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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | January 16, 2018
Big difference
The Michigan basketball and
hockey teams had a rough
start to 2017. This year has
been much different, writes
Betelhem Ashame.
» SportsMonday Column
Page 2B
Mayhem in Minnesota
Mel Pearson led Michigan
to a sweep at Minnesota,
the first time the Wolverines
have done so since 1977.
» Page 4B
Free throws can be an
anticlimactic way of hitting a
milestone.
But
for
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-Rahkman, a trip to
the charity stripe for career-
points No. 999 and 1,000 came
with all the drama he could
ask for. Down a point in the
waning moments, the senior
guard toed the line with the
game on his shoulders.
The moment wasn’t too big.
Abdur-Rahkman
knocked
down
both,
giving
the
23rd-ranked Wolverines (5-2
Big Ten, 16-4 overall) a 68-67
win over Maryland (3-4, 14-6)
at Crisler Center on Monday
night.
“I
was
going
up
there
visualizing making the shot,”
Abdur-Rahkman said. “That’s
the best way to explain it:
visualizing making the big
play at the big time.”
Terrapins
guard
Kevin
Huerter
looked
like
he
had done just that on the
possession before. After four
straight missed free-throws
from sophomore guard Zavier
Simpson left the door open,
Huerter drained a go-ahead 3
for Maryland with fewer than
four seconds remaining.
But
Michigan
had
the
perfect play drawn up, and
it started with Isaiah Livers’
“baseball arm.”
With his feet planted on
Michigan’s
baseline,
the
freshman
forward
heaved
a precise pass to a cutting
Abdur-Rakhman
near
half
court. After the catch, only a
blocking foul could stop him
from scoring.
“I saw open space,” Abdur-
Rahkman said. “That means
go downhill. I knew I didn’t
want to pull up from 3, and I
just tried to get to the basket
to make a play for myself or
somebody else.”
Added
Michigan
coach
John Beilein: “I felt like we’re
going to win the game (when
Abdur-Rahkman drove). I just
felt like, when he was going to
the basket, he’s gonna find a
niche.”
Despite
the
result, there was
a hangover from
the Wolverines’
victory
over
then-No.
4
Michigan State
last
weekend.
Through
20
minutes,
Michigan
looked
like
a
shell of what it did in East
Lansing.
Much
of
that
was
an
inability
to
connect
on
even the best of looks. The
Wolverines went just 9-for-
29 and scored just 20 points
in the opening frame — their
lowest
first-half
total
in
conference play.
Maryland,
meanwhile,
pounded
the
rock
inside,
scoring 16 points in the paint
and also knocked down well-
defended
shots.
On
two
occasions,
guard
Anthony
Cowan
hit
well-defended,
low-percentage
3s to kill any
momentum
Michigan could
muster up.
Frustration
reared its head
near the end of
the half when
Zavier Simpson
missed a layup
and
committed
a bad foul on the rebound.
Beilein replaced his starting
point guard with fifth-year
senior Jaaron Simmons — a
third-stringer
who
seldom
sees the floor.
“Muhammad was missing,
Charles
(Matthews)
was
missing,
(Simpson)
was
missing,” Beilein said. “That
was one of the ‘inspirational
things at halftime. I said, ‘the
1, 2 and 3 men — you guys are
3-for-15. You gotta play better.
… It was, ‘What the hell? We
gotta to play better.’ ”
The team clearly listened.
Capped off by a Simpson
and-one
bucket,
the
Wolverines embarked on a
10-0 run, tying the contest
roughly three minutes into
the frame.
Then came the rain. In a
stunning sequence, Michigan
buried five consecutive 3s —
including a trio of triples from
freshman guard Jordan Poole
— for its first lead since the
contest’s early moments.
The stretch was a dramatic
shift in shooting the rock
from the first half, as the
Wolverines sunk nine 3s on
8-for-17 shooting from beyond
the arc in the second after
hitting just 2-of-9 3s in the
first.
The barrage from outside
came at an opportune time,
too. In a tie game, Mortiz
Wagner and Duncan Robinson
hit from deep on back-to-back
possessions, leading to a 10-2
run that would give Michigan
a 10-point lead with around
five minutes to play.
Down the stretch, however,
the Terrapins responded with
a 10-2 run of their own to cut
their deficit to just two. Back-
and-forth
play
dominated
much of the last minute until
Huerter hit his go-ahead 3.
But it was Abdur-Rahkman
— with the right play and
confidence when it counted —
that would play hero Monday
night. Four years removed
from being a two-star recruit
from Pennsylvania, Abdur-
Rahkman
has
a
win
to
commemorate his milestone,
thanks to a pair of free throws.
“Definitely didn’t think it
was going to happen like that,”
he laughed. “But I’m glad it
did, and we got the win.”
MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor
Wolverines beat State, escape against Terps
“Definitely didn’t
think it was
going to happen
like that.”
TUESDAY
M VING
U-M
MSU
U-M
MAR
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KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
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