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