2B — December 3, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Worth the price of admission
S
eventy dollars.
That’s what some students
paid
to watch
the men’s
basketball
team play
Purdue on
Saturday night.
Seventy bucks
and you’re
allowed to wait
outside for
hours before
the game, only
to get in and cram your way into a
corner of a sold-out Crisler Center,
stretching from the floor all the
way to the top of the second bowl.
Or, if you’re lucky — and really,
really dedicated to waiting outside
in the rain — you might get a spot in
the student section bleachers that
run behind the benches.
Of course, that price did more
than just get students a seat in the
student section. It gave them the
chance to watch the Michigan
men’s basketball team grind out a
top-20 win over the Boilermakers,
a staple powerhouse team in the
Big Ten.
Even on Wednesday, 40 bucks
not only secured students a seat for
the ‘Maize Out,’ but also a chance
to see Michigan exact revenge
over a North Carolina team that
blew the Wolverines out last year.
Michigan put on a show en route to
an 84-67 win over the 11th-ranked
team in the country.
Which, just like in Purdue’s
game, featured a sold-out crowd.
Two back-to-back sellout
games at this time last year wasn’t
even close to an option for the
Wolverines. In its first four home
games this season (excluding
Northwood’s exhibition), Michigan
has drawn total crowd of 47,878
people — last year, in the same time
span, it was 37,473.
That change in numbers could
be attributed to a lot of different
things. Maybe, it’s a result of
the novelty in opponents the
Wolverines have been hosting. This
season’s schedule has seen two
ranked visitors step on the court
in the Boilermakers and the Tar
Heels, while last year, the highest-
profile home matchup Michigan
had in the same four-game time
span was with an unranked
Central Michigan team.
It seems pretty obvious,
though, that a difference of more
than 10,000 people probably
has to deal with more than just
an uptick in scheduling. Maybe
it has something to do with an
undefeated 6-0 run to enter last
week’s matchups with two ranked
teams? Maybe it has to do with a
redemption battle that resulted
in a win over a team that chased
the Wolverines out of the national
championship last year? Or maybe
people are paying attention
to a team they think deserves
the attention after a Final Four
appearance less than a year prior?
Maybe one. Maybe all of the
above.
Regardless of the reason,
momentum is rolling. It’s felt in
Crisler, spurring sellout crowds
with fanatic eruptions in instances
like when redshirt junior Charles
Matthews threw down a dunk
against the Tar Heels to secure a
14-point lead.
It’s in the arena, that’s for sure
— but it’s also on the mind of the
team.
“This energy from our (student
section) has been fantastic. Thanks
to every student for rooting for us,”
said Michigan coach John Beilein
in a tweet on Saturday after the win
over North Carolina. “We hear you!
Hope you are having fun!”
The Wolverines are riding that
energy, too. Currently sitting at
No. 7 in the AP Poll — and likely
to move up after Saturday’s 76-57
win over Purdue — Michigan
is embodying the mentality of
a national contender, riding the
nation’s top-ranked defense in
adjusted efficiency to an 8-0 start
of the season backed by junior
guard Zavier Simpson and redshirt
junior forward Charles Matthews.
Last year, that adopted defensive
identity took the team all the way
to the Final Four.
But this year, that defensive
identity has been present from the
start, enabling the Wolverines’
unbeaten stretch. That identity will
stick with Michigan on Tuesday
night, when it loses the home
advantage to a midweek game at
Northwestern.
“(Michigan) can beat you in
the nineties, I think they can beat
you in the sixties, and I think they
can do it against quality people,”
said Purdue coach Matt Painter.
“So it just depends on how they’re
flowing.”
There’s no doubt the Wolverines
are on a roll. Eight games with
multiple wins over ranked teams
means evident structure, and
that’s not based on a home-crowd
advantage, either. But that doesn’t
matter to the students.
Seventy bucks might be steep,
but this is a team worth paying for,
as evidenced by its two most recent
blowout wins.
So don’t expect big-game tickets
to get cheaper anytime soon.
Byler can be reached by
email at dbyler@umich.edu
or on Twitter @laneybyler
‘M’ beats Purdue, 76-57, behind hot shooting
Remember when Michigan
scored
119
points
combined
against Norfolk State and Holy
Cross, shooting 20 percent from
downtown?
That was just three weeks ago.
It certainly didn’t feel that recent
Saturday against Purdue.
In a dizzying first 10 minutes
of basketball, the seventh-ranked
Wolverines (8-0 overall, 1-0 Big
Ten) hit six of their first seven
3-pointers to take a 31-16 lead,
setting the nets, and Crisler
Center, ablaze. That early stretch
of dominance was all Michigan
needed, as it ran away with a
76-57 win over the 19th-ranked
Boilermakers (5-3, 0-1) in its first
Big Ten game of the season.
The dominance started in
earnest two minutes into the
game. Sophomore guard Jordan
Poole took a Charles Matthews
pass on the right wing, stepped
into his shot and drained a wide-
open three. Matthews, a redshirt
junior wing, hit one of his own
on the next possession, and two
minutes after that, Poole took a
couple jab-steps and confidently
drilled a trey right in the face of
7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms to
give the Wolverines a 16-7 lead.
“If I hit one, I definitely feel
like I’m hot,” Poole said. “But
then I hit another one and I’m
like, ‘Alright, well, I’m definitely
extremely hot right now, let me
try to get up another one.’ ”
The
Boilermakers’
switch-
happy defense was no match
for Michigan in the early going.
With 12:40 to play in the first
half, junior point guard Zavier
Simpson drove past Haarms
for an easy layup, and kicked
out of drives to find Poole
and Matthews for wide-open
3-pointers.
“They switched everything we
did,” said Michigan coach John
Beilein. “So the best thing when
you get in those situations, is
get downhill when their big guy
steps out to guard, get downhill.
And we used the alleys really to
get penetration and find other
people.”
A possession after Matthews’
trey, junior center Jon Teske
provided the hammer blow to cap
off the initial outburst, catching
Matthews’ over-the-shoulder lob
and thundering down an alley-
oop on the Boilermakers’ Ryan
Cline.
As the Wolverines made it
rain, Purdue could only manage
to stay afloat. Big Ten Preseason
Player
of
the
Year
Carsen
Edwards
—
averaging
25.3
points per game
heading
into
the contest —
scored 19 but
had
to
fight
for
everything
against
the
fierce
defense
of
Simpson,
making just seven of 21 mostly
challenging looks.
“Carsen got his a little bit, but
he was, I think 1-of-5 from three,
and he was averaging like five or
six,” Teske said. “And Cline had
three in the first half, and I think
Charles wore him down in the
second half. It just starts with
(assistant coach Luke Yaklich),
and it trickles down to Charles
and (Simpson) and the whole
team just kind of follows them.”
Purdue hung somewhat within
reach, though, and continued to
chip away at the lead throughout
the game. Michigan suffered
through a five-minute scoring
drought midway through the
second half, and with 6:55 to
play, Boilermaker guard Aaron
Wheeler’s
3-pointer
cut
the
deficit to 62-50.
The Wolverines needed a
response, and a response they
got. Appropriately
enough
for
an
afternoon
where seemingly
everyone
was
on
fire,
Teske
— 1-for-10 from
deep coming into
Saturday — hit
two free throws
and then a pick-
and-pop
three,
his second of the
game, to push the lead back to 17.
“It was ready to go the other
way,” Beilein said. “If they had
gotten it lower than that it would
have been tough, because we
were not able to score the ball.
So I think probably getting those
stops when they got it to 12, and
then … Jon made the two foul
shots and then hit a three, that
probably was (the turning point)
because five minutes to go, a 12-
point lead against those guys is
nothing.”
Twenty-three seconds later,
Poole canned his fifth trey, which
just about put the contest to bed.
“We’re just confident,” Poole
said.
“We
practice
in-game
situation threes and we run our
plays and we know how the looks
that we’re going to get. ... Being
able to knock down those shots
from the ‘1’ to the ‘5’ is definitely
huge for us.”
Poole had the hot hand from
the start, scoring 21 points and
drilling all five of his attempts
from outside. Matthews (nine
points), Teske (17), and freshman
forward Ignas Brazdeikis (14)
chipped in with three, two and
two, respectively, while Simpson
ran the offense efficiently once
again with seven assists to
only one turnover. As a team,
Michigan was 13 for 26 from
3-point range.
“They can beat you in the
nineties, I think they can beat
you in the sixties, and I think
they can do it against quality
people,” said Purdue coach Matt
Painter. “So it just depends on
how they’re flowing.”
On Saturday, the Wolverines
were flowing as well as they’ve
done all season. That meant
trouble for the Boilermakers —
and with a Michigan offense
that’s finally catching up to its
defense, it means trouble for the
rest of the Big Ten.
Wolverines swept over
weekend by Spartans
Losing to your rival always stings.
But for the No. 14 Michigan hockey
team (6-6-3 overall, 2-3-1-2 Big Ten),
this one had to sting a little more.
In a game that was largely
dominated by the Wolverines, they
failed to capitalize on many scoring
opportunities despite outshooting
Michigan State (6-7-1 overall, 2-0-1-1
Big Ten), 40-19, and ultimately losing
in a shootout after a 1-1 draw.
The Wolverines are used to playing
fast — they utilize the quickness on
their roster to create opportunities
in transition. On Saturday, they had
a difficult time creating good scoring
opportunities as Michigan State
continually dropped back on defense,
which clogged the ice and prevented
transition opportunities.
Both sides, though, created a
couple early scoring opportunities
in the first period, but the chances
were few and far between in what
Michigan
coach
Mel
Pearson
described as an “ugly game.” At the
end of the opening period, Michigan
had nine shots on goal compared to
six for the Spartans.
Junior defenseman Nick Boka
eventually opened up the scoring
on one of those early opportunities.
It came just over eight minutes into
the first period on the power play.
Boka fired a one-timer from the left
slot on a pass that navigated through
traffic in front of the crease from
sophomore
defenseman
Quinn
Hughes who was set up in the right
faceoff circle. The shot fired past
Michigan State goaltender Drew
DeRidder for Boka’s first goal of the
season and gave the Wolverines a 1-0
lead.
Michigan looked to have all
of the momentum early on in the
second period, as the Spartans
were unable to create any scoring
chances through the first five
minutes. That momentum was
halted by a penalty for checking from
behind on freshman defender Nick
Blankenburg 5:23 into the period.
About 30 seconds into the power play
for Michigan State, an attempted
clearance deep in the defensive
zone from sophomore forward Josh
Norris found a wide open forward
Taro Hirose at the point. He skated
forward into the slot and fired past
freshman goaltender Strauss Mann
to knot the score at one.
The Wolverines looked in control
for the majority of the period
and generated plenty of scoring
opportunities as a result. Perhaps
none better than on the power
play with 5:42 remaining. The top
defensive pairing for Michigan along
with the top forward line retained
possession for the entire power play
but were unable to capitalize.
The shots finished 20-11 in favor
of the Wolverines, but the score
remained 1-1 heading into the second
intermission.
In the third period, play was much
more balanced in terms of scoring
opportunities.
Both
Michigan
and Michigan State had plenty of
chances, including two power plays
for the Wolverines and three for the
Spartans. But the defenses remained
stingy, jumping on loose pucks in
front of the net and doing everything
they could to prevent either side from
getting an edge.
And for the fourth time in the last
five games, the Wolverines went into
overtime.
The
first
overtime
period
featured plenty of scoring chances
for Michigan but its inability to
score continued. Michigan State did
not record a single shot in the first
overtime period. More of the same
ensued for three-on-three play.
Michigan State
The winner of the game would
be determined in a penalty shootout.
Norris opened up the shootout but
had his shot saved, as he failed to lift
the puck above DeRidder’s left pad.
It took until the fourth skater for the
winner to emerge. Spartan forward
Brennan Sanford slowly skated
up from center ice, taking a wide
angle. He skated across the slot from
Mann’s left to right side and fired
the puck above the goaltender’s left
shoulder.
HOCKEY
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
LANEY
BYLER
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Michigan basketball student section has been packed for the Wolverines’ last two games, and they have been rewarded with two blowout wins over North Carolina and Purdue.
ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Junior center Jon Teske scored 15 points and hit two 3-pointers in Michigan’s win over Purdue on Saturday.
“Alright, well,
I’m definitely
extremely hot
right now.”
Read the full story online at
MichiganDaily.com