4B — January 25, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ falls to Cornhuskers
By BRAD WHIPPLE
Daily Sports Editor
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball team has had its fair
share of surprises this season,
especially
its 17-point
comeback
against
Iowa two weeks ago.
But
this
time
around,
a
comeback appeared to be out of
the question no matter how hard
the Wolverines played.
In Sunday’s game against
Nebraska, Michigan led for just
22 seconds after the opening
basket
by
freshman
center
Hallie Thome. But within five
minutes, the Wolverines trailed
by 15. The Cornhuskers’ offense
was unstoppable in the opening
stanza, and Michigan did very
little to stop it.
Midway through the second
quarter, the Wolverines (3-5 Big
Ten, 11-8 overall) brought the
game to within three points but
couldn’t finish down the stretch
as the Cornhuskers (5-3, 14-5)
escaped with a 93-81 victory in
Ann Arbor.
“We can’t be giving up 93
points a game,” said Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico. “That’s
like the NBA here. … Twenty-
eight points in one quarter is
just way too much. We gotta get
better.”
After
just
three
minutes
in the second half, Michigan
never cut the deficit to single
digits. Against forward Jessica
Shepard
and
center
Allie
Havers, the Wolverines were
outscored and outrebounded.
Though Havers only flirted
with a double-double, Shepard
finished with 35 points and
collected 20 boards.
Meanwhile, Thome — who
scored 24 points alongside just
six rebounds — fouled out of
the game in the fourth quarter
as Nebraska continued to pack
the paint. In fact, three other
Michigan players reached three
fouls and just junior guard Siera
Thompson and sophomore guard
Katelynn Flaherty hit double-
digit scoring otherwise, with 12
and 14, respectively.
Without
their
ability
to
drive in the paint, guarded by
the
Cornhuskers’
best
bigs,
Thompson — who reached 1,000
career points — and Flaherty had
to shoot from the outside and
rely on guard-to-guard screens.
“They
double-teamed
at
times, which is an area where
(Katelynn’s) gonna get better at
being able to pass out of those
situations,” Barnes Arico said.
“But she pretty much, from an
offensive standpoint, handled
their pressure and did a decent
job against them. But we gotta
get multiple people that are able
to do that.”
The difference between a
win and a loss was the opening
minutes of the game, which
spelled disaster for Michigan
right from the start. Smart ball
movement and crisp passing
gave Thome the ball inside the
paint on the first possession
for a layup. But soon enough,
Nebraska showed its offense
was untamable.
In the opening four and a half
minutes, the Cornhuskers didn’t
miss a shot from anywhere on
the court. En route to a 15-point
lead, they went 8-for-8 from
the field and 5-for-5 beyond the
arc. Nebraska quickly jumped
to 21 points, while Michigan
added a pair of free throws by
Thome and just one basket from
Flaherty — prompting Barnes
Arico to call a timeout.
The
Wolverines’
original
plan was to lock down Shepard,
but guard Kyndal Clark quickly
emerged as the Cornhuskers’
star. She scored all five of her
team’s 3-pointers in the first
half and finished the game with
15 points.
She was the crucial element
for the Cornhuskers’ huge start,
forcing Michigan’s defense to
instead limit Clark’s chances —
she didn’t score in the second
half.
That
change,
though,
opened up Shepard.
“It’s kind of like we’re at the
point now, it’s ‘pick your poison,’”
Barnes Arico said. “Totally, our
whole defensive responsibilities
and being able to get a stop, being
able to get multiple stops, we gotta
become better as a unit on the
defensive end.”
Michigan strung together two
scoring runs — a 30-second 8-0
run in the first quarter and a 7-0
run in the second — to bring to
the game within 10 points by the
break, but the defense couldn’t
hold the Cornhuskers.
Nebraska had made a large
enough statement at the start of
the game to prove they wouldn’t
give this one up. The damage had
already been dealt.
“At spurts, we play hard,
and sometimes it’s too late,”
Thompson said. “I think that’s
been the case the last few games.
We come out, dig ourselves a hole
and try to fight back, so we just
have to start playing hard from
the beginning of the game.
“We always say, ‘We’re never
out of it,’ but I think we’re at the
point where we don’t wanna fight
back anymore.”
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Freshman center Hallie Thome did not have an answer for Nebraska center Jessica Shepard on Sunday.
Nebraska’s Shepard
dominant in victory
Cornhusker star
wins post battle
with Thome
By TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
The
Michigan’s
women
basketball team’s 93-81 loss to
Nebraska on Sunday featured
a notable one-on-one matchup
down in the paint, where two
freshman centers duked it out for
post dominance.
Michigan’s Hallie Thome and
Nebraska’s Jessica Shepard met
for the first time in their careers,
and the latter came out on top.
The Wolverines (3-5 Big Ten,
11-8 overall) needed Thome to
be at her best against Nebraska
(5-3, 14-5), and even though she
has been a reliable source of
points and rebounds this season,
Shepard dominated her in every
facet of the game.
At first glance, the similarities
between the two are striking.
Thome is 6-foot-5, and Shepard
is 6-foot-4. Both were Gatorade
High School Player of the Year
recipients in their home states,
and both are on pace to have the
best freshman seasons in their
schools’ histories.
Thome won the opening tipoff,
but she didn’t win anything else.
Shepard
decisively
outrebounded
Thome,
20-6,
outscored her, 35-24, and also
managed to stay out of foul
trouble. The Cornhuskers’ center,
who has scored over 25 points in
three other Big Ten games this
season, put up a performance
impressive even for someone of
her caliber.
Shepard’s 20 rebounds were a
career high, and she is the first
freshman in Nebraska history to
have been named to the Naismith
Player of the Year watch list.
Just six Nebraska freshmen
have ever scored 400 points in
one season, and Shepard is just
two points away from that mark
— not even midway through the
Big Ten season.
“Today,
you
had
the
opportunity to see one of the
best players in the country,” said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico,
referencing
Shepard.
“Hallie (Thome) might be a top
freshman in the country. This
young lady (Shepard) happens to
be a freshman and is one of the
best players in the country.”
The Wolverines did a decent
job defending Shepard in the first
quarter — she still scored seven
points in the first 10 minutes,
but she went for 23 in the second
half, and Michigan could not
slow her down.
Eleven
of
Shepard’s
20
rebounds came on the offensive
glass, leading the Cornhuskers to
23 second-chance points, while
Michigan had just 13.
“We gave up a lot of offensive
rebounds for them,” said senior
guard Madison Ristovksi. “They
missed shots, but (Shepard) was
able to just put them back up.”
Once Thome chalked up her
fourth foul, the Cornhuskers
found it easier to exploit the
mismatch in the post. Barnes
Arico subbed her out, and
Michigan
senior
forward
Kelsey
Mitchell
replaced
Thome down low.
Even Ristovski made an effort
in the paint, but neither found
success.
Thome eventually fouled out
of the game in the fourth quarter,
but by then Nebraska had sealed
the win.
Barnes Arico couldn’t hold
back with how impressed she
was by Shepard.
“She
is
an
unbelievable
player. We didn’t have an
answer for her. Shepard is just …
she’s a monster.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
NEBRASKA
MICHIGAN
93
81
Oklahoma routs Michigan
By COLE ZINGAS
Daily Sports Writer
Heading into the final event,
the
No.
1
Oklahoma
men’s
gymnastics team had done almost
everything right. The defending
national champions had scored
higher than No. 10 Michigan
in every event, asserting their
ranking in every way to the crowd
at Cliff Keen Arena.
The Wolverines were already
out of contention for the match
when
senior
Nolan
Novak
approached the high bar to
attempt the event for the second
time in his career. Yet behind
him, the team yelled and chanted
“Let’s Go Blue” in unison with
the crowd. Novak hit his routine,
as did his teammates redshirt
freshman
Marty
Strech
and
junior Jonathan Chin, earning
ecstatic cheers from the crowd.
The crowd recognized a solid
effort by the Wolverines — the
team improved its season-high
parallel bar score by 6.05 points
and its high bar score by 4.8 — at
the end of a blowout loss.
Michigan (0-4 Big Ten, 1-5
overall) fell by a score of 444.400-
428.350 to the Sooners (5-0
overall) on Saturday, but after the
meet, the attitudes of the players
and Michigan coach Kurt Golder
were more positive than negative.
“Overall, I was pretty pleased,”
Golder said. “As long as we’re
getting better with every meet,
we can keep climbing the ladder
and see how high we can get by
the end of the year.”
But
many
improved
performances were overshadowed
by Oklahoma’s dominance.
Junior Anthony Stefanelli hit
both of his routines, including
an impressive 15.150 on the floor,
good for third place. Stefanelli,
however, was the only Wolverine
in the top seven in that event.
All-American sophomore Dmitri
Belanovski scored a career high
on the pommel horse with a
14.750, but didn’t even place in the
top three in the event.
Oklahoma took first place in
all six events, as well as in the all-
around. Belanovski had a chance
to compete for the all-around
title going into the final event, the
high bars, which he calls his “best
event,” but he fell and scored a
13.800.
“I’ve got to learn to finish,”
Belanovski said. “I hit the first
five, but you’ve got to go out there
and hit the sixth event. I can’t
make a mistake like that.”
Meanwhile, Yul Moldauer from
Oklahoma scored an incredible
16.000 in his final routine to take
the meet by more than a point.
Belanovski finished tied for third
in the all-around.
Michigan is pleased with its
improvement of 15 points from its
performance at the Windy City
Invitational on Jan. 17, but after
facing Oklahoma, it knows how
much work is left to do.
Saturday, the Wolverines hit
75 percent of their routines, up
from 50 percent the previous
weekend. Golder wants to get
that number up to between 80
and 85 percent, which he says is
championship form. Golder is
looking for Michigan to increase
the degree of difficulty in its
routines as well.
“The routines these guys are
doing may not look easy, but by our
championship standards, some of
them are easy,” Golder said.
For the athletes, the key
to
achieving
Golder’s
goals
will be keeping energy high
and
maintaining
confidence
throughout meets. When the
Wolverines rallied behind Novak
on the high bars, that mindset was
on full display.
“It’s all about keeping the
energy up,” Belanovski said. “If
the team’s not behind you, you’re
going to go out there and you
know you’re going to flop, you’re
gonna fall.”
“I truly believe that this team,
when it’s six up six count, can go
36 for 36. And I think this year
especially, that’s what it’s going to
take. This team can do it.”
ZACH MOORE/Daily
Junior Anthony Stefanelli opened Saturday’s meet, a loss against No. 1 Oklahoma at Cliff Keen Arena, by hitting both of his routines on the floor for a score of 15.150.
MEN’S TENNIS
Wolverines drop
first dual match
By KATIE CONKLIN
Daily Sports Writer
Alex Knight was a comeback
kid this Sunday at the Boone
Indoor Tennis Center, where
Michigan
faced
Kentucky.
After
dropping
the
first
doubles
match of the day, 6-2, alongside
freshman Myles Schalet, the
redshirt sophomore entered his
single match ready for revenge.
Down in the first set, Knight
eventually
brought
it
to
a
tiebreaker, pulling out a 9-7
win. Taking advantage of this
momentum, he wrapped up the
second set with a 6-4 victory to
take the match.
Knight’s
matchup
against
Trey Yates was the seventh
match of the day for Michigan
and acted as the turning point
for the Wolverines, leading
to their three-match winning
streak.
The streak, though, only
brought the Wolverines within
one, resulting in a 4-3 loss in
their first dual-match play of the
2016 season.
Michigan junior Kevin Wong
added to the streak, coming
out on top against Kentucky’s
Charles Minc in two consecutive
7-6 tiebreakers.
“(Kevin)
played
really
aggressively
today,”
said
Michigan men’s tennis coach
Adam Steinberg. “I really liked
the way he struck the ball.”
The third and final point
for the Wolverines came from
Schalet in his first official
season match in the maize and
blue. Playing in the No. 6 singles
position, Schalet captured a
narrow victory against Enzo
Wallart in the only three-set
match of the day.
Winning the first set, 7-5,
Schalet went into the second
unscathed.
Wallart,
though,
pulled out a win in a 9-7
tiebreaker, evening the match.
Because
the
team
match
was
already
decided,
as
Michigan was down, 4-2, it was
determined that Schalet and
Wallart would play a 10-point
superbreaker rather than a third
and final set.
Though there was no team win
in sight for Michigan, Schalet
made
sure
the
Wolverines
traveled back to Ann Arbor with
one final point, winning the
deciding tiebreaker, 13-11.
“There were a lot of positives,
but overall, we’re all competitors
and we want to win,” Steinberg
said. “We came here for one
reason, to be successful. We
wanted to get a win to start the
year.”
Michigan
was
down
1-0
from the start, losing both of its
doubles matches — 6-2 at the No.
3 spot and 6-4 at the No. 1 spot.
The third match was stopped
after Kentucky had won two
of the three doubles matches,
clinching the doubles point.
Steinberg’s
solution
for
disjointed doubles play was
simple: “Our intensity at the
beginning needs to be much
better, and we need to play as a
team more.
“I didn’t think we played
with that fight and passion
that we do in practice. We’re
disappointed.”
Such
disappointment
continued
into
the
first
three singles matches, as the
Wolverines dropped matches
in the first, second and third
singles positions.
But Michigan is taking its
final three-game stretch as a
positive, despite the debacle
against the Wildcats.
“The guys showed a lot of
character by fighting like that
until the end,” Steinberg said.
“It gives us good momentum
going into next week.”
And it is this momentum
that the Wolverines are going
to need, as this past weekend
marked the start of what they
hope will be a successful season.
MICHIGAN
KENTUCKY
3
4