The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 — 7A
Wolverines’ win streak snapped by 3-1 loss in South Bend
Michigan didn’t fall apart until
the 90th minute.
The 24th-ranked Wolverines
(4-1-1 Big Ten, 7-4-2 overall) had
been outplayed prior to that,
with No. 7 Notre Dame (9-2-1
ACC, 3-1-1 overall) dominating
possession and leading 2-1. But
when Fighting Irish forward
Jon Gallagher sprinted past the
defense on a counterattack as
time wound down, they finally
folded. Gallagher got all the way
to Michigan’s 18-yard box before
he was fouled by Wolverine
sophomore
defender
Abdou
Samake. Yellow card, penalty
kick, game, set, match.
The Michigan men’s soccer
team fell 3-1 in South Bend on
Tuesday night. This loss snapped
a two-game win streak and drops
the Wolverines’ to 3-3-1 in non-
conference games.
Neither team scored until the
55th minute. Notre Dame strung
together two light, arching passes
inside Michigan’s box. Then it
was forward Jeff Farina who
slammed it home off a half volley
to give the Fighting Irish a lead.
The
Wolverines
managed
to tie the game 10 minutes
later. Sophomore forward Jack
Hallahan skittered in a cross
from the right side and junior
midfielder Robbie Mertz flew in
unmarked for the finish. For a
fleeting moment, Michigan had
momentum. It didn’t last long
enough.
Notre Dame took the lead for
good in the 81st minute. Farina
found Gallagher with a pass that
cut through Michigan’s defense.
Despite
a
tough
angle,
the
senior forward’s shot flew past
Wolverine sophomore goalkeeper
Andrew Verdi and into the back
of the net.
Michigan’s best chance to
equalize came with two minutes
to go. The ball came free in the
box off a Wolverine corner and
fell to junior defender Peter
Brown. For a brief second,
there was space for a shot. But a
Fighting Irish defender stepped
in front before Brown could
take
advantage.
Then
came
Gallagher’s
final knife to the
heart.
Early in the
game, Michigan
had its chances.
However,
the
Wolverines
couldn’t
do
much
with
them.
Junior
forward Francis
Atuahene
accounted for their’ best chance
in the 31st minute, cutting to the
middle from outside the box and
uncorking a missile. It flew wide
left. As the game wore on, the
absence of junior midfielder Ivo
Cerda, out due to a suspension,
was felt.
“We missed him for energy
within the team, to keep the game
lively. We were very very good
in the first half,” said Michigan
coach Chaka Daley. “As the second
half wore on, we got a little bit
tired and would have been good
to have another
experienced
player.”
Though
the
Wolverines had 12
shots on the game
to Notre Dame’s
11, just three were
on goal. One was
Mertz’s
goal,
while
the
other
two
were
from
freshman forward
Mahammed
Zakyi
early
on.
Those were easily saved by the
Fighting Irish’s Chris Hubbard.
“Soccer’s made up of maybe
four of five moments (per game),”
Daley said. “They had four or five
moments in the whole game and
they scored on three of them. We
had four big moments in the game
and we scored on one of them.”
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Junior midfielder Robbie Mertz scored the Wolverines’ sole goal in a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame on Tuesday night.
Beilein believes Matthews, grit could be key for defense
For
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball team, good cannot be
the enemy of great.
“We won’t be great,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein
of his team’s defense while
addressing the media last week.
That came mere seconds after
saying this might be one of
his best defensive teams in his
Michigan tenure.
It’s a dynamic the veteran
coach has had to deal with for
much of his career — matching
his offensive wizardry with
defensive
competence.
Nobody
expects
the
Beilein-led
Wolverines
to turn into a
defensively-
anchored
team.
They
won’t suddenly
become
Virginia, a team
that allowed the
fewest
points
per
game
in
the country in
2016, and does so annually in
arguably the best conference in
the country. But based on the
early practices and offseason
workouts, Beilein has expressed
optimism
about
his
team’s
defense and the personnel that
they have to deploy on that end
of the court.
When asked whether he thinks
this defense could be one of his
best, Beilein did not hesitate. “I
do,” he said. “It comes down to
the players.”
The most important piece
to that puzzle? Redshirt junior
guard Charles Matthews.
Matthews, a transfer from
Kentucky who averaged just
under two points per game in his
lone season with the Wildcats,
comes into the year looking to
prove the talent that landed
him in Lexington in the first
place. But while Matthews may
be eager to shine offensively,
Beilein believes his best weapon
may well be his defensive ability.
“Right now, I think his defense
is the one (thing) that will be the
biggest positive addition to the
team,” Beilein said. “Whether
it’s deflecting balls, blocking
shots, running through passing
lanes, seeing the defense — he’s
very bright.
“I do think that his quickness
and athleticism we’ve rarely
seen here.”
To some extent, this is still
a guessing game. Losing D.J.
Wilson
—
and
his team-high 57
blocks — will hurt
in the frontcourt.
Adding Matthews
and
freshman
Isiaah
Livers
to
the
equation
theoretically
brings
coveted
defensive
versatility.
But
team
defense in college
basketball so rarely
equals the sum of
its parts. Instead,
less tangible factors like cohesion
and rotational ability ultimately
dictate success. Especially given
the stark roster turnover on
this year’s team, it will be hard
to decipher just how strong of
a team this is defensively until
well into the season. But Beilein
feels strongly that the team-wide
demeanor is there.
“This is the most competitive
our practices have ever been
since I’ve been here,” Beilein
said. “Because there’s enough
grit.
We’ve
had
quickness,
we’ve had talent, sometimes
we’re missing some of that grit
to compete. We’ve got some
competition going on right now
that’s really healthy for us.”
Last year’s struggles early on
were often chalked up to a lack
of that toughness, as has been
the main criticism of many of
Beilein’s teams in the past.
So if history is any indication,
Beilein is right: They won’t be
great. But he thinks they have
the athletes and the demeanor
to be good, or at least defensively
adequate.
And as history also shows,
that’s all a Beilein-led team
needs.
Since he took over the program
in 2007, Michigan has never had
a scoring defense ranked higher
than 33rd nationally. Yet there
is an undeniable correlation
between his teams that rank
adequately defensively (55th or
better) to a successful season,
with one notable exception.
In his ten seasons at Michigan,
Beilein has had five teams with
scoring defenses better than
55th and five teams rank worse.
In the five seasons better than
55th, Michigan has won nearly
65 percent of its games, won
two regular season Big Ten
championships and a Big Ten
Tournament championship. In
contrast, in the
five
seasons
with a scoring
defense
worse
than
that
benchmark, the
Wolverines won
just 58 percent
of their games
and failed to win
either a Big Ten
regular
season
or Tournament
championship. The latter group
also includes the aberrational
2012-13
national
runner-up,
which featured five future first-
round picks — a luxury this team
does not have.
Of course, everything smells
like
roses
two
weeks
into
practice. While attention stays
on football, fond memories of last
year’s magical tournament run
linger. But there
are
still
plenty
of valid reasons
for
skepticism
about Michigan’s
defensive abilities.
Primarily,
if
the
season
started tomorrow,
sophomore Moritz
Wagner
and
fifth-year
senior
Duncan Robinson
would likely be the starting
frontcourt. Wagner, who pulled
out of the NBA Draft at least in
part due to questions about his
defensive and rebounding ability,
will need to improve upon those
areas — in addition to rampant
foul issues — not only for his own
draft stock, but for his team’s
defensive formidability in the
low post. Robinson, for all his
offensive merits, lacks the foot
speed to deal with more athletic
wings and, by Beilein’s own
admission, “will probably never
go to the backboard.”
In terms of cohesion, the
starting unit will feature two
transfers taking the floor as
Wolverines for the first time.
But if Beilein’s optimism is
founded, and the defensive unit
turns out to be one of his best,
that bodes well for this team.
It might not be the country’s
best, but the Wolverines won’t
need it to be.
For Beilein and Michigan,
good might as well be great.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein was quick to praise Charles Matthews for his defensive ability, citing his play as a factor that could serve Michigan’s defense well.
ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
We missed
him for energy
within the team,
to keep the game
lively.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
I think his
defense is the
one (thing)
that will be the
biggest positive
addition to the
team.
This is the most
competitive our
practices have
ever been.