The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2017 THE WOLVERINE 25 MICHIGAN BASKETBALL lenged him, trying to see how much Davis wanted an offer. The big man started watching what he ate and ran the floor hard on every possession, both on the AAU circuit and in high school. Strength coach Jon Sanderson has helped him take it to another level. "I've learned a lot," Davis said. "It's been great to be in there with Coach Sanderson as much as I've been able to, and playing on the scout team, learning from the older guys by playing against them and gaining experience that way is valu- able. "I think the biggest area [of im- provement] has been reading the game, making the right plays. That's something I definitely struggled with in the beginning." Davis played strictly zone defense in high school, so adapting to man defense has also been a challenge. "Coach [Billy] Donlon has defi- nitely pushed me a lot on the defen- sive end. That's been a real struggle, too, how to play that way," he said. "Staying in front, moving my feet — that's something I had to get a feel for." Both Davis and Matthews will pro- vide a huge boost next year, Beilein predicted. "I hate practice some days. I hate it when Austin and Charles are get- ting baskets on us or defending us really well," Beilein said. "But I love it when I just think about the future with those two guys. It's really going to be helpful." JOHN BEILEIN WINS INFINITI CHALLENGE, $100,000 FOR CHADTOUGH Michigan head coach John Beilein managed to beat Purdue two times within a few days, albeit in differ- ent ways. Beilein led Michigan to a 74-70 overtime win in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals March 10, and days later earned $100,000 for the ChadTough Foundation for the second straight year. Beilein was neck and neck with Purdue's Matt Painter, but pulled away in the last two days of voting in the Infiniti Coaches' Charity Chal- lenge. He finished with 47 percent of the vote to Painter's 43 percent. Beilein was officially announced the winner March 13. Money raised from this year's com- petition will go into the ChadTough fund at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital as part of a $1.5-million commitment announced in late November. The ChadTough Foundation's mission is to raise funds and aware- ness for pediatric brain tumors with a focus on Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). Chad Carr, the foundation's name- sake, passed away Nov. 23, 2015, af- ter a 14-month battle with the dis- ease. He was the grandson of former University of Michigan head foot- ball coach Lloyd Carr and U-M All- American safety Tom Curtis. Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos and catcher James Mc- Cann, Hall of Fame announcer Dick Vitale, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and Michigan bas- ketball's Moritz Wagner and D.J. Wil- son were among those who helped support the cause via social media down the stretch. ❏ MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Michigan's 64-58 win over No. 11 Wisconsin Feb. 16 marked the Wolverines' first victory of the season against a ranked opponent. They later added an 82-70 win over No. 14 Purdue Feb. 25, and then beat Purdue and Wisconsin again at the Big Ten Tournament. • Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. secured five rebounds in the game against the Badgers, making him the first player in Michigan basketball history to score 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds and record 400 assists in a career. • Michigan's 83-78 loss at Minnesota in overtime Feb. 19 snapped the Wolver- ines' nine-game winning streak against the Golden Gophers. • The Wolverines beat Rutgers 68-64 Feb. 22 in Piscataway, N.J. The win marked No. 500 in the John Beilein's head coaching career, No. 207 at Michigan. • Walton set a program record with 16 assists in Michigan's 93-57 win at Ne- braska in its regular-season finale March 5. The triumph put Beilein into a tie with Johnny Orr for most victories in a career for a Michigan head basketball coach, at 209. • Beilein then became the winningest head coach in program history with the Wolverines' 75-55 win over Illinois March 9, in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament in Washington, D.C. • Michigan's 74-70 overtime win against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament sent the Wolverines to the tournament semifinals for the second straight year and the seventh time in the two decades the tournament has been conducted. • The victory over Purdue made the Wolverines 2-0 on the year against the regular-season Big Ten champions. Michigan beat the Boilermakers at home and did not travel to Mackey Arena to play this season. • Walton's 29 points in Michigan's 84-77 win over Minnesota in the Big Ten Tour- nament semifinals represented a career high for the red-hot point guard. Walton scored 19 of his points in the second half, along with tossing off a game-high nine assists. He completely took over at winning time, scoring or assisting on 18 of Michigan's final 20 points in the game. • The Wolverines buried the Gophers with another hot start, connecting on 14 of their first 19 shots (73.7 percent) and scoring 47 first-half points, the most Minnesota allowed in an opening 20 minutes all year. • Walton earned Big Ten Tournament MVP honors for his efforts in Michigan's four-win run in Washington, D.C. Michigan also became the lowest-seeded team (No. 8) to ever win the Big Ten Tournament. Beilein earned $100,000 for the ChadTough Foundation by winning the Infiniti Coaches' Charity Challenge for the second straight year. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN