8A — Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

State College stunner

Beilein ejected for first time at Michigan, frustrations spill over in ugly upset loss at Penn State, 75-69

No luck

Michigan surrenders early flurry of goals, falls to 15th-ranked Fighting Irish in South Bend, 5-2

STATE COLLEGE — The 
Michigan 
men’s 
basketball 
team ran out of the tunnel, but 
this time John Beilein did not 
join them.
Near 
the 
end 
of 
the 
Wolverines’ worst half of the 
season, Zavier Simpson fell, the 
recipient of a hard screen from 
Penn State’s Jamari Wheeler. 
Rasir Bolton, who Simpson had 
been guarding, easily flipped in 
a runner as time expired.
The Nittany Lions led, 40-27, 
and Beilein was fed up. Fed up 
with poor shooting. Fed up 
with sloppy ball control. Fed up 
with lackluster defense. And in 
this moment, fed up with the 
officials.
He shouted towards them 
and was hit with a technical 
foul in response. Then another.
For just the second time in 
his 41-year coaching career, 
Beilein was ejected.
One half after losing its head 
coach, Michigan lost its third 
game of the season — falling, 
75-69, to Penn State (2-11 Big 
Ten, 9-15 overall).
“There will be some pretty 
interesting 
discussions 
with 
the Big Ten office,” Beilein said. 
“But what I will say is, you guys 
know I don’t get upset with 
officials.”
Beilein’s rare frustration was 
the culmination of 20 minutes 
of malaise for the sixth-ranked 
Wolverines 
(11-3, 
22-3). 
It 
began when Wheeler caught 
the opening tip-off, raced to 
the basket, and laid in the first 
points of the night. Six minutes 
later, Lamar Stevens muscled 
home an and-one to put the 
Nittany Lions up, 17-9.
Stevens, 
the 
Big 
Ten’s 
second-leading 
scorer, 
was 
a menace, scoring with ease 
inside. Playing as a small-ball 

‘5’, Stevens consistently beat 
the bigger Jon Teske, normally 
one of the nation’s best post 
defenders, to the tune of 26 
points.
The Wolverines often go as 
their point guard goes, and 
for Simpson, it was a night to 
forget. Like many of Michigan’s 
opponents have done, Penn 
State sagged off the junior and 
dared him to beat them from 
outside. He couldn’t, missing all 
four of his first-half attempts.
Simpson’s decision-making, 
meanwhile, was at its worst. 
He had six turnovers, his errant 
passes often sailing deep into the 
stands. It wasn’t just Simpson 
— before Beilein’s ejection, the 
picture of the Wolverines’ first 
half was Charles Matthews, 
arms outstretched, exasperated 
at sophomore guard Eli Brooks 
for being out of position to 
collect a pass.
“Credit Penn State,” Beilein 
said. “They got us out of sync. 
They’ve gone to more of a 
downhill attack, they’re more 
of an isolation team, they just 
isolate, isolate, isolate. And 
at the other end, their press, 
they can turn you over, and the 
switching of every ball screen 
was brilliant.”
With 
assistant 
Saddi 
Washington 
taking 
over 
the head coaching duties at 
halftime, the Wolverines fought 
their way back. Eight minutes 
into the half, they went on a 12-2 
run to cut their deficit to five, 
capped off with a Matthews 
turnaround in the lane.
Matthews did all he could, 
mixing three treys with his 
usual repertoire of mid-range 
jumpers 
to 
keep 
Michigan 
in 
striking 
distance. 
He 
scored 24 points on 8-for-11 
shooting, looking very much 
like the player who willed 
the Wolverines to a win over 
Wisconsin last Saturday. After a 

Nittany Lion spurt, he splashed 
a 3-pointer with a hand in his 
face, making the score 60-54 
with five minutes left.
But Stevens kept Michigan 
at bay by swatting away two 
transition layups in a row, and 
with 
3:19 
remaining, 
Mike 
Watkins placed the dagger with 
a turnaround over Teske. From 
there, the Nittany Lions salted 
away the upset at the foul line.
“They punked us,” Matthews 
said. “They punked us. Simple 
as that. They outrebounded 
us by 10. Twelve offensive 
rebounds — you’re not winning 
a game giving a team 12 
offensive rebounds.”
For the Nittany Lions, it was 
the high point in a down season. 
For the Wolverines, it was the 
third time they trudged away 
as euphoric students rushed the 
court.
But this time — from a once-
in-a-blue-moon 
ejection, 
to 
being handled by a conference 
bottom-dweller — was by far 
the most unexpected.

SOUTH BEND — Just 27 
seconds into the Michigan hockey 
team’s game at No. 15 Notre Dame 
(15-10-3 overall, 8-8-2-2 Big Ten), 
junior forward Will Lockwood 
was sent to the penalty box for 
interference.
One minute and 44 seconds 
later, forward Dylan Malmquist 
fired a shot from the right circle 
that went over junior goaltender 
Hayden Lavigne’s shoulder. After 
taking a penalty so early in the 
game, the Wolverines (12-12-6, 
8-8-4-2) found themselves in a 
hole they couldn’t climb out of.
“We 
took 
penalties 
that 
weren’t saving goals or protecting 
teammates,” said Michigan coach 
Mel Pearson. “They were selfish. 
You can’t do that on the road 
against a good team.”
The Fighting Irish added two 
goals in under a minute in the 
second period to put the game 
firmly out of reach for Michigan, 
who lost, 5-2.
At the end of the first period, 
the Wolverines trailed by two 
goals but appeared to be close to 
cutting into Notre Dame’s lead. 
Shots on goal favored the Fighting 
Irish, 8-7, but Michigan’s chances 
were good looks that goaltender 
Cale Morris — who ranks 11th in 
the nation in save percentage — 
was able to stop.
The Wolverines killed off a 
penalty that carried over from the 
opening stanza to start the second 
period and from there took control 
of the game for a few minutes. 
They 
generated 
breakaway 
chances, worked to keep the puck 
in the offensive zone and put 
pressure on Morris.
Despite 
that 
pressure, 
it 
wasn’t until Lockwood picked 
up the puck at center ice that 
Michigan had a ‘Grade-A’ scoring 
opportunity. Lockwood weaved 
his way through three defenders 
from the neutral zone and found 
himself all alone in front of Morris.
Lockwood waited until Morris 
bit before releasing his shot. The 
puck bounced off one of the posts 

and into the net. For a moment, 
the Wolverines were firmly within 
striking distance. 
“They were going for a line 
change 
and 
it 
was 
delayed 
offsides,” 
Lockwood 
said. 
“I 
think (senior defenseman Joseph 
Cecconi) was just screaming to 
get up as fast as I can. Saw a lane, 
I think there was a pick at the 
blueline or something. Two guys 
ran into each other. Fortunately 
enough, kinda just went down (on) 
a breakaway.”
But 50 seconds later, forward 
Jake Pivonka fired a shot through 
the legs of senior defenseman 
Nicholas Boka that found twine 
behind Lavigne.
And under a minute after that, 
forward Michael Graham scored 
off a faceoff win for Notre Dame.
“It’s 
pretty 
devastating,” 
Lockwood said. “We’ve gotta 
learn to find momentum when it’s 
not there. That’s something we 
gotta work on.”
The game that appeared to be 
in reach for Michigan suddenly 
wasn’t, trailing 4-1 entering the 
third period.
The Wolverines had a chance 
to cut into Notre Dame’s lead 
with about 10 minutes to go in the 
final period when Cecconi sent 
the puck in from the blueline. It 
ended up loose in the crease and 
Morris had moved to the outside 
— there was a wide-open net for 
Michigan. But there wasn’t a 
Wolverine in the area to clean up 
the rebound, and Michigan’s best 
chance of the period to that point 
was neutralized. 
From there, the Wolverines lost 
their composure.
Cecconi — Michigan’s captain 
— took two penalties in the final 
stanza and seconds after he left 
the box, sophomore defenseman 
Quinn Hughes slashed a Notre 
Dame player.
“Disappointed 
(with 
the 
penalties), especially from our 
leaders,” Pearson said. “You can’t 
do that. Things aren’t going to go 
your way and you have to maintain 
your focus. You have to continue 
to play for the team and you can’t 
take things personally in your own 

end.”
While on the penalty kill, 
freshman forward Garrett Van 
Wyhe picked up a loose puck at 
the blueline. Defenseman Bobby 
Nardella slipped and fell trying to 
stop Van Wyhe from having a one-
on-none breakaway and Van Wyhe 
buried a shot five-hole on Morris. 
But on the very next shift, Notre 
Dame came back down the ice and 
tallied its second power-play goal 
of the game. Just when Michigan 
had hope, the Fighting Irish once 
again eliminated that hope within 
just a few seconds. 
“Disappointed just (with) how 
things unraveled in the third 
period,” Pearson said. “We lost our 
cool. We lost our composure. We 
lost our discipline and you can’t do 
that. Things aren’t gonna go your 
way each and every night. You’re 
gonna have some adversity and its 
how you deal with it.”
After earning their first sweep 
of the Big Ten season last weekend, 
the Wolverines certainly found 
adversity in South Bend. And with 
just four regular season games left, 
Michigan may run out of time to 
learn to deal with that adversity.

SOUTH BEND — On the 
penalty kill, a shot. On the power 
play, a shot. On even-strength, a 
shot.
No 
matter 
if 
it 
played 
with 
a 
man-advantage, 
man 
disadvantage or at even strength, 
the 
Michigan 
hockey 
team 
couldn’t prevent Notre Dame from 
getting a shot off. And five times, 
Hayden Lavigne couldn’t prevent 
those shots from becoming a goal.
The junior goaltender saw 23 
shots at him in a 5-2 loss. He saved 
just 19 for a save percentage of .826.
The first shot Lavigne faced set 
the tone for the night. On a power 
play mere seconds into the game, 
the Fighting Irish relentlessly 
pursued an early lead. They were 
met with airtight defense from 
the Wolverines that prevented 
any shots until the penalty neared 
a close. The first shot Michigan 
allowed — a slapshot from the 
faceoff point — found the back of 
the net.
Looking for an answer, the 
Wolverines saw their chance 

to retaliate when Notre Dame’s 
forward Mike O’Leary was called 
for high-sticking.
Michigan, though, failed to 
exploit the one-man advantage. 
Freshman 
defenseman 
Jack 
Summers couldn’t contain a pass 
to the blue line, which leaked for 
a Notre Dame breakaway. The 
Fighting 
Irish’s 
Pierce Crawford 
raced 
down 
the ice and was 
met by senior 
Nicholas Boka at 
his side. Taking 
it strong to the 
slot, 
Crawford 
finished 
the 
chance 
given 
to him with a 
simple over the 
shoulder wrister that extended the 
Notre Dame lead to two.
“You need your goalies to step 
up and make a save here and there 
for you,” said Michigan coach Mel 
Pearson. “... We left him in after 
it was 2-0. They had two goals on 
four shots. One was a breakaway 
and they had a good look on a 
power play.”

It’s hard to put all the fault on 
the goaltender when he has to 
defend against a power play and 
a breakaway — situations that 
inherently put netminders at a 
disadvantage.
Instead of pulling Lavigne from 
the game, Pearson gave him the 
benefit of the doubt.
“I wanted to let 
him battle through 
it,” Pearson said. 
“It wasn’t all on 
him. I just wanted 
to give him some 
confidence 
and 
see what he would 
do.”
Lavigne, 
in 
turn, “gave the 
team a chance to 
get back into the 
game.”
“But he made some good saves 
at the start of the second period 
to give us a chance,” Pearson said. 
“And we did, we made it 2-1.”
That was the end of the chance. 
Lavigne subsequently let in two 
goals, one on a push immediately 
after the Wolverines’ first goal. 
It was a drive down the ice that 
gave Jake Pivonka a one-on-one 
situation with Boka. Setting an 
unintentional screen on Lavigne, 
Boka could only watch as the puck 
sailed past him and Lavigne to 
return the deficit to two.
Lavigne’s 
failures 
to 
stop 
standard 
shots 
continued 
to 
increase once Notre Dame tacked 
on another, a goal that was 
deflected in immediately after a 
faceoff win.
“They’re just going in easy,” 
Pearson said. “And we were just 
starting to play well and they found 
the back of the net, and you’re just 
going to need that goaltending. 
You can’t give up four goals in a 
period and a half and expect to 
win on the road.”
Power play, breakaway, off 
a screen and deflected in — 
encompass all the ways in which 
the Fighting Irish scored on 
Lavigne. He saved the shots he 
should have saved but ultimately 
failed to save the ones that 
mattered.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne gave up four goals in less than two periods, which put the Wolverines in an early hole.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

You can’t give 
up four goals in 
a period and a 
half...

STATE COLLEGE — The ball 
fell through the net and Luke 
Yaklich’s head slumped over his 
body, hands falling forward, then 
everything else moving with it, the 
assistant coach’s posture shaping 
into an upside-down L.
It was just over three minutes 
into Tuesday night’s game and 
Jordan Poole had started to 
run back in transition. Zavier 
Simpson instead turned it over, 
leaving Myles Dread uncovered. 
He proceeded to hit a 3-pointer, 
and for Michigan, things went 
downhill from there.
The Wolverines’ defense — one 
Yaklich has helped build to the 
heights of a national title contender 
— came into State College ranked 
second in the country in adjusted 
efficiency. In the first half, it got 
rocked to the tune of 1.29 points 
per possession, and that wasn’t 
the biggest thing that went wrong 
in Michigan’s 75-69 loss to Penn 
State.

John Beilein got ejected for the 
first time in roughly 40 years. A 
second-half comeback fell short 
as the Wolverines couldn’t find 
a good shot after gaining control 
of the game. Poole’s shooting 
slump continued with a 1-of-8 
performance from beyond the 
arc. The Nittany Lions took it to 
Michigan on the offensive boards. 
This against a team that earned its 
second Big Ten win on Tuesday, 
whose student section wasn’t big 
enough to cover the court when 
they stormed it.
It was, you might say, a wake-up 
call.
The Wolverines haven’t played 
with a deficit like the 16 points they 
were down after Rasir Bolton hit 
three technical free throws to start 
the second half. They haven’t faced 
adversity like Beilein watching the 
second half on TV from a room 
inside the bowels of Bryce Jordan 
Center. It showed.
“We 
have 
to 
have 
more 
discipline,” said assistant coach 
Saddi Washington, who replaced 
Beilein 
in 
the 
second 
half. 
“Defensive end, I think we gave 
up two — at least three, maybe 
even four fouls on 3-point shots. 
Which were big. I don’t know how 
many of them they converted from 
the free throw line, but just little 
things like that.”
This loss was about more than 
John Beilein getting ejected, and 
it was about more than a few calls 
going against the Wolverines. 
Michigan is at a crossroads in its 
season. No longer is it invincible — 
three court-stormings, one at the 
building of the league’s bottom-
feeder, saw to that. Instead, it has 
lost two of four.
Its offense seems to have leveled 
out, and defense can’t win every 
game. Thus, days like Tuesday, 
where someone other than Charles 
Matthews needs to score in 
crunch-time and nobody can until 
it’s too late.
Some of that will get solved 

inherently — Jordan Poole won’t 
stay in a shooting slump forever. At 
times on Tuesday though, he tried 
to shoot himself out of it, jacking 
a pull-up two late in the first half. 
In his seat on the bench, Beilein 
leaned all the way back, arms 
crossed. The shot fell out. That, 
too, won’t work.
“He’s really a good 3-point 
shooter,” Beilein said. “He has 
gotta keep working on maybe 
taking the right shots. But I think 
there’s something that, right on, 
every slump — every guy’s gonna 
go through these times, where you 
have none of those 1-for-something 
games.”
After Tuesday, the Wolverines 
sit tied with Michigan State in 
the Big Ten standings, on the back 
of December and January wins. 
Their goals are bigger than the Big 
Ten though. Right now, meeting 
them requires something more — 
far more — than whatever Tuesday 
was.
The job of explaining that 
fell to redshirt junior Charles 
Matthews, who stood in a back 
hallway postgame donning a gray 
sweatshirt, stat-sheet in hand, 
voice low.
“We gotta be better than that as 
a collective group,” Matthews said. 
People talk about coach B getting 
ejected, that had nothing to do 
with it. We gave up 34 free throws 
attempts. You’re not winning a 
game, you can’t guard that. That’s 
23 free points right there.”
Matthews 
has 
a 
year 
of 
eligibility left, but at this point, 
seems unlikely to exercise it. It 
went unspoken after the loss, but 
everyone understood — this is 
probably his last, best chance to 
win a national title.
To do so, Michigan needs to 
get over the hump it found itself 
struggling with in State College. 
Fast.
“Time 
is 
running 
short,” 
Matthews said. “It ain’t no more, 
‘We’ll fix it later.’ Time is now.”

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews said Penn State “punked” his team.

