8 — Friday, January 22, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

For Robinson, success starts before the game

By SIMON KAUFMAN

Daily Sports Editor

It’s 6:35 p.m., and Michigan 

doesn’t tip off against Maryland 
for another two and a half hours. 
Crisler Center is quiet, but Duncan 
Robinson just swaggered out from 
Michigan’s tunnel, sporting a 
gray long-sleeve Michigan shirt 
and headphones. The arena is 
practically empty, save for a few 
of Robinson’s teammates shooting 
on the court and a handful of 
ushers and stadium staff shuffling 
around the concourse.

The redshirt sophomore guard 

heads for the stands and makes 
himself comfortable in an aisle seat 
14 rows up, across from the bench 
Michigan will use in a few hours 
when it hosts the third-ranked 
Terrapins. For nearly 20 minutes 
he just sits there, legs sprawled out 
comfortably resting on the chair in 
front of him. He occasionally sips 
from his water bottle or scrolls for 
a new song on his phone — he’s a 
big G-Eazy fan — but for the most 
part, he does nothing. He just sits 
there and gazes around an empty 
stadium, thinking.

“I try to do that, just kind of, I 

guess see myself out there. Not 
meditation — but just kind of 
envisioning,” Robinson said.

So for 20 minutes he sits, 

envisions and thinks.

About 
what? 
Maybe 
the 

Wolverines’ game five nights prior 
at Purdue, when tight Boilermaker 
defense limited Robinson to just 
two makes on five attempts from 
3-point range.

That 
type 
of 
performance 

doesn’t bode well for Michigan — a 
team that’s been reliant on strong 
shooting to make up for its often-
undersized big men down low. 
Robinson has shot 57 percent from 
behind the arc in Michigan’s wins 
this season, but just 38 percent 
from deep in its five losses.

Robinson eventually leaves his 

seat and heads toward the court. 
He exchanges a handshake with 
an usher and grabs a ball — the 
first time he’s touched one all day. 

He doesn’t like to touch a ball on 
game day more than about two 
hours before tipoff. He read that 
Golden State Warriors guard 
Stephen Curry does that, tried it 
himself once and the habit stuck.

Tipoff is still two hours away, 

but Robinson’s pregame routine 
is well underway. He shoots six-
footers from straightaway and 
slowly inches his way back toward 
the free throw line, and eventually, 
the 3-point line. He takes his first 
several 3s flat-footed, without 
jumping — a warm-up technique 
he learned from a trainer a while 
back. He begins moving around 
the arc, starting to find a rhythm. 
He lets off quick attempts, mixing 
it up a little each time. He takes a 
dribble and fires, makes a move 
and aims, pump fakes, elevates 
and releases with a hand in his 
face.

After 10 minutes of knocking 

down shots, he heads for the locker 
room. He gets taped up, changes 
into a blue Michigan T-shirt and is 
back out 30 minutes later. Tipoff is 
just an hour and a half away, and 
now Robinson’s routine gets more 
intense. He works his way around 
the arc, firing from every spot. A 
team manager grabs his rebounds 
and feeds the ball back to him.

Shot. Swish. Repeat.
He goes until he gets 100 

makes. It doesn’t take him many 
more attempts to do that.

“It kind of depends on the 

day — I try to keep it under like 
120 (attempts),” Robinson said. 
“Usually 20 misses, something like 
that. Depends how it’s feeling.”

He makes his 100th 3-pointer, 

ends with a handful of free throws 
and heads back to the tunnel. He 
comes back out later for team 
warmups, but his own personal 
routine is complete, and he has 
to wait until game time to see if it 
pays off.

It 9:00 p.m. now and Crisler 

Center isn’t so quiet anymore. 
Robinson is done envisioning 
himself on the court — he is on the 
court. Five minutes into the game, 
Robinson catches a pass from 

sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-Rahkman on the left side of 
the arc. He pump fakes — exactly 
like he practiced two hours prior 
— and Maryland forward Jake 
Layman bites hard. Robinson 
dribbles once to his right, fires 
and hits, putting Michigan up 11-6 
early.

Ten 
minutes 
later, 
junior 

guard Zak Irvin finds Robinson 
in the corner. Maryland guard 
Melo Trimble tries to throw 
a hand in Robinson’s face, but 
Robinson ignores it just like he 
did the ones managers threw 
up at him earlier. The Williams 
College 
(Mass.) 
transfer 
hits 

again. Two possessions later, 
Abdur-Rahkman feeds Robinson, 
this time on the right shoulder 
of the arc. Robinson disregards 
Layman’s defense and nails a trey 
— erasing Maryland’s brief 25-24 
lead — one the Terrapins wouldn’t 

get back.

With less than three minutes 

in 
the 
half, 
Abdur-Rahkman 

finds Robinson again, this time in 
transition. Robinson catches and 
fires. On his way down, he gets 
taken out by Trimble, who tried 
his best to make sure Robinson 
didn’t have a clean look. As 
Robinson falls , so does his shot.

In the second half, the first 

time he has a look from deep he 
nails it. With Maryland making 
a comeback attempt late in the 
frame, Robinson has a chance to 
swing the momentum. Sophomore 
guard Aubrey Dawkins finds him 
all alone in the corner and, as 
Robinson aims, Dawkins and an 
entire student section lift their 
arms to preemptively celebrate 
a made 3. The ball rattles off the 
near rim and goes out of bounds. 
Robinson can’t believe it.

“I aimed it, I didn’t shoot it,” 

Robinson said. “I found myself so 
open that I just didn’t really know 
what to do with it, so it didn’t 
really come off right. I knew as 
soon as I shot it wasn’t good, so it 
was frustrating.”

What 
wasn’t 
frustrating, 

though, 
was 
his 
overall 

performance 
that 
night. 
He 

finished 5-of-9 from deep and 
tallied 17 points to help Michigan 
take its first home win over a top-
three team since 1997.

After Maryland missed a 3 at 

the end of the game that would 
have tied it, Robinson grabbed the 
rebound as time expired. He was 
the first Wolverine back in the 
tunnel and greeted his teammates 
with high fives and shouts as they 
came in.

Wednesday, when Michigan 

hosted Minnesota, he was one of 
the first out of the tunnel and it was 
the same pregame routine. Two 

hours before tip, Robinson sat and 
envisioned himself on the court, 
made his 100 3s, then headed 
back to the tunnel. This night, 
though, the preparation didn’t 
show like it did against Maryland. 
In a game in which Michigan 
as a whole struggled to find its 
shooting rhythm, Robinson wasn’t 
immune, going 3-for-10 from 
deep as the Wolverines edged the 
Gophers, 74-69.

But for Robinson, routine leads 

to rhythm. So when Rutgers comes 
to town next Wednesday, don’t 
expect the sharpshooter to change 
his pregame activities. He’ll come 
out of Michigan’s tunnel, envision 
himself playing from the stands, 
make his shots and then hope for 
a performance more like the one 
against Maryland than the one 
against Minnesota.

Then he’ll head back into the 

tunnel and wait to do it for real.

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Redshirt sophomore forward Duncan Robinson is shooting 51.6 percent on 3-point attempts this season, the best of any Wolverine and 11th in the country.

Ohio State holds off 
Michigan comeback

By CHRIS CROWDER 

Daily Sports Writer

At every Michigan women’s 

basketball 
game, 
during 
a 

timeout, a previously conducted 
interview of a Wolverine is 
displayed 
on 
the 

Crisler 
Center 
video board. One of the questions 
asked is, “What is your favorite 
Michigan basketball memory?”

Nearly every non-freshman 

Wolverine this season thus far 
has responded with last year’s 
overtime win against Ohio State.

Thursday, 
Michigan 
had 

another opportunity to make 
a lasting memory against the 
seventh-ranked Buckeyes, but the 
Wolverines ultimately fell, 97-93.

Ohio State’s full-court press 

was relentless from the opening 
tip, as it stole two inbound 
passes, pushing its lead to eight 
about four minutes into the first 
quarter. After another Buckeye 
steal and score, Michigan coach 
Kim Barnes Arico was forced 
to call a timeout down by 10. 
Bolstered by suffocating defense, 
the Buckeyes took a 31-17 lead 
into the second quarter.

“Sometimes the tempo of 

the game can always change, 
depending on what team has the 
momentum,” said senior guard 
Madison Ristovski. “So we just 
have to stay within ourselves and 
play basketball the Michigan way 
(when Ohio State is on a run).”

About two minutes into the 

frame, Ristovski inbounded the 
ball and knew she was close to a 
five-second violation. She hastily 
tossed the ball, and the Buckeyes’ 
Kelsey Mitchell leaped for the 
steal and turned it into a quick 
layup to give her team a 15-point 
lead for her 17th point of the game.

With 6:51 left in the quarter, 

sophomore 
guard 
Katelynn 

Flaherty 
knocked 
down 
a 

3-pointer 
after 
starting 
the 

contest 1-for-7 from the floor. 
After Ristovski knocked down 
two straight 3-pointers nearing 
the end of the quarter, Ohio 
State’s Mitchell knocked down 
one of her own to continue her 
torrid scoring pace as she finished 
with 27 in the scoring column.

Despite Mitchell’s prowess, 

the Wolverines trailed by just 
seven going into the half, 49-42. 
Michigan also has a Kelsey 
Mitchell on its roster, and the 
Wolverines’ senior forward led 
the team with 12 points on 6-for-7 
shooting at the half.

The third quarter started off 

with 
scorching-hot 
shooting. 

After Flaherty drained a 3-pointer 
to cut the lead back to seven with 
six minutes left in the quarter, the 
Buckeyes were shooting 9-for-13 
from behind the arc.

“Every time we made a great 

run, they had 
an answer to 
it,” 
Barnes 

Arico 
said. 

“That’s a sign 
of a top team in 
the country.”

Shortly 

after, 
Ohio 

State 
sunk 

another 
trey, 

forcing Barnes Arico to call a time 
out with 4:05 left in the quarter, 
down by 12. With just under 
two minutes left in the frame, 
the Buckeyes cut off Michigan’s 
growing momentum by holding 
the ball for a full minute due to 
three offensive rebounds. They 
ended the possession with a layup 
and another 3-pointer by Mitchell, 
carrying a 12-point advantage into 
the final 10 minutes.

Junior guard Siera Thompson 

started the fourth quarter with a 
jumper. Freshman guard Boogie 
Brozoski later hit a 3-pointer 
and sophomore forward Jillian 
Dunston took a charge on the 
ensuing possession, trying to gain 
momentum. Brozoski, however, 
turned the ball over trying to rifle 

a pass into the paint, leading to 
another Ohio State basket.

After a timeout, Flaherty — who 

scored a team-high 22 points — 
made another shot from behind 
the arc, only to have the Buckeyes 
halt the run with two baskets. 
Ohio State continued to show its 
strength on defense, blocking 
freshman center Hallie Thome 
and stealing another inbound pass.

The 
Wolverines 
forced 
a 

turnover at half court with 2:42 
left in the contest, and Thome 
capped off the possession with 
a layup to cut the lead to nine. 
About a minute later, Thome sunk 
a free throw to complete an and-1, 
trimming the deficit to five.

“We 
have 
a 
no-give-up 

mentality,” Thompson said. “We 
know we can play with any team 
in this conference, so that’s our 
mindset going into every game.”

Michigan 

forced 
the 

Buckeyes into 
a 
miss 
with 
 

the shot clock 
winding down 
in 
the 
next 

possession, 
but Ohio State 
grabbed 
the 

offensive 

rebound. After a foul, Buckeye 
guard Ameryst Alston hit one of 
her two free throws to push the 
lead to six. When the Wolverines 
got the ball, Thompson was also 
fouled, and she knocked down 
both of her attempts from the 
charity stripe, cutting it to just a 
four-point difference.

Michigan came within three 

points of the Buckeyes, but it 
couldn’t play catch up after Ohio 
State was nearly perfect from the 
free throw line down the stretch.

“In the locker room, we talked 

about the ability to keep fighting 
and keep fighting,” Barnes Arico 
said. “We believe that if we keep 
improving and we keep plugging 
along, that these games are going 
to go our way.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

OHIO STATE
MICHIGAN 

97
93

“We have a 
no-give-up 
mentality.”

Wolverines outshot in loss

By LELAND MITCHINSON 

Daily Sports Writer

Ohio State is particularly good 

at 3-point shooting, something 
Michigan 
women’s 
basketball 

coach 
Kim 
Barnes 
Arico 

highlighted in her weekly radio 
interview with WTKA. 

Barnes Arico was not wrong, 

either. 
The 
Buckeyes 
wasted 

no time showing just how good 
they were, going 6-for-9 in the 
first half of Thursday’s contest. 
The impressive shooting display 
killed an aggressive start by the 
Wolverines and any chance they 
had of completing and upset over 
the No. 7 team in the country.

Michigan, a good shooting team 

in its own right, tried to go shot for 
shot with Ohio State from beyond 
the arc, and it nearly succeeded. 
But the Wolverines couldn’t quite 
keep up with the efficiency of their 
opponents in a 97-93 defeat.

All in all, the two teams 

combined for 48 3-point attempts, 
with Ohio State making 54.5 
percent of its deep shots.

Buckeye guard Kelsey Mitchell, 

the Big Ten’s leading scorer, hit 
the first 3-pointer of the contest 
with 
5:45 
remaining 
in 
the 

first quarter. Sophomore guard 
Katelynn Flaherty answered for 
the Wolverines just 19 seconds later 
with one of her own, but Ohio State 
immediately hit another on the 
other end, cutting short Michigan’s 
attempt to gain ground.

Mitchell and Flaherty each went 

5-for-8 from 3-point range on the 
night and led their teams’ scoring, 
with 27 and 22 points, respectively.

The final shot of the string of 

threes sparked a 12-0 run for the 
Buckeyes, resulting in a 16-point 
lead at the end of the first quarter 
that the Wolverines were never 
quite able to overcome. Though 
Michigan finished the game with 
11 made 3s to Ohio State’s 12, it 
took them four more attempts to 

reach that total.

Part of what contributed to 

the high number of shots was the 
personnel on the court.

“Ohio 
State 
is 
interesting 

because they play four guards and 
a post,” said senior guard Madison 
Ristovski. “So a lot of the time, we 
had four guards out there.”

Added Barnes Arico: “We stat 

plus-minus and, at halftime ... 
our smaller lineup was a positive 
number, so we decided at that 
point to try to play smaller as 
much as we could.”

With more guards spreading 

the floor, space opened up for 
freshman center Hallie Thome to 
take advantage, and she did just 
that. All but six of her 21 points 
came in the second half. Thome 
also collected 12 rebounds to earn 
her the second double-double of 
her short career.

Though the Wolverines fell 

short, they showed they can shoot 
with the best of them.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL