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”