6A — Thursday, January 10, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
With a target on their backs, Wolverines travel to Champaign
On
Thursday
night
in
Champaign, Michigan will play
in the most important game of
Illinois’ season.
The Illini, for all intents
and purposes, are already out
of contention for the NCAA
Tournament with a 4-11 record.
Already, they’re more or less out
of Big Ten contention as well,
having dropped their first four
games of league play. Currently,
Illinois is ranked 106th in the
country, per KenPom, and the
schedule isn’t about to get easier.
But there’s still this: a chance
to knock off the No. 2 team in the
country and give the Wolverines
their first loss. As Michigan
approaches a program-record
win streak to start the season,
a target has, inevitably, taken
shape on its back.
Six years ago, the Wolverines
found themselves in the same
spot — at 15-0 with Big Ten play
ramping up. They loved every
minute of it.
“It’s way more fun (to be
the villain),” Spike Albrecht, a
freshman guard in 2013, said in
a phone interview. “Because you
know you’re the one everyone’s
going
after.
You’re
getting
everyone’s best shot. And just
a normal day when you go into
someone’s home arena, it might
not be really bumping or super-
packed. But you know when
you’re coming in, it’s going to be
sold out.”
Michigan knew then and
it knows now that it won’t
finish
undefeated.
When
sophomore Jordan Poole was
asked about the possibility after
Sunday’s win over Indiana, he
demurred, saying the goal was
an undefeated record at home.
When coach John Beilein was
asked about it Wednesday, he
turned to the spokesperson
beside him.
“There’s only one team that’s
been undefeated in a long, long
time and that’s almost 50 years,
I think. Right?”
The coach was told: 1976
(Indiana).
“So do the math. … 43 years,
we just found out. May not
happen again.”
That realism, of course, won’t
make the Wolverines a smaller
target. It also won’t lessen the
sting of an eventual loss.
When that day
came in 2013, it
was Ohio State
that delivered the
blow — jumping
out to a double-
digit lead early
and
hanging
on
when
Trey
Burke’s
attempt
at a buzzer-beater
rimmed out. It
was a splash of
reality for a team
with an unlimited ceiling.
“They were up like 30-6,”
Albrecht said, “and I was like,
‘Well shit, I guess we’re not as
good as we thought.’ ”
With that realization, though,
came a quiet sigh of relief.
“It’s like, ‘OK, it’s a great time
to grow now. A great time to
learn.’ You don’t always learn
as much from winning,” Beilein
told The Daily. “You learn more
from losing. So when you have a
loss, you embrace it and say, ‘OK,
now we got a chance to be good.’
”
Added Albrecht: “It’s kind
of — I don’t want to say it’s
necessarily like, ‘OK, glad we
got that first loss out of the way.’
Because you never want to lose.
But it was kind of a reality check,
and I think the coaches almost
enjoyed it. Because they could
come back and be like, ‘Alright,
now we can get these guys off
their high horse.’
“Because I’m sure if you’re a
college kid, you’re 18 to 22 years
old, you’re on top of the world
right now. You think you’re hot
shit. A first loss can be a little
bit of a humbling experience but
sometimes needed.”
This team isn’t the 2013 team,
of course. Every player from then
is long gone with the program’s
identity having shifted from one
that can go tit-for-tat scoring
the ball to a top-ranked defense
guided by the hand of assistant
coach Luke Yaklich and the voice
of junior guard Zavier Simpson.
These players haven’t been
here in the literal sense — at
this time a year
ago,
making
the
NCAA
Tournament
still
hung
in
the balance of
every
game.
But
they’ve
played in games
of far greater
magnitude than
a Thursday in
Champaign.
Final
Fours
and
Big
Ten
Tournament
championships — that’s the
experience this team brings.
Save
for
freshman
Ignas
Brazdeikis, every rotation player
has been on a big stage with
the world watching. More than
cold, hard logic, that will inform
Michigan’s
response
to
an
inevitable loss, as it has informed
its response to every win.
“I think they’ve seen the
example
that
Muhammad(-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman), Duncan
(Robinson) and
Moe
(Wagner)
and
Jaaron
(Simmons)
set with that,”
Beilein
said.
“They’ve
seen,
‘We won a big
game. So what?
We got bigger
goals.’
And
I
think we all see
that. Cause we
had a lot of big
wins and it just didn’t change
practice at all. Same guys the
next day.
“So that’s, I think, what’s
resonating with (Jon) Teske.
(Charles)
Matthews
already
knew it, Zavier already knew it.
(Isaiah) Livers has seen it now.
(Jordan Poole) has seen it now.
Austin Davis. The extent of
who’s back — the whole idea is
now, Iggy and the other guys to
say, ‘Yeah, this is the real deal.
Every day, we
get a win. That’s
all it is is a win.’
Doesn’t
mean
anything
until
we play the next
game and then
we got to go do it
again, do it again,
do it again.”
When
each
game you play is
the other team’s
most important,
that’s the only choice in front of
you.
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
Behind Enemy Lines: The Daily sits down with Illinois’ guard Aaron Jordan
On Thursday, the Michigan
men’s basketball team (15-0
overall, 4-0 Big Ten) will hit
the road for the first time in
over a month when it travels to
Champaign to play Illinois (4-11,
0-4).
The Illini are
one of two teams
winless
in
Big
Ten
play,
but
their
strength
of
schedule
ranks
fifth
in
the
country,
according
to
KenPom.
They
have already faced
non-conference
powers Gonzaga and Iowa State,
as well as Nebraska, Ohio State
and Indiana in the conference.
Things don’t project to be any
easier for Illinois against the
second-ranked team in the
country. But the Illini under
coach Brad Underwood are best
known for their unique defense
that is designed to put pressure
on teams by forcing turnovers.
That, combined with the fact
that the Illini
are
playing
in their home
arena, ensures
the Wolverines
will
have
to
work for a win.
Illinois
senior
guard
Aaron
Jordan
isn’t the most
heralded player
on the team,
but he is the most veteran of
a starting lineup composed of
two four-star freshmen and a
sophomore. The Daily sat down
with Jordan at Big Ten Media
Day in October.
This
interview
has
been
edited for clarity and length.
TMD: How did you pick your
number?
AJ: That’s actually funny
but 23 is actually my second-
favorite number.
My
favorite
number is eight
but
you
can’t
wear
eight
in
college (college
players can only
use numbers 0-5
on their jerseys)
and
I
kinda
just picked it in
high school and
then
actually
when I first got to college I told
one of my best friends, my old
teammate, that I was gonna
change it. He threatened me
and said, “If you change your
number we’ll have problems, I
won’t be your friend anymore.”
So I stayed with it. Not really
much of a story behind it, I don’t
know, it’s just something I sorta
gravitated towards.
TMD: Why is 23 your second-
favorite number?
AJ:
Because
I used to play
soccer
and
then my soccer
number
was
eight and my dad
used to always
scream
“Go
number
eight!”
and
so
that
kinda, early on
I played soccer
more, so then I really embraced
that number.
TMD: Why did you switch
from soccer to basketball?
AJ: Basketball became, I
started basketball around, I
started travel basketball — so
we actually go to a lot of places
— in seventh grade, so it was
just a really, it was a group of
guys that were very close that
loved basketball and so when
I was able to be around that,
something just clicked, and I
said, “Hey, this is something I
wanna do for the long run.” So I
stayed with it.
TMD: What’s your favorite
place you’ve ever traveled to?
AJ: It would have to be
California. Anaheim. During
AAU we went on a trip. We went
to Philly for about a week and
did a camp and then the team
flew in and we had a basketball
tournament.
And
then
we
came back to Illinois for a few
days and then we flew out to
California, played out there,
then we drove to Vegas. So that
was very much a road trip. In
California, we were able to go on
the boardwalk, go on the beach,
it was very chill out there, good
weather, sunny, good food,
In-N-Out. I love that. If I go
out west, I’ll probably eat it for
breakfast, lunch and dinner.
TMD: What’s your favorite
weather?
AJ: Fall. Definitely fall. You
can put on a hoodie, put on
sweatpants. I mean, that’s the
go-to outfit right there.
TMD: What’s your favorite
restaurant near the University
of Illinois?
AJ: Oishi. It’s a hibachi
steakhouse. I love hibachi. Early
on when our scholarship checks
used to drop we always used to
go, “Okay, hibachi, let’s go.”
TMD: What’s your favorite
order there?
AJ: Last time I had steak
and shrimp, but that was the
first time I got steak in a while.
Usually I get chicken and
shrimp. But overall, truthfully, I
like going there, I load up on the
sushi. I’m a big sushi guy.
TMD: What’s been your
favorite off-the-court moment
in college?
AJ: Probably the trip overseas
my freshman year. That was
amazing. That was the first time
going out of the country. Maybe
second. But just being over there
and experiencing it with those
guys,
that’s
something
you
remember forever.
TMD: Where did you go?
AJ: I believe we went to
Germany and then we went to
Paris, saw the Eiffel Tower, I
think that was it. There were a
lot of other places but you go to
so many cities and just enjoy the
moment for so much that you
kind of forget it.
TMD: Do you play Fortnite as
a team?
AJ: A lot of the guys on the
team play Fortnite. I am not
one of them, actually. I just sit
and watch and I just try to hype
everybody up. Yeah, I’m usually
the one — they say I’m the
worst player. I’m not the worst
Fortnite player. I can get a kill
or two.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
“When you’re
coming in, it’s
gonna be sold
out.”
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein has his team one win away from tying the program record for an undefeated start.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
The Michgan men’s basketball team will play Illinois in Champaign Thursday night, putting an undefeated 15-0 record on the line with a chance to tie the program record for an unbeaten start to the season.
“Something
just clicked. ...
I stayed with
(basketball).”
“I’m not the
worst Fortnite
player. I can get
a kill or two.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan basketball
55.6
Opposing points per
game. Ranked third in
the country.
4
Wins against top-
25 teams, defeating
Villanova, North
Carolina, Purdue and
Indiana.
17.3
Average margin of
victory. Ranked 10th in
the country.
282
Days since Michigan
basketball has lost a
game.
“They’ve seen,
‘We won a
bigger game. So
what?’ ”