4B — January 14, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Last month, the Michigan
basketball
team
went
to
Northwestern
and
unexpectedly
encountered
its toughest challenge of the
season, escaping with a two-
point victory. That night, the
Wildcats found success forcing
the Wolverines’ less-heralded
shooters
—
namely
junior
guard Zavier Simpson — to hit
3-pointers.
On
Sunday,
Northwestern
tried to revive that strategy.
This time, Michigan responded
with an 80-60 victory — its 17th
in a row to start the season, a
new program record.
After
the
game,
both
coaches were asked what went
differently for Simpson — and
both came up with the same
response.
“The ball went in.”
That was the only explanation
necessary on Sunday night, as
Simpson and junior center Jon
Teske — both sub-30 percent
3-point shooters on the season
— went a combined 8-of-15 from
deep.
“When you play them, you
gotta figure out, ‘What are some
things that you’re gonna live
with?’ Because they space you so
well, they’re really good at every
position,” said Wildcats coach
Chris Collins. “And we were
gonna live with some Simpson
threes and some Teske threes.
And give those guys credit.”
The Wolverines (17-0 overall,
6-0 Big Ten) opened the evening
in the same fashion as they
have throughout the season,
using five inside baskets to open
a quick 10-0 lead. But when
Northwestern (10-7, 1-5) clawed
back within two, the game
turned weird, with Simpson
hitting a three to break the
mini-run.
Then, with four minutes left
in the first half and Michigan
protecting a 10-point lead, it
took a turn nobody could have
seen coming. Teske collected a
pass from Simpson just beyond
the 3-point line and — despite
his 20.8 career percentage from
deep — let go. It found bottom.
Two
minutes
later, he let loose
again, with the
same
result.
So when Teske
entered
his
shooting motion
on
Michigan’s
next possession,
every
corner
of
a
sold-out
Crisler
Center
rose to its feet
in
anticipation.
Yet
again,
the junior center delivered,
putting the Wolverines up 18
and blowing the roof off the
building.
Teske’s last three put the
finishing touch on a three-
minute span in which he single-
handedly outscored the listless
Wildcats
11-2,
effectively
ending any hopes they had at a
comeback before half time.
“It was awesome,” Teske said.
“Got the crowd going. … When
we get a little roll like that, it’s
kinda hard to stop.”
Teske’s
3-point
barrage
helped
extend
Michigan’s lead
to 50-28 before
a sluggish start
to
the
second
period
allowed
Northwestern
to
draw
back
within 13 with
10:47
to
play.
But each time
the
Wildcats
threatened
to
make it a game, the Wolverines
responded with ease.
First, redshirt junior Charles
Matthews
drove
along
the
baseline, emphatically dunking
over Miller Kopp, and ending
a nearly three-minute scoring
drought. Then, it was Simpson’s
turn, as he hit three deep balls
in five minutes to stretch a
14-point lead into a 24-point
rout with four minutes to play.
“A 20-point lead can become
a 13-point lead like that,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein,
snapping his fingers. “Even
if you get good shots, it can
become like that. And so, if
you have good defense, and
you learn from those mistakes
— and we had some mistakes —
and don’t do it again, eventually
they’ll miss and you’ll be able to
go out and make them.
“And obviously, Zavier made
all those plays. That’s where all
our scoring was.”
And
just
like
that,
the
Wolverines have their best start
in program history. Beilein
doesn’t put much weight in such
records — when he returned to
the locker room after Sunday’s
game, his first move was to
update his team’s Big Ten record
to 6-0. Eventually, though, the
overall record followed suit.
For the first time ever, it read,
‘17-0.’
Simpson shoots, scores
Last month in Evanston and
again
Sunday
night,
Zavier
Simpson watched from the bench
as his team closed out the final
minutes of a victory.
Back in December, it was
a condemnation, a weakness
that had caught up to him.
Northwestern left the junior
guard open for three, knowing his
shooting numbers were low and
hoping to clog the lane to slow the
offense.
It worked. Simpson went 0-for-
5 from deep before being pulled
with 6:24 remaining. Sophomore
guard Eli Brooks ran the offense
the rest of the way as the Michigan
men’s basketball team pulled out a
62-60 nail-biter.
Sunday
was
a
completely
different
story.
Simpson
left
triumphant, an affront avenged.
He had just made his fifth trey of
the game. The Wolverines were
up 20 points. It was time for the
freshmen and walk-ons to ice the
80-60 victory.
His 3-pointer was a dagger, in
more ways than one.
“(The first Northwestern game)
was the first time anybody played
that way and it sort of shocked him
a little bit,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein. “ … He wasn’t as
patient and he’s such a competitor.
He saw that as a personal affront
to his ability.”
From the beginning, it was
clear that the Wildcats were
sticking with their strategy. Six-
and-a-half minutes into the game,
Northwestern left Simpson wide
open from beyond the arc, leaving
everyone else blocked. And even
though it hadn’t worked last time,
even though the whole team had
shot terribly in Saturday’s practice,
Simpson did the only thing there
was to do: shoot the ball.
Clank.
Junior center Jon Teske was
waiting under the basket for the
rebound. The ball came right back
to Simpson.
Clank.
Beilein decided it was time to
intervene.
“Settle down, now,” Beilein
prepared to say. “You’re gonna
shoot it when you go back in. Just
settle down.”
Then, Simpson was open again.
He shot again.
Swish.
The basket was called back
due to a Wildcat foul, but it didn’t
matter. In that moment, Beilein
knew that Simpson was going to
be just fine.
Thirty seconds later, Simpson
fired again from beyond the arc.
Swish.
This time, it counted.
“I just had to keep shooting,”
Simpson said. “Sometimes the
ball doesn’t drop the right way.
I felt like they was gonna do the
strategy because it worked last
time, so what team wouldn’t?
Again, I just have to do the things
I’ve been doing, which is stay
confident.”
Northwestern kept leaving him
open. After all, what else was there
to do? The Wildcats were down
big — 22 points at halftime — and
if they put a man on Simpson, it
would be someone else who’d run
up the score. It had worked before,
and Northwestern had to bet on
regression.
For Simpson, it was a taunt. A
dare.
He added one more three before
halftime, then went relatively
quiet. But he wasn’t done.
Twelve minutes into the second
half, Simpson stole the ball off a
bad pass and hit another three.
Then, with four minutes left, the
final blow. He finished with 24
points, a career high. His 5-for-10
from deep wasn’t just a personal
record for makes — it was a record
for attempts, too.
After the game, Simpson was
asked what he was thinking out
there on the floor. He responded
instantly.
“Shoot another one, make it,”
Simpson said.
“Simple as that.”
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
MEN’S BASKETBALL
ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Junior guard Zavier Simpson scored a career-high 24 points as Michigan beat Northwestern 80-60 on Sunday.
COLUMBUS — For a moment,
it looked like the first goal of
Jimmy
Lambert’s
Michigan
hockey career might be a game-
winner.
The
freshman
forward
capitalized on an opportunity
while goaltender Tommy Nappier
was out of position. He fired a shot
from the right circle that went
through Nappier’s legs, and the
Wolverines (8-9-6 overall, 4-5-4-
2 Big Ten) took a 2-1 lead on No. 4
Ohio State in the third period.
But just 28 seconds later, the
Buckeyes (13-5-4, 6-3-3-2) tied it
up at the other end of the ice when
defenseman Wyatt Ege found
twine for his first tally of the
season. Ohio State would go on to
win, 4-2.
“Obviously, Lambert scoring
his first goal was awesome for
him and it comes at a critical
period,” said freshman forward
Garrett van Wyhe. “(Then) they
came back and scored next shift.
It kind of gets everyone down, but
we had good leadership. (Senior
defenseman) Nick Boka trying
to cheer us all up and stuff like
that, stay even-keeled. Obviously,
hockey’s kind of a game of
mistakes, and we ended up kind of
letting them go there.”
And just a few minutes after
that, the Buckeyes put themselves
in the lead on a goal from forward
Quinn
Preston
that
slipped
through junior goaltender Hayden
Lavigne’s pads.
Michigan pulled Lavigne with
just over two minutes to play and
nearly tied the game on a shot from
junior forward Will Lockwood
that caught the left post of the net.
“There’s a reason they’re one
of the top teams in the country;
they don’t let you get to the net
very much,” said Michigan coach
Mel Pearson. “I thought they did
a good job of that all weekend. We
really had to work hard to generate
our scoring opportunities. Even
tonight, with the goalie out, Will
Lockwood has a wide-open net
and hits the post. That’s how close
it is.”
The opening stanza of the
game came and went with little
intrigue.
Neither
team
truly
threatened to score, and both
Lavigne and Nappier held strong
for their teams.
But in the second period, for
the second straight night, the
Wolverines were at a two-man
disadvantage.
In
Friday
night’s
game,
Michigan got called for two
penalties at the same time,
giving the Buckeyes a two-man
advantage. The Wolverines were
able to kill off the entirety of both
penalties and prevent Ohio State
from scoring.
On Saturday, Michigan once
again were down five-on-three
after Boka was whistled for
hooking and sophomore forward
Dakota Raabe was also whistled
for hooking 41 seconds later.
And this time, the Wolverines
couldn’t
stop
the
Buckeyes.
Forward Tanner Laczynski fired a
shot from just inside the left circle
that Lavigne didn’t have a prayer
of stopping. Just as it did Friday,
Ohio State struck first.
“I thought we played a really
solid game defensively,” Pearson
said. “Had good goaltending. It
came down to a couple breaks
tonight a couple poor plays on our
part, good plays on their part.”
Just over four minutes later,
Michigan tied the game with
its first power play goal since
Dec. 31 against Michigan State.
Sophomore defenseman Quinn
Hughes slipped through the slot
in front of Nappier and found
Lockwood coming down the left
wing out of the corner of his eye.
One quick pass from Hughes
and a one-timer from Lockwood
later, the game was even at one
goal apiece.
The Wolverines didn’t lead the
game until the third period, but
it was a short-lived lead as the
Buckeyes quickly pulled ahead
and gained a lead they would
not relinquish, despite how close
Lockwood came to evening things
up.
“I feel a little bit bad for our
guys,”
Pearson
said.
“They
deserve better this weekend, but
that’s sports and that’s where we
are.”
Series Split
With their season on the line, Wolverines beat Buckeyes on Friday night, 2-1, before losing 4-2 in Saturday’s matchup
COLUMBUS
—
With
an
outstretched skate and some
faceoff grit, freshmen defenseman
Nick Blankenburg and forward
Garrett Van Wyhe proved in
Michigan hockey’s series split at
Ohio State that they’re here to
stay.
It’s not hyperbole to say
that the Wolverines had their
backs against the wall coming
into
this
weekend’s
series.
They were missing sophomore
forward Josh Norris due to an
undisclosed injury, needed some
kind of momentum after losing
to
52nd-ranked
Merrimack
and
faced
a
fourth-ranked
Buckeyes team that had 14 active
upperclassmen but no freshmen.
Rather than folding to the
pressure though, Michigan’s own
freshmen were largely responsible
for holding Ohio State to 16 fewer
shots per game in the series than
its season average, and putting
pressure on an experienced blue
line.
“We have a lot of growth,” said
Wolverines coach Mel Pearson. “I
mention that a lot, and I’m going
to continue to talk about it. This
team has a lot of room for growth,
and I think you’re going to see it as
the season progresses.”
Early on in Friday’s game,
Blankenburg
found
himself
sandwiched in a 2-on-1 odd-
man rush deep in the defensive
zone,
with
nothing
but
an empty zone
between
him
and
Michigan
goaltender
Hayden
Lavigne.
Just
minutes before,
the Wolverines
allowed
Ohio
State
forward
Carson
Meyer
to score because they committed
too much to one player in a passing
lane, allowing Meyer to tip in a
goal on the ensuing pass.
As the two Ohio State players
bounced the puck between each
other, Blankenburg, unlike what
Michigan did on the last goal,
played the middle of the passing
lane. Almost without thinking,
the freshman intercepted the
puck with an outstretched right
skate. Making decisions like that
naturally takes time for younger
players, but perhaps that time has
come for Blankenburg.
And in the absence of Norris,
that time might just be here for Van
Wyhe too. Though
he’s
usually
on
the
Wolverines’
fourth line, he’s
found a niche as
one of Michigan’s
best players for
faceoffs and hasn’t
been someone that
the Buckeyes and
opposing
teams
can
dismiss
for
his
linemates.
Van Wyhe’s seven shots on goal
this series — many of which were
inches from finding the back of the
net — and his 16-28 line on faceoffs
showcase his current ability.
“How good is he?” Pearson
said with a touch of excitement.
“He’s really matured. I mean,
he’s coming into his own this
second half. He had a couple good
scoring chances and he’s going
to score some goals. We have the
confidence as a staff to play him
against anybody. Team’s top lines,
no issue, he’s over the boards.
That’s quite a feat for a young
player.”
For Michigan to return to last
year’s form, relying on players like
Van Wyhe and Blankenburg, not
to mention freshman goaltender
Strauss Mann, has become the
norm as opposed to the exception.
They don’t need to be Norris or
sophomore defenseman Quinn
Hughes right away, but as Pearson
said, it’s important that the team
can trust the freshmen against
any line in any arena.
“When they’re juniors and
seniors, they’ll be like some of their
guys who are juniors and seniors.
And that’s another thing. We
came and played against a whole
different stronger, experienced
team, and I thought we held our
own … that’s encouraging going
forward.”
RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman forward Garrett Van Wyhe had seven shots on goal as Michigan’s freshmen helped the Wolverines split their series with No. 4 Ohio State.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
“(Van Wyhe
is) coming into
his own this
second half.”
Michigan tops Northwestern, setting program
record with 17th-straight win to start season
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
“When we get
a little roll like
that, it’s kinda
hard to stop.”