8 — Friday, February 17, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan upsets No. 11 Wisconsin, boosts NCAA tournament resume

Entering Thursday night, it was 

no secret that the Michigan men’s 
basketball team had a shot at the 
upset.

The Wolverines were rolling, 

fresh off a blowout win against 
Michigan State and their first 
victory at Assembly Hall since 
2009. The momentum, coupled 
with the fact that Michigan led 
No. 11 Wisconsin in Madison last 
month until the final five minutes, 
pointed toward the possibility of 
the Wolverines’ first win against a 
ranked opponent this season.

And when it was announced that 

Wisconsin guard Bronson Koenig 
would be sidelined for the matchup 
with a left leg strain, that chance 
seemed even more likely.

After all, it marked the first time 

in Koenig’s career that he would miss 
a game for the Badgers due to injury, 

and it was his performance that 
brought Michigan’s upset attempt at 
the Kohl Center to a screeching halt 
— scoring 10 consecutive points late 
to singlehandedly give Wisconsin a 
lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.

But this time, there was no 

wondering, as Michigan closed out 
a resume-bolstering 64-58 victory 
at Crisler Center to beat the Badgers 
for the first time since 2014.

“This team deserves to have a run 

like this,” said sophomore forward 
Moritz Wagner. “We’re such a good 
group — everybody loves each other, 
everybody plays for each other. We 
practice so hard, and we’ve been 
going through a stretch where that 
didn’t always pay off. And now it 
pays off, so it just means so much to 
us that we’re able to have a run right 
now and win games against really 
good teams.”

Even in its early stages, the game 

shaped up to be a battle of the big 
men.

Michigan (7-6 Big Ten, 17-9 

overall) opened up the first half on 
an 8-2 run, but the Badgers (10-3 
Big Ten, 21-5 overall) managed to 
cut the deficit quickly and started 
feeding the ball to forward Ethan 
Happ.

Wagner had the responsibility 

of stopping Wisconsin’s redshirt 
freshman, but Happ played the first 
half like a man incapable of being 
stopped.

With 8:29 left in the frame, 

Wagner was called for his first foul 
of the game and was replaced by 
freshman forward Jon Teske. Up to 
that point, Wagner had weathered 
the impending storm, holding Happ 
to just six points.

But Teske’s inexperience showed, 

and Happ took full advantage — 
scoring six straight points while 
Teske could do nothing but commit 
two fouls that ultimately brought 
Wagner back in.

By that time, though, Happ 

had found his groove — taking 
whatever he wanted down low to 
finish the half with 18 points on 
8-for-9 shooting, four assists and 
three rebounds. It was certainly 
a precarious situation for the 
Wolverines, as they had held Happ 
to just 11 total points in their last 
meeting.

Despite struggling to contain 

Wisconsin’s marquee big man, 
Wagner still did his part on the 
other end to keep Michigan afloat 
— scoring a team-high 12 points 
on 4-for-7 shooting. While Happ 
imposed his will in the post, Wagner 
operated beyond the arc, draining 
2-of-4 from deep.

Still, Happ’s dominant half put 

the Badgers on top, 31-30, at the 
break.

The second half, though, was a 

different story. 

While Wisconsin looked poised 

to break the game open with a 
7-0 run to open the frame, the 

Wolverines 
managed 
to 
stick 

around after notching a 6-0 run of 
their own.

“I don’t know if they don’t go up 

eight like that, maybe we don’t win 
the game,” said Michigan coach 
John Beilein. “Maybe it’s nip and 
tuck and we let it get away at the 
end. I think our guys had that ‘back 
to the wall’ again, knowing that we 
were in trouble.

“(Derrick Walton Jr.) in the 

huddle shouted, ‘We’ve got to get 
stops! We’ve got to get stops!’ That’s 
not typical Derrick Walton. … I felt 
a sense of urgency from this team 
once we got down by eight.”

Then, 
roughly 
five 
minutes 

after willing his team forward in 
the huddle, Walton took the ball to 
the hole for an acrobatic layup and 
drew Happ’s third foul. Though it 
sent him to the bench for just over 
a minute, Happ was visibly more 
tentative on the defensive end for 
the remainder of the game.

That — coupled with Michigan’s 

decision to start double teaming 
him on the opposite end — limited 
Happ’s impact, as he fouled out with 
36.9 seconds left to finish with just 
four second-half points and end the 
game with 22 points on 10-for-13 
shooting.

“When to double is always the 

question,” Wagner said. “He’s a 
really good passer, I kind of feel like 
he likes to pass. But that’s the thing, 
you’ve gotta mix it up. You can’t give 
him the same look every possession. 
I think we did a pretty good job of 
that.” 

Entering Thursday night, it was 

no secret that the Wolverines had a 
shot at the upset.

But that doesn’t make stamping a 

win against the Badgers’ onto their 
NCAA Tournament resume any less 
sweet.

Read the full story at 

michigandaily.com

Irvin rediscovers form in victory

If calling bank was all it took, Zak 

Irvin would have said it a lot sooner.

With the shot clock approaching 

zero, the senior wing launched a 
prayer. Given Irvin’s recent slump 
over Michigan’s last four games 
entering 
Thursday’s 
tie 
with 

Wisconsin — in which he’s averaged 
3.25 points per game — nobody 
thought Irvin’s heave was going 
anywhere near the twine below the 
rim. 

But Irvin got just enough power 

and accuracy on his shot that a kiss 
off the glass of the backboard was 
enough for it to fall through the 
hoop.

As Irvin turned around, he gave 

off a shrug in disbelief. Who would 
have thought that out of all the shots 
he has missed of late, the one that 
seemed most improbable would 
actually go in?

It turned out that all Irvin needed 

was a trip to the bank to get back to 
his true scoring self in Michigan’s 
64-58 win over the Badgers.

“When I made in that bank shot, 

I was so relieved after it went in,” 
Irvin said. “I think that really got 
me going in the second half. It’s a 
great feeling.“

Irvin knew it was only a matter 

of time before he’d be able to bounce 
back and rediscover his form.

After his four-game streak of 

underwhelming 
performances, 

Irvin put together an impressive 
18-point, five-rebound and three-
assist night that might have been his 
best all-around performance of the 

conference season.

The senior began by diversifying 

his offense, scoring an easy layup 
at the hoop and getting to the free-
throw line early. Irvin’s jump shot 
was still off in the first half, as he 
airballed a three in the opening 
minutes, but he still boosted 
Michigan’s offense by finding easy 
baskets at the hoop.

Michigan coach John Beilein 

trusted that Irvin would breakout 
and become the offensive threat 
he’s been for most of the season. 
The only way Beilein felt that could 
happen was to continue giving Irvin 
the green light.

“When he threw that air ball and 

missed by four feet, I don’t care,” 
Beilein said. “I told him, ‘Shoot it 
when you’re open.’ It’s going to be 
very hard for us to have success this 
year if we shut him off and just say, 
‘Don’t.’ He scored 1,400 points — 
you don’t say, ‘Okay, you don’t know 
how to score anymore.’ You don’t 
forget that.”

While Irvin proved Thursday 

that his jump shot wasn’t close to 
being forgotten, he also showed that 
the slump may have had benefitted 
other facets of his game.

Irvin had two assists down 

low in the second half to redshirt 
sophomore forward DJ Wilson and 
sophomore forward Moritz Wagner 
that circumnavigated Wisconsin’s 
stout frontcourt defense and led to 
a couple of big scores in the paint. 
Those were passes Irvin may not 
have made a couple of weeks ago, 
but his vision has opened up to more 
than just the hoop in front of him.

“I think tonight, I was able to find 

players and put them in the right 
position to score,” Irvin said. “I just 
got to do that going forward.”

The senior also put more energy 

into making stops on the defensive 
end. In the second half, Irvin had 
the task of double teaming Badger 
forward Ethan Happ, who had 
tallied 18 points and four assists in 
the first 20 minutes.

The help defense clearly got to 

Happ’s head as the second half 
progressed. Irvin forced Happ into 
bad shots and bad passing lanes, all 
while holding his main defensive 
assignment, Wisconsin forward 
Nigel Hayes, to just four points in 
the final period.

“That’s been the biggest thing 

for me,” Irvin said. “I’m able to 
impact the game in other ways 
than scoring. I’ve really taken it 
upon myself on the defensive end to 
contribute there. As a whole, we did 
a great job on Hayes and Happ.”

With five games to go in the 

regular season, Michigan knows it 
needs Irvin to be his well-rounded 
self now more than ever as it enters 
the home stretch of its postseason 
push.

“That kid works so hard, (and) 

has been going through a tough 
stretch,” Wagner said. “To be 
honest, I think people make a big 
deal out of it even though it isn’t. 
Like people go through stretches 
like that. I’m so happy that — even 
though he banked it, I don’t care 
how — it was such a relief. We just 
knew, hey, he’s back.”

Read the full story at 

michigandaily.com

KEVIN SANTO

Managing Sports Editor

BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer

JEREMY MITNICK/Daily

Senior wing Zak Irvin broke out of his slump with an 18-point, five-rebound and three-assist night against the Badgers.

