Michigan to take Georgia Tech in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

For the first time in program 

history, the Michigan women’s 
basketball team is headed to 
Atlanta for a matchup against 
Georgia Tech.

“Georgia Tech is a great team, 

especially at home,” said Michigan 
coach Kim Barnes Arico in an 
interview with WKTA. “They 
haven’t lost yet. They’re coming 
off a win in (the Junkanoo Jam 
tournament in Bimini, Bahamas) 
and they won against their in-state 
rival, Georgia, earlier this season. 
They’re really off to a great start.” 

The 
Wolverines 
shouldn’t 

be fazed, though. The team is 
entering the contest ranked first 
in the nation in 3-point-field goal 
percentage 
(.455) 
and 
second 

in field-goal percentage (.518). 
Additionally, Michigan is No. 12 in 
scoring defense and has received 
votes in both the Associated Press 
Poll and the USA Today Coaches 
Poll.

Despite those numbers, the 

Wolverines (6-1) are coming off of 
a loss against No.10 Florida State at 
the Paradise Jam tournament last 
weekend in St. Thomas. Michigan 
did manage to edge out No.25 
Gonzaga in its first matchup of 
three. 

The tournament was the first 

swing of a seven-game away series. 

“We’re on the road again and 

our schedule is incredibly tough,” 
Barnes Arico said. “But we’re trying 
to make our players really believe. 
It’s going to make a difference for us 
down the road moving into the Big 
Ten Tournament, and hopefully 
into the NCAA Tournament, to 
play the schedule we’ve had.”

A large part of the team’s 

early-season success stems from 
Katelynn Flaherty. The junior 
guard was named to the Naismith 
Trophy Watch List on Nov. 30 and 
is averaging 19.1 points per game on 
a 53.6 percent shooting, including 
44.0 percent from deep.

Adding 
to 
her 
impressive 

offensive statistics, Flaherty is 
cushioning her stat line with well-
rounded performances, posting 
4.1 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 27.7 
minutes per game. She has already 
been named to the Big Ten Player 
of the Week Honor Roll twice this 
season. 

Flaherty 
is 
one 
of 
two 

Wolverines to score in double 
figures in each game. She is joined 
by 
sophomore 
center 
Hallie 

Thome, who also leads Michigan 
in minutes played (28.4) and total 
blocks (2.1 per game). 

The Yellow Jackets are 6-3 in 

the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, while 
Michigan is 7-2 all-time in the 
series. Barnes Arico, herself, boasts 

a 3-1 record. Georgia Tech coach 
MaChelle Joseph, meanwhile, is 
the all-time winningest coach in 
program history and holds a 60.9 
win percentage. 

The Wolverines will have to look 

out for guard Francesca Pan, who 
averaged 20 points per game in the 
Junkanoo Jam.

The Big Ten/ACC Challenge 

pits Michigan against a team that 
isn’t scared of fouling and playing 
physical, according to Barnes 
Arico. However, the coach doesn’t 
think the physicality is unheard 
of in the changing landscape of 
the Big Ten, between adding new 
teams and new coaches within the 
past six years to the conference.

Notably, though, Michigan’s 

bench has been outscoring its 
opponents’ bench in every game 
this year. Freshman guard Kysre 
Gondrezick, who was named 
Big Ten Freshman of the Week 
on Nov. 14, leads the charge, but 
sophomore guards Nicole Munger 
and Boogie Brozoski round out the 
effort. 

“(Georgia Tech) will try to 

pressure us and give us a different 
look than we’ve faced so far,” 
Barnes Arico said. “Full court, 
really physical. They go deep 
into their bench, and try to rotate 
people in and try to pressure you. 

“It will be a tough contest for 

us.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

SYLVANNA GROSS

Daily Sports Writer

Wolverines blow lead, fall to Virginia Tech

One week ago, Zak Irvin 

was putting on one of the most 
miserable performances he’s ever 
had in a Michigan uniform.

The senior guard fouled out 

after 
shooting 
2-for-13 
from 

the field and failed to show up 
mentally, 
committing 
eight 

turnovers in the Wolverines’ 61-46 
loss to South Carolina.

Fast-forward seven days to 

Michigan’s 
matchup 
against 

Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten 
Challenge, and No. 21 in maize 
looked like a different player at the 
start. Irvin drained his first two 
shots, scoring 15 points in the first 
half.

But the Wolverines have only 

gone as far as Irvin has been able to 
take them, and in the second half 
the irrational shots and turnovers 
that plagued Irvin against the 
Gamecocks crept back into his 
game.

With Michigan (5-2) down by 

one with five seconds left, a miss 
on an ill-advised fade-back jumper 
would end up being the costliest of 
all the shots the senior has taken in 
both games.

After a pair of Hokie free 

throws, a 3-point attempt at 
the buzzer from redshirt junior 
Duncan Robinson couldn’t lift 
Michigan out of the hole. Virginia 
Tech (6-1) completed its come-
from-behind 
effort 
to 
down 

Michigan, 73-70.

“We were trying to isolate him, 

and they took him away a little bit,” 
said Michigan coach John Beilein 
on Irvin’s missed jumper. “We 
know what to do when they take 
him away and we didn’t do it. It’s 
that simple.”

Added Irvin: “It’s part of my 

game. I showed it through the 
game, I was able to make that shot 
two or three times. I felt confident. 
It was there all night.”

The Wolverines once held a 

15-point first-half advantage and 
a nine-point halftime lead. But the 
Michigan defense couldn’t stop 
the Hokies in the second half, as 

Virginia Tech was able to score on 
59 percent of its possessions in the 
period, while shooting 52 percent 
from the field and a perfect 12-for-
12 from the free throw line.

When Virginia Tech came 

within a point of grabbing the 
lead halfway through the second 
half, Michigan went on a 15-6 run 
powered by Irvin and Robinson 
that re-opened a 10-point lead. 
That would be the largest the 
Wolverines would extend their 
advantage in the period.

The Hokies ultimately closed 

the game on a 15-5 run over the 
final five minutes, with a smaller 
lineup led by Justin Bibbs, Zach 
LeDay and Seth Allen scoring 
the buckets in crunch time. It 
only helped Virginia Tech when 
redshirt sophomore forward DJ 
Wilson fouled out with three 
minutes remaining, allowing the 
Hokies to stretch the floor with a 
smaller lineup.

“They’re a veteran team,” Irvin 

said. “They made a run. You know, 
basketball’s a game of runs. We 
weren’t shooting the ball as well 
as we were in the beginning of 

the game. Basically, on defense, 
they were doing anything they 
wanted.”

With 1:46 remaining, Virginia 

Tech took its first lead of the 
contest off of Allen’s jumper. The 
guard put the Hokies up four on 
the following possession with 
a three from the top of the key. 
Despite Robinson sinking a bucket 
on the following possession that 
brought Michigan within one, 
Allen’s five-point spurt would be 
enough for the Hokies to pull out 
the road win.

“Thank goodness in my time 

coaching I haven’t seen too many 
games like there, where we 
lead the whole game and can’t 
make enough stops or finishes 
offensively to win the game,” 
Beilein said. “We just didn’t do 
enough — we’re back again, 52 
percent from the field, just doing 
some strange things on defense. It 
really cost us.”

Irvin 
ultimately 
led 
the 

Wolverines in scoring with 23 
points on 10-for-20 shooting. It 
was Irvin’s largest tally of the 
season thus far, but his eight-point 

second half saw him miss all four 
three-pointers 
he 
attempted, 

as well as the jumper with five 
seconds left that would have put 
Michigan back in the lead.

Robinson and junior guard 

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman 
followed Irvin in scoring with 
15 and 13 points respectively, 
combining 
to 
shoot 
10-for-21 

from the field. Robinson was the 
Wolverines’ lone scorer off the 
bench, as just six Michigan players 
finished with points in the scoring 
column.

Sophomore 
forward 
Moritz 

Wagner was the only consistently 
effective scorer for the Wolverines 
in the second half, scoring seven of 
his 11 points in the period.

Michigan will look forward 

to a matchup with Kennesaw 
State on Saturday to recover from 
Wednesday’s 
devastating 
blow 

before a difficult week when it 
faces Texas and travels to No. 9 
UCLA. With the non-conference 
season winding down, there’s 
no telling what sort of harm this 
loss could do to the Wolverines’ 
tournament résumé come March.

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein watched his team lose after leading by as many as 15 on Wednesday.

BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer

Michigan fails to take 
advantage of post play

After leading for the entire 

game, 
the 
Michigan 
men’s 

basketball team was down four 
with under a minute to play.

Senior forward Zak Irvin got 

the ball on the left wing, and the 
stage was set for your standard 
college basketball heroics.

But no one in Crisler Center 

ever got to witness that show. 
Irvin dribbled the ball back and 
forth on the wing until the shot 
clock wound down, pulled up for 
a fadeaway and clanked one off 
the rim. A make would not have 
guaranteed victory, but it would 
have forced the pressure back 
on to Virginia Tech. Instead, 
Michigan managed just one more 
shot — a missed 3-pointer at the 
buzzer by redshirt junior forward 
Duncan Robinson.

“I really just wanted to drive 

to the basket, try to use the free 
throw line or look for Duncan 
in the corner,” Irvin said. “But I 
wasn’t able to get there, so at that 
point I was just really trying to 
make something.”

Irvin’s 
attempted 
go-ahead 

basket was just a microcosm of 
an issue that has been plaguing 
the Wolverines through their last 
three games: They seem to be 
flirting with the idea that they will 
live or die by the jumper.

And while the matchup against 

Virginia Tech featured a greater 
emphasis on playing through 
the post, Michigan didn’t use 
that 
strategy 
nearly 
enough, 

eventually leading to a 73-70 loss 
against the Hokies.

In the first half, with the way 

the Wolverines were shooting, 
playing on the perimeter didn’t 
appear to be an issue. They shot 
55 percent from the floor and 
connected on seven of their 14 
shots from deep. If that weren’t 
enough, Irvin, a senior wing, 
looked poised for one of his typical 

scoring nights, posting 15 points 
in 17 minutes.

Down the stretch, though, 

as the Hokies went on a 23-10 
run in the final eight minutes, 
shooting out of a slump proved to 
be a problem — much like it was 
against South Carolina.

During Virginia Tech’s run, 

Michigan shot 3-for-12 from 
the floor, and 10 of those shots 
came from behind the arc or 
mid-range. Of the three baskets 
the Wolverines did make while 
their lead dwindled away, two 
were layups that developed from 
cycling the ball down low.

Whether Michigan realized 

it or not, it had the answer to its 
problem in sophomore forward 
Moritz Wagner’s play to open the 
second half. The Hokies strung 
together a 12-6 run in the opening 
4:07 of the frame and without 
Wagner, it could have been uglier.

Wagner 
scored 
Michigan’s 

only three baskets until the 13:47 
mark, and he did so however he 
pleased. He took a defender off 
the dribble from the perimeter, 
flashed polished moves working 
in the post and knocked down a 
jumper to go with it.

“It was a conscious effort, I 

would say,” Robinson said. “Mo’s 
a tough player to guard inside. 
I think we’ve got to utilize him 
more moving forward. And I 
think he definitely showed his 
capabilities tonight — or a glimpse 
of it — and I’m sure you’ll see it a 
lot more moving forward.”

But as Virginia Tech’s second 

run late in the half grew larger and 
larger, the Wolverines resorted to 
their old ways. The Hokies went 
with a small lineup to close the 
gap and Michigan could have 
made them pay for it.

Instead, the jump shots kept 

clanging off the rim on one end, 
the basket got a little bigger on the 
other, and before they knew it, the 
Wolverines had squandered what 
was once a 15-point lead.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Editor

6A — Thursday, December 1, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

