2B — Monday, March 5, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A mad start to Michigan’s March
M
arch is just four days
old. It has
already been
full of mad-
ness.
The Michi-
gan women’s
basketball,
men’s bas-
ketball and
hockey teams
all played in
the Big Ten Tournament over
the weekend, and all three
punched their tickets to the
NCAA Tournament in the pro-
cess.
In Indianapolis, the No. 6
seed women’s basketball team
set out to correct course after
a late slide characterized the
end of its regular season. A 2-4
record in February wasn’t a
good look for a Wolverine team
once ranked as high as No. 13
in the Associated Press Top 25,
even if one of those wins came
against then-No. 13 Maryland.
In its first contest on Thurs-
day, Michigan breezed past
No. 11 seed Penn State to earn
a 77-48 victory, as its star duo
of senior guard Katelynn Fla-
herty and junior center Hallie
Thome came within six points
of outscoring the Nittany Lions
on their own. Thome poured
in a game-high 22 points
and fell one rebound shy of a
double-double, while Flaherty
was right behind her with 21,
including five triples.
But in the quarterfinal round
Friday, even the trusted hands
of Flaherty and Thome failed
the Wolverines, as turnovers in
transition on two consecutive
possessions in the final 2:30
cost them dearly in a 61-54 loss
to the third-seeded Cornhusk-
ers.
Despite the disappointing
tourney finish, with a 10-6 con-
ference and 22-9 overall record,
Michigan is still projected to be
a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tour-
nament according to ESPN’s
most recent Bracketology
report. After missing out on the
Big Dance in infamous fashion
a year ago, the Wolverines seem
poised to return for the first
time since coach Kim Barnes
Arico’s debut season at the helm
of the program in 2012-13.
Back in Ann Arbor, the
hockey team hosted Wisconsin
for a best-of-three series in the
first round of its conference
tournament. Michigan wouldn’t
need all three games — though
that was in question at certain
points of Friday’s opening
period.
Michigan scored first just
1:40 into the game, but the
Badgers roared back with three
consecutive goals, jumping out
to a 3-1 lead and silencing the
crowd at Yost Ice Arena. By the
end of the period, though, the
Wolverines would be back on
top. With three straight goals
of its own off the power play,
Michigan took a 4-3 lead into
the first inter-
mission.
Senior for-
ward Tony
Calderone com-
pleted his hat
trick to open the
second period,
but Wisconsin
came up with
a pair of power
play goals as well
to tie the game at
five. It took a fourth goal from
Calderone halfway through the
third period to seal a 6-5 win.
There was less drama Sat-
urday night, but no shortage of
goals, as the two teams com-
bined to find the back of the
net another 11 times. It was the
Badgers who opened the scor-
ing and the Wolverines who
answered back with three goals
of their own this time around.
But Wiscon-
sin couldn’t
match Michi-
gan’s offensive
firepower two
nights in a row,
and the Wolver-
ines earned a 7-4
win to advance
to a second-
round matchup
against No. 6
Ohio State next
Saturday.
Perhaps more importantly,
Michigan is sitting comfort-
ably at No. 8 in the Pairwise
rankings, which means a near-
certain return to the NCAA
Tournament in Mel Pearson’s
first year as head coach after a
disastrous 2016 season.
That brings us to New York
City, the ‘Mecca of basketball’
and Michigan’s second consecu-
tive Big Ten Tournament cham-
pionship.
Four games in four days isn’t
easy any way you slice it, but
as far as luck of the draw is
concerned, the fifth-seeded,
15th-ranked Wolverines weren’t
dealt the easiest hand.
First up was Iowa, a team
Michigan had swept but
couldn’t afford to look past.
Whether the Wolverines or the
officials were more to blame,
Thursday’s opening game did
not bode well for their tourna-
ment chances. As foul trouble
hindered all three captains, the
Hawkeyes pushed Michigan to
overtime, where the Wolver-
ines finally pulled themselves
together to take a 10-4 edge in
the decisive period.
Then came Nebraska, which
had embarrassed Michigan in
a 20-point win in Lincoln. But
Friday, the Wolverines gave the
Cornhuskers a taste of their
own medicine. Michigan went
11-for-13 from beyond the arc,
and four players hit double
figures en route to a nearly
20-point victory of its own.
After that, a date with No. 2
Michigan State awaited. The
Wolverines had beaten the
Spartans by 10 points at the
Breslin Center in January, and
Michigan State was eager for
revenge. But Michigan was hav-
ing none of it Saturday, riding a
49-point second-half outburst
to another double-digit victory.
And finally, the Wolverines
would have to play a champion-
ship game against the only team
in the Big Ten they had yet to
beat in No. 8 Purdue. And not
only had they lost to the Boiler-
makers, they had lost to them
twice. While Purdue was a top-
five team in the country on both
of those occasions, Michigan
lost by just five points com-
bined. Sunday, the Wolverines
ran away from the Boilermakers
— opening up a lead as large as
18 points late in the second half
— and right to another Big Ten
Tournament title.
Michigan may not have won
the most games, but it certainly
looks like the best team in the
conference. Now, the Wolver-
ines have the trophy to prove
it. With another automatic bid
into the NCAA Tournament,
Michigan can make that point
even stronger by outlasting its
familiar foes in the Big Dance.
That makes three Wolverine
teams all seemingly destined
for NCAA Tournament runs.
Brace yourselves, Michi-
gan fans. This could be a mad
March.
Ashame can be reached at
ashabete@umich.edu or on
Twitter @betelhem_ashame.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan men’s basketball team kicked off what should be an excitement-filled March with a Big Ten Tournament Championship.
Teske’s grand slam
NEW YORK CITY, NY — It
felt like a scene out of a movie.
Jon Teske — the Michigan
men’s basketball team’s placid,
soft-spoken center — gathered
his
momentum
outside
the
block, leapt and threw down an
emphatic, and-one dunk. Put
on a poster was Purdue’s Isaac
Haas, a seven-foot-two, 290-
pound behemoth who makes
a living bullying others in the
paint.
But here was Teske, the polar
opposite
of
his
demonstra-
tive teammate Mortiz Wagner,
doing the bullying on the big-
gest, tallest player in the Big
Ten. And it happened on the
biggest stage nonetheless; the
lights of a championship game
at Madison Square Garden can
melt the composure of even the
most poised players.
Teske doesn’t ooze that type
of swagger. His teammates and
coaches have publicly noted his
“quiet” demeanor and need for
more confidence on the floor.
But after Teske generated
one of the most shocking high-
lights of the Big Ten Tourna-
ment, he looked like he was
born for it, vaulting down the
floor with a thunderous scream
that was drowned out by the
roar of the crowd. Duncan
Robinson, meanwhile, jumped
twice in jubilation.
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-Rahkman
first-pumped
like
he was throwing a
punch. The bench
exploded like a fire
had been lit under
the chairs.
“I’m a quiet guy,”
Teske said. “That
passion, my love for
the game kind of all
spilled out.”
Added freshman forward Isa-
iah Livers: “Oh my. Even though
my ankle was hurt, I shot up as
fast as I could and was grabbing
my head like, ‘Did he really just
do that?’ Because usually he’ll go
up, do a little layup, get fouled.
But he was thinking dunk the
whole time. He was hunting.”
Hunting is not Teske’s M.O.
His influence
isn’t typically
reflected
in
the box score,
even
though
he’s been an
essential part
of Michigan’s
defensive
turnaround
this
season.
He came into
the
tourna-
ment averaging just over three
points and three rebounds per
game.
But on Sunday, Teske got a
vote of confidence from one of
his teammates, and it might’ve
been the difference.
“Today’s your day, man, ”
Livers recalled telling Teske.
“It’s a great matchup today so if
you want to be a dog, I got you
today.”
Haas was too much for Wag-
ner early. He scored Purdue’s
first seven points and forced
the eventual tournament MVP
to the bench just over two min-
utes in. At that point, Michigan
coach John Beilein yelled down
his bench. He and the Wolver-
ines needed Teske more than
ever.
The
backup
center
came
through. Just moments after
he’d subbed for Wagner, Teske
cleaned up his own miss for his
first bucket of the afternoon.
Then he and Abdur-Rahkman
executed a pick-and-roll to per-
fection, diving into the lane for
a dunk that eliminated the Boil-
ermakers’ final lead of the eve-
ning.
And with the Wolverines
nursing a one-point lead late in
the first half, Teske and Robin-
son ran the pick-and-roll again,
but this time Teske stopped
and popped a 10-footer. Less
than a minute later, he a took a
pass from redshirt sophomore
Charles Matthews and hit from
just inside the arc — no hesita-
tion involved.
Chants of “Teske! Teske!
Teske!” filled the Garden.
The pair of connections were
emblematic of Teske’s growth
since the start of his collegiate
career. Teske played just 60
minutes all of last season. It was
spurt here, a spurt there, never
having the chance the make an
impact. He looked uncomfort-
able — even timid — on his rare
chances.
But on Sunday, he would let it
fly on a shot he’s only attempted
a handful of times this season —
part of a career-
high
14-point
effort on 6-of-9
shooting.
“It’s been an
ongoing
thing
throughout
the
year,
pushing
him to play big-
ger
than
his
quiet voice kind
of allows him to
sometimes,” said
assistant coach Saddi Washing-
ton. “I’m just so happy for Jon
because in this moment, when
we really needed him to step up,
he did it in a major way.”
Added Livers: “I think he
needed the confidence, he need-
ed the ‘go.’ He was waiting on
the ‘go’ from coaches, but we’ve
got his back so whatever he
chooses to do, we’re right there
with him.”
Beilein has attached pictures
of dogs to the Wolverines’ lock-
er room whiteboard at various
point over the past two champi-
onship seasons. It’s a mentality
he desires his each of his players
to carry — one that defies Mich-
igan’s historical reputation as a
skill-based, finesse team.
Teske is no finesse player.
He’s a Midwest-born bruiser.
But Teske hasn’t adopted that
“dog” mindset like some of
teammates — at least until Sun-
day.
Repeatedly,
he
frustrated
Haas and center Matt Haarms
defensively, offering resistance
that few opponents have been
able to match this season.
“I’m just happy he chose the
dog route today,” Livers said,
“rather than the old Jon.”
Nothing embodied that more
than Teske’s dunk over Haas.
It was a moment that sur-
prised many, carried the arena
into
near-pandemonium
and
made the championship’s result
clear with the Wolverines grip-
ping an 18-point lead with just
over six minutes to play.
And for Teske, it was a
moment two years in the mak-
ing. Finally, he’d
broken out of his
shell on the floor
— on the biggest
stage against the
one of the coun-
try’s best cen-
ters.
“Our
play-
ers
were
like
in awe,” Wash-
ington said. “It
was almost like
he had elevated himself to that
next level. The challenge for
him will be, ‘You set a new level
for yourself, now play at that
level.’ ”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
“Did he really just do that?” said Isaiah Livers in reference to this rim-rattling dunk from Jon Teske during the final minutes of Michigan’s 75-66 win over Purdue.
“I’m just happy
he chose the
‘dog’ route
today.”
“That passion,
my love for the
game kinda of
all spilled out.”
Michigan’s sophomore center scored a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in Michigan’s 75-66 win over Purdue
MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor
BETELHEM
ASHAME
March has
already been
full of
madness.