2B — January 17, 2017
SportsTuesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan loses weekend series in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — After a
turnover by Minnesota, junior
forward Brendan Warren charged
from center ice toward the
ninth-ranked Gophers’ goal on a
breakaway.
But at the
same time
as Warren’s
shot was blocked by Minnesota
goaltender
Eric
Schierhorn,
Gopher forward Tommy Novak
hooked Warren, giving him a
penalty shot.
With a chance to bring the
Michigan hockey team within
one
with
seven
minutes
to
play, Warren needed to score
to keep his team in the game.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines,
his shot went wide left.
Though Michigan may not have
realized it at the time, Warren’s
miss may have cost it a win. About
a minute later, senior forward
Evan Allen knocked in a goal from
a long shot by senior defenseman
Nolan de Jong to cut the lead to
3-2. The Golden Gophers (5-1-
0 Big Ten, 13-5-2 overall) held
strong, though, escaping with
a 4-2 victory Saturday night at
Mariucci Arena.
“I think our third period was
much better today than it was
yesterday,” De Jong said. “Both
games came down to whether
it was a PK or small little plays
where we didn’t block a shot or
box out enough. We showed good
glimpses in both games, I think
we definitely showed more today
than we did yesterday, but I think
it was just our willingness to
stick to it through the whole 60
minutes tonight is what gave us
the opportunity in the last couple
minutes to maybe tie it up.”
For the first two periods, the
Wolverines (1-5-0, 8-11-1) simply
couldn’t find the net. It wasn’t
until the third that Michigan
finally managed to put points
on the scoreboard. Freshman
forward Steven Merl ended the
drought, shooting the puck past
Schierhorn from the goaltender’s
right side on a pass from Warren.
Minnesota spent the early
minutes of the first period passing
the puck around in Michigan’s
zone. The teams looked relatively
even, as the Wolverines took a few
shots and the Golden Gophers
answered right back.
Michigan
looked
to
head
into the first intermission in a
scoreless tie. With 42.7 seconds
left, De Jong — who received a
game misconduct penalty Friday
night — earned another trip to
the box for tripping Kloos. The
Wolverines had to play a man-
down for the remainder of the
period, and for about 40 seconds,
Michigan looked as though it
would kill the penalty.
Minnesota
forward
Vinni
Lettieri had other ideas. He took
a pass from fellow forward Leon
Bristedt from behind Michigan’s
face-off circle and shot it right
past freshman goaltender Hayden
Lavigne. For the second straight
night, the Wolverines allowed a
goal with just seconds remaining
in the first period.
“Those are tough goals to give
up,” said Michigan coach Red
Berenson. “I’ve said all along,
first minute goals or last minute
goals, and I think we gave up four
of them this weekend, whether it
was just coincidence or it was a
breakdown or letdown, I couldn’t
tell you. But those goals are
backbreakers. I thought our team
responded well.”
In the second frame, Michigan
couldn’t hang onto the puck, as
the Golden Gophers controlled it
and tallied 11 shots. Meanwhile,
the Wolverines didn’t take a shot
for 12 minutes, and by the end of
the period, they had notched just
three.
Despite
its
difficulties
on
offense, Michigan hung with the
Golden Gophers for the first 19
minutes of the period. Lavigne
continued his prowess behind the
net, saving 10 shots in the second,
including a shot near the blue line
from Minnesota forward Tyler
Sheehy and a one-timer from
forward Connor Reilly on a power
play.
Once again, though, the Golden
Gophers found late heroics, this
time coming from defenseman
Ryan
Collins.
Collins
found
the net off a wrist shot near the
blue line, taking away whatever
momentum might have lingered
for the Wolverines.
Early in the third period,
Lettieri was held by senior
forward Alex Kile on a breakaway,
giving him a penalty shot. Unlike
Warren, Lettieri converted the
opportunity to give Minnesota
a 3-2 lead. And with just 22.7
seconds left in the game, he
scored his third goal of the night
to extend the lead to the final
score of 4-2.
Still, Berenson was optimistic
about Saturday’s result. Michigan
remained in the game until the
final minutes, something it could
not say Friday night.
“They didn’t quit,” Berenson
said. “We got a break on a couple
shots and the puck started going
in for us. Then we got back in the
game and made a game of it. It’s
too bad we couldn’t score the tying
goal. They scored on a penalty
shot, we missed on a penalty shot,
it was simple. So anyway, it was
not a good outcome, but it was, I
thought, a better team effort right
from the start.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Freshman forward Steven Merl scored Michigan’s first goal in the third period Saturday against Minnesota.
AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
2
4
As Wolverines seek answers,
schedule won’t do them any favors
S
aturday’s win over
Nebraska was a start, but
if the Michigan men’s
basketball team wants to play
in the NCAA Tournament this
season, the Wolverines are
going to have to get there the
hard way.
All but gone is the chance to
walk into the
tournament
by simply
beating the
teams they
were sup-
posed to beat
— and with
it, any benefit
of the doubt
they could
have hoped to
receive also
disappeared.
After allowing more than
75 points in four of its last five
games, Michigan’s tourna-
ment hopes seem to rest on
the chance that its offense can
outgun opponents. The only
problem is, the point in the con-
ference schedule at which that
strategy was viable is essen-
tially over. And the Wolverines
finished just 2-3 during that
stretch.
Over the next month, Michi-
gan will be going up against
some of the conference’s best
teams with little time for a
breather. The Wolverines
will play two games apiece
against Wisconsin, Indiana and
Michigan State. A pair of theo-
retically winnable home games
against Ohio State and Illinois
will be added to the mix, but
even then, it’s not a schedule
that inspires confidence.
KenPom.com projects that
Michigan will split those eight
games to go an even 4-4. That
would bring its conference
record to 6-7, at which point
KenPom projects the Wolver-
ines would lose four of their
final five contests. They are
currently slated to be KenPom’s
higher-ranked team in just
four remaining games on their
conference schedule. It’s worth
noting that, so far, the popular
basketball analytics website
has not been entirely accurate
at predicting Michigan’s out-
comes.
But the current projections
illustrate an important point as
the Wolverines veer ever closer
to panic territory: the sched-
ule’s not going to get any easier
from here.
Michigan had its opportunity
to load up on
easier confer-
ence road wins
against Iowa and
Illinois, and it
missed. Add in
a blown home
game against
Maryland, and
there actually
has yet to be a
game in confer-
ence play that
the Wolverines could not have
conceivably won. And only
one — the 85-69 drubbing at
the hands of Illinois — truly
reached blowout territory.
But now
Michigan finds
itself in a precar-
ious position. At
a time when the
Wolverines need
to be gearing up
for a stretch of
play that could
either punch
their NCAA tick-
et or virtually
eliminate them
from at-large contention, they
are forced to split their focus by
looking for answers.
No Michigan team in recent
memory has seen defensive
struggles this consistent in Big
Ten play. Even two years ago,
when the Wolverines limped to
a .500 record, they gave up 80
points just three times all sea-
son. They have already done so
four times this year.
The offense, on the other
hand, is actually performing
quite well in both raw statistics
and efficiency numbers. It has
taken on a different character
than other recent John Beilein
teams in that it has two big men
it can look to both down low
and outside in redshirt sopho-
more DJ Wilson and sophomore
Moritz Wagner. It’s hard to
deny the group is still danger-
ously reliant on the deep ball,
but with the current roster
makeup and the head coach’s
longstanding philosophy, that’s
probably for the best — espe-
cially since shots have been
falling.
In fact, according to KenPom,
Michigan’s offense is by far the
most efficient it has been since
2014, when the Wolverines won
the Big Ten. The problem is that
the defense is the least efficient
it has been in the KenPom era
(since 2002).
That leaves Michigan with
a decision to make. Either the
Wolverines can embrace an
identity as the most extreme
version of the shootout style
they have long leaned toward,
or they can attempt a defensive
180 in hopes of recapturing the
potential they flashed at the 2K
Classic in November.
It may not make a huge dif-
ference which identity they
choose to pursue, but they will
need to decide as fast as pos-
sible.
The next month will be
bookended by games against
Wisconsin, the class of the Big
Ten. It would be neither stun-
ning nor singularly damaging
for Michigan to lose Tuesday in
Madison, in a road environment
that is unforgiving to even the
most polished opponents.
But after that, the Wolverines
will have to figure themselves
out in a hurry. There’s simply
no time left to waste.
Bultman can be reached at
bultmanm@umich.edu and
on Twitter @m_bultman
SPORTSTUESDAY COLUMN
EVAN AARON/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein needs to find Michigan’s identity if he expects the Wolverines to get through a tough stretch of their conference schedule this month.
MAX
BULTMAN
The Wolverines
are going to have
to get there the
hard way
Wolverines falter
against Nebraska
Coming off a decisive victory
against Maryland on Friday, the
Michigan wrestling team looked
to pull off an upset against No. 6
Nebraska in Lincoln on Sunday.
But after being forced to forfeit
the 125-pound match to start the
meet, the 13th-ranked Wolverines
could not overcome the early
deficit, falling 29-15.
Michigan (1-3 Big Ten, 4-3
overall) forfeited the opening
match after redshirt freshman
Austin Assad got banged up in
practice during the week and was
unable to make the trip to Lincoln.
Redshirt
freshman
Stevan
Micic
faced
Nebraska’s
Eric
Montoya in the 133-pound bout.
Micic got off to a hot start with an
early takedown and never let up,
recording four more takedowns
in the match to capture the
decision, 13-7. Micic’s win put the
Wolverines on the board for the
first time, narrowing the score to
6-3.
“Everyone saw what Stevan’s
capable of doing when he’s firing
off his attacks,” said Michigan
coach Joe McFarland.
In the 141-pound match — the
third of the day— freshman Sal
Profaci took on Nebraska’s Colton
McCrystal. After a very low-
scoring, defensive start in which
both wrestlers spent most of the
time on their feet, McCrystal took
over in the third period with a
decisive takedown, winning the
match, 8-4, and extending the
Cornhuskers’ lead to 9-3.
Minutes
later,
redshirt
sophomore Zach Hall avenged
Profaci’s loss with a 14-5 major
decision
win
against
Collin
Purinton in the 149-pound match.
Hall started fast with a pair of
takedowns in the first period
and a near fall in the second, and
continued to be aggressive until
the end to cut Nebraska’s lead to
9-7.
Next up was senior Brian
Murphy,
who
battled
Tyler
Berger in the 157-pound match.
Murphy looked to rebound after
starting the season with five
straight losses, but Berger proved
to be too much for the Michigan
veteran. Murphy was pinned
with 1:35 left in the third period
after a long sprawl on the mat.
Berger’s pin gave the Cornhuskers
six points and a 15-7 lead over the
Wolverines.
In
the
165-pound
match,
redshirt freshman Logan Massa
— ranked second in the country
— defeated Justin Arthur in a
dominant fashion to record a
17-4 technical fall. Massa was
in complete control, notching
takedown after takedown until
the match was over in the second
period. With his victory, Massa
maintained his perfect record for
the season.
After Massa’s win, redshirt
freshman Myles Amine notched
a takedown in the sudden death
period of the 174-pound match
to tie the dual at 15 going into the
final three matches.
But
the
scoring
stopped
there for Michigan. Redshirt
junior Ernest Battaglia, redshirt
freshman Jackson Striggow, and
freshman Dan Perry all lost their
matches.
Though the team did not come
away with a win, McFarland
was impressed with the level of
effort his group gave and saw it
as a learning opportunity for his
young team.
“I thought, as a whole, our
guys wrestled really hard today,”
McFarland said. “We talk a lot
about how your effort has to
be there every time, for seven
complete minutes, and I thought
a lot of our guys did a good job of
that.
“It was a great experience
for us to come out there and
compete against a team like that,”
McFarland said. “For our growth
down the road, I thought it was
invaluable. … We’ve got to learn
from this, grow from this, and use
this experience to develop and get
better.”
ZACH GAN
For the Daily
WRESTLING