Michigan 82, Minnesota 74: Deja vu in the old barn

Williams Arena has been kind to John Beilein -- and with the Wolverines looking for a palate cleanser after back-to-back home blowouts, what could be better than a trip to the friendly confines of The Barn?

Looking to move to 6-1 in Minneapolis as Michigan's head coach, Beilein's squad, simply for the sake of hope, optimism and confidence, needed a decisive performance tonight.

Behind a flurry of first-half threes and Minnesota's typical cold shooting, the Wolverines reprised their performance in the first meeting against the Gophers, building a large lead only to see it disintegrate like a snowball made out of the wrong kind of snow. But, behind Derrick Walton's career-high 26 points, Michigan (18-8, 8-4) defeated the Gophers (6-18, 0-12), 82-74, Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

Walton concluded a firecracker of a first half by schooling Joey King off the dribble and burying a buzzer-beating trey, his fifth of the half on six attempts, to take Michigan into the break up 42-28.

Walton finished the opening half with 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting, plus 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Needless to say, it was the best half of basketball he's played this season.

Another positive sign for Michigan? Aubrey Dawkins, who has seemingly struggled to expand his arsenal of basketball attributes, had a nice half, too (8 points, 3-for-5 shooting). Speaking of Dawkins, he was the beneficiary of a nifty no-look pass from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman in transition, setting him up for a two on the block. For Abdur-Rahkman, who has been known to have the ball stick to his hands, the playmaking touch there is a nice, albeit small, thing to see.

Unlike the first meeting between these two teams, when Michigan struggled from the field, they went 9-for-16 from beyond the arc in the first half (56.3%). Meanwhile, Michigan held the Gophers to a sub-1.0 points per possession mark in the first half -- unfortunately for Michigan, that says more about Minnesota than it does Michigan's defense.

To start the second half, two buckets at the rim by Mark Donnal, a Walton steal and score, and an Abdur-Rahkman corner three extended the lead to 19.

Looking back to that first game, Michigan built a big lead then, too, only to see that margin deteriorate, making for a closer-than-necessary finish.

And once again, Minnesota didn't crack.

Michigan's once-sizable lead shrank to just seven with five minutes remaining after a 11-0 Gophers run. The stretch was bleaker than a Minnesota winter for Michigan:

Then, putting a stop to Minnesota's then 13-1 run, Duncan Robinson work around a screen to bury his fourth three of the game. But, as is often the case, when Michigan didn't make threes, it often didn't do much of anything. And defensively, Michigan continued to allow free rides to the basket.

The Gophers cut it to two with 90 seconds remaining. Luckily, Abdur-Rahkman had an answer, putting his shoulder down like De'Veon Smith on a safety to convert an and-1.

Abdur-Rahkman didn't stop there. After a Walton turnover, he recovered with startling speed to disrupt the Minnesota transition and give the ball back to Michigan.

And that was essentially all she wrote.

Once again, Michigan saw its big lead against a poor Gophers team evaporate. In both situations, Michigan did what it needed to do late in the game to eek out the win. Still, the slides are concerning, due to the level of the opponent and the fatal flaws that are only further exposed.

Michigan is what it is: a team reliant on the three and unable to consistently defend dribble penetration, challenge shooters at the rim or check bigs of any consequence.

Flawed, vulnerable, dynamic, simultaneously captivating and frustrating: this is Michigan basketball.

And on paper, Michigan is fine, at 18-7 and 8-4 in the league. Just a couple more wins and Michigan should be comfortably in the tournament picture (or somewhat comfortably).

Michigan welcomes Purdue to Ann Arbor this Saturday -- at this point, asking for an upset might be setting the bar high. After the Indiana and Michigan State games, simply keeping their collective head above water has to be the starting point.

Complementing Walton's career night, Abdur-Rahkman scored 16 on a perfect night from the field (5-for-5) and Robinson added 14 on 5-for-9 shooting.

As for Minnesota, the struggling Gophers fell to 0-12 in the conference. Minnesota is scheduled to face Rutgers (currently 0-11 in the Big Ten) on Feb. 23. Assuming the Gophers and Scarlet Knights lose their games before then, it'll set up a matchup between teams that are a combined 0-28 in league play.

Hello, must-not-see TV.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Kansas State, Minnesota

It's been a little quiet here of late, but now that Big Ten basketball is underway that should hopefully be changing. In any case, if you missed my last football recap of the season, I wrote about Saturday's Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl over at Maize n Brew.

In sunnier news, my recap of tonight's basketball game against Minnesota at The Barn went up at Maize n Brew a little while ago; you can read that here.

If you told me that Michigan would win a Big Ten game on the road without Mitch McGary, without Glenn Robinson III for most of the second half and with Zak Irvin leading the way in scoring, well, I would not have believed you. But, that is exactly what happened. The fearless freshman scored 15 points for Michigan tonight, all from beyond the arc (5-for-8 from three).

A big performance from Jon Horford (14 points, 9 rebounds) paced Michigan in the frontcourt. The Wolverines did not show up on the defensive glass --Minnesota rebounded 46.8 percent of its misses-- but that was by no means Horford's fault.

Michigan will have to do a better job on the glass the rest of the way, but, for tonight, a win is a win. The most important numbers of all are the following: 1-0, Michigan's Big Ten record.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Sloppy play late derails Gophers comeback bid against No. 8 Syracuse

Minnesota 67, No. 8 Syracuse 75

Under first year head coach Richard Pitino, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have jumped out to a 5-0 start; however, against No. 8 Syracuse, the Gophers faced by far their toughest test yet in the quarterfinal round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational. 

Syracuse, meanwhile, headed into tonight's game with a perfect mark of its own (4-0), having most recently played a week ago against St. Francis (NY), only a 6-point victory in the Carrier Dome. 

Facing the Orangemen's 2-3 zone, Andre and Austin Hollins would need to make shots from the outside; coming into tonight's game, they had shot 35 percent and 36 percent from downtown, respectively. 

Things didn't look good for the Gophers early, as Syracuse jumped out to a 7-0 lead in just over a minute of play. However, the Gophers rallied, eventually taking a 15-14 lead at the 13:03 mark. Additionally, Andre Hollins buried his first two triples of the game, a good sign for a team looking to attack Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone. 

Despite SU's top 10 ranking, the Gophers appeared equal to the challenge, as both teams combined to play an exciting first half that ended with the Orangemen taking a 39-36 lead into the locker room. The Gophers shot 6-for-11 from three in the first half (54.5 percent) and held SU to just 38.2 percent from the field. 

However, 12 turnovers in the first half alone --three from each Hollins-- didn't allow the Gophers to pull ahead. 

On the other hand, SU sophomore G Trevor Cooney attempted eight of his team's nine first half 3-point attempts, converting four of them. Minnesota would have to do a better job on Cooney in the second half in order to come away with a big non-conference upset win. 

Even more importantly, the Gophers would have to do a better job on the glass. In the first half, the Orangemen rebounded 10 of their 21 misses, good for an impressive offensive rebounding percentage of 47.6 percent. 

Unfortunately for Pitino, C Elliott Eliason went into the half with two fouls; he would need to avoid a quick 4th in the second half if the Gophers were going to prevent SU from continuing their domination of the boards on the offensive end. 

Elsewhere in the B1G: Au Revoir, Gopher

Photo credit: Michael Hicks

No. 25 Minnesota 7, No. 19 Wisconsin 20

When James White reeled off a 49-yard run on Wisconsin's first play of the game, Gophers fans had to be thinking one thing: Here we go again.

The No. 25 Minnesota Gophers met its cross-divisional rival, No. 19 Wisconsin, looking to keep Paul Bunyan's Axe for the first time since 2003. A week after James White ran for a 93-yard score on Wisconsin's first play against Indiana, it seemed like the Badgers were poised to run all over yet another Big Ten foe.

The Gophers proved their mettle after that initial burst from White, however, holding the Badgers to a field goal and then forcing them to go punt on their next two drives. Meanwhile, the Minnesota offense struggled to get going; luckily for them, the defense provided the first touchdown score of the afternoon for either team.

Faced with a 3rd & 6 from UW's 36, QB Joel Stave tossed an interception to Aaron Hill, who took it to the house for six. For a heavy underdog, that play was exactly what the Gophers needed to make it to halftime with life.

With that said, the Gophers failed to stay on the positive side of the turnover ledger in the first half. The Gophers lost a fumble on the first play of the second quarter, then another on a promising drive into UW territory. Following the latter turnover, the Badgers drove down to the Minnesota 1-yard line, where White punched it in to regain the lead.

Nelson later committed an intentional ground penalty, ultimately leading to a Wisconsin drive starting at the Minnesota 49. Once again, the Minnesota defense flexed its muscles, holding the Badger offense to a field goal after it had gotten all the way down to the Gopher 2-yard line.

Heading into the half down 13-7, the Gophers had to be mostly pleased with the first 30 minutes of football in TCF Bank Stadium. Whether the Gophers could ride those good feelings to an upset victory depended on the offense's ability to grind out long drives, just like they've done throughout their 4-game winning streak.