8A — Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN
MSU
Field Goal Percentage
3-Point Field Goal Percentage
Points Off Turnovers
Offensive Rebounds
Defensive Rebounds
Turnovers
Bench Points
Time Leading
60.4
47.6
30
2
20
8
22
39:11
47.9
Final
86
57
31.3
7
6
20
20
16
00:00
Walton joins historic club in win
With less than a minute
left in the Michigan men’s
basketball team’s game against
Michigan State, the crowd, led
by the Maize Rage, starting
chanting Derrick Walton Jr.’s
name in unison.
The senior guard, though,
wasn’t
on
the
court.
He
was
sitting
comfortably on
the bench next
to his teammates
as he watched
Michigan coach
John
Beilein
substitute
the end of his
bench into the
Wolverines’
86-57
victory
at Crisler Center on Tuesday
night.
Walton willed the team to
victory with 20 points, eight
assists and five rebounds. It
was a stat line that was just
good enough to give him 400
assists in his career, and he
joined an elite group of past
Michigan players in Jalen Rose
and Gary Grant who have all
recorded at least 1,000 points,
400 rebounds and 400 assists
in their Wolverine careers.
“It’s an honor,” Walton said.
“I didn’t notice it, and I didn’t
know what was going on. When
they told me, I was in awe.
“I’m
thankful
for
the
opportunity
to
come
to
(Michigan),
thankful
for
(Beilein) having faith in a
young kid from Detroit and that
he trusts me to run this team.”
It’s been a long time coming
for the Detroit native, and to
have it come against Michigan
State made it just a bit sweeter.
It was Michigan’s first win
over its in-state rival in over
three years. Walton was just
a freshman the last time the
Wolverines celebrated a win
over the Spartans.
“It means a lot to me,” Walton
said. “I’m an inner-city kid, and
there’s a couple Michigan guys
on that team. Having bragging
rights with my little brother,
(Michigan State guard Cassius
Winston), is always fun.”
Three years ago, Walton was
just a role player on a team
abundant with talent. Now,
Walton is the leader on a team
right on the edge of the NCAA
Tournament,
a
completely
different situation from the one
Michigan was in three years
prior.
“I can’t say
enough
about
Derrick Walton
right
now,”
Beilein said. “He
came in (as a
freshman) with
a
star-studded
team.
He
was
sort
of
forced
into
being
a
leader before he
was really ready
to do that.
“I
think
he’s
finally
comfortable
with
all
the
experience (over his Michigan
career) to really play with that
‘extra’ that you need to be a
really good player.”
While Walton made a huge
impact in the game, there was
nothing abnormal about his stat
line. It was the same Walton
that had averaged 18.6 points,
4.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists
in his last eight
games.
What
was
different,
though,
was
his
teammates.
From sophomore
forward
Moritz Wagner
dominating
Spartan forward
Nick Ward inside
to junior guard
Muhammad-
Ali
Abdur-
Rakhman stepping up to score
16 points, it was the players
around Walton that made the
difference.
That was where Walton, the
leader of the team, made the
biggest impact.
Michigan’s season has varied
wildly from the Wolverines’
30-point
win
over
Indiana
two weeks ago to Michigan’s
lackluster
performance
on
Saturday in its loss to Ohio
State. It’s an alarming trend
that has set the Wolverines
back multiple times this season,
and Walton wanted a change.
So, he has recently started
to push his teammates harder
than he ever has because he
knows the potential of his
team. And Tuesday night, his
teammates repaid him.
“That was very important
for us, to get that win for Mr.
Walton over there,” Wagner
said. “He played a heck of a
game.”
Added Walton: “Before the
game, the guys really banded
together and told me they really
wanted to get this for me, and
they played like it. I’m really
appreciative of it all. Everybody
played their heart out.”
But even after a big win over
Michigan State, the schedule
doesn’t get any easier. The
Wolverines will have seven
games left to improve their
NCAA
Tournament
resume.
However, five of the seven come
on the road, where Michigan is
winless this season, while it
will also host No. 7 Wisconsin
and No. 16 Purdue. Walton
knows
that,
and
knowing
the
opportunity
his
team
has
ahead,
he
chooses to look
at the positives.
“We
have
seven
games
left, and I think
we
can
still
do
something
special,” Walton
said.
Even
if
he
didn’t know he
had joined the
1000-point,
400-rebound
and 400-assist club until after
he came off the court, he knew
one thing for sure. He knew
the score, and for just the third
time in his Michigan career,
the Wolverines had more points
than the Spartans at the end of
the game.
And for Walton, that’s all
that matters.
Wolverines rout Spartans in rivalry rematch
DJ Wilson received the pass
from
senior
guard
Derrick
Walton Jr. in the low post. The
redshirt sophomore forward was
surrounded by four Michigan
State defenders, but he gathered
himself, elevated and threw down
a dunk with authority.
But that wasn’t enough for
him. Wilson landed, turned to
Spartan forward Kenny Goins,
and screamed in his ear as if it
wasn’t clear enough what had just
happened.
Wilson was assessed a technical
foul, but the Michigan men’s
basketball team still led by 17, and
the play was full of a fire that felt
like it was a part of a different era
and belonged to a different team
— the same one that motivated the
black socks and black shoes they
took the floor in.
That team was the Fab Five — a
group of five freshmen that took
college basketball by storm with a
swagger that people weren’t ready
to accept.
Along
with
that
swagger,
came results. In a two-year
stretch, the Wolverines went 3-1
against Michigan State, made
it to two NCAA Tournament
championships and filled Crisler
Center with ease.
But that was then, Tuesday
night was now, and Michigan
was in dire need of a dose of that
same swagger that electrified the
program from 1991 – 1993.
And by the time the final
buzzer
sounded,
the
black
socks and black shoes fit, as the
Wolverines brought a new edge
against the Spartans (6-5 Big Ten,
14-10 overall) that was lacking in
East Lansing nine days prior en
route to an 86-57 victory at Crisler
Center.
“You can be pretty consistent
about (what) guys are gonna make
shots,” said Michigan coach John
Beilein. “But what type of edge are
they gonna play with? That’s hard.
And is the edge too much that they
get emotionally drunk during the
game?
“… Today was like perfect.
They were right there, they were
angry, they were junkyard dogs.
That was the whole idea — a
picture of, like, a Doberman that
I wanted them to go out and play
like. I think it was a Doberman,
but it had big teeth.”
The Wolverines (5-6, 15-9)
essentially put the game to bed
in the first half. In the final 8:20
of the frame, Michigan notched a
32-10 run — going 12-for-15 from
the floor — and finished with a
55-29 advantage.
The
early
blowout
was
indicative of a first half in which
the Wolverines’ offense caught
fire, as Michigan finished shooting
75 percent from the field and 72.7
percent from three. Walton played
like a man possessed, leading the
offensive surge to the tune of 12
points and seven assists.
Behind
Walton,
sophomore
forward
Moritz
Wagner
and
junior
guard
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-Rahkman ended the frame
with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
But
the
Wolverines
also
received contributions from the
most unlikely of places. Freshman
guard Xavier Simpson provided
Walton with invaluable relief
off the bench and catalyzed the
offense with a tangible confidence
that has been absent this season,
eventually finishing the game with
seven points and two assists.
The matchup could have gotten
away from the Spartans even
earlier if Michigan had capitalized
on turnovers in the early stages.
The
Wolverines
managed
to draw a charge, force a shot-
clock violation and get a stop
on Michigan State’s first three
possessions, but couldn’t reap the
benefits — entering the first media
timeout up just 9-8.
Still,
Michigan
eventually
managed to make the Spartans pay
for being careless with the ball,
finishing the game with 30 points
off Michigan State’s 21 turnovers.
Some of the turnovers were self-
inflicted, but the Wolverines did
manage to force four shot-clock
violations, notch six steals and
hold the Spartans to 48 percent
shooting form the floor.
“Some of it’s understandable,”
said Michigan State coach Tom
Izzo. “Like I said, you look at those
seniors and they’ve lost four or five
times (to us). And I thought they
played with an incredible passion.
Our freshmen did not match that.”
On the opposite end of the court,
Michigan’s offense cooled off in
the second half but still managed
to finish the game shooting 60
percent.
Walton built off his first-half
success to finish with a game-high
20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, all
while pitching in eight assists and
five rebounds. Wagner and Abdur-
Rahkman continued to follow
Walton’s lead, finishing with 19
and 16 points, respectively.
The
matchups
with
the
Spartans have always meant more
to Walton — a Detroit native —
than they have to his teammates.
But on Tuesday night, due in large
part to the edge he set from the
start, that wasn’t the case.
So as his night was capped off
with an induction into Michigan’s
1,000-point,
400-rebound
and
400-assist club, it seemed fitting
that there are just two other
members of that club: Gary Grant
and Jalen Rose.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore forward Moritz Wagner finished with 19 points to help Michigan bounce back against the Spartans.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. joined the historic 1,000-point, 400-rebound and 400-assist club Tuesday night.
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Editor
“It’s an honor ...
When they told
me, I was in
awe”
“I think we
can still do
something
special”