2B — March 13, 2017
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
handedly. The senior earned
assists
on
the
Wolverines’
first two scores of the half,
and midway through the first,
went on a personal 9-0 run,
hitting three shots from beyond
the arc on three consecutive
possessions to give Michigan
its initial 10-point lead.
Most importantly, Walton
quarterbacked
his
offense
through a tough stretch in
the second half, and put the
ball in his teammates’ hands.
His 22 point, six rebound,
seven assist outing will go
down as the final jewel that
helped him earn the crown
of
the
tournament’s
most
outstanding player.
The
Wolverines
leave
Washington as the Big Ten’s
highest seeded team to win the
conference tournament, and,
most importantly to them, will
be raising a banner at Crisler
Center next fall. More than
anything, they have a trophy
with their names engraved in
Michigan basketball lore for
what they proved over the past
five days.
“I wanted them to imagine
what it would be like for them
to walk into that beautiful
William
Davidson
Player
Development Center and see
that trophy and tell people
about not the four games,
the five days, and be able to
tell them that story,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
“Because that’s part of their
legacy together, all 16 of those
guys.”
‘M’ draws
No. 7 seed
in tourney
By making an unexpected
run
to
win
the
Big
Ten
Tournament
Championship,
the Michigan men’s basketball
team earned an automatic bid
into the NCAA Tournament.
Sunday, the Wolverines (10-8
Big Ten, 23-11 overall) received
the No. 7 seed in the Midwest
Region of the bracket. They
will take on Oklahoma State
(9-9 Big 12, 20-12 Overall) in
Indianapolis on Friday.
The Cowboys finished their
season with three consecutive
losses, but won 10 of the 11
games
before
that
stretch
to secure their spot in the
tournament field.
If Michigan beats Oklahoma
State, it will likely take on
Louisville, the No. 2 seed in the
region.
Other notable teams in the
Midwest Regional include No. 1
seed Kansas, No. 3 seed Oregon,
No. 4 seed Purdue and in-state
rival Michigan State as the No.
9 seed. The finals and semifinals
for the Midwest Region will
take place in Kansas City, Mo.
The Big Ten has seven teams
playing in the tournament,
with Maryland, Northwestern,
Minnesota
and
Wisconsin
earning spots in the field as well.
The Wolverines will take on
the Cowboys at 12:15 p.m. on
CBS.
Wolverines will
play Oklahoma
State on Friday
in Indianapolis
MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan follows Walton’s lead again
I
t started in East Lansing.
Before the confetti falling
from the rafters, before the
practice
uniforms and
before the
plane accident
on the runway
at Willow Run
Airport, the
Wolverines
had a date
with the
Spartans.
On Jan.
29, Michigan entered the Breslin
Center, and the final scoreline
didn’t do the tale justice.
Michigan was dominated,
manhandled, embarrassed. Pick
one, they all apply.
Or just take Duncan Robinson’s
word for it.
“We went in there and kind of
got punched in the mouth to be
honest with you,” he said.
Fifteen Wolverines went down
for the count. One swallowed his
teeth and kept fighting.
You can probably guess who
that is.
He’s the same guy who poured
in a game-high 22 points, grabbed
six rebounds and dished out
seven assists to take a Big Ten
Tournament championship
trophy from Wisconsin on Sunday
afternoon.
He’s the same guy who scored
a career-high 29 while pitching in
nine rebounds and five assists the
day prior to get Michigan there in
the first place.
He’s Derrick Walton Jr., the
man who changed the course of
the Wolverines’ season in the way
he has always wanted to, but never
realized he was.
Walton has never desired the
role of the vocal leader. That
spot had Zak Irvin’s name on
it. For a while, that relationship
functioned harmoniously. That is,
until it didn’t.
Now, Walton doesn’t shy away
from opening his mouth — far
from it.
“Being emotional is fine, but
just not bashing guys,” Walton
said. “I know I get on Moe
(Wagner) all the time. I just cuss
him out for no reason.”
Still, his entire career he simply
wanted his teammates to watch
him and follow suit. No poetic
pregame speeches, no bull****. Go
out. Compete.
“That’s all I’ve been taught to
do,” he said.
Little did he know it at the
time, but he finally got his wish
in East Lansing. He scored a
game-high 24 points and took
a beating doing so, going to the
line 15 times and missing only
once. And the Wolverines still
lost.
The light bulbs didn’t just go
on, Walton turned on a couple of
floodlights.
“We were down probably 10 or
11 and Derrick was just keeping
us in the game,” Robinson said.
“He hit a couple shots where
he was really just doing it from
playing hard.
“He was just making plays,
and you could just tell by the way
he was playing that he was doing
everything he could, leaving
everything out there just to
make something happen, and I
think everyone ... acknowledged,
‘Look, if this guy just did this
on his own, and kept us in that
game, what can happen if we
collectively all follow him and
really all 16 of us do it every single
day in practice and games?’ ”
What can happen? Michigan’s
new trophy is the answer.
But it’s not just the tournament
championship trophy, but how the
Wolverines got it.
On Jan. 17, when Michigan
faced the Badgers for the first
time in Madison, the Wolverines
surrendered a six-point lead
with roughly six minutes left, as
Bronson Koenig spearheaded a
personal 10-0 run.
Plain and simple, Michigan
couldn’t defend, so it couldn’t
capture the upset.
With 6:19 left in Sunday’s
championship game, Michigan
found itself in an eerily similar
situation. Michigan coach John
Beilein called a timeout.
Behind a 3-pointer from Vitto
Brown and a breakaway layup
from Zak Showalter, the Badgers
had cut the Wolverines’ 11-point
lead to six in 30 seconds.
It was either buckle down or go
home empty-handed.
Koenig went 0-for-7 in the half.
Wisconsin made just three field
goals in the final six minutes. The
Wolverines could defend, and they
captured a lot more than an upset.
After the game, redshirt
sophomore forward DJ Wilson
was asked if this team likes
defending.
“I think we love it now,” he said.
Yeah, this is the same team that
gave up over 80 points three times
in its first five conference games.
But Walton’s performance in
East Lansing changed that.
“I think with the Michigan
State game, at State, D-Walt really
took over,” Wilson said. “And we
look back at how many defensive
lapses we had and how close we
were to winning that game if we
just had a few more stops down
the stretch.
“I think that’s one (game) that
everybody really bought in. From
then on, it’s been working real
good for us.”
Now, as the Wolverines
prepare to face Oklahoma State
— the No. 1 team in adjusted
offensive efficiency and one of
just four teams above Michigan
in that category according to
Ken Pomeroy — in the NCAA
Tournament, much like Sunday
afternoon, they are going to need
to win a game with defense and a
whole lot of heart.
Luckily for them, Walton
supplied these 15 with that a long
time ago.
KEVIN
SANTO
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. led by example when Michigan struggled in January, and he did so again this weekend as the Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament.
CHAMPIONSHIP
From Page 1B
“We all came
together and
connected
well on all
cylinders.”
CHAMPIONSHIP: NO. 8 MICHIGAN 71, NO. 2 WISCONSIN 56
Walton and Irvin come full circle
W
ASHINGTON — It was
a moment that Derrick
Walton Jr. and Zak
Irvin had been
anticipating
for over three
years.
Standing
on the stage
at midcourt
of the Verizon
Center,
holding up
the Big Ten
Tournament
trophy, they were finally in the
place they’d been waiting most of
their careers to be.
Three years ago, in 2014, the
two then-freshmen were in the
same position, celebrating at
midcourt after the Michigan
men’s basketball team won a Big
Ten regular-season title.
That was their first time
hanging a banner at Crisler
Center.
Now, three years later, Walton
and Irvin will come full circle
and hang another one after
beating Wisconsin in the Big Ten
Tournament title game Sunday
afternoon.
It was the culmination of four
tough years that put both of them
through quite a bit of adversity.
***
Irvin and Walton both came
to Ann Arbor as highly touted
recruits expected to continue
the momentum set forth by the
“Fresh Five” during their NCAA
Tournament run in 2013.
Irvin was the No. 29 recruit
in the country and Indiana’s Mr.
Basketball. Walton was the No. 44
recruit in the nation and a finalist
for Michigan’s Mr. Basketball.
Together, many expected the
duo to flourish from the start and
keep Michigan at the top of the
Big Ten for years.
And for a season, they did just
that. Walton started as a freshman
point guard while Irvin came
off the bench as a shooter, a role
similar to what junior forward
Duncan Robinson plays now, as
the Wolverines won the Big Ten
regular-season title and made it
to the Elite Eight of the NCAA
Tournament.
But then things started to
unravel. Three players — Nik
Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III
and Mitch McGary — left for the
NBA, leaving behind a depleted
Michigan roster to pick up the
pieces.
Thrust into bigger roles on the
team, Walton and Irvin couldn’t
quite put the pieces together.
With future NBA Draft pick
Caris LeVert out for most of the
season, and Walton injured down
the stretch, Irvin was forced
to become Michigan’s primary
scorer.
But Michigan coach John
Beilein called the season a big year
for the duo’s growth.
“Zak became a better player
out of that,” Beilein said. “He
really became a better player, and
Derrick has a new appreciation for
the game because he was out.”
It was a trying time for the two,
but also an important period of
growth: Irvin became a smarter
basketball player, evident in his
play in Washington this past
weekend, while Walton looked
a like a player possessed who
appreciated the moment given to
him this weekend.
After rough sophomore years,
Walton and Irvin came back with
a year of adversity under their belt.
Once again, LeVert went down
with an injury midway through
the season, leaving Walton and
Irvin again to pick up the pieces.
And for the most part, the duo
did well. They both averaged
about 12 points and led Michigan
to an NCAA Tournament
appearance before bowing out to
Notre Dame in the second round.
But Beilein didn’t believe they
were ready for the moment just
yet. They got too complacent,
happy to just make it back to the
NCAA Tournament.
“The worst thing that happened
to us last year was making the
NCAA Tournament,” Beilein said.
“We made it, and I don’t think it
toughened us up enough.”
While their sophomore year
was about developing their play,
the duo’s junior year was all about
developing their drive and desire.
Heading into their senior years,
taking in all the lessons they’d
learned so far, they were hungrier
than ever.
“This past summer, I don’t
think I’ve ever worked harder
than I have in my entire life, and I
wanted this so bad,” Walton said.
“I just wanted everything that
comes with winning so bad … and
being able to come through for my
team, that’s all I really care about.”
Beilein noticed it as well, citing
that as the season progressed, he
noticed Walton and Irvin taking
the lesson they learned junior
year about being complacent and
took it upon themselves to make
sure the team was ready for the
postseason.
And, man, did they come to
Washington prepared for the
postseason.
***
One thing that has been
consistent throughout Walton’s
and Irvin’s four years at Michigan
is the number of doubters that
have come from outside of the
team.
For Irvin, it was the thought
that he had the affinity to take too
many bad shots. And for Walton,
the chirp was that he was too
small to play point guard and he
was too much of a passer.
It’s flak that they admit they
look at, whether on social media
or in the newspapers, but they’ve
also gotten good at keeping it from
affecting their play.
“Both of them have taken a
lot of flak from a lot of different
people,” said senior forward Sean
Lonergan. “They just block it out
better than just about anybody.
They stay confident in themselves
and this team, and they have guys
who won’t let that waver.”
Added senior guard Andrew
Dakich: “The thing that stands
out to me is their mentality.
They could probably fade away if
things go wrong, but they’ve been
consistent with the energy they’ve
brought all year.”
And this week, the duo laid
most of that criticism to bed,
maybe for good, with their
performances.
Walton and Irvin were
both phenomenal leading the
Wolverines through a grueling
four games in four days that saw
both of them come up big on
numerous occasions.
The duo made clutch play
after clutch play. Whether it was
a dazzling assist, a crucial drive
to the hoop or an important
3-pointer, they did it all when
their team needed them the most.
***
As roommates and best friends,
Walton and Irvin talk often about
the legacy they want to leave
behind at Michigan.
With the duo leading the
Wolverines to their first Big Ten
Tournament title since 1998 (one
that was later vacated), it’s already
pretty clear. They’ve come full
circle from making it to the title
game their freshman year and
getting blown out by Michigan
State.
But if their junior year has
taught them anything, they’re
hungry for more.
The duo will get another
chance to come full circle with
the NCAA Tournament, when
they travel to Indianapolis to take
on Oklahoma State in the second
round of the NCAA Tournament.
If Michigan fans remember
correctly, Indianapolis is also
where the Wolverines lost a
heartbreaker to Kentucky on
Aaron Harrison’s last-second
triple in the Elite Eight in 2014.
Three years later, Walton
and Irvin will travel back to
Indianapolis for redemption.
And if this season has taught us
anything, they’ll be ready for it.
Minh Doan can be reached by
email at minhdoan@umich.edu
and on Twitter @_minhdoan.
MINH
DOAN
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Seniors Derrick Walton Jr. and Zak Irvin won their long-awaited Big Ten Tournament trophy Sunday in Washington.