The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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double-teaming," Beilein said. "He wanted No. 5, Stokes, by himself, no help. 'Just give me some scratch- downs. I can handle him.' "The Minister of Defense. He was going to handle him, and he did it." The Wolverines couldn't quite handle John Calipari's collection of rented, NBA-bound monster men in the regional championship. They did, for a long while, building a 10-point first-half lead and seeing Stauskas fire in 18 of his game-high 24 in the opening 20 minutes. But Kentucky drew even at the half, 37-37, and used its immense size and muscle — combined with Morgan's absence via foul trouble — to put both the rims and Michigan's run in jeopardy. When Andrew Har- rison's layup put the Wildcats ahead by seven, 62-55, with 6:31 remaining, the dwarfed Michigan fan contingent (perhaps one quarter of the 35,551 in attendance) felt the season slipping away. This crew, though, proved tougher to finish off than a cornered rattle- snake. Robinson fired home a three- pointer with 1:39 remaining to draw Michigan within two, and Morgan battled through the beasts to tip in the game-tying bucket with 27 sec- onds left. What followed burns onto Michi- gan memories like a brand — Aaron Harrison pulling up a good five feet past the three-point line, firing away despite a perfect close-out from Le- Vert, and sending Kentuckians every- where into beyond-bourbon ecstasy. The Wolverines saw their season reach a jarring end, a bounce or two removed from a second straight Final Four. DOWN, NOT DEVASTATED Beilein noted that the ending, and the way the Wolverines fought to it, in some ways lessened the pain. "There are games that end right now, where there is officiating con- troversy, or some crazy thing that happened, your team just comes out and lays an egg," Beilein stressed. "That didn't happen. "It was well officiated. It was an exciting game, much like our cham- pionship game last year. Did we turn out winning the game? No. But I think everybody walked out of here thinking, 'College basketball is a wonderful sport, and I loved watch- ing these two teams play.'" Michigan fans loved watching this team play all season, and weren't ready to see it all end. Neither were Beilein's players, but there weren't any heads hanging low at the end. They exuded pride, and a certain defiance to the end, right down to the youngest. "It says a lot about our team," freshman guard Derrick Walton Jr. insisted. "We've got guys that can really play, and high-character guys. Coming this close as a freshman re- ally means a lot to me. It means a lot to the other guys. We're not going to let it get us down." "We had a great year, winning the Big Ten outright," fellow freshman guard Zak Irvin added. "Derrick and I, in our freshman year, going to the Elite Eight — we wish things would