Sports
8 — Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WATER POLO
‘M’ finishes 3-1 on weekend
By JESSE KLEIN
Daily Sports Writer
This
weekend’s
Triton
Invitational in San Diego put
the Michigan women’s water
polo team in many different
situations,
allowing
coach
Marcelo Leonardi to see how
his team would respond. And it
responded well.
The Wolverines proved they
were ready for high-pressure
situations
in
their
second
tournament of the season by
winning games in overtime,
coming from behind and holding
onto one-goal leads.
The weekend started out rough
with a loss to No. 15 Long Beach
State, 6-5, in the closing seconds.
Junior attacker Ali Thomason
scored a hat trick, but her feat
wasn’t enough for the Wolverines
to win. The game wasn’t a total
loss, however, according to senior
goalkeeper Emily Browning.
“Even though Long Beach State
didn’t go the way we wanted, it
was a good close game,” Browning
said. “It’s good preparation for the
tough games we will be seeing
later in the season.”
Losing the first game of a
tournament by one could have
weighed down the morale of a
team. Leonardi saw his team
come back with extra motivation,
proceeding to win all of the
remaining games. They downed
Cal State East Bay, 10-5, as
freshman
attacker
Caroline
Anderson followed Thomas’ lead
and completed her first hat trick.
Attacking and goal scoring has
not been a problem for Michigan
so far, as the Wolverines have
averaged eight goals per game.
However, their defensive play
has been confused and sporadic,
with the new system imposed by
Leonardi only now starting to
click after four months of work.
This tournament showed vast
improvement on defense of the
Wolverines.
“We were finally all on the
same page,” Leonardi said. “We
are trusting each other and the
system.”
After dominating the Pioneers,
Leonardi
got
to
experience
another
novel
situation,
an
overtime win. No. 16 UC Davis
came back from an early 3-1 deficit
to tie the game at nine. Browning
held off the the Aggies’ attack,
making double-digit saves. She
cited the cohesiveness of her and
her teammates for the success.
The weekend came to a close
with a come-from-behind win
against No. 18 UC Santa Barbara.
Michigan trailed 1-0 after the
first quarter and 3-2 at the half,
but in keeping with the weekend’s
previous
performances,
the
Wolverines fought against the
odds, winning 6-4.
“We learned that even if we
are down by a couple goals, we
can still get back in the game and
come out with a win,” Browning
said.
Bigs use size advantage
Doyle, Donnal
combine for 22
points on 8-for-9
shooting vs. Indiana
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
The
Michigan
men’s
basketball team matched up
Sunday with an Indiana team
that was more athletic with
better shooters and probably
quicker as well.
But the Hoosiers weren’t
bigger. And it’s a rare day when
the Wolverines can say that.
Though Michigan fell short in
the end, both freshman forward
Ricky
Doyle
and
redshirt
freshman forward Mark Donnal
turned in strong performances
at
the
‘5’
position.
Doyle
finished with 15 points and six
rebounds, while Donnal added
seven points, including an early
3-pointer that helped keep the
Wolverines afloat at Assembly
Hall.
Sunday was just the fourth
time this season, and the second
since Nov. 17, that multiple
big men scored at least seven
points each. Michigan also had
significant size advantages in
each of the previous occasions:
Nov. 15 against Hillsdale, Nov.
17 against Bucknell and Dec. 22
against Coppin State.
“It was good to see them being
productive,”
said
Michigan
coach John Beilein. “Ricky really
gave us a lot of good minutes out
there. Mark was coming in after
the sickness, and we wanted to
really give him a shot, and he
made the most of it in the second
half.”
The success down low came
after a 72-54 home loss to Iowa
on Thursday in which Doyle,
Donnal and senior Max Bielfeldt
combined for just four points
and five rebounds on 1-for-4
shooting.
The Wolverines reaped the
benefits of playing one of the
smallest teams in the Big Ten.
While Michigan ranks below
average at No. 195 nationally
in effective height, a height
measure weighted based on
playing time, Indiana is even
further down at No. 260.
With junior forward Hanner
Mosquera-Perea
limited
to
four
minutes
by
an
ankle
injury, Indiana started 6-foot-
7, 215-pound sophomore Collin
Hartman at the ‘5.’ Freshmen
Max Hoetzel (6-foot-8, 220)
and Emmitt Holt (6-foot-7, 225)
spelled Hartman, but the three
Michigan big men were bigger
than all three of their Indiana
counterparts.
So
the
Wolverines
got
unexpected
production
from
their frontcourt, which has been
competitive but not consistent
this season. Doyle, Donnal and
Bielfeldt have not been immune
to the midseason spell of injuries
and illnesses. Donnal played just
two minutes Thursday against
Iowa and missed the previous
two games with an illness, and
Doyle hadn’t scored in double
figures since Jan. 10 as he battled
an upper respiratory infection.
“With their total numbers,
they were really good today,”
Beilein said. “And I loved that
Mark could come in and get
the offensive rebounds. Once
again, (Indiana is) not a great
rebounding team, but it is a step
for us to go, and (for) Ricky to get
the rebounds.
“When people switch screens,
like they do, we weren’t going to
do anything else. We were just
going to throw it to those two
guys as much as we could. We
would like to have more success,
but they’re making big steps.”
When the Wolverines lost
junior guard Caris LeVert and
sophomore
guard
Derrick
Walton Jr. to foot injuries last
month, among the production
they lost was 3-point shooting.
LeVert and Walton were two of
the team’s top three long-range
shooters, so in recent weeks,
Michigan has had to redirect the
game plan to penetration and
paint touches.
Sunday, that meant finding
Doyle
and
Donnal,
who
combined to shoot 8-for-9 from
the floor.
“I was just doing what I’ve
practiced — using my leverage,
keeping the ball high, just score
the easy bucket,” Doyle said.
That easy bucket might not
be as easy when the Wolverines
face Illinois, Michigan State and
Ohio State in their next three
games, but they continue to
reshape their offensive attack
to rely more on getting the ball
inside.
“In
the
Michigan
State
game, we scored two points a
possession when we put two
feet in the paint,” Beilein said.
“We’ve been working on this in
practice, driving the ball. We
have a lot of shooters that aren’t
shot-fakers or drive-fakers.”
That won’t change overnight,
and the size advantage will
disappear soon as well. But
Michigan’s crop of big men
put on a much-needed show of
strength when given the chance
Sunday.
Nagelvoort thriving
in latest opportunity
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Writer
For much of the season, it
hasn’t seemed to matter who is
in net for the Michigan hockey
team.
The 12th-ranked Wolverines
have scored more goals than any
team in the country, but behind
the
curtain
of goals lies
a
problem
that concerns even one of the
nation’s hottest teams. Despite
having won 14 of 17 games,
Michigan
has
struggled
to
find consistent play from its
goaltenders: sophomore Zach
Nagelvoort and junior Steve
Racine.
In the past three games,
however, Nagelvoort has looked
as good as he has at any time this
season, bringing some much-
needed stability to a team in
the midst of an eight-game road
stretch.
After making 31 saves to
earn the win in net Saturday,
Nagelvoort is now 6-2-0 in
Big Ten play. He sports a
conference-leading 1.74 goals-
against average and .938 save
percentage in eight conference
games. Since returning to the
starting role two weeks ago, the
sophomore is surrendering just
one goal per game, earning the
starting gig for now.
“It’s
been
a
big
debate
just about every week,” said
Michigan coach Red Berenson.
“Racine started to lose his
focus or gain a little bit of (over)
confidence, so we put Zach in
there, and his next start is a
shutout (against Wisconsin on
Jan. 24). If you look at his last
three games, it’s pretty good on
the goals-against side. We were
giving up four goals a game
(before).
“I like both of them, but right
now, Zach’s in a good spot.”
While Nagelvoort has the job
for now, this season indicates
that in goal, one’s job security
is only as good as their last
performance. For Nagelvoort,
this means he has to carry a
consistent mentality regardless
of position.
“I always approach games
like I’m going to play them,
whether I’m the starter or not,”
Nagelvoort said. “I feel like
in my position, you have to be
prepared to go every single night
as we’ve seen. You never know
when you’re going to get thrown
in there.”
WINDY CITY PIPELINE?:
There was a lot to be excited
about in Michigan’s win over
Michigan State, but beyond the
experience of an outdoor game,
Berenson is hoping for one long-
term benefit of the trip.
With nine Big Ten players
from the Chicago area and
more than 40 playing Division
I hockey nationwide, the Windy
City has become something
of a hockey hotbed in recent
years. The surge is especially
intriguing given that no team
calls Chicago home, with Notre
Dame (96 miles) the closest
team.
Sophomore
forward
JT
Compher
and
freshman
defenseman Sam Piazza have
come from Chicago to Ann
Arbor, and Berenson hopes a
big win at Soldier Field can help
that contingent grow down the
road.
“I think it’s huge for us,” he
said. “We’ve had some good
players from Chicago before we
were even in the Big Ten, we
have some now, and hopefully
we are going to get more.”
Michigan travels to Columbus
for second rivalry showdown
By KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Writer
Tuesday’s game against Ohio
State will be the Michigan
women’s
basketball
team’s
fourth contest in 10 days.
With the addition of two
teams to the conference, not
only
do
the
Wolverines
have to combat
a
fatiguing
schedule,
but
also
a
much
more
competitive
one.
“We played
two less games
in the Big Ten
last
year,”
said Michigan
coach
Kim
Barnes Arico. “You go and add
Maryland, who’s No. 5 in the
country, and Rutgers, who’s
a top-20 team in the country,
to our league, and we have to
play them three times. So that
drastically changes what we
had to do last year. … I think the
NCAA committee will take that
into consideration.”
But it won’t be challenging
for Michigan (6-6 Big Ten, 14-9
overall) to find the energy it needs
to put up a fight in Columbus,
despite obvious fatigue.
On top of being a major
rivalry game for the Wolverines,
when the teams met on Jan.
11, the Wolverines edged out
the Buckeyes (8-4, 16-8) in
an overtime thriller, 100-94.
Michigan pulled out a win by
holding the nation’s leading
scorer, guard Kelsey Mitchell, to
just 13 points.
For a player who averages 25.5
points per game, Mitchell was
largely shut down by Michigan’s
defense.
Unfortunately
for
the
Buckeyes, that defense is as
strong as it has been all season.
In Sunday’s loss to Rutgers,
defense was the only thing that
kept the Wolverines in the game.
Michigan shot just 26 percent
from the field, but its zone
formation held Rutgers to just 57
points, a dramatic improvement
from when the Scarlet Knights
dropped 81 on Michigan in their
first matchup on Jan. 7.
Mitchell will have to find a
way around senior forwards
Cyesha
Goree
and
Nicole
Elmblad. Both shut Mitchell
down, and led the Wolverines in
rebounds, grabbing 19 and nine,
respectively. With their help,
Michigan outrebounded Ohio
State, 45-31.
After coming so close to
victory, it’s safe to assume that
Mitchell and the Buckeyes will
be set on revenge in Columbus
after leaving Ann Arbor as
losers. Additionally, a large part
of the earlier loss was because of
Ohio State’s lack of experience,
and the Buckeyes will be better
prepared this time around.
Michigan’s biggest problem
is still its road woes. The
Wolverines have just a 2-6
record away from Crisler Center
and can’t seem to get open shots
to fall while on the road. If they
want to have any hope of a win
in Columbus, none of Michigan’s
three leading scorers — Goree,
freshman
guard
Katelynn
Flaherty
and
senior
guard
Shannon Smith — can afford to
take the night off.
Goree, Flaherty and Smith all
scored in double digits against
the Buckeyes in January, with
the most notable performance
going to Smith, who scored a
career-high 36 points.
Michigan made a marked
improvement against Rutgers
this week, and it hopes to do the
same against Ohio State.
Michigan at
Ohio State
Matchup:
Michigan 14-9;
Ohio St. 16-8
When:
Tuesday 7 P.M.
Where: Value
City Arena
TV/Radio:
BTN Plus
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Cyesha Goree had 18 points and 19 rebounds in Michigan’s first meeting against Ohio State. The rematch is Tuesday.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Ricky Doyle took advantage of Indiana’s undersized front line, scoring 15 points.
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