howard.
SYLVANNA GROSS
Daily Sports Writer
AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer