8 — Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Three takeaways: ‘M’ reversing trends after being swept by Ohio State

On a weekend when everything 

could go wrong against fifth-
ranked Ohio State (10-5-1 Big Ten, 
17-5-4 overall), it did.

The No. 20 Michigan hockey 

team (7-9-2, 12-12-2) lost all 
momentum it had built up over 
the past two weeks in dramatic 
fashion. The Daily breaks down 
three takeaways from a dismal 
weekend in Columbus.

Not so special teams
On 
the 
weekend, 
the 

Wolverines went on the power 
play seven times, with no goals to 
show for it.

“We didn’t have one (power 

play) for the longest time,” said 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson 
after the game Saturday. “I think 
they had three to our zero there 
for the longest time and … we 
had some good looks. Even on the 
five-on-three Jack Becker was all 
alone on the side of the net, and 
we’ve got to put those in.”

In Michigan’s 4-0 loss Friday 

night, the Buckeyes went on 
the power play three times and 
managed to capitalize on two of 
them.

While the inability to score on 

the power play isn’t necessarily 
a demarcation of an ailing team, 
the Wolverines’ defense on the 
man-disadvantage was certainly 
problematic.

Ohio State forward Mason 

Jobst even scored a short-handed 
goal in the third period Saturday 
that made fans reminisce about 
the Michigan defense at the 
beginning of the season that gave 
up countless breakouts form from 
numerous turnovers.

“We’ve got to be better on the 

power play,” Pearson said after 
Friday’s loss. “I think that’s an 
area that I talked a little bit before 
the weekend that that was going 
to be critical here. They scored on 
the power play, and obviously we 
didn’t.”

First line woes
In the Wolverines’ win over 

now-No. 12 Minnesota on Jan. 12 
– which was the genesis of the 

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes and Michigan gave up nine combined goals against Ohio State this weekend.

WINNING UGLY

If you spill a drink at a party, 

it’s a party foul.

If the party’s theme was “spill 

your drink,” then, well, you did 
what you had to do and nothing 
more.

For 
the 
beginning 
of 

Monday night’s contest against 
Northwestern, the Michigan 
men’s 
basketball 
team 
was 

exactly in this position. Facing 
the Wildcats’ zone defense, 
the Wolverines started 1-for-
12 from three and coughed 
up the ball four times in the 
first 15 minutes, while also 
missing a number of defensive 
assignments.

Michigan was metaphorically 

spilling all over itself after an 
offensive onslaught in its loss 
to Purdue on Thursday. Luckily 
for the Wolverines, a wholly 
lackluster 
performance 
was 

still just enough. Northwestern 
(4-6 Big Ten, 13-10 overall) were 
almost equally abysmal from 
the field — they shot 18-for-
47 for the game with Scottie 
Lindsey as the lone double-digit 
scorer — and simply ran out of 
counter-punches, giving No. 24 
Michigan (7-4, 18-6) room to 
leave with an uninspiring 58-47 
victory.

“I didn’t think after the first 

10 minutes of that game that 
I’d be walking in here with a 
W,” said Michigan coach John 
Beilein as he entered the press 
room. “… They punched us in the 
mouth in the beginning and it 
took us a while to get used to it. 
I’m really pleased we came back 
and made some shots, but our 
defense … it was exceptional.”

Added Northwestern coach 

Chris Collins: “I thought our 
guys competed, we just couldn’t 
put it in the basket. Some of 
that was us, I thought we shot 

ourselves in the foot sometimes. 
Some ill-advised turnovers. But 
it was also Michigan. They were 
very physical, organized and 
made it tough on us.”

Besides 
3-point 
shooting 

woes, the Wolverines were 
even struggling to stick to 
the basics in the first half. On 
two separate occasions after 
collective defensive rebounds, 
Michigan threw the ball away 
before having the chance to 
normally bring it up the court. 
Duncan Robinson was involved 
in one of those instances, and 
it served as a microcosm of the 
Wolverines’ woeful half. The 
fifth-year senior forward shot 
0-for-5 from beyond the arc, but 
also converted three open looks 
in the paint for a team-high of 
just six points in Michigan’s 
21-19 halftime lead.

“We were up two at half. 

Are you kidding me?” Beilein 
said. “We didn’t make shots, we 
didn’t make foul shots but we 
held them and that was the key 
to win.”

In the following half, the 

game’s theme switched from 
just playing bulwark defense 
to adding some offense. The 
Wolverines scored in their first 
four possessions, but even the 
Wildcats were finding luck 
after nine consecutive scoreless 
minutes, starting 5-for-9 to 
keep the game close.

“One, we had to get more stops 

on the defensive end and then 
get out in transition and two, we 
couldn’t just settle for threes,” 
said redshirt sophomore wing 
Charles 
Matthews. 
“When 

they threw a zone at us at the 
beginning, we just gotta rocket-
line it, we still have to go to the 
paint and get two feet in.”

As a result, it took about 

11 minutes for the teams to 
surpass their total first half 
outputs. In that span, junior 

forward Moritz Wagner made 
his presence known with a spot-
up trey and a mid-range leaner 
after registering a scoreless first 
half. He also surprised with his 
defense as his matchup, Wildcat 
forward 
Dererk 
Pardon, 

couldn’t get anything going on 
the other end and was held to 
just nine points.

It was Matthews, though, 

who was able to inject life and let 
the Wolverines get comfortable. 
He came through with two 
emphatic dunks and a 3-pointer 
to widen Michigan’s lead to the 
point of no return. Mathews 
and senior guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman were the 
Wolverines’ only double-digit 
scorers, with 14 and 11 points, 
respectively.

“We knew their zone was 

gonna give us space in the 
beginning and we hadn’t seen 
anything like that in a while,” 
Abdur-Rahkman said. “We just 
had to adjust to it and once we 
did we were fine.”

It surely wasn’t pretty — few 

games have been that way for 
Michigan recently. But in the 
case of Monday’s game, the 
Wolverines did exactly what 
they needed to do.

Just last week, the Michigan 

men’s basketball team gave up 
92 points.

No. 3 Purdue torched the 

Wolverines, doing whatever it 
wanted offensively.

That performance stuck in 

the minds of No. 24 Michigan, 
and 
it 
showed 
Monday, 

when the Wolverines played 
Northwestern.

The Wildcats were mystified 

offensively, shooting 38 percent 
from the floor, turning the ball 
over 16 times and losing, 58-47 
— tied for the second fewest 
points the Wolverines have 
given up this season.

“This 
whole 
game, 
this 

whole press conference, should 
be about our defense. It was 
exceptional,” Beilein said. “I 
don’t want to get into rating it 
against others, but I told our 
guys, it’s as good as we’ve played 
right now, and it had to be.”

The defense had no choice 

but to step up with how much 
Michigan 
struggled 
on 
the 

offensive end, namely in the 
first half. It scored a paltry 21 
points and shot 36 percent. Its 

leading scorer, fifth-year senior 
forward Duncan Robinson, had 
just six points on three-of-eight 
shooting.

If the Wolverines’ defense 

hadn’t shown up, they might 
have been run out of the gym 
by that point. Luckily for them, 
it did.

Junior 
forward 
Moritz 

Wagner 
has 
been 
much 

maligned 
for 
his 
defensive 

ineptitude. Against Purdue, he 
was bullied by its center, Isaac 
Haas. But Monday, Wagner held 
Northwestern 
center 
Dererk 

Pardon to just nine points and 
added two steals in the process.

“It was great,” Beilein said. 

“Guarding Haas is just like a 
whole different, it’s just very 
difficult. All these years, I’ve 
never seen anything like it. And 
so, that is not who (Wagner) is. 
At the same time, he was really 
good on Pardon, and Pardon is a 
really good player.”

It wasn’t just Wagner who 

stepped up for the Michigan 
defense. 
Sophomore 
guard 

Zavier Simpson was a pest, 
as usual, and junior forward 
Charles Matthews led the team 
with three steals. Even Robinson 
and 
freshman 

guard 
Jordan 

Poole 
— 
who 

have 
struggled 

defensively 
in 
the 
past 

— 
earned 

compliments 
from 
Beilein 

after the game.

The 
Purdue 

loss 
aside, 

stout defense is 
slowly becoming paramount to 
the Wolverines’ identity. They 
have the 25th-best defensive 
efficiency 
rating, 
according 

to KenPom, and have held 
opponents in the 50s and low-
60s more consistently.

That’s not typical of a Beilein-

coached team. Yet it’s something 
that other teams are beginning 
to take notice of.

“Normally, for them, they 

don’t win a game 58-47,” said 
Northwestern 
coach 
Chris 

Collins. “So it just shows that 
they’ve made a lot of strides on 
that end of the floor, and I was 
impressed with their defense 
tonight.”

It seems like that statement 

would make sense for any team. 
Scoring less than 58 points is not 
a recipe for success.

Still, 
the 
sentiment 
that 

Michigan now has the ability to 
win the grind-it-out games is an 
important one. The Wolverines 
have shown this season that 
they are prone to bad games 
on offense. There have been 
countless times when they’ve 
come out slow in the first half, 
hung around with tough defense 
and roared back in the second 
20 minutes.

Tuesday, that was once again 

the case.

“It just shows how resilient 

we are,” Abdur-Rahkman said. 
“We come to work every day, 
we fight hard, we practice hard 

and it shows in 
the end.”

Resilience 

may be the key 
for 
Michigan 

offensively. 
Eventually, 
it 

will 
have 
to 

make more shots 
and consistently 
flash 
the 

offensive 
prominence 

that was present in its games 
against Michigan State and the 
Boilermakers.

Until 
that 
time 
comes, 

though, 
the 
Wolverines’ 

defense is keeping them rolling 
along. 

No. 24 Michigan trudges to victory over Northwestern
Defense leads Wagner, Wolverines to low-scoring win

ROBERT HEFTER

Daily Sports Editor

recent successes that the team 

has seen – both senior forwards 
Dexter Dancs and junior Cooper 
Marody scored, with senior Tony 
Calderone recording two assists.

However, the line that has 

notched 76 points thus far this 
season was silent this weekend.

“We have to get back to our 

game and manage the puck 
better,” Pearson said. “ … You 
can see the goals that they got 
this weekend, we got caught out 
of position, we’re thinking too 
much on the offense, we turned 
the puck over in some bad spots 
that led to some of their goals.”

But historically the other lines 

would be able to pick up the slack 
for the top line from the likes of 
sophomore Jake Slaker and even 
from freshman defender Quinn 
Hughes.

The pair produced a late goal 

in the third period Saturday, but 
it wasn’t enough.

Despite a respectable 63 shots 

on the weekend, they were either 
unworthy of finding the back of 
the net or stopped by Buckeye 
goaltender Sean Romero.

“We created a couple things, 

but we just made the wrong play,” 
Pearson said Friday. “We have 

two or three options that we try 
and give the guys and then you 
have to play off of that and tonight 
it just seemed like the option was 
available to us, we just picked the 
wrong one.”

Added Calderone: “Yeah, we 

started off pretty well, I think 
we were getting pucks to the 
net, but they did a very good job 
of collapsing in the middle, and 
we didn’t get to the greasy areas 
enough.”

Romero, along with the rest 

of Ohio State’s defensive front, 
certainly had something to do 
with the Wolverines squandering 
some of their best options, as 
nothing seemed to work no 
matter how creative Pearson and 
the offense got.

Michigan will be facing more 

elite goaltenders such as No. 2 
Notre Dame’s Cale Morris and 
will have to figure out how to 
work out its offensive struggles.

Lackluster Lavigne
At the start of the calendar 

year, 
sophomore 
goaltender 

Hayden Lavigne all but solidified 
his spot as the go-to keeper. And, 
his performances in the past 
two weeks have been nothing 
short of miraculous, as his leaps 

across the crease have secured 
victories and strengthened a 
faulty defense.

If his recent efforts mean 

anything, it’s that he was the 
undeniable leader of the back 
line.

So, it may be reasonable to 

place some of the blame on him 
for the nine goals allowed against 
Ohio State.

Everyone knows the level 

that Lavigne can play at, and an 
all-around 
poor 
performance 

on both ends of the ice is 
ultimately the reason for why the 
Wolverines lost.

But nine pucks did find their 

way past him, and everyone on 
the ice is accountable for that.

“I think we were a little bit off-

sync tonight,” Calderone said, “so 
I think once we can get in-sync 
and 
everyone’s 
cooperating 

together I think we’ll be fine.”

Ultimately, there were high 

expectations going into the bout 
against the Buckeyes and this 
weekend was certainly a misstep, 
but if Michigan can fix the power 
play and get back to the hockey 
they were playing two weeks ago, 
Calderone’s “we’ll be fine” will 
ring true.

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Editor

EVAN AARON/Daily

Redshirt sophomore wing Charles Matthews led Michigan with 14 points.

MIKE PERSAK

Managing Sports Editor

“... It’s as good 
as we’ve played 
right now, and 
it had to be.”

