The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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16 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2022 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2017: Michi- gan pummeled the Indiana Hoosiers at Crisler Center, 90-60, in a Big Ten basketball battle. The Wolverines were fighting their way through a tough month, but on Jan. 26, they took out plenty of frustrations on an historically elite program. Derrick Walton Jr. led the way for John Beilein's crew, scoring 21 points with five assists. Given the way this one went, almost everybody got in on the scoring act, with six Wolverines in double figures. Moe Wagner added 14 points, Dun- can Robinson accounted for 13, Zak Irvin and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rah- kman tossed in 12 each, and DJ Wilson scored 11. U-M's 7-for-11 three-point shooting in the first half alone staked it to a 50-35 lead, and the home team recorded a relatively easy win. "I don't know whether or not I dream about basketball," Beilein noted, "but I think about it all night long. "I did do some meditation before the game, and that was what I kept think- ing of: We don't miss shots, we get down the floor, we deflect passes, we get steals, all those things, and that we could do something like this. And my meditation certainly came true." 10 YEARS AGO, 2012: Brady Hoke's Michigan football team capped off an 11-2 season with a 23-20 over- time victory in the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech on Jan. 3. Brendan Gib- bons' 37-yard field goal in the extra session decided the game. The Hokies piled up nearly twice the yards Michigan managed (377-184) and posted 22 first downs to Michigan's 12, but the Wolverines still prevailed. U-M quarterback Denard Robinson fired touchdown passes of 45 and 18 yards to wide receiver Junior Hemingway, and Hoke's crew found a way to win. The Wolverines clung to a narrow halftime lead, 10-6, after trailing 6-0 through the first quarter. Hemingway's second touchdown catch gave Michi- gan a 17-6 advantage at the 9:43 mark of the third quarter, but the Hokies scrambled back to tie it in regulation. Virginia Tech appeared to score a touchdown in overtime, but a replay official ruled wideout Danny Coale landed on the sideline for no catch. The Hokies subsequently missed a field goal, and Gibbons cashed in. "We talked about playing 60 minutes of Michigan football," Hoke said. "We played about 63 and a half, I think. I'm just real proud, real proud of our seniors, real proud of how they took this football team last January and molded it and did a tremendous job. We always have a tremendous legacy of Team 132 that a lot of teams are going to have to try and match up to." 25 YEARS AGO, 1997: Steve Fisher's Wolverines toppled No. 25 Il- linois at home on Jan. 9, 88-74. The home team limited the Illini to under 39-percent shooting in the victory, while U-M's frontcourt won a physical battle as well. "We got pretty much outplayed in every phase of the game," asserted Illinois coach Lon Kruger. "We'd like to have thought we could have com- peted a little harder for better shots." The No. 16 Wolverines improved to 11-3, shooting 61 percent from the floor, including a variety of dunks. Louis Bullock paced Michigan with 19 points, while Robert Traylor scored 16, Maurice Taylor 14 and Brandun Hughes 13. Maceo Baston, who led U-M with 11 rebounds off the bench, noted after- ward: "We have the best frontcourt in the land. I think we showed that to everyone tonight." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Michigan men's basketball coach John Beilein said that prior to his team's 30-point victory over Indiana in January 2017, he had a premonition that the struggling Wolverines would turn things around. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL