By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Writer
The
phone
camera
rolls.
Kelsey
Mitchell
and
Jillian
Dunston are in the imagined
setting
of
a
mall.
They’re
complaining about being there
for too long, waiting for Siera
Thompson, who is shopping.
On the court, Mitchell and
Dunston
are
the
Michigan
women’s
basketball
team’s
top
forwards
and
scrappy
rebounders.
But
this
is
Instagram, and this is a different
side of the two athletes.
Thompson returns through
a door in a sweatsuit outfit,
asking the other two if they
like it. The video is supposed to
include the Webster Dictionary
word of the day. Today’s word is
fitness.
Mitchell
brings
in
the
punchline, “Now she know she
don’t FITNESS jacket.”
For
Michigan
women’s
basketball fans, it seems like
the senior forward Mitchell
has just started to come out of
her shell. After a career mired
with injuries and a slow start to
her senior campaign, Mitchell
has come alive in the past two
games.
When
the
team
needed
strength and finesse in the paint
down by 17 against Iowa on Jan.
7, Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico turned to Mitchell. In her
fourth career start, Mitchell led
an improbable comeback win
with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
She rode the momentum to
another
stellar
performance
against Minnesota three days
later, nearly earning her second
straight double-double with 13
points and nine rebounds.
Mitchell
is
soft-spoken
both on and off the court. But
it depends who she is talking
to and the occasion. To her
teammates, she’s always been
out of her shell. She is described
by Barnes Arico as a monster
on the court but overall even-
keeled. Her emotion was in full
force when she let out a yell after
blocking a shot late in the game
against Iowa. But for the most
part, Mitchell stays quiet and
takes care of business.
Scouting reports will say to
watch her signature slick spin
move toward the baseline, but
most people outside Mitchell’s
team, friends and family would
know that she has a knack for
cracking jokes.
“She is hysterical,” Barnes
Arico said. “She is the funniest
person I may have met in my
entire life, and you wouldn’t
know that probably talking to
the media. But if you got her
outside of media, if you ever
check out Webster’s Word of
the Day on Instagram, you’ll die
(laughing).”
Mitchell,
the
sophomore
forward Dunston and the junior
guard Thompson have made
multiple
15-second
comedy
sketches, using whatever the
word of the day is in a witty way
during the skit. The puns are
inventive and reveal the comedic
affinity all three possess.
In one skit, Mitchell and
Thompson are sitting down,
acting like it’s getting late and
it’s time for one of them to go
home. Mitchell asks to spend the
night. Thompson says, “Now you
know my granny be trippin’. She
don’t like last-minute stuff.”
Mitchell
responds:
“Man,
ALASKA. Granny Pearl!”
Dunston appears from behind
a door frame, glasses half way
down her nose, yelling with a
drawl, “Yes?!”
In this twisting of words,
Alaska is said instead of “I’ll ask
her.”
There’s
more
to
Kelsey
Mitchell than just a focused
basketball player. It may have
taken a while for Michigan fans
to discover, but with her videos
as proof, the wait was worth
it. Now, if she can stay in the
spotlight, fans will continue to
uncover the multiple features
that make up her personality.
‘M’ hosts No. 3 Maryland
By SIMON KAUFMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan
men’s
basketball
coach John Beilein began his
Monday press conference with
an unprompted
injury
update
on senior guard
Caris
LeVert
and
a
tinge
of
tongue-in-
cheek flare.
“You
all
want
your
Caris
report,
right?” Beilein
asked a group
of reporters. “It
seems
we’ve
been having the
injury
report
here for about three years.
“The injury report is less
pain every day, less yesterday.
We elected not to have him still
practice yesterday because (we
want to) let the healing try to
complete itself. I’m not optimistic
about (him playing) tomorrow.
The longer it goes, the more he’s
going to need two or three days of
practice, or he won’t be ready or
we can risk further injuring it. So
that’s what I got to say and that’s
what I prefer to say. So if you ask
me anything more, I already said
it — and I said it well. It was well
said.”
The
Wolverines
(2-1
Big
Ten, 12-4 overall) will likely be
without their top scorer again
Tuesday night when they host
No. 3 Maryland. Meanwhile, the
Terrapins’ most productive player,
guard Melo Trimble, is coming off
a 21-point performance on the road
against Wisconsin on Saturday.
In Madison, Trimble showed
why he was the preseason pick
for Big Ten Player of the Year. On
top of his game-high 21 points,
he dished out five assists, and
with time expiring, he buried a
3-pointer to send Maryland (4-0,
15-1) home victorious.
“He just comes down the
court, there was no panic at all,”
Beilein said of Trimble’s latest
performance. “It reminded me
of a guy we had as well. … He
obviously, like Trey Burke, is a
tremendous player, but he’s also
got — like Trey Burke — a lot of
pieces around him.”
Maryland has five players
averaging double-digit scoring
per contest and plays with two
true big men, Damonte Dodd and
Diamond Stone — both 6-foot-11.
Stone is pacing 13 points and five
rebounds per game.
Add
in
guard
Rasheed
Sulaimon, who is pacing 10 points
and four assists per game, and
forwards
Jake
Layman
(10.7
points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists)
and Robert Carter Jr. (12.6, 6.9,
1.8), and it makes sense that
Maryland has been a popular
Final Four pick.
“They’ve got a lot of people that
can make good plays for them,”
Beilein said. “They’ve got seniors;
they’ve got juniors. We’re down to
two juniors again for the second
straight year, so it is what it is.”
With
LeVert
sidelined,
sophomore guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman has started
in his place. Abdur-Rahkman
had a career night on Thursday at
Purdue, scoring a career-high 25
points. But despite the explosive
scoring performance, he had just
two assists in 39 minutes.
“That’s something you have to
work on, seeing the whole floor
and not just two actions or two
players on the court,” Abdur-
Rahkman said. “So I just want to
get better at that.”
On the defensive end, Abdur-
Rahkman may be more prepared
than his teammates to take on
Trimble. The two played together
when Abdur-Rahkman lived in
the Washington D.C. area from
when he was nine years old until
his junior year of high school, but
Abdur-Rahkman said Trimble’s
game has changed since when the
two used to play together.
Junior guard Derrick Walton
has also tried to take on more
responsibility
with
LeVert
injured, but he has struggled to
find his touch since conference
play started, going 8-for-25 from
the field in three Big Ten games.
Tuesday’s game presents an
opportunity for Michigan to
get its first marquee win in a
conference in which home wins
are essential due to the difficulty
of winning on the road.
“If you’re going to be in the
NCAA picture, you’ve got to win
almost all your home games,”
Beilein said.
Terps’ Trimble
talks leadership
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Editor
The
Maryland
men’s
basketball team has no shortage
of weapons, but sophomore point
guard Melo Trimble proved this
weekend
that
he
is
chief
among
them.
With 12
seconds
remaining
and the score tied in a difficult
road matchup at Wisconsin on
Saturday, the Preseason Big Ten
Player of the Year dribbled up the
court and took the game into his
own hands.
Instead of trying to run a
play or drive to the rim, Trimble
confidently
stepped
up
and
buried a long 3-pointer with 1.2
seconds left to give the third-
ranked Terrapins the victory.
In October, the Daily caught
up with the Terrapins’ star
player at Big Ten Media Day in
Chicago.
The
Michigan
Daily:
Maryland
has
much
higher
expectations this year than in
recent years. Has the team had
a chance to react to those yet?
Does
that
change
anything
heading into the season?
Melo Trimble: I think we’re
confident as a group, but I think
more so, we want to work and
just keep grinding. It’ll take the
little things to be a great team,
and I think from the summer to
the fall ’til now, I think the team
— the way we’re headed, the
direction we’re headed — we feel
that we can do great things, and
we have a good group.
TMD:
Over
the
summer,
you got a personal invitation
from Steph Curry to go to one
of his camps. What was that
experience like?
MT: It was a great experience.
I got a chance to train with Steph
Curry, I got a chance to be beside
him. It was very exciting — he
was the MVP last season and
won the championship, and just
being beside him, seeing how
he shoots the ball was a great
experience.
TMD: Did you get a chance
to pick his brain at all? Get any
advice from him?
MT: I just asked him, “What
does it take to win?” And he told
me, “Work ethic.” Work, work,
work, just being a leader, being
myself.
TMD: There were a lot of
high schoolers at the camp, too.
Were you working mostly on
yourself, or were you also in an
instructional role?
MT: I was a teacher at the
camp, I talked to young guys
in the groups. It was mostly
me being a leader, being very
vocal. I’m not used to teaching a
group of guys. It’s something I’m
working on, being a leader. I think
that camp was a good experience.
TMD: You’re pretty young
still yourself, with just one year
of college basketball under your
belt. What kinds of things have
you learned in that short time
that you were able to impart on
those younger kids?
MT: I would say, just know
yourself, know what you do best,
and continue to stay in the gym,
because that’s what I did. I didn’t
think I was gonna have the year
I had last year before the season
started. It just came from me
getting confidence (and from) my
teammates, my coaches, always
having a good relationship with
my coaching staff.
Mitchell’s sunny side
Sports
8 — Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BEHIND
ENEMY
LINES
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored a career-high 25 points in a loss to Purdue on Thursday.
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Senior forward Kelsey Mitchell has scored double digit points in the Wolverines’ recent wins over Iowa and Minnesota.
Maryland at
Michigan
Matchup:
Maryland 15-1;
Michigan 12-4
When:
Tuesday,
9 P.M.
Where: Crisler
Center
TV/Radio:
ESPN
Fourth line shows energy,
Berenson shuffles D-men
Shuart and Dancs
impress by doing
the dirty work in
opportune moments
By MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Editor
The fourth line of a hockey
team can sometimes serve as the
utility line. The line gets to play
whenever
the
coach thinks a
change of pace
is needed in the game.
For Michigan, the fourth line
has been all that and more.
With the Wolverines recently
adding a seventh defenseman, a
hole has been left on the fourth
line. But there are two forwards
who have consistently been on
the fourth line there to keep
it steady: sophomore Dexter
Dancs and junior Max Shuart.
The duo combined for just two
goals and an assist against
Michigan State this weekend,
but Dancs’ goal late in the
first period against Michigan
State on Saturday jumpstarted
Michigan’s offensive attack.
“They’re trying to play hockey
the right way,” said Michigan
coach Red Berenson. “Part of
their game is jumping on loose
pucks and forechecking. You saw
Shuart do that
on Friday and
set (freshman
forward)
Brendan
Warren up for
a great scoring
chance.
And
then
he
did
that
with
Dancs
on
Saturday.
It’s
just checking
hard, creating
a turnover and throwing it in
front of the net.
“If that line adds energy to
our team, and can create a little
offense in the meantime and
avoid being scored against, then
they’re a positive on our team.
But like any line in hockey,
the fourth line isn’t perfect.
While Shuart centers the line,
he isn’t a natural-born center.
Berenson counters this problem
by grouping the two fourth
liners with another center at
certain points in the game so
that Shuart can play his natural
position on the wing.
“When we put (senior forward
Boo Nieves) out there with them,
Boo is our best faceoff man,
so that helps take some of the
pressure off Shuart,” Berenson
said. “Shuart is a natural winger
so he can go to the wing, and
Dancs can go on the off wing and
still be effective.”
All
things
considered,
Berenson was impressed with
his fourth line this weekend.
“I thought this was (Shuart
and Dancs’) best weekend,”
Berenson said.
PLAYING
SEVEN
DEFENSEMEN:
With
the
emergence
of
sophomore
defenseman Sam Piazza during
the Great Lakes Invitational,
Berenson has switched from the
traditional six-man defense to a
seven-man defensive system.
The system has its advantages
in that the defensive pairings
don’t have to be broken up if a
defenseman goes to the penalty
box.
That
means
that
Piazza,
as
the
seventh
defenseman,
has to rotate
playing with
different
defensemen
rather
than
having
one
consistent
partner.
“It’s been
different for me,” Piazza said.
“This past weekend, I played
with just about everyone.”
The
seven-man
defensive
system
also
speaks
to
the
depth
of
the
Wolverines,
especially with another capable
defenseman,
senior
Kevin
Lohan, still injured.
Though the unconventional
defensive system leaves a hole on
the fourth line, Berenson uses
the gap to double shift skaters
and give his other players more
time on the ice.
The jury is still out on the
seven-defensemen system, and
Berenson mentioned that it will
continue to be evaluated.
“I don’t have a strong opinion
of it just yet, but I definitely
think it helped us this past
weekend,” Berenson said. “It’ll
be week-to-week whether we
play it or not.”
SECOND
STRAIGHT
HOME-AND-HOME: With a
home-and-home series against
Michigan State just completed,
the
Michigan
hockey
team
will play another home-and-
home series against Ohio State.
The Wolverines will travel to
Columbus on Friday before
returning home to face the
Buckeyes at Yost Ice Arena on
Sunday.
While there is a little more
travel time required for the
teams than there was against
Michigan State, Berenson says
he is a fan of the home-and-
home series.
“I like it,” Berenson said. “As a
coach, I like going into the other
team’s building, where if you
have a good game, you have the
chance to sweep at home. On the
other side of it, the fans get to
see a game every weekend.”
INJURY UPDATE: Lohan
has
been
out
since
mid-
November with a lower-body
injury. After an original return
date set for the Nov. 20 game
against
Boston
University,
Lohan suffered a setback in his
recovery and was delayed until
after the GLI.
Berenson told the Daily on
Monday that Lohan is skating
on his own and will try to
practice with the team this
weekend.
NOTEBOOK
“They’re
trying to play
hockey the
right way.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
ICE HOCKEY