The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/641955
offered. He went on to say: "We have to outscore them, right? That's the only way we can beat the elite teams right now." That wasn't happening, either. The Wolverines went 1-6 in their first seven encounters with ranked teams, while holding together quite nicely otherwise. All of it made for a sobering road trip to Minnesota, against a desper- ate crew of Gophers that entered the game 0-11 in the Big Ten. Beilein challenged his team, not- ing: "You got knocked down and now somebody steps on your head. What are you going to do?" The answer: win, but not without substantial staggers. Junior point guard Derrick Walton Jr. scored a career-high 26 points in Michigan's 82-74 win at Williams Arena, with sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman making a huge three-point play and steal down the stretch to save the day. But those came after the Wolverines saw a 19-point lead evaporate down to two, the home crowd thunderous and aching for a Big Ten victory. The Wolverines hung on but didn't exactly answer all the doubts. Three days later, they trailed then-No. 18 Purdue all afternoon at Crisler Cen- ter, before clawing to a 61-56 victory. They actually outrebounded (39-35) the sequoia-like Boilermarkers and outscored them in the paint (24-22), nearly leaving Beilein speechless. On a day when Michigan coaches wore T-shirts in support of the Chad- Tough Foundation, supporting pedi- atric cancer research, the coach pon- dered whether or not the help had come from above. "Look at that," Beilein beamed. "That may be the only time you ever see that stat. We got it done, some- how. Chad Carr, I think, was batting the ball around to us as a little angel somewhere, and we were getting the ball. "We were able to get enough done so they weren't getting too many sec- ond-chance opportunities." CHALLENGES ABOUND ESPN analyst Dan Dakich is known for his blunt, insightful takes on col- lege basketball. He's also the father of Michigan junior guard Andrew Dakich, although the commentator takes great pains to point out he's not getting fed inside information on the Wolverines. "I don't really talk to Andrew about that kind of stuff, so I'm just giving you my opinion," Dakich cau- tioned. "I don't talk to him about in- juries. I don't really talk to him about anything other than school at this time of year." Still, the elder Dakich broadcasts plenty of Big Ten games. He's a for- mer Indiana assistant under Bob Knight and guided Bowling Green as head coach for a decade. He knows Michigan as well as any national broadcaster and acknowl- edged the first week of February was as sobering for the Wolverines as a monastery stay during Prohibition. Dropping two in a row at home, in convincing fashion, added to the sting.