8 — Friday, January 30, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Tough task ahead for ‘M’
against defending champs

By LELAND MITCHINSON

For the Daily

The No. 16 Michigan wrestling

team will have a difficult time
Friday night when it hosts No.
5 Penn State
at Cliff Keen
Arena.
The

Wolverines are
attempting
to

harness
the

momentum
of
back-to-

back Big Ten
wins
against

Wisconsin and
Indiana, while
Penn
State

looks to bounce
back from a tough one-point loss
to No. 2 Minnesota Sunday.

The Wolverines are looking to

come out and match the intensity

of
the
four-time
defending

national
champion
Nittany

Lions, who want to get back to
their winning ways after last
week’s loss.

“Penn State’s not gonna roll

over for anybody.” said Michigan
coach
Joe
McFarland.
“You

know they’re gonna be looking
to rebound, they’re probably
not happy about getting beat
in a close one by Minnesota, so
they’re gonna come in here and
try to take it out on us. And our
job is to squish that right away,
win some of these early matches,
get that momentum on our side
and build off that.”

McFarland realizes that many

of the wrestlers he’s relying on
to get that momentum are also
some of the younger wrestlers on
the team.

“If you look at our core,

most guys out of our 10 were
underclassmen,” he said. “We’ve
got a lot of underclassmen and
it’s great to see. Those guys are
getting great experience and
getting out there and laying it on
the line.”

One of those underclassmen

is sophomore Brian Murphy,
currently
the
13th-ranked

wrestler in the nation at the 157-
pound weight class.

Murphy has strung together

some impressive wins in Big
Ten dual meets including a win
over Ohio State’s Josh Demas,
currently ranked ninth in the
country. Murphy, however, likes
to approach things one match at
a time.

“You know, I just try to act

the same with every match,” he
said. “You know (Demas) was
a pretty good kid, but I tried to
wrestle the same against him as
I do against everyone else, and I
just try to really focus on what I
need to do.”

Another young contributor for

the Wolverines is freshman Alec
Pantaleo, currently the nation’s
ninth-ranked wrestler in the 149-
pound weight class. Neither he
nor Murphy buys into the team’s
underdog status against Penn
State.

Pantaleo knows Penn State has

been good in the past, and still is,
but he believes Michigan has the
talent and work ethic to take the
momentum of the two previous
Big Ten wins and be successful
Friday.

No matter what Pantaleo

thinks, the match will be tough.
Penn State has top wrestlers
in the 125, 133, 157, 174, 197
and heavyweight classes, and
Michigan can be sure Nittany
Lions coach Cael Sanderson will
have his team prepared after last
week’s close loss.

If Pantaleo, Murphy and the

rest of the Wolverines take their
momentum and swing some of
the individual matches, the team
can do exactly what the Golden
Gophers did last week: beat the
reigning champs.

WRESTLING
Offense faces another test

By ZACH SHAW

Daily Sports Writer

Riding a seven-game win

streak and scoring more goals
per game than any team in the
country has since 2004, the
No. 13 Michigan hockey team
will
be
the

clear favorite
in
Friday’s

matchup
against
Michigan
State
at
Joe

Louis Arena in
Detroit.

But
with

rivalry
bragging
rights
and

conference
positioning on
the line, plus
potentially
more
than
20,000
fans

watching, the Spartans have
one player who may be able to
slow the Wolverines’ roll and
allow Michigan State to come
away with an upset win: Jake
Hildebrand.

The
junior
netminder
—

who’s also the last goalie to
hold the Wolverines to less
than four goals — has a .924
save percentage and a 2.40
goals-against average in his
career, and currently leads the
Big Ten in minutes, saves, save
percentage and goals-against
average. And if last week was
any indication, he’s only now
hitting his stride.

Hildebrand stopped 55 of

56 shots in a weekend sweep
of Ohio State, earning him Big
Ten First Star of the Week
accolades. If he’s at his best, the
Spartans have a fighting chance
at slowing an offense that is
averaging 4.36 goals per game.

“He’s a competitor, that’s

what
separates
him,”
said

Michigan State coach
Tom

Anastos. “He goes out and
competes
consistently,
and

we’re reliant on him at times
because of how consistent he
is.”

Despite
Hildebrand’s
hot

streak,
Michigan
(7-1
Big

Ten, 15-7 overall) heads into
the matchup unfazed. That’s

because it has made even the
best netminders look foolish in
recent weeks.

Whether it was eight goals in

a game against 2013 New York
Islanders draft pick and Penn
State starter Eamon McAdam,
13 goals in a weekend sweep
of Wisconsin’s former NCAA
top-10 goaltender Joel Rumpel,
18 goals in two games against
a pair of veteran Ohio State
goaltenders or even 11 goals in
two games over reigning Big Ten
Player of the Year Adam Wilcox
of Minnesota, the Wolverines
know that, if given the chance,
they’ll find the points.

“It’s pretty hard to prepare

for a goalie,” said Michigan
coach Red Berenson. “If we
knew
his
weaknesses,
he

wouldn’t be so good and we’d
have no problem. We prepare
for their style of play, or some
of their tendencies or their
strengths or weaknesses.

“I think our team knows that

if push comes to shove, if we can
get a couple scoring chances,
we’ll find a way to score.”

Though
Hildebrand
will

prove to be Michigan’s toughest
challenge since its 2-5 start
to the season, the Spartans
(3-3-2, 9-11-2) have had fits of

inconsistency on both sides of
the puck. Anastos knows that
for his team to walk away with a
win, he’s going to need a strong
performance by his entire team,
and maybe a little rivalry magic
in the neutral-site game.

“They’re a different team

than they were the last time
we
played
them,”
Anastos

said.
“They’re
doing
some

incredible
things,
especially

on the offensive side of the
puck. They’re not just a one or
two-line team that has holes or
breaks, they can roll out any line
and be a threat.”

The two teams have a rivalry

dating back over 90 years, and
they know that an added level of
intensity is in the air when they
face each other that can provide
an x-factor in a tight game.

“It’s bigger than any of us,”

Berenson said of the rivalry.
“It was here before I came here
as a player, and I didn’t fully
understand it at first. I had no
idea coming in, then I realized,
‘Holy Jesus, this is a war when
we played those guys.’

“It’s
a
rivalry
that
has

endured, and we know there’s
a lot of people watching this
game, so we need to make sure
we’re ready.”

LUNNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Andrew Copp and his offense will try to beat MSU goaltender Jake Hildebrand.

Penn State
at Michigan

Matchup:
Penn State
8-2; Michi-
gan 5-3

When: Fri-
day 8 P.M.

Where: Cliff
Keen Arena

Michigan
State vs.
Michigan

Matchup:
Michigan
State 9-11-2;
Michigan 15-7

When: Friday
7:35 P.M.

Where: Joe
Louis Arena

TV/Radio:
FS Detroit

Terps too much for ‘M’

By KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Writer

After allowing No. 5 Maryland

to jump out to an 11-0 lead in the
first two minutes of the game, the
Michigan women’s basketball
team needed major heroics to
overcome the deficit if it had any
chance of coming out victorious
over
the
only

undefeated
team left in
the Big Ten.

Seeing that her team needed

help, Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico let Katelynn Flaherty check
into the game a few minutes
earlier than usual. Though the
freshman guard didn’t make the
immediate impact Barnes Arico
was looking for, Michigan was
still able to play catch-up.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from

the hands of sophomore guard
Siera
Thompson
and
junior

guard Madison Ristovski cut the
Maryland lead to 17-16. Michigan
had early hope, but ultimately
was too overwhelmed by the
Terrapins’ offense and was unable
to fight back against a team
shooting over 50 percent. Five
Wolverines committed at least
three fouls in the 91-65 Michigan
loss.

“I think they were just a lot

more physical than us,” said
senior forward Nicole Elmblad.
“They were more willing to go
in and mix it up and grab those
rebounds and those loose balls.
They were definitely a big team,
they’ve got a couple of really big
posts down there, and so they
just did a really good job of going
for the rebounds, and especially
on the defensive end, they did a
really good job of boxing Cyesha
(Goree) and myself out.”

Goree played an important

early role as well, scoring 10
points in the first half to cut the
lead, and unsurprisingly, scoring
the first points of the game for
the Wolverines (5-4 Big Ten, 13-7
overall).

But
Maryland’s
struggles

were just a hiccup — Michigan
continually
made
elementary

mistakes
and
the
Terrapins

were able to capitalize on the
Wolverines’ errors.

Three
Wolverine
traveling

calls in the first half helped
Maryland
reemerge
again.

Coupled with 12 points scored off
Michigan turnovers in the first
frame, the Terrapins (9-0, 18-2)
entered halftime leading the
Wolverines, 48-36.

“They did a really good job of

driving to the basket and drawing
fouls on us, which kind of took us
out of our game,” Elmblad said.
“We were worried about drawing
fouls, so they were able to get
some easy ones down low.”

Though the Wolverines trailed

the Terrapins by around 15 points
for most of the second frame,
Michigan still had life — most
notably when Flaherty made a
jumper, stole the ball and then hit
a follow-up trey to cut the lead to
57-48.

Elmblad
grabbed
nine

rebounds to combat Maryland’s
prowess on the glass, but it

wasn’t enough to challenge a
team coming off of a Final Four
appearance in 2014.

“I thought (Elmblad) played

tough,” Barnes Arico said. “She
had a tough matchup. She had a
6-foot-3 kid to defend the whole
time, and she’s coming off a game
where she had 12 rebounds. …
Her experience showed.”

Goree grabbed just four boards

— a season low. The Wolverines
were outrebounded, 49-25.

On
top
of
outrebounding

Michigan, the Terrapins showed
why they are fourth-ranked
team in the country in field-
goal percentage. Guards Laurin
Mincy
and
Shatori
Walker-

Kimbrough dropped 24 and 20
points, respectively.

“They were really physical,”

Goree said. “Even though they
had great rebounders, we had to
find a way.”

After a quiet first half, Flaherty

and senior guard Shannon Smith
came back stronger in the second
half, scoring nine and seven,
respectively, but it wasn’t enough
to make any real dent into the
deficit.

Inability to find rhythm on
offense dooms Wolverines

By MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Writer

As the Michigan Pep Band

counted down the seconds on
the shot clock, Maryland center
Malina Howard received the ball
at the right elbow. As the band
counted down to one, Howard
put up the shot.

In reality, the shot clock

wasn’t winding down, there
were still 13 seconds left, but it
didn’t matter. Whether Howard
fell for the band’s trick or not,
she sank the mid-range jumper
giving the Terrapins a 16-point
lead with 11:15 left in the second
half.

That was the key Thursday

night
at
Crisler
Center
in

Michigan women’s basketball
team’s 91-65 loss to Maryland.
The Terrapins were able to
make critical shots, while the
Wolverines (5-4 Big Ten, 13-7
overall) were unable to find any
rhythm on the offensive front.

Maryland’s shooting prowess

was on display in the first half
when there were spurts — it
seemed
like
the
Terrapins

(9-0, 18-2) couldn’t miss a shot,
no matter the type of defense
Michigan played. There was
a point in the first half when
Maryland was shooting almost
70 percent from the field.

“We tried man, we tried zone,

we played a number of different
things,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “But when
you play a top-five team in the
country, they have kids who can
make shots.”

Added senior forward Cyesha

Goree: “We looked to press them,
because no one really presses
them. When we tried to press
them full court, once they beat
it, they were able to get layups
which is a reason why their
percentage was so high.”

And when Maryland wasn’t

making shots, it was winning
the battle on the offensive glass,
where it grabbed 17 offensive
rebounds to Michigan’s nine, in

addition to scoring 19 second-
chance points. The Terrapins’
point total of 91 was their fourth-
highest scoring output of the
season.

Maryland’s tenacity also got

Michigan into foul trouble, as
Elmblad, Goree and freshman
guard
Katelynn
Flaherty

all finished with four fouls,
while sophomore guard Siera
Thompson and senior guard
Shannon Smith finished with
three each.

“They were on the attack

mode, really trying to be super
aggressive,
really
trying
to

attack us and draw fouls,” Goree
said. “They did a really good job
of that.”

On the other side of the court,

the Wolverines were unable to
find any sort of rhythm. That was
especially the case for Flaherty,
who scored just seven points,
well below her average of 14.9
points.

“I think the biggest challenge

for her is getting adjusted to
the length of some of the more
athletic teams,” Barnes Arico
said. “Their guards tonight were
(5-foot-9, 5-foot-11 and 6 feet),
and when she has had to play
against really long guards, it has
been a challenge for her.”

Goree, who has averaged 20.5

points in her last five games,
also did not have her best game,
putting up just 14 points.

“They started crowding the

paint more, at times I felt like I
was one-on-one as I was doing
my move, but then I got doubled,”
Goree said. “By then, it was too
late to kick it out.”

In just three days, Michigan

will travel to Lincoln to take
on No. 15 Nebraska — another
team with an efficient shooter
in guard Rachel Theriot — for its
third game in seven days.

And
for
the
Wolverines,

they’re just going to have make
some shots.

MARYLAND
MICHIGAN

91
65

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Kim Barnes Arico’s team had its share of struggles in a blowout loss to Maryland. The Wolverines were outrebounded, 49-25, in the defeat.