The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/956415
20 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2018 time around was in frustration, often aimed at officials or each other. U-M dominated defensively, led by Simp- son (who, admittedly, was frustrated by his All-Big Ten Defensive team snub), knocked down triples, and played loosely and confidently. Nebraska made only 1 of 20 shots in one stretch, eventually finishing only 30.2 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent (4 of 16) from long range. Beilein talks about making teams take "tough twos," and many of the Huskers' shots couldn't have been much tougher. "I think it starts with Zavier," Rob- inson said. "He brings it every single game and every single day in prac- tice, and raises everybody's level." On offen se, Abdur-Rahkman scored 21 points, and Wagner notched a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds to make up for the Iowa game. They were just getting warmed up. SLAYING THE SPARTANS No. 1 seed Michigan State had only lost two Big Ten games heading into the conference tournament, and one was to Michigan — at home, no less. MSU sophomore guard Cassius Winston was among those who ad- mitted to rooting for U-M to beat Ne- braska after his team struggled in a quarterfinal win over Wisconsin. Simpson and the Wolverines had beaten the Spartans by double digits for a second straight time going back to last year, and MSU wanted re- venge. Winston, sophomore forward Miles Bridges and even head coach Tom Izzo said they'd like another shot at the Wolverines, even before U-M beat Nebraska. Michigan wasn't impressed. "We want to play Michigan State, too," freshman Jordan Poole said af- ter the win over Nebraska. "It's as simple as that." All eyes were on the Winston- Simpson matchup once again. Win- ston scored 11 in the first meeting, but Simpson notched 16 points and five assists while holding Winston to only a pair of dimes. Michigan's diminutive point guard did plenty of pregame reading, and Winston pro- vided a lot of it. "If Michigan wins this game and we end up playing, I definitely won't be disappointed to get another op- portunity to go out there," Winston said. "If I definitely, myself, got an opportunity to go out there and play against them … I think I dropped the ball the last game. "I just felt like I didn't play up to my potential of what I need to be for this team to be successful, definitely not that game, on defense or offense or anything. So being the player I am for this team, to help this team the best way possible, I've just got to be a lot better than I played in that game." Simpson got the better of him again in the rematch, an 11-point Michigan win. He notched 15 points and seven rebounds and made key free throws down the stretch to ice it, while Win- ston managed 11 again on 3-of-10 shooting (0 of 4 from long range). The game got chippy early. Mich- igan ran out to a 13-4 lead, and a crowd that was probably 60-40 U-M, with thousands of fans from both teams in attendance, was into it from the get-go. It reached fever pitch when Michi- gan redshirt sophomore Charles Mat- thews made his second triple early, and then got in Spartans big man Nick Ward's face during a skirmish at the other end. "I'm from Chicago," Matthews said with a grin. "[Graduate transfer guard] Jaaron [Simmons] is from the inner city. We've got a few inner-city guys on this team." His message — they weren't back- ing down from anyone, and espe- cially not a rival. There was chirping, flailing bodies and more, and Beilein was fine with all of it. "I didn't want to get into a thing where we were getting guys kicked out of the game, getting chippy or whatever," he said when asked if he was okay with the way his team re- John Beilein's Best Regular-Season Teams At Michigan Michigan's No. 3 NCAA Tournament seed this year is the program's second high- est in head coach John Beilein's tenure. Even the team that made the national championship game was "only" a No. 4 after losing a heartbreaker to Indiana at home during the regular season and missing out on a Big Ten title. Beilein has fielded a number of great teams in his tenure, however. Here's a ranking of his top five regular-season teams at U-M (including the Big Ten Tour- nament). 1. 2013-14: Michigan lost sophomore point guard Trey Burke to the NBA after an incredible NCAA Tournament run to the finals, a loss to Louisville, but won the conference outright by three games with a 15-3 mark. They entered the tourna- ment as a No. 2 seed, sweeping Michigan State in the regular season before losing to the Spartans in the Big Ten Tournament final. Michigan eventually lost to Kentucky in the Elite Eight. 2. 2012-13: The Wolverines finished fourth in the Big Ten with a 12-6 league record, only missing out on a share of the title by failing to make free throws down the stretch in a home loss to Indiana. They still finished 31-8 overall, losing to Wisconsin in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament and in the NCAA title game to Louisville. 3. 2017-18: U-M entered the NCAA Tournament on a nine-game winning streak. Michigan tied for fourth in the conference with a 13-5 mark — due in large part to an unbalanced league schedule that left them with one of the con- ference's more difficult ones — and swept four games in the Big Ten Tournament to capture a second straight conference crown. 4. 2011-12: Michigan lost only two games in non-conference play with 6-3 Zack Novak playing power forward and tied for the Big Ten title with a 13-5 re- cord. U-M picked up rivalry wins over Michigan State and Ohio State and shared the title with both. This team ran out of gas, losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament second round and to Ohio U. in the first round of the NCAA Tourna- ment, but captured the program's first Big Ten regular-season title since 1986. 5. 2016-17: This squad ripped off 10 wins in its last 12 conference games (in- cluding the Big Ten Tournament) to make up for a 10-8 conference record and a fifth-place tie, capturing the conference tournament crown as a No. 8 seed. It came within a point of making the Elite Eight, losing to Oregon in the Sweet 16. — Chris Balas