8A — Friday, February 22, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MINNEAPOLIS — Williams
Arena is as much airplane
hangar as basketball arena. The
home of the Minnesota men’s
basketball team is capable of
producing noise belying its
cavernous
interior,
and
its
raised court and double-decker
stands harken back to the
vintage days of the sport.
Opened in 1928, Williams
is college basketball’s sixth-
oldest arena and one of its
most unique. When stacked
up to modern venues and their
amenities, it doesn’t seem all
that sexy, but it’s steeped in
history and proudly displays
all of its 91 years. It is what it’s
always been.
On Thursday night, Michigan
went to Minneapolis and beat
the
host
Golden
Gophers,
69-60, moving to 13-3 in Big
Ten play and 24-3 overall. The
Wolverines,
too,
were
who
they’ve always been.
Specifically,
that
means
an offense that occasionally
struggles to score, but a defense
that usually turns one half of
the court into a 2,350-square-
foot torture chamber. It’s not
always aesthetically appealing
basketball,
but
it’s
gotten
Michigan to No. 7 in the nation.
The Wolverines are perfectly
content with that.
“I think that they understand
that
(defense)
is
the
one
consistent thing we can have
every day,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein.
That
doesn’t
mean
the
Wolverines
won’t
lunge
at
the chance for an offensive
explosion,
however
—
and
at early on, against the Big
Ten’s
second-least
efficient
defense, it looked like the fuse
was lit. Michigan nailed three
3-pointers in the game’s first
eight minutes, shooting to a 17-6
lead during which every starter
got on the scoreboard.
It got ugly fast.
Minnesota big men Jordan
Murphy
and
Daniel
Oturu
were two of the main reasons.
Murphy, a 6-foot-8 bowling
ball, gobbled up five offensive
rebounds and 10 total in the
first half. Oturu had 10 of his
own, as well as 10 points for
a double-double by halftime.
Meanwhile,
the
Golden
Gophers (7-9, 17-10) held the
Wolverines to just 11 points
from 11:57 until intermission.
Eight of Minnesota’s 18 first-
half points came from second-
chance opportunities, as it went
to the locker room down just
10 despite shooting a putrid 22
percent from the floor.
“Eventually our shots were
gonna fall, so we gotta keep
shooting,” said junior center
Jon Teske. “We have all the
trust in the world with all our
teammates
to
knock
down
shots, and coaches give us trust
to go shoot the ball.”
Michigan
opened
the
floodgates
after
the
break.
Freshman
forward
Ignas
Brazdeikis scored seven points
in fewer than two minutes, and
Teske swished a three to quickly
push the lead to 18, necessitating
a timeout by Golden Gopher
coach Richard Pitino.
The Wolverines were unable
to pull away, however. After
a
3-pointer
by
sophomore
forward Isaiah Livers made the
score 50-29, they hit just three
shots over seven minutes. An
Oturu dunk off of a steal put
Minnesota within 11 points
with 4:47 to play, bringing the
venerable arena to its feet.
But Teske answered Oturu
with two straight 3-pointers,
firing an imaginary bow-and-
arrow as he backpedaled down
the court. The arrows proved to
be fatal.
“We feel like everything’s
going right and we’re playing
really
good
defense,”
said
sophomore guard Jordan Poole.
“We don’t really worry about
the shots because we know how
good we are of a shooting team.”
The second half was much
closer to the breakout Michigan
craved, as it hit eight 3-pointers
on 57 percent shooting with
Poole (21 points) and Teske (17)
led the way.
“We made shots. It’s that
simple,” Beilein said. “This is
something that I would love
to figure it out — why Jordan
Poole can have the same shots
and they don’t go in, Teske,
they don’t go in … We just gotta
continue to try to get good shots,
and obviously, the better the
shot, the more chance it’s gonna
go in. I think that was pretty
good today, our shot selection.”
Still, there was plenty of
ugliness. Poole missed three
free throws in the final minute,
failing to completely slam the
door shut. Instead, after the
Golden Gophers turned the ball
over, the Wolverines dribbled
out the clock.
It wasn’t head-turning by any
stretch, but Michigan did what
it’s always done, and ended
up getting the job done for its
biggest conference road win.
MINNEAPOLIS
—
Last
Tuesday, Michigan’s season met
a flummoxing low point in its loss
to last-place Penn State — a result
that left many in a futile search for
answers.
Charles
Matthews,
though,
had no problems pinning an
explanation to the loss.
“Sense of urgency, lack of focus
right there,” the redshirt junior
said at the time. “Simple as that.”
So after the loss, Matthews
and junior guard Zavier Simpson,
the team’s unquestioned leaders,
imparted their wisdom on the rest
of the Wolverines’ young roster.
“We just gotta be extremely
locked in and come out to play
every night,” said sophomore
Jordan
Poole,
relaying
their
message. “Take the exact same
approach. It can be hard if you go
and play a team that doesn’t have
that many wins in the league or
you beat a team already earlier in
the year.”
Thursday night, faced with
an opponent who both all those
boxes, the Wolverines did exactly
that, beating Minnesota, 69-60.
In the entirety of Michigan’s
31-game schedule, there may have
been no easier game to overlook
than its trip to Minneapolis. For
months, the season has built to
a crescendo of the Wolverines’
weekend
showdown
with
Michigan State. The two schools
have resided at the top of the
conference standings all season,
ranking
in
the
nationwide
top-10 together, bound on a
collision course that will meet
its destination over the next two
weeks — in Ann Arbor on Sunday
and then 13 days later in East
Lansing.
So when Michigan’s offense
came out flat against the Golden
Gophers, hitting just 11-of-31
shots before halftime, it would
have been easy to concede that
this wasn’t its day and move on
to bigger things. Simpson and
Matthews, though, wouldn’t let
that happen.
“They stay on us,” Poole said.
“They know that the game can
change at any point in time and
runs happen so we gotta stay
locked in 24/7. Being able to have
figures like that who’ve been in
situations like this before is huge.”
Led by its two leaders — who
finished with five of its six steals
— the Wolverines’ defense paved
the way for a dominating win
that could have been anything
but, considering the offensive
struggles.
If Michigan’s first-half offense
was ugly, Minnesota’s teetered on
unwatchable. When the officials
came back onto the court minutes
after the halftime buzzer to rule
that Daniel Oturu’s putback had
beat the clock, it sent the Williams
Arena crowd into a frenzy — out of
reprieve as much as joy. After all,
the points merely decided which
pitiful point total the Golden
Gophers would enter the break
with, 16 or 18.
“With the guys that we have
defensively right now, I think that
they understand that this is the
one consistent thing we can have
every day,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein.
At the heart of it?
“If
you
listened
to
our
walkthroughs, you would hear
Zavier and Charles talking to
people about what’s next and what
we can do and giving alternatives
to things,” Beilein said. “They’re
coaching that defense just as
much as our coaching staff is.”
And when the Wolverines’
offense got back on track in the
second half — hitting eight of its
14 threes — they raced out to a
20-point lead that consigned the
early struggles to history.
That same offensive spurt,
though, also came against Penn
State, when Michigan scored 20
points in the first eight minutes of
the half to cut its deficit to five. The
problem then was that a 16-point
deficit proved insurmountable.
On the back of a renewed focus,
that wasn’t an issue this time
around.
Or — for a simpler answer — just
ask assistant coach Luke Yaklich,
who strode into Poole’s postgame
scrum, coughed and offered up
one word before moving on:
“Defense.”
Minnesota down, Michigan State to go
Wolverines’ identity manifests as they top Golden Gophers, 69-60, in last game before facing the Spartans
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
Is it personal for Cassius Winston?
EAST LANSING — As the
scrum of reporters slowly started
to dissipate, Cassius Winston sat
in front of his locker in a white
tank-top,
eyes
forward
and
engaged. Winston knew all too
well that focus around this state
will soon shift to himself and his
counterpart in Ann Arbor, Zavier
Simpson.
“We’re the leaders of our
teams,” Winston said. “Both
make our teams go.”
Inarguably, this is true. With
shooting guard Josh Langford,
and now center Nick Ward, gone,
Winston’s importance has only
been amplified for the Spartans.
Early in Tuesday’s game against
Rutgers, Winston drove the lane,
tossing up a floater that Rutgers
forward Myles Johnson blocked.
Winston forced a smile, turned
to run back on defense and
smacked his hands together, the
clap echoing through the Breslin
Center.
As Winston struggled through
the first half, shooting 3-for-9
from the field, Michigan State
struggled, taking
a
seven-point
deficit into the
locker room.
After
re-emerging
from the tunnel,
the opposite held
true.
Winston
owned the game
and
owned
a
building
whose
mind
was
already on the weekend. With
the Spartans holding a one-point
lead and the game teetering,
Winston again drove the lane
and again found a floater. This
one went, and wearing a much-
wider smile, Winston again ran
back down the floor, dapping
up Michigan State guard Kyle
Ahrens as he passed by.
In the second half, he scored
19
points,
spearheading
a
comeback in what turned into a
routine 71-60 win. He assisted
six baskets. He played all 20
minutes, and when he asked to
come out, Tom Izzo refused.
That, Izzo explained, is simply
what Michigan State needs from
Cassius Winston right now.
“Man,” Izzo said, “I’m asking
him to do everything except this
press conference right now. And
somehow, I’m gonna convince
him that that’s a privilege, not a
problem.”
Across the state, Simpson
spent the last year molding
Michigan
to
his
persona,
instilling a defense-first culture
that took the Wolverines to the
Final Four last year and has
gotten them to a 23-3 record and
the No. 7 ranking thus far this
season.
“His
leadership right
now is as good
as
anybody
we’ve ever had,”
said
Michigan
coach
John
Beilein
after
last
Saturday’s
65-52 win over
Maryland.
During
the
timeouts, Beilein let the players
talk among themselves to figure
things out. Simpson grabbed the
whiteboard. “He’s got that ‘it’
that you need to lead a team,”
Beilein said, “and the team
respects him.”
The story of Zavier Simpson
and Cassius Winston has, in
the past, focused around Zavier
Simpson. On Sunday, when the
Spartans and Wolverines meet,
tied atop the Big Ten standings,
it will be about Cassius Winston.
The backstory between the
two has been well played out.
Izzo and John Beilein both
recruited
Winston
as
their
top priority at point guard in
the class of 2016. Beilein told
Simpson he was interested, but
only as a backup plan, should
Winston fall through. Winston
chose Michigan State. Simpson
ended up at Michigan and knows
how to hold a grudge.
In the regular season last year,
the Wolverines came up to East
Lansing unranked and upset
a top-five team, with Simpson
holding Winston to 11 points and
4 turnovers. Then, on Mar. 2,
after the Spartans beat Wisconsin
in the Big Ten Tournament and
with Michigan yet to play its
game against Nebraska, Winston
told reporters he wanted a
rematch. He got one, but to little
difference, scored 11 points, and
again, he struggled in a loss.
These are the two levels on
which Winston must operate
Sunday. He must outplay Simpson
because otherwise, the Spartans
have little chance of winning. He
must outplay Simpson because
otherwise, he will be 0-3 against
a player whom both schools
recruited as a contingency — and
in a lot of ways, that record will
come precisely because of that
fact.
This matchup is personal, at
least on one side. On the other?
“Yeah, definitely,” Winston
said. “Like I said, Michigan game.
It’s always gonna be personal.”
Personal
with
Simpson,
specifically?
“Uhh — I wouldn’t think about
specifically. It would just — it
comes with the game. You know
what I’m saying?”
Thing
is,
Zavier
Simpson
might not.
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
Colin Castleton proves he belongs
MINNEAPOLIS — Jordan
Poole didn’t want to talk to the
media.
Here was the sophomore
guard, after having scored
a game-high 22 points and
five 3-pointers, refusing the
honor usually reserved for a
performance of that caliber.
There was someone who he felt
deserved it more.
“All y’all gotta ask him
a
question,”
Poole
said,
gesturing at Colin Castleton.
“I’m not answering nobody’s
questions ‘til you ask him.”
Castleton
isn’t
Ignas
Brazdeikis, a contender for
Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
He isn’t Brandon Johns or
David DeJulius, both of whom
have shown the physicality to
hold their own at this level.
The forward from Daytona
Beach, Fla. is a string-bean-
like 6-foot-11 and 210 pounds, a
frame that has chained him to
the scout team all season. He
won’t turn 19 until May.
Feb. 1 at Iowa was Castleton’s
first meaningful appearance
of the season. He got in for
three minutes at the end of
the first half, an appearance
precipitated by extreme foul
trouble. It was Michigan coach
John Beilein breaking the glass
in case of an emergency.
Castleton’s
first
action
since then, which came seven
minutes into the Wolverines’
69-60 win over Minnesota, was
still prompted by extenuating
circimstances. Johns, whose
gotten spot duty backing up
junior Jon Teske at center,
caught the flu earlier this week
and was unable to practice
at all, per Beilein. Castleton
“auditioned”
for
Johns’
vacated minutes with redshirt
sophomore Austin Davis and
won.
“I’ve been ready all year,”
he said. “I just work hard
every day in practice because
you never know when your
opportunity will come.”
This opportunity wasn’t a
beyond-any-doubt
statement
that Castleton is ready for the
big time. In his four minutes,
he
missed
his
lone
shot,
grabbed
one
rebound
and
committed a personal foul. But
for a freshman trying to make
his way in college basketball,
events such as that are imbued
with importance, magnified in
their memorability.
“Just, it’s go time, basically,”
Castleton said. “Give the effort
and get ready to play. That’s
really it. Just do everything I
got taught to do.”
Castleton’s
length
and
wingspan had a tangible effect
on the Golden
Gophers’
muscular
inside
attack.
With 4:16 left
in
the
first
half, he moved
his
feet
and
stayed vertical
while guarding
Eric
Curry,
who
holds
a
two-year
and
30-pound advantage on him.
With nowhere to go, Curry
shuffled his feet, and the
referee blew his whistle.
There’s nothing sexy about
a travel. Most of the time,
the
defender
doesn’t
even
get credit for it. But this was
different.
This wasn’t playing on the
scout team in an empty gym —
this was a forced turnover on
the road in the Big Ten. The
enthusiastic reaction Castleton
received from his teammates
was as much a recognition of
the moment’s significance as
the play’s actual impact.
“It gives you confidence
when teammates give me high
fives and stuff,” Castleton
said. “It’s a little play, but in
my eyes it’s a really big play
because I barely get minutes.
So when it happens, it gives
me confidence and shows that
they care.”
As
Castleton
spoke
to
reporters,
moments
after
Beilein said that he “won’t
hesitate”
to
put
him
in
similar
situations
in
the
future, assistant coach Saddi
Washington
snuck
behind
him and jovially
grabbed
his
shoulders.
Teske
then
walked
past
and delivered a
congratulatory
slap
to
Castleton’s
back.
Poole
stood feet away
with his phone in his hands,
grinning as he recorded the
scene.
Four
scoreless
minutes
couldn’t quite tell what four
minutes in the bowels of
Williams Arena could.
Colin Castleton still has a
long way to go, but on Thursday
night, he showed he was hardly
out of place.
“He’s got a great personality,
team loves him,” Beilein said.
“So it was a shot for him to
just go in there and I think he
affected some shots. He did a
good job.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Cassius Winston will face off against Zavier Simpson on Sunday.
We’re the
leaders of our
teams. ... Make
our teams go.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior guard Zavier Simpson has been an internal leader for Michigan, imparting his wisdom on a young roster.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman center Colin Castleton got in the rotation with Brandon Johns out.
It’s a little play,
but in my eyes,
it’s a really big
play.