Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Tuesday, November 24, 2015 — 7 Flaherty leads historic night By BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer She missed her first four shots, but Katelynn Flaherty won’t walk away from Monday’s game against South Carolina Upstate remembering that. Instead, the sophomore guard will look back at her next 16 attempts, 13 of which she made on the way to a career-high 34 points as the Michigan women’s basketball team (4-0) had no trouble taking down the Spartans (4-2), 119-61, finishing with the second-most points scored in program history since the beginning of the NCAA era. “When I started making shots, then everything started flowing in my game offensively,” Flaherty said. “Not getting down when I miss shots has been a part of my growth this year. I think I’ve changed my mentality a lot. I work on shooting all the time. I expect myself to make those shots, so I just kept shooting and it happened.” The Wolverines ended the first half with 65 points, their most since 1980, by shooting a remarkable 69 percent from behind the arc, making 64 percent of their total shots in the period. In the first half, 17 of Michigan’s 23 field goals were assisted by eight different players. “I think we’re really unselfish,” Barnes Arico said. “I think we always look to make the extra pass and get the best shot off and not the first shot. We did a really great job of that tonight. We had four players tonight with five assists. That’s pretty incredible.” With the Wolverines looking flat from the start, and scoring threats like Flaherty and sophomore forward Jillian Dunston shooting a combined 0-for-6 in the opening five minutes, Barnes Arico felt her team needed an energy spark. Soon after introducing freshman guard Boogie Brozoski and junior guard Danielle Williams, Michigan turned on its press defense, went on a 7-0 run and never looked back. Brozoski, Williams, Flaherty and junior guard Siera Thompson stifled USC Upstate’s offense and opened the second quarter making nine consecutive baskets. While Flaherty was the primary scorer, Williams and Brozoski carried the Wolverines defensively. The pair combined for eight steals, as Michigan forced 27 Spartan turnovers. Brozoski also finished behind Flaherty with 16 points and co-led the team with five assists. “Once we got into the press, the energy was there,” Brozoski said. “When we press, and we get up and have that energy, we definitely intimidate teams a little bit and get them to turn the ball over.” Thompson proved to be the motor behind the Wolverines’ high-powered offensive attack, scoring 13 points, including making all three 3-point shots she attempted. But the guard drove Michigan’s attack starting from the defensive glass, where she grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Madison Ristovski carried the Wolverines when they were cold in the opening minutes, scoring nine of Michigan’s opening 11 points, all from beyond the arc. Watching her teammates struggle to score, the senior stepped up and lifted the Wolverines from a lackluster start into a historic night. She finished with 11 points and five assists. “Madison has really been a spark for us in our last couple games,” Barnes Arico said. “She’s been super consistent shooting the ball and she’s one of the best passers we have. Her consistency has really been a staple for us and it’s great to see that from her as a senior.” While there was much to cheer about Monday night in Crisler Center, the loudest moment came when fifth-year senior Halle Wangler scored her first career point with a minute left in the contest. “(The team) was more excited for her than they were for their own individual success,” Barnes Arico said. “Halle is a great kid and brings a lot of energy and passion every single day, and for her to have the opportunity to do that tonight was special.” Between Flaherty and Wangler’s career moments, Michigan’s offensive explosion will be one for the record books, as the Wolverines continue to show their attacking consistency early in the season. “It was just a great night for the whole team,” Brozoski said. “Everyone scored. Everyone impacted the game in some way. At the end of the day, it doesn’t come down to points. It comes down to how hard you play, and everyone gave it their all out there.” DELANEY RYAN/Daily Sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty shook off an 0-for-4 start to finish with a career-high 34 points Monday night. SC UPSTATE MICHIGAN 61 119 ‘M’ wears orange in support of Carr By TED JANES Daily Sports Writer Just hours before the Michigan women’s basketball team tipped off against South Carolina Upstate on Monday, the Michigan community was grieving. That afternoon, 5-year-old Chad Carr, the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and former Hall of Fame safety Tom Curtis, passed away after a 15-month battle with an inoperable brain tumor. To honor Carr, the Wolverines wore orange T-shirts with “#CHADTOUGH” written across the chest during their game. The team came out of the tunnel for warmups dressed in the shirts and also sported them while on the bench. The coaching staff also geared up in orange, representative of the #ChadTough Pray for a Miracle fundraising event that distributed orange rubber wristbands to raise awareness and support for the cause. Some of the Wolverines wore the wristbands around their socks on Monday, and all of the profits from each wristband went directly to pediatric brain tumor research at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. A moment of silence was held at Crisler Center prior to Michigan’s win. Chad’s fight with a form of cancer known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Giloma (DIPG) garnered endless support from the Michigan community and beyond, most prominently with the Michigan football team writing “#CHADTOUGH” on the back of its helmets. But as the only Michigan team in action Monday, the women’s basketball program took its chance to honor Chad with the shirts, and Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico spoke about what Chad’s fight meant to her and her team. “It was really hard,” Barnes Arico said. “We live in the same community, and my children go to school with their children. For them to share their story with us over the last 15 months has been incredible and an inspiration to myself, to our players and to my family. Our team has volunteered for the Chad Run last year and this year. We all feel like Chad and the Carrs are part of our family.” The Wolverines heard the news during a shootaround earlier today, and as soon as they did, they decided they would honor Chad and the Carr family during the game. Many players tied their shoes with orange laces in support. “It’s such a difficult time for everyone to go through, especially the family,” said sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty. “(Chad) inspired everyone. It really puts a perspective on everyday life, and I think it reminds us not to take anything for granted and appreciate where we are, everyone around us and just being able to step out on the court.” As Barnes Arico mentioned, the Wolverines participated in the second annual RunTough fundraiser last month, helping raise over $120,000 to benefit the ChadTough Foundation. After the 119-61 win over USC Upstate, the players, coaches and two of Barnes Arico’s daughters put on the #ChadTough shirts and gathered in the middle of the court for a picture to show their support. “Any way that we can honor them, by wearing orange and supporting their family, is what we wanted to do,” Barnes Arico said. “My little one came running up to me after and said, ‘Mommy, we did this for Chad.’ ” WOMEN’S BASKETBALL MEN’S BASKETBALL Beilein strives to solidify rotation By LEV FACHER Managing Editor The Michigan men’s basketball team has been scheduled to appear in the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis for almost a year, but this week, its travel schedule seems to be a perfect response to the weather. The Wolverines left for the eight-team tournament, hosted by the Atlantis Paradise Resort off the shores of Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday evening — barely 48 hours after Saturday’s record-setting snowstorm in Ann Arbor. While Ann Arbor is currently almost 50 degrees colder than the Bahamian beaches, Michigan coach John Beilein said he doesn’t expect the trip to prove distracting. “We’ll keep (the players) pretty busy,” Beilein said. “Hopefully, we don’t have anybody coming back with tans. … It’s the fans that get to have some break time before the winter hits. It won’t be us.” The Wolverines can’t afford break time, anyway. Their 86-70 loss to Xavier at Crisler Center on Friday highlighted the team’s question areas, like their ability to defend against a physical post presence, or run an offense heavily reliant on ball-screen action around the perimeter against a larger, more experienced defensive backcourt. Michigan fans will see changes come Wednesday’s first-round matchup against No. 18 Connecticut, but Beilein is keeping them close to the vest. After Friday’s loss, Beilein indicated that junior Mark Donnal’s status as the starting center would depend on his performance, and that of other big men, over the course of the next few practices. Beilein acknowledged there will be changes to the starting lineup but wouldn’t say at which positions. “I do know where they’ll be,” Beilein told reporters Monday. “You just don’t know.” Beilein said he’ll continue his quest to trim his team’s rotation from 12 closer to eight over the course of the tournament. That process, however, is complicated by senior guard Spike Albrecht’s extended rehab process from the same surgery former forward Max Bielfeldt underwent prior to the 2014- 15 season. Given the program’s experience with the procedure, Beilein said the recovery process was initially expected to be similar, but listed two main differences. For one, Albrecht had the surgery on both hips, while Bielfeldt only needed it on one. Meanwhile, the nature of Albrecht’s position as a perimeter player makes the procedures more difficult to recover from, as his role requires more overall movement. Working Albrecht back into a rotation presents a challenge for a roster that currently has a multitude of players with a foot in and a foot out of the regular rotation, like freshman forward Moritz Wagner and sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur- Rahkman. Several other players’ roles remain undefined, like sophomore forward Kameron Chatman, redshirt freshman forward D.J. Wilson and redshirt sophomore guard Duncan Robinson. The experiment of playing 12 players in a given contest is unsustainable, Beilein said. All the same, the Wolverines are set to play three high-profile games in a 48-hour window, and depth can only serve as an asset. The Michigan-Connecticut matchup begins at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. With a win, the Wolverines would play the winner of the Charlotte- Syracuse game in a second- round matchup at 3:30 on Thanksgiving Day. With a loss, Michigan would play that game’s loser at 9:30 p.m. Michigan’s Thanksgiving report card: Offense remains strength By JUSTIN MEYER Daily Sports Writer Campus was emptying on Monday as students skipped out early for the holiday. But Michigan hockey assistant coach Brian Wiseman’s voice echoed throughout practice at Yost Ice Arena, his presence as evident as ever. “Come on — harder!” Wiseman said. “We’re going to play hard.” The college hockey season can be a grueling affair: 25 weeks of non-stop practice and travel to hostile barns in various frozen parts of the country each weekend. Even coming off a tough series against No. 10 Boston University, any letdown is unacceptable. The Wolverines set out to capitalize on a weak schedule early this season. Their progress toward that goal has been the subject of much debate. An upcoming series against Dartmouth marks the end of the first third of Michigan’s (6-2-1) regular season. The Daily grades the Wolverines’ performance so far. Offense: A-minus The obvious bright spot before a single practice commenced this season was that Michigan’s offense is a juggernaut that can hang with the best in the country. Early this season, the production has been driven by a plethora of young talent. The Wolverines are led in scoring by breakout freshman forward Cooper Marody, who has tallied six goals and five assists. At 1.22 points per game, Marody ranks third among all Division I freshmen. The top three point-getters for the team, Marody and fellow forwards Kyle Connor and Brendan Warren, are all freshmen. Some of this performance is due to the quality talent Michigan brought in this offseason, but a greater part is attributable to the Wolverines’ depth. Michigan is the fifth-ranked scoring offense, and 12 different players have found the back of the net this season. The stats Marody and Warren record are both significantly inflated by playing for the third line, and consequently against inferior competition. JT Compher, a junior, continues to be a sparkplug. The captain opens games at a breakneck pace and has helped the top line generate 13 goals. Junior Boo Nieves has elevated his game as well. Nieves centers one of the best possession lines in the NCAA, flanked by Connor and senior Justin Selman. The result is that any line is a threat to score. For the forwards, the biggest misstep of the season came in a 4-0 loss to Robert Morris. The Wolverines came out sluggish and looked hesitant in the offensive zone. That anomaly aside, though, Michigan consistently crashes the net hard and moves the puck with fantastic efficiency. Few teams in the country have a chance at shutting down this high-powered unit. Defense: B-minus There is good news for the Wolverines: The defensive unit looks improved. The bad news is that it still has a long way to go. Through nine games, the defensemen have learned to comfortably protect the puck and break out fluidly. But some areas have improved at a crawling pace. Clearing rebounds and moving the puck in the defensive end remain points of focus in practice. Turnovers in the offensive end have led to a few bad odd-man rushes. There are marginal statistical improvements as well as intangible additions. This season’s unit is allowing 3.1 goals per game. At this time last year, the Wolverines were allowing 3.3. Michigan also added quite a bit of speed and finesse with freshmen Nicholas Boka and Joseph Cecconi. Both are NHL Draft picks and have played significant minutes this year. Overall, Michigan has to be happy with the progress. Sophomore standout Zach Werenski has looked tremendous at times and a bit overwhelmed at others. The 18-year-old is still a bright spot, though, adding a scoring threat to the defense. As a team, the Wolverines are allowing opponents to convert far too high a percentage of shots. Part of this problem stems from a lack of physicality. Michigan ranks 55th out of 60 NCAA teams in penalty minutes this season. The best defensive games so far came in a 5-2 win against Rensselaer Polytechnic and a 4-2 win Saturday at Boston University. Both times, an energetic Wolverine squad smothered chances and cleaned up in the front of the net. This defensive unit won’t rank as one of the best in the NCAA, but it is on track to finish ahead of last season. Goalie: C Michigan’s goalies haven’t quite slept through games this season, but it’s been easy at times to forget they are there at all. Senior Steve Racine has emerged to take the starting job in the last three games after a deflating battle with junior Zach Nagelvoort. Neither goalie handled the competition with consistency, displaying flashes of brilliance and long periods of sloppy play. Racine and Nagelvoort rank 59th and 73rd, respectively, in save percentage among eligible goalies this season. That’s inexcusable, but the C rating is justified because the play is not as bad as the numbers suggest. Subpar defending has hurt both Racine and Nagelvoort. Sharp defenders can easily mask a goaltender’s deficiencies, while poor play often leaves the netminder shouldering all the blame. Racine made several show- stopping saves over the weekend, but posted just a .893 save percentage in the series. The senior is lighting quick out of his butterfly, and can move post to post well. At times, though, his focus seems to wane. Make no mistake: The improvement in net over the last month has been marked. Still, it’s hard to imagine Michigan relying on its goalies to win a tight game this weekend. There is a sense of optimism that goaltending is on the upswing, but the evidence has yet to arrive. *** The non-conference schedule has been a rollercoaster for the Wolverines. At times they have showed talent, resilience and desperation; some games would be better described by complacency. The question remaining is whether the team is complete enough to be great. “I didn’t know where we would be (at this point),” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “I knew we didn’t have a tough schedule and that we would have to take advantage of that. You might have a good win-loss record and not be the real deal. I think our team is the real deal.” Michigan hosts Dartmouth on Friday and Saturday before starting Big Ten play. The Wolverines appear to be tentatively passing the eye test at the early-season break. They’ll have to do much more by the time March rolls around. “I think our team is the real deal.”