Sports
6A — Thursday, February 19, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Senior forward Nicole Elmblad totaled nine points and 12 rebounds in Michigan’s win over Indiana on Wednesday night.
‘M’ snaps three-game 
losing skid vs. Indiana

By BRAD WHIPPLE

Daily Sports Writer

With just two weeks until the 

Big Ten Tournament, Michigan 
women’s basketball coach Kim 
Barnes 
Arico 
can 
mark 

another 
tally in this year’s win column.

Coming off three straight 

losses, the Wolverines (7-8 Big 
Ten, 15-11 overall) earned an 
easy 68-52 win over Indiana on 
Wednesday at Crisler Center. 
Michigan limited the Hoosiers 
from getting good looks by 
winning the defensive rebound 
battle by 18, an effort led by 
senior forward Nicole Elmblad.

More 
importantly, 
the 

Wolverines made the “hustle 
plays” that Barnes Arico has 
stressed to her players — the 
ones they hadn’t been making 
during the losing streak.

“In some of those tight 

games, when we look back, 
there were one or two of those 
plays that we didn’t make that 
could’ve 
been 
a 
difference 

maker,” 
Barnes 
Arico 
said. 

“Tonight we did a great job of 
sharing the basketball, making 
the extra pass and finding 
our teammates, and those are 
changing points for us.”

One such play came early in 

the second half, when Elmblad 
dove out of bounds to throw 
a ball back in, extending the 
possession that ended with a 
3-pointer from freshman guard 
Katelynn Flaherty.

For the first time since Nov. 

20, 
Flaherty 
was 
inserted 

into the lineup, and she didn’t 
skip a beat. With her help, the 
Wolverines shot 66.7 percent 
from the field in the first half 
— a season high — which gave 
them a 35-26 halftime lead.

With her first start in three 

months, 
Flaherty 
led 
the 

team with 21 points on 9-for-
17 
shooting, 
including 
two 

3-pointers. Behind her were 
senior guard Shannon Smith 
and sophomore guard Siera 

Thompson, who racked up 16 
and 15 points, respectively.

Much of the offense’s success 

can be attributed to senior 
forward Cyesha Goree. After 
battling significant foul trouble 
in the last three games, Goree 
committed only one foul, which 
came midway through the first 
half.

With Goree not having to 

worry about being taken out of 
the game, the Wolverines could 
rely on their most important 
inside presence to draw a double 
team and open up shooters on 
the outside.

“She has to realize it’s not 

about her scoring all the time,” 
Barnes Arico said. “If people 
are 
really 

focused 
on 

her that much, 
and 
sending 

two or three 
people to her, 
it’s good for 
our 
team. 

It’s 
going 

to 
open 
up 

things for her 
teammates, 
and it might 
not result in her numbers on the 
stats sheet being 20 points, but 
it results in Katelynn having 20 
points, Siera having open looks 
and Nicole cutting to the basket.

“We found easy shots because 

of Cyesha’s double-teams.”

As Goree — totaling four 

points and 12 boards — gave 
the offense a chance to click, 
Elmblad had the same effect for 
the defense. Michigan opened 
the second frame with a 25-9 
run in the first 11 minutes.

Though sophomore guard 

Danielle 
Williams 
wasn’t 

slotted in the starting lineup for 
just the second time in the last 17 
games, she added four defensive 
rebounds to the team’s 29.

But leading by example and 

paving the way for Michigan to 
make the necessary stops was 
Elmblad, who finished with 
nine points and 12 rebounds.

“I 
definitely 
focused 
on 

making 
sure 
to 
box 
out,” 

Elmblad said. “I felt like I didn’t 
do a very good job against 
Northwestern … and that really 
killed us.”

Added Barnes Arico: “She’s 

been sensational rebounding 
the basketball for us lately. … 
I’m happy she’s playing this well 
heading into the tail end of her 
senior year.”

The beginning of the second 

half 
didn’t 
exactly 
mirror 

the start of the first for the 
Wolverines, when Indiana (4-11, 
14-12) jumped out to a 6-0 lead 
as Michigan missed its first four 
shots and committed a turnover.

“I thought defensively, I 

was gonna have a heart attack 
the first couple minutes of the 

game, because 
we 
couldn’t 

get 
a 
stop,” 

Barnes Arico 
said. 
“Once 

we started to 
dig in and try 
to get some 
stops 
and 

play 
defense, 

we were able 
to get easier 
baskets 
in 

transition.”

But with a long 3-pointer 

from Thompson nearly four 
minutes in, the Wolverines 
finally got on the board.

The Hoosiers built a 17-11 

advantage 
throughout 
the 

next seven minutes, but once 
Elmblad and Flaherty subbed 
back into the game after a brief 
rest, Michigan started rolling.

Flaherty 
sparked 
the 

Wolverine 
offense 
midway 

through with a 3, and the 
defense held Indiana to nine 
points in the final nine-and-
a-half minutes — including a 
three-minute drought in that 
span.

When halftime came around, 

Michigan still had another 
20 minutes to put together 
even with a nine-point lead. 
But with the team firing on 
all cylinders, the ball never 
stopped bouncing the right way 
for the Wolverines.

‘M’ sticks to philosophy

By KEVIN SANTO

Daily Sports Writer

Any coach can talk philosophy 

until she’s blue in the face, but 
working that conviction into the 
fabric of a team is an entirely 
different ballgame — unless 
you’re Michigan softball coach 
Carol Hutchins.

Hutchins first learned the 

mantras that circulate through 
the Wolverines’ dugout from a 
sports psychologist by the name 
of Ken Ravizza. She attributed 
the specifics of her softball 
mindset 
to 
Ravizza’s 
book, 

“Heads Up Baseball: Playing the 
Game One Pitch at a Time.”

But that’s not to say that 

Hutchins hasn’t formulated her 
own unique philosophy during 
her tenure in Ann Arbor.

“Over the years, you realize 

that you always play the game 
of softball,” Hutchins said. “The 
game does not ever change. Your 
opponents change, and so there 
your perception changes. Or 
whether you come to hit with 
bases 
loaded 
versus 
nobody 

on and nobody out. You still 
have to see the ball and strike 
it, so nothing changes but your 
perception. (Ravizza) taught me 
how to teach that better.”

And if you spend time around 

the Wolverines, you’ll quickly 
become accustomed to Hutchins’ 
“one-pitch 
softball” 
idiom. 

This 
expression 
embodies 
a 

mentality that stresses evolving 
a new thought process every 
single pitch. It emphasizes the 
importance of not dwelling on 
the outcome of a previous game, 
or even the result of the previous 
pitch, in an appearance at the 
plate.

It’s about staying in the 

present moment during games, 
rather looking forward to what 
may happen in hypothetical 
situations.

This concept has translated 

well for a Michigan team that 
encounters 
perennial 
college 

softball 
powerhouses 
every 

season, the most recent being 
then-No. 
5 
Florida 
State. 

The Wolverines defeated the 
Seminoles 6-5 and 2-1 in a 
doubleheader on Saturday, and 

“one-pitch softball” certainly 
played a role in those victories.

“It slows the game down 

a little bit,” said sophomore 
infielder Abby Ramirez. “Instead 
of focusing on getting hits, you’re 
focusing on having good at-bats. 
I think it not only helps us with 
big games, but we (also) practice 
it every day. So it’s almost like just 
bringing what you do in practice 
to the game.”

For 
the 
majority 
of 
the 

Wolverines, the concept of one-
pitch softball is a brand-new 
experience, but that doesn’t 
mean they aren’t willing to 
embrace it. As Ramirez and 
sophomore 
outfielder 
Kelly 

Christner 
explained, 
high 

school and travel-team coaches 
focused on the end result of 
games rather than emphasizing 
the importance of the more 
intangible aspects.

“In high school, a lot of the 

mental game (wasn’t a big part),” 
Ramirez said. “But now, coming 
here, we notice the mental game 
is a huge part. We’re all talented 
enough, it’s just about who’s 
mentally stronger.”

The most interesting thing 

about this 20-player roster is 
that each individual believes in 
Hutchins’ philosophies — they 
aren’t simply cliché expressions 
designed for a press conference. 
Conventionally, this is a task that 
most coaches couldn’t achieve, 
but then again, Hutchins isn’t like 
most coaches.

“We trust her so much,” 

Ramirez said. “We know she 
genuinely cares for not just the 
outcome of the game, but for us 
as players, so she wants not only 
to win but she wants us all to do 
well. So we know that she’s not 
going to tell us anything wrong.”

Added Christner: “It’s Hutch. 

If you think about her past and 
all the success that she’s had, 
you almost have to believe that 
whatever she is saying to you is 
right. It’s worked in the past.”

So if you can count on seeing 

one thing at the Wilpon Complex 
this year, it will be Michigan 
battling one pitch at a time.

And it will quickly become 

apparent that Hutchins has been 
winning the coaching ballgame 
for 31 years.

Rivalry edge tilts back 
toward Michigan State

After two Michigan 
wins in 2014, MSU 

takes series at 
Crisler Center

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

After 
Michigan 
State 

polished off a regular-season 
sweep of the Michigan men’s 
basketball 
team 
at 
Crisler 

Center late Tuesday night, a 
reporter asked Spartans coach 
Tom Izzo if there was any 
NCAA Tournament talk with 
his team as it tries to lock up a 
bid.

“I’m sure some,” Izzo said, 

“but I think they were pushing 
more that they hadn’t won here.

“That was a big thing to 

them. I don’t get into all those 
things anymore. I’m just trying 
to get this team to play better. 
If we play better, I know we’ll 
be good enough to get in. If we 
play better, I think we can win 
games at a lot of places. But I 
think for (seniors Travis Trice 
and Branden Dawson), winning 
here was a big deal. We’ve had a 
couple of very tough losses here, 
if you remember.”

His 
team 
certainly 

remembered. 
Entering 

Tuesday, 
Michigan 
State’s 

seniors had won in every 
Big Ten venue except those 
of 
conference 
newcomer 

Maryland and Michigan. They 
took down No. 18 Wisconsin 
in Madison in 2012, No. 3 
Ohio 
State 
in 
Columbus 

a month later and finally 
Indiana in Bloomington in 
2014, nearly finishing the list 

of the conference’s harshest 
environments.

But one remained.
“Coming into this game, it 

was important,” Dawson said. 
“With myself and Travis being 
seniors, it was just coming out 
with intensity. … Getting this 
win tonight, it feels great for us, 
this program and the seniors.”

So when the Spartans rolled 

into Ann Arbor on Tuesday and 
beat Michigan again, the edge 
in the rivalry shifted north 
toward East Lansing a bit more.

After 
two 
one-point 

Michigan 
wins 
at 
Crisler 

Center in the first two years of 
their careers, 
Michigan 
State’s seniors 
dropped 
both regular-
season 
meetings last 
year. 
The 

Wolverines 
came 
back 

to 
win 
in 

Ann 
Arbor 

on 
Feb. 
23, 

and though the Spartans won 
the rematch in the Big Ten 
Tournament final, Michigan 
earned the higher seed when 
the NCAA Tournament bracket 
was announced afterward.

The Wolverines boasted the 

wins, the Big Ten title and the 
NBA draft picks. Michigan 
State’s seniors earned back the 
bragging rights with Tuesday’s 
victory.

“We knew it was a big 

game,” Dawson said. “I’m a guy 
from Indiana, but the whole 
Michigan-Michigan 
State 

rivalry has definitely grown on 
me.”

Added Trice: “It feels good. It 

makes you mad all the past few 
years, losing here.”

Trice and Dawson had won 

in other big venues before. 
They upset No. 7 Kansas in 
Atlanta in 2012, shocked No. 
1 Kentucky in Chicago in 2013 
and reached the Elite Eight 
with a victory over top-seeded 
Virginia in 2014.

But whether it be with Stu 

Douglass’ game-winning layup 
in 2012 or Trey Burke’s game-
clinching steal in 2013, a road 
win over their in-state rival had 
always eluded them.

“Last year, when those guys 

beat us twice, just sitting on 

the bench and 
watching, 
it 

was painful,” 
Dawson said. 
“It hurt a lot.”

On the flip 

side, no one 
on Michigan’s 
young 
team 

had ever lost 
to 
Michigan 

State at home, 
and 
the 

Wolverines continued to slide 
with their fifth straight loss.

Their losing streak started 

Feb. 1 at Michigan State, and 
two weeks later, after starting 
to gain momentum in 2014, 
Michigan is on the wrong end of 
the rivalry again.

“It’s tough to lose a big 

rivalry game, especially at 
home,” said junior guard Spike 
Albrecht. “You have to credit 
them. They played really well, 
and we aren’t going to win 
many games when we give up 
62-percent shooting from the 
field. It’s the first time we’ve 
lost at home to them in a few 
years, so it is tough.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

“It’s tough to 

lose a big rivalry 
game, especially 

at home.”

“We found easy 
shots because of 
Cyesha’s double-

teams.”

INDIANA
MICHIGAN 

52
68

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Carol Hutchins has stuck to the same mantra for 31 years of Michigan softball.

