Behind Enemy Lines:
Iowa’s Samantha Logic
Michigan plays
another ranked
team on road
Thursday at Iowa
By MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Writer
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball team is heating up.
After an exciting comeback
victory
over Ohio
State
in
overtime
10
days
ago,
the
Wolverines
(4-2
Big
Ten,
12-5
overall) followed it up with
another comeback thriller over
Northwestern in Evanston on
Saturday.
Though freshman forward
Katelynn Flaherty — Michigan’s
leading scorer — had just five
points in the game, sophomore
guard Siera Thompson picked
up the slack, scoring 20 points,
including five 3-pointers.
But to catch fire in the tough
Big Ten, Michigan will have to
travel to Iowa City on Thursday
night and defeat No. 20 Iowa
(5-1, 14-3).
Iowa is on a streak of its own,
though, having toppled Purdue,
Northwestern and Michigan
State in its last three games.
The Hawkeyes are led by
a duo of guards in Melissa
Dixon and Samantha Logic,
who lead the squad with 15.8
points and 6.8 assists per game,
respectively. Logic’s 6.8 assists
per game are good for No. 10 in
the nation.
The Daily sat down with
Logic in October at Big Ten
Media
Day
to
talk
about
the upcoming season, going
professional and her odd choice
of sports in high school.
The Michigan Daily: Last
year, you were a unanimous All-
Big Ten first team pick — where
do you go from there?
Samantha Logic: I think
moreso, my mindset is not so
much about me individually,
but more about my team. We
want to get better every single
day and compete for a Big Ten
championship. We got to the
title game last year, and we
want to be there again and
put ourselves in a position to
be there consistently. And not
just being in the title game,
we would like to win one. We
kind of just focus on the day-
to-day things. The (All-Big
Ten first team pick is) nice to
look back on later, but right
now that’s not really the main
focus. Obviously, it is nice to
be recognized and know that
people think you are at the
top level, but I think your own
expectations have to exceed
what other people think you
can do.
TMD:
You’re known
as a passing
player,
and
your
coach
has said you
improve
the
play
of
everyone
around
you.
Would you say
that’s true?
SL: It’s just one of those
things that when everyone is
involved and getting equal shots
and the team doesn’t hinge on
just one player, it’s just more
fun. You can lean on each other,
and we believe in each other so
much, and I think that’s where
it comes from. I believe in my
teammates so much, and they
believe in me so much, that it’s
so fun to play together in that
situation.
TMD:
What
are
your
expectations this year, for your
team and for yourself?
SL: We want to be contending
for a Big Ten championship. We
want to get a ring so bad. For the
four seniors, it’s our last chance
to contend for that. We don’t
know where we’re going after
this, so this could be our last
chance in a competitive setting
like that at the highest level.
TMD: Do you have plans to
play after college?
SL: I would like to. First,
I’d like to get drafted, that’d
be awesome. If not, I can play
overseas. I just love playing
basketball so much, and it’s not
something you can come back
and do. You can’t take a couple
years off and go back to playing
basketball. So you push the
real-world stuff to later and try
to play as long as possible and
make some kind of living off it
and move on afterward.
TMD: In high school, you
played softball, basketball and
golf. Those sports are kind of
on the opposite spectrums in
sports — how
did
you
get
into each?
SL: They’re
very random,
that’s
for
sure. I’d never
golfed before.
I
just
had
some
friends
that
played,
and I didn’t
really want to
play any other sport in the fall
season. I also played soccer,
but it was in the same season
as softball, so I was kind of
bummed about that. Golf, I
picked up just because I wanted
to mix it up with basketball. I
think it’s good for you. People
nowadays specialize so early
on one sport, and I think your
body needs a break, not even
from sports, just from the same
routine. And for softball, I
flipped a coin before freshman
year because I didn’t know
which one I wanted to play.
‘M’ bigs face larger role
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
With 3:02 left in regulation,
senior forward Max Bielfeldt
snuck out to the 3-point line
for an open shot. Junior guard
Spike Albrecht found him, and
the senior forward buried the
shot that clinched the Michigan
men’s basketball team’s win over
Rutgers on Tuesday.
It
was
Bielfeldt’s
most
important shot of the season —
and the Wolverines might need a
few more like it as they navigate
the final 11 games of the regular
season without Caris LeVert.
LeVert was leading the team
in
points,
rebounds,
assists,
steals and minutes. The 6-foot-6
junior guard even led the team in
blocks with seven, over Bielfeldt,
freshman forward Ricky Doyle
and redshirt freshman forward
Mark Donnal.
After losing the frontcourt
duo of Jordan Morgan and
Jon Horford in the offseason,
Michigan replaced them with
Bielfeldt, Doyle and Donnal.
With three scorers in LeVert and
sophomores Derrick Walton Jr.
and Zak Irvin elsewhere on the
floor, the big men needed only to
be serviceable for the first part of
the season.
Together, the trio averaged
16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds as
the Wolverines started 6-1. With
LeVert out for the season with
a foot injury — and much of the
rest of the team still nagged by
injuries — they must grow up
quickly.
“We’re definitely not new to
adversity,” Bielfeldt said. “So
when you have guys go down,
guys sick, next man up.”
Bielfeldt
took
the
reins
Tuesday after Doyle sat down
just 1:31 into the game, bothered
by an illness. He finished with
eight points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines
didn’t get more than 12 points
from any of their guards and shot
just 35 percent from the floor and
8-for-26 from 3-point range.
They now require a scoring
presence from their big men,
not just decent post defense or
rebounding.
One of the nation’s worst teams
in blocking shots, Michigan also
finished with a season-high five
blocks. Doyle managed three
rejections in just seven minutes.
Neither the big men nor the team
in general were at their best, but
they were able to get their first
win without LeVert.
“I don’t know if anyone
(among the team) looked at any
game going forward and said
(we could win on the road),”
Beilein said Tuesday. “But now
it gives credence that we can. It
could be a blowout, but we have
to stay together and play smart
basketball.”
In the next four games,
however, the Wolverines will
face Wisconsin’s 7-foot Frank
Kaminsky, Iowa’s 7-foot-1 Adam
Woodbury and Nebraska’s 6-foot-
10 Walter Pitchford. And they’ll
do it without LeVert available to
neutralize a size disadvantage on
the perimeter.
Beilein has proved he will play
the hot hand, but getting hot
in the next few weeks will be a
challenge for any of the three big
men. Each has the ability to break
out — Donnal with 13 points
against Southern Methodist on
Dec. 20, and Bielfeldt with 18
points against Bucknell on Nov.
17.
But right now, the most likely
candidate to pick up some of the
scoring load is Doyle, who has six
double-figure scoring games, if
he can get healthy.
“He got a foul right away and
did not play well in the first half,”
Beilein said. “I told him, ‘You
don’t look good, let me know
right away in the second half if
you don’t feel good.’ After three
minutes he asked to come out.
We have to get him through this
and we’ll be better for it. But he is
going through a health issue right
now that we need to solve.”
Tuesday, Beilein also showed
the tendency to play two big men
at the same time. He hasn’t done
so often this season, but with
Donnal and Bielfeldt on the floor
together for almost four minutes
at the end of the first half, he
shook things up — perhaps in part
because they were two healthy
bodies in a lineup severely
lacking them.
At least for now, with more ill
or injured players than healthy
ones, that’s a key criterion. It
will be up to the big men to
shoulder some of the burden for
production.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Ricky Doyle will need to produce for Michigan once his health improves.
BEHIND
ENEMY
LINES
Sports
6A — Thursday, January 22, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Inside the nation’s top offense
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Writer
It’s easy to recognize that
the Michigan hockey team can
score goals. No team in the
country scores as many as the
16th-ranked Wolverines, at 4.15
goals per game.
What’s harder to comprehend,
however, is how Michigan is able
to score so easily. Since scoring
just 19 goals in their first seven
games, the Wolverines have
scored nearly five per game,
including 39 in just six Big Ten
games for a 6.5 average.
This outburst is a combination
of strategy, chemistry, luck and
talent, but is it a sustainable one?
The Daily breaks down what
has gone right as of late for the
nation’s No. 1 offense to see just
how long this hot streak can last.
Depth:
Above all else, this team
was built to score goals. The
Wolverines have six forwards
already drafted to the NHL, and
feature an impressive amount
of depth that was on display in
December.
“Any line on our team is a
potential
first
line,”
Hyman
said after his team trumped
the Buckeyes, 10-6, Friday. “We
roll our lines out, and anyone
can score. You can’t score 10
goals with one line. That’s what
happens when you have four lines
that can score.”
The numbers back Hyman
up. Michigan features seven of
the conference’s top 15 point
scorers, and even three of the top
four scoring defensemen don the
maize and blue.
Hyman, who is fourth in the
nation in points, accounts for
just 12.2 percent of Michigan’s
point total. By comparison,
freshman
sensation
and
national scoring leader Jack
Eichel constitutes 16.9 percent
of his team’s offense.
Having others who are able
to score throughout the lineup
means that opposing defenses
don’t get breaks when they play
the Wolverines.
“(Dylan) Larkin’s line has had
some chemistry right from the
start that they have continued
on, and JT (Compher)’s line also
has chemistry, and the same goes
for my line and Travis (Lynch’s),”
Copp said after the Wolverines
defeated the Buckeyes 8-3 Dec.
5. “When we get all four lines
producing on a nightly basis, the
goals are going to come.”
Strategy:
It’s one thing to have the
tools necessary to score. It’s
another thing to use those tools
effectively. The two main ways
Michigan coach Red Berenson
sees his team doing that are
through the power-play and
second-chance efforts.
“On your power play, you get
your top offensive players out
there,” he said. “If you can’t score
with a man-advantage, then that
doesn’t say much for what your
team can do in the game.
“If you look at the good teams,
they’re almost always near the
top in the power play.”
In Michigan’s first 12 games,
the Wolverines were far from the
top, going just 5-for-46, or 10.8
percent, on the man advantage. In
the eight games since, however,
Michigan has led the nation by
scoring on 46.4 percent of power-
play opportunities.
In their win over Ohio State on
Friday, the Wolverines scored five
goals via the one-timer, and four
on rebound goals. The movement
on all lines can add up quickly.
Talent:
Depth and strategy help, but
when it boils down to it, Michigan
was built to score goals. With six
NHL draft picks in the cohorts
of forwards — including three
centers — the Wolverines had the
offensive firepower before the
season began.
“I think when you look at most
of my goals,” Larkin said Friday,
“they’ve been good plays by
other players and I’m just there
to put it home. I think there’s
some confidence, but a lot of it is
because my linemates.”
Though
it’s
possible,
it’s
unlikely that Michigan will be
able to score ten goals again this
season. Berenson knows it’s an
aberration, but he also knows that
this is what his team is capable
of. This is what the nation’s No. 1
offense looks like.
“We’re
probably
getting
a little puck luck,” Berenson
said. “Shots are going in that in
another game, a goalie might
save. It might be the fact that
all the players that are capable
of producing on offense are
producing, we’ve got a number
of guys that can score, but for
them to score like this all at the
same time is unusual.
“You know how college hockey
is, one night everything can be
going in, and the next night it
isn’t, so I don’t think there’s any
one thing really.”
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team has opened up a sizable margin as the nation’s highest-scoring team.
WRESTLING
Rossi Bruno works
toward pinnacle
By BEN FIDELMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Rossi Bruno is accustomed to
dominating.
The junior was the first
wrestler ever to win five Florida
state championships in a high-
school career, posting a 289-3
record along the way. He was
selected as a Fargo All-American
four times, and InterMat had him
as the 13th-best wrestler in his
class.
By
all
accounts,
Bruno
succeeded at dominating his
high school wrestling career.
But through three seasons at
Michigan, his record is far less
illustrious.
There were definite bright
spots
during
his
freshman
season at Michigan, but the
year as a whole didn’t live up to
his standards. Those successes
included a seventh-place finish
at the Big Ten Championships,
which allowed for a 2-2 result
at the NCAA tournament — two
wins away from earning All-
American honors.
Bruno failed to stand out
through much of the 2012-13
season, posting a 16-18 record.
In the end, outside of the season-
ending tournament success, it
was a very unassuming campaign
for an athlete who had been
consistently unstoppable for the
majority of his wrestling career.
Moving into his sophomore
campaign, Bruno became more
confident on the college level
each weekend he competed. By
midseason, Michigan had pushed
its way into the top 10 teams in the
nation, and Bruno was a massive
contributor in the middle of the
Wolverines’ lineup. He posted
an overall record of 22-16 that
season, finding a niche competing
in tournament settings.
Although Bruno’s result at
the 2014 Big Ten Championships
was
an
underwhelming
1-2,
he had done enough to secure
a spot wrestling at the NCAA
Championships.
Capitalizing
on that opportunity, he made it
to the Round of 12, falling one
win short of achieving what he
narrowly missed the year before:
All-American honors.
“I like tournament setting
because I can wrestle a little
more conservative in my first
match, and then get rolling,”
Bruno said. “If I have a good first
match, I’ll wrestle better against
better kids later on.”
The pursuit of dominance
and top finishes have continued
into this season. Bruno has made
some major mental adjustments,
which have allowed him to
compete with the aggressiveness
and clarity he needs. Prompted
by a suggestion from senior team
captain Max Huntley, Bruno has
learned to separate his goals for
wrestling with those that will
impact his life off the mats.
“I’ve only got two years left, so
whether I accomplish my goals or
not, there isn’t much that’s going
to change in my real-world life,”
Bruno said.
Backed with that mindset,
Bruno is on a tear in the first leg of
this 2014-15 season. He has shot
off to a 14-5 record, including an
11-3 mark in tournament play.
With one more full season
of eligibility, combining both
wrestling success and repurposed
focus is opening channels for
Bruno to stride into national
championship contention. The
pinnacle
position
in
college
wrestling is in his sights.
And he won’t stop until he’s
there.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
“We don’t know
where we’re
going after
this.”