The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
March 13, 2017 — 3B
Wolverines win thriller
WASHINGTON — With just
over 12 minutes left to play in the
first half, Michigan held a 25-11
lead and sophomore forward
Moritz Wagner was living it up on
the Wolverines’ bench.
He sat grinning ear-to-ear,
head reclined back looking at the
jumbotron, raising his eyebrows at
the pull-up jumper his point guard,
Derrick Walton Jr., had just hit.
If only he knew what else was
coming.
Though the Michigan men’s
basketball team emerged with an
84-77 victory against Minnesota
(24-9),
Saturday
afternoon’s
matchup at the Verizon Center
turned out to be a second-half
thriller in which Wagner and the
Wolverines would need Walton
more than ever.
“It was another day that,
as a coaching staff, you had
opportunities to really appreciate
your team (like) many times
during the year, and that was a
great opportunity to sit back and
watch them play ball again,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
“… What I like best is they
played connected again. It was
just a gutty performance. When
Minnesota made that run to come
back, Derrick, Zak, put the team on
their back and we got the W.”
With the victory, the Wolverines
(23-11) advanced to the Big Ten
Tournament championship game,
where they will face No. 2 seed
Wisconsin.
The first half was Wagner’s
forum. Michigan’s big man went
through a tough stretch to begin
the
conference
tournament,
scoring just 11 points on 3-for-
13 shooting. Only a day earlier,
Beilein had said he didn’t like the
way Wagner’s shot looked. But on
Saturday, it sure looked pretty.
Wagner
finally
found
his
stroke against the fourth-seeded
Golden Gophers and finished the
frame with 14 points while going
perfect from the floor and the
charity stripe.
With Wagner as the headliner,
Michigan’s offense shot 80 percent
through the first five minutes to
build a 21-9 lead from the get-
go. The Wolverines didn’t slow
down either, finishing the stanza
shooting 63.3 percent from the
field en route to an 11-point lead at
the break.
“They jumped out on us early,”
said Minnesota guard Dupree
McBrayer.
“We
was
a
little
sluggish. We thought it would be
handed to us. That’s it. We got to
come out with more intensity.”
And yet, things weren’t all
sunshine and rainbows. Wagner
picked up his second foul with
7:41 remaining, and with him on
the bench for the remainder of
the frame, the paint was open for
the taking.
Twenty-six
of
Minnesota’s
44 points came from down low,
and they attempted just four
3-pointers. For a brief period, it
proved to be the recipe for success.
With
7:18
remaining,
the
Golden Gophers notched a 9-2 run
to trim what was once a 16-point
Michigan lead down to six. It
didn’t last long, though.
Coming out of a timeout, the
Wolverines went on a 10-5 run of
their own to finish with an 11-point
cushion at the break.
But that cushion vanished
rather quickly. Minnesota opened
the second half on fire, shooting
8-for-14 from the floor — including
three straight from beyond the arc
that were interrupted only by a
pair of Walton free throws.
The connections from deep
locked the game at 55 with just
over 13 minutes remaining, and
concretely shifted the momentum
in the Golden Gophers’ favor.
The Wolverines kept their head
above water but things looked
bleak when Wagner picked up
his fourth foul with 9:44 to go.
The Wolverines were hanging on
by a thread, and Minnesota had
planted its roots firmly in the paint
— dominating Michigan for 14 of
its 23 second-half points.
And yet, as the Golden Gophers
mounted a comeback attempt
that had all the steam to end
Michigan’s miracle run, Walton
took matters into his own hands.
First he knocked down a mid-
range jumper. Then he buried
two daggers from behind the arc
to give Michigan a 72-63 lead it
wouldn’t relinquish in the final
five minutes of the game.
“Like we said before the game,
nobody cares that you were tough
yesterday,” Walton said. “It’s all
about what you do today. I took
that approach. Helped my team
win it whatever way I could.”
Walton finished with a career-
high 29 points, scoring or assisting
on 18 of the Wolverines’ 20 points
in the final seven minutes.
Wagner may have gotten the
ball rolling, but Walton finished the
job, and now Michigan has a shot
at their first Big Ten Tournament
title since the Wolverines’ 1998
championship was vacated.
That’s
certainly
something
Wagner can smile about.
SEMIFINALS: NO. 8 MICHIGAN 84, NO. 4 MINNESOTA 77
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan took a double-digit lead against Minnesota on Saturday, and then staved off a furious rally to advance to the final.
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
Not a coincidence
W
ASHINGTON —
After finishing
practice in the dark
on Wednesday, John Beilein
gathered his
team to tell a
story.
The
Michigan
coach
spoke of a
team that
entered its
conference
tournament
as an
eight-seed, in need of wins
to strengthen its NCAA
Tournament résumé.
It was a team full of
experienced veterans and
talented youth, who had hit
a fair share of speed bumps
throughout the regular season,
but was poised to make a run
in the postseason if they found
their heads were in the right
place.
There was adversity that
had to be
overcome.
The team had
issues with
their flight
the day before
they were
scheduled
for an early
afternoon tip-
off. But they
persevered,
easily
winning
their opening
game despite the travel
troubles the day before. The
team then went on to beat the
tournament’s No. 1 seed, and
escape a close one against
the four-seed to get into the
conference championship.
No, John Beilein wasn’t
predicting the future when he
told this story Wednesday.
He already lived it.
Back in 2005, when he was
coaching West Virginia, Beilein
took a scrappy yet skilled
bunch of country boys on an
improbable run to the Big East
Tournament championship
game. It was one of, if not the
most, memorable postseason
runs Beilein had been on in his
40-plus years of coaching.
Before that tournament,
Beilein had little experience
coaching on stages as big as
the one he was on in Madison
Square Garden that year.
His team entered New York
needing two wins to feel good
of its chances of making the
NCAA Tournament field.
While the run became
one of the defining stretches
of Beilein’s career, in the
moment, every game was
a learning experience. He
noted how his Mountaineer
team came together as one,
developed a belief that
anything was possible and
learned to dream big while
staying grounded enough to
face the immediate challenge
ahead.
That Big East Tournament
came to shape Beilein’s
identity as a coach.
And it’s apparent the lessons
from it have made an impact
on Beilein’s current group, as
Michigan has fought its way
into the Big Ten Tournament
championship.
“At the time, we listened
to him, but I didn’t really
understand what he was
trying to say,” said redshirt
sophomore forward DJ
Wilson. “I think it was fitting
with everything that had
happened over the past few
days. It matches up to the story
he told us.”
But the similarities don’t
just stop at what’s happened
the past four days — they
extend to the future as well.
West Virginia faced an
experienced Syracuse side two
years removed from a national
title game appearance in the
conference championship
game.
Fast-forward 12 years and
once again Beilein will be
matched up with a team that
made a trip to the national
championship two years ago in
Wisconsin.
While this is where the
story took a downturn in
2005 — the Mountaineers
lost by nine to the Orange —
tomorrow, Beilein can write a
different ending in this latest,
almost identical saga.
Beilein has made seven
NCAA Tournament
appearances and a Final Four
since then. He’s soaked up
every one of his postseason
runs and continues evolve his
tournament coaching style
with every additional game he
takes in.
More than ever, Beilein
realizes this time of year is
a mental marathon. Rather
than focusing on fixing the
negatives, Beilein has built his
most successful teams on their
strengths.
“You have to always believe
in your team, especially this
time of year,” Beilein said.
“Anything can happen. So
when you’re with a team all
year long, you have a tendency
to think too much about their
weaknesses and not their
strengths. When you have
strength of character like we
have, and we
have multi-
dimensional
players, that
can really
serve you
well here in
March.”
Every
game of
Michigan’s
Big Ten
Tournament
run has had
a moment in
which Beilein and his coaching
staff has challenged their
players to look inward for
strength rather than outward
at improving their weaknesses.
That began in the hotel
in Ann Arbor following
all of Wednesday’s plane
drama, when Beilein realized
basketball was the last thing
his team should be focused
on after all, and brought
in counselors to help the
players process the accident
emotionally so their minds
could be clear.
Before Purdue, Beilein let
assistant coach Billy Donlon
preach the simple, yet effective
message of “not today” that
resonated with the team as
they came back and closed out
the Boilermakers in overtime.
But most impressive of them
all, with his team on the verge
of breaking after allowing
Minnesota to erase a 16-point
deficit and tie the game at 55,
Beilein called a timeout to get
his players’ heads in the right
place mentally.
“That timeout was nothing
about basketball,” Beilein said.
“We never bicker with each
other. People were yelling at
players for not boxing out.
People were yelling for not
defending. That timeout was
like, ‘Hey, guys, I’m not going
to yell at you here. Here’s
why we win — because we’re
connected. Let just get back
together. We’re going to
win this game if we just stay
together and stop pointing
fingers. Just go out and guard
each other and let the talent
you have come to work.’”
That timeout was the
turning point for Michigan,
as the Wolverines jumped
back out to the lead after
the timeout and never
relinquished it from there.
Moments like that show
how important the mental
game is in college basketball’s
postseason. That’s the
lesson Beilein began to fully
understand in 2005, and he has
tried to prove his proficiency
in the seasons that have
followed.
On Sunday, Beilein will
take the big stage again,
with a chance to show how
he’s mastered the mindset of
March against a team that
has shown it year after year in
Wisconsin.
And if it’s the Wolverines
who walk off the Verizon
Center floor with the trophy,
just remember: it’s more than
a coincidence that Beilein
had the chance to make sure
history didn’t repeat itself
twice.
Carney can be reached at
becarney@umich.edu and
on Twitter @br_carney.
Walton’s masterful seven minutes
WASHINGTON — A seven-
minute stretch to end the game
defined
everything
Derrick
Walton Jr. is to the Michigan
men’s basketball team.
With the Wolverines up only
one possession against Minnesota
on Saturday at the Verizon Center
in the Big Ten Tournament
semifinals,
the
senior
guard
thought it was time to take matters
into his own hands.
It started with 7:03 left, when
Walton came off a screen from
redshirt junior Mark Donnal and
buried a jumper with a hand in
his face.
From there, his best friend and
roommate, senior wing Zak Irvin,
knew Walton was in the zone.
“I’ve seen this so many times,”
Irvin said. “It’s nothing new to me.
I knew once he hit that pull up, I
could tell in his eyes.”
The shot was the start of
Walton’s seven-minute run, when
he had a hand in 18 of Michigan’s
final 20 points.
It was also succeeded by two
dazzling
3-pointers,
both
of
which coming off screens when
Minnesota switched a big man
onto Walton, to give Michigan a
nine-point cushion.
The
big
shots
gave
the
Wolverines
some
breathing
room after Minnesota came
back from as much as 16 points
down in the first half to tie the
game with less than 10 minutes
remaining in the game.
“He’s real clutch,” said redshirt
sophomore forward DJ Wilson.
“When (the shot) left his hand, I
knew it was good.”
But with Minnesota guard Nate
Mason putting on a show himself
on the other side of the court,
Walton wasn’t done.
Two possessions after Walton
hit the trey to put Michigan up
nine, coach John Beilein stayed
seated as Walton dribbled the
ball up the court, allowing the
Detroit, Mich. native to run a
play as he pleased.
Walton
called
a
pick-and-
roll, drawing two defenders and
leaving redshirt junior Mark
Donnal wide open for a layup.
“He’s one of those guys that’s
going to get his own points, but
he’s also looking out for everybody
else,” Donnal said. “He’s always
looking out for his teammates.
He’s always able to find the open
guys. Since he’s able to score, it
opens up everybody, and we have
a lot of weapons that can put the
ball in the basket when he throws
them the ball.”
A minute and 40 seconds
later, after Walton winded down
the clock, drew a foul, and hit
two free throws, he found a
pass between two defenders
to Wilson, who went up for a
thunderous dunk to put the
Wolverines back up by nine.
It was a pass that Beilein said
the team had been trying to
complete all season. Saturday
night, Walton’s precision was on
point, and it finally worked.
“That pass to DJ, we’ve been
trying to get that all year long and
then he was on it,” Beilein said.
“That was a big basket.”
With Walton in the zone calling
his own plays, it showed the
amount of trust Beilein had in him
to run the offense.
It’s trust that has taken a long
time — four years to be exact —for
Walton to earn. But now that he
has it, Walton is running with it.
“(Walton and Beilein) have
gotten to point where they have
a lot of trust in each other, so
sometimes (Beilein) will call a
play, and Derrick will be like ‘No,
no, I got something,’ ” said senior
forward Sean Lonergan.
Added Walton: “(Beilein and I)
have the same mindset, it’s just I
get to see it from a different lens
because I’m on the court. He trusts
me completely, and I know for a
fact that he has complete faith in
me to make the right call.”
Even after Walton’s two assists,
though, Minnesota kept attacking
on the shoulders of Mason,
dwindling Michigan’s lead to
three with 49 seconds remaining
in the game.
At that point, the Golden
Gophers began to foul, and Walton
was the one to go to the line.
Just
two
weeks
prior
in
Minneapolis,
Walton
missed
two crucial free throws with the
Wolverines down two in overtime
that ultimately led to a crushing
83-78 loss.
While the circumstances were
a bit different Saturday afternoon,
the implications were just as big.
This time, though, Walton
couldn’t miss, nailing both free
throws as well as two more 16
seconds later to ice the game and
send Michigan to the Big Ten
Tournament championship game.
All in all, Walton ended the
seven-minute stretch with 10
points, two assists and a rebound
as well as a steal on Lynch to
keep Minnesota at bay. Those
final
seven
minutes
capped
a phenomenal 29-point, five-
rebound, nine-assist night. His 29
points were a career high.
It was an outing that captured
everything Walton does well
for the Wolverines, and one
that Wilson said afterward was
a “first team All-Big Ten-type
performance,” a direct knock to
that fact that Mason had been
given the honor over Walton.
“I’d very, very surprised if you
found anyone in this locker room,
maybe anyone in this conference,
who doesn’t agree with that,” said
junior guard Duncan Robinson
when asked if Walton deserved to
be on the first team All-Big Ten.
But Walton, being the reserved
person that he is, didn’t want to
get into that discussion after the
game, citing that he only wants to
be the best point guard on the floor
every time he’s out there.
It’s a demeanor that he’s shown
all season, and throughout the
four years of his Michigan career
off the court.
But with his tenure as a
Wolverine starting to come to
a close, Walton has shown —
especially over the last half of the
season — that his play is anything
but reserved, citing his “alter ego”
when he’s on the court.
And with a chance to add a
banner to the rafters of Crisler
Center, Walton’s “alter ego” might
be just what it takes to get it.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. carried Michigan on his back again Saturday.
MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Editor
BRANDON
CARNEY
“You have to
always believe
in your team,
especially this
time of year.”