4B — February 20, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

Trouble at the line dooms Michigan

MINNEAPOLIS 
— 

Uncharacteristic.

That’s how Michigan coach 

John Beilein described the 
Wolverines’ performance from 
the free-throw line. It was also 
how both redshirt sophomore 
forward DJ Wilson and senior 
guard 
Derrick 
Walton 
Jr. 

described it.

It was that kind of night for 

the Michigan basketball team 
(7-7 Big Ten, 17-10 overall), as 
it shot just 50 percent (9-for-
18) from the charity stripe.

It was an overall dismal 

performance 
for 
a 
usually 

good 
free-throw 
shooting 

team — the Wolverines are 
ranked No. 4 in the NCAA 
with a 78.9 percent conversion 
rate — as Michigan was dealt a 
crushing 83-78 overtime loss to 
Minnesota (8-6, 20-7) Sunday 
afternoon at Williams Arena.

“It was very uncharacteristic 

of us to go 9-for-18 at the foul 
line,” Beilein said. “That was a 
big point in the game.”

Added 
Wilson: 
“It 
was 

uncharacteristic of us to miss 
those 
free 

throws 
down 

the stretch. I 
think we shot 
50 percent, and 
we’re one of the 
leaders in the 
country as far 
as 
free-throw 

shooting, 
so 
that’s 
no 

excuse.”

And 
like 

Wilson 
said, 

it was at the 
most crucial times in the game 
that the Wolverines failed to 
convert from the line. 

With 1:40 left in overtime, 

junior guard Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-Rakhman went to the 
charity stripe to shoot two 
with Michigan down by one.

The junior guard put up 

the first shot. The ball hit the 
inside of the bucket before 
rimming out.

Abdur-Rakhman 
didn’t 

have much luck on his second 
shot either, as the ball rimmed 
out once again, wasting a big 
opportunity for Michigan to at 
least tie the game.

Earlier in the game, senior 

guard Derrick 
Walton 
Jr. 

missed 
three 

straight 
free 

throws 
— 

including 
the 

front end of a 
one-and-one 
— to cast away 
the possibility 
of 
putting 

Michigan 
ahead 
with 

less 
than 
10 

minutes left in 
regulation.

After 
the 
game, 
Walton 

had 
no 
answers 
for 
why 

the 
Wolverines’ 
free-throw 

shooting 
was 
off 
Sunday 

afternoon.

“Just a very uncharacteristic 

tonight when I miss three 

big 
critical 

free 
throws,” 

Walton 
said. 

“Muhammad 
missed 
two 

big 
ones, 
and 

then 
(junior 

wing 
Duncan 

Robinson), out of 
all of us, missed 
one. It’s just one 
of those games 
where you can’t 
really 
describe 

what’s going on.

“We 
just 
couldn’t 
make 

them. A lot of them rimmed 
out halfway down the basket, 
and they just came out. I don’t 
think anybody changed their 
routine, and everybody shot it 
to make it, of course, but the 
ball just didn’t go in.”

While Michigan struggled 

from the free-throw line down 
the stretch, the performance 
was 
in 
stark 
contrast 
to 

Minnesota’s night from the 
charity stripe.

The 
Golden 
Gophers 

struggled early, making just 
5-of-12 free throws in the first 
half. But Minnesota improved 
down the stretch, hitting 15 

of its last 16 
free throws to 
increase a lead 
that 
Michigan 

couldn’t 
come 

back from.

“It’s 
cliché, 

but they don’t 
seem to get too 
high or too low,” 
said Minnesota 
coach 
Richard 

Pitino 
of 

his 
team’s 

resiliency. 

“They’re a very mentally tough 
group.”

But while the ball didn’t roll 

Michigan’s way either from 
the charity stripe or at the end 
of the game, when Walton’s 
potential game-tying 3-pointer 
at the end of overtime rimmed 
out, there were some positives.

Mainly, the fact that the 

Wolverines were still in the 
game despite their struggles 
from 
the 
free-throw 
line 

against a top-25 RPI team.

“For me, it adds an little 

extra boost of confidence to 
know that we’re missing these 
free throws and we’re still in 
the game down the stretch,” 
Wilson said.

While Michigan’s loss at 

Minnesota won’t push them off 
the NCAA Tournament bubble 
— a conference loss on the road 
to a top-25 RPI team shouldn’t 
do that — there will come a 
time when the Wolverines will 
need to hit clutch free throws.

And the implications will 

be much larger than they were 
Sunday night in Minneapolis. 

Wolverines split opening weekend

The 
Michigan 
baseball 

team kicked off its preseason 
tournament against Seton Hall 
this weekend in a four-game 
bout, with the frenetic weekend 
ending in a 2-2 split. The series 
was highlighted by two games in 
which a single run decided the 
outcome. 

“Close 
games 
are 
always 

decided by one play, one pitch, 
one swing,” said Michigan coach 
Erik Bakich. “It seemed to be 
back and forth, there was no quit 
in either team.”

Junior left-hander Michael 

Hendrickson took the mound for 
the preseason finale that ended 
in disappointment in the top half 
of the last inning. The match 
followed a 10-7 victory earlier 
in the day over the Pirates in a 
continuation of the previously 
delayed game. 

The Wolverines got off to a 

slow start, as Seton Hall earned 
three hits that culminated in 
two runs in the second inning. 
Responding 
quickly 
in 
the 

bottom of the second, senior 
catcher 
Harrison 
Wenson 

tripled, and was driven in from 
an RBI groundout from senior 
shortstop Michael Brdar to tack 
on a run shortly after.

Sophomore second baseman 

Ako 
Thomas 
started 
the 

offensive engine, though, in the 
bottom of the third inning with a 
single, before eventually stealing 
third base. Junior first baseman 
Jake Bivens reached first on a 
walk, and redshirt sophomore 
left fielder Miles Lewis drove 
him in on an RBI single. 

Lewis 
and 
junior 
third 

baseman Drew Lugbauer would 
score in the same inning on back-
to-back RBIs to give Michigan a 
5-2 lead.

Heading into the ninth inning, 

the Wolverines led 6-3 due to a 
run from Thomas off a Bivens 
RBI and a Seton Hall run in the 
fifth. Sophomore right-hander 
Jack Bredeson came in to pitch 
the ninth inning and gave up 

five unanswered runs, featuring 
a three-run home run from the 
Pirates. They would go on to take 
the last game of the series, 8-6.

“As a team, we did a good job 

battling,” Wenson said. “We 
played pitch-to-pitch and did 
a good job with that. They’re a 
really scrappy team and put the 
bat on the ball.”

In its season opener in Port 

St. Lucie, Fla., junior left-hander 
and ace Oliver Jaskie took the 
mound for his first start.

The Wolverines pounced first 

in the third inning after Jaskie’s 
two-inning shutout that included 
only one surrendered double. 
Sophomore first baseman Jimmy 
Kerr jumpstarted their offense 
with the team’s first hit of the 
season on a one-out single.

Brdar 
followed 
in 
Kerr’s 

footsteps with a single, and 
senior outfielder Johnny Slater 
lofted a sacrifice fly to bring 
in the pair. Thomas drove a 
single into the outfield, picking 
up another RBI and giving the 
Wolverines a 3-0 lead.

The Pirates did not back down, 

though, and in the third inning 
drove in a lone run, followed by 
three runs in the fourth to take 
a 4-3 lead.

Michigan responded in style, 

as right fielder Nick Poirer lofted 
one over the fence to force the 
game to a tie heading to the top 
of the fifth inning.

Even with a one-out double 

from Lugbauer, the Wolverines 
could not drive in another run in 
the contest, and they sacrificed 
a run in the fifth inning that 
ultimately was the dagger.

Junior 
right-hander 
Alec 

Rennard 
took 
the 
mound 

Saturday to begin Michigan’s 
doubleheader redemption day. 

And redeem themselves they 

did, as the Wolverines were able 
to tie the series, 1-1, with a walk-
off single from Lewis.

“It was great,” Lewis said. “I 

have to give credit to the guys 
getting on before me and doing 
their job.”

After a scoreless first inning, 

the game started in similar 

fashion to Friday’s debut. But 
this time, Seton Hall struck first 
with two runs in the top of the 
second.

The trio of Wenson, who 

started the surge for Michigan’s 
comeback with a liner into left 
field, sophomore right fielder 
Jonathan Engelman, who went 
3-for-4 on the contest, and 
Lewis all led the charge for the 
Wolverines.

Rennard forfeited an RBI 

double in the top of the third 
inning but Michigan was able to 
dig itself out of the hole quickly 
with two back-to-back runs 
off RBIs from Engelmann and 
Thomas, tightening the Pirates’ 
lead to one.

The Wolverines’ climb back 

to victory took hold in the fifth 
inning. Lewis earned a run off 
a Wenson RBI, and Engelmann 
followed with a two-run RBI 
double to give Michigan its first 
lead of the day, 6-5.

Under 
the 
dominant 

performance of junior right-
hander 
Jayce 
Vancena, 
the 

Wolverines were able to sit down 
Seton Hall and produce an RBI 
single from Slater in the seventh 
to give them a 7-6 lead. The 
Pirates would not shut down, 
though, and a run in the top of 
the eighth inning would send the 
game to extra innings.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, 

Lewis chopped one to shallow 
right field to drive in the winning 
run from third base and earn 
Michigan’s first win of the season.

In 
their 
second 
game, 

only going seven innings, the 
Wolverines jumped out to an 
extremely fast start with an 
RBI double from Kerr that 
highlighted a nine-run inning. 
The Pirates responded in the 
third with four runs and in the 
fourth with three runs, but 
Michigan added to its lead and 
established a 10-7 advantage.

After a delay due to darkness, 

the Wolverines never scored 
or forfeited any runs, allowing 
them to transition into the last 
game of the weekend on a 15-hit, 
10-7, win. 

LIZZY XIONG/Daily

Redshirt sophomore left fielder Miles Lewis notched five RBI in the Wolverines’ opening weekend against Seton Hall.

ROBERT HEFTER

Daily Sports Writer

MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Editor

“It’s just one of 
those games 

where you can’t 
really describe 
what’s going on”

‘M’ shoots 50 percent from the line, falters in Minnesota

“It’s cliché, but 

they don’t seem to 
get too high or too 

low.”

