8 — Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Big Ten falls, but 
Wolverines shine
at USA Challenge

For once, Big Ten swimmers 

weren’t competing against each 
other.

This 
weekend, 
swimmers 

from the conference formed 
a collective team and faced 
select members of Team USA 
in the USA College Challenge. 
Representing Michigan on the 
Big Ten team were five swimmers 
from the men’s swimming and 
diving team, along with four 
members from the women’s 
team. Michigan coach Mike 
Bottom attended the dual-meet 
in Indianapolis, overseeing the 
women’s Big Ten team.

“It wasn’t really about our 

teams. It was about us coming 
together as a conference,” Bottom 
said. 
“We’re 
all 
competing, 

but 
yet 
the 
competition 
is 

making everyone better and 
we have learned to appreciate 
our competitors as well as the 
competition.”

In spite of the united effort, the 

Big Ten fell short of a win, losing 
to Team USA, 349-247. Though 
the Big Ten lost, the weekend was 
still a success for the conference 
as several collegiate records 
were broken by swimmers from 
all 
schools. 

Michigan 
sophomore 
Siobhàn 
Haughey 
beat 

her 
previous 

Big 
Ten 
and 

Michigan record 
in the 200-yard 
freestyle — the 
same 
event 

she 
competed 

in 
during 
the 

semifinals 
of 
the 
2016 
Rio 

Olympics — by 0.42 seconds 
with a time of 1:42.93. Haughey’s 
time was the fastest recorded 
time nationally in the 200-yard 
freestyle this season.

Another 
Wolverine 
with 

a standout performance this 
weekend was freshman Charlie 
Swanson. One of only three 
Big Ten winners on Saturday, 
Swanson finished first in the 
400-yard individual medley with 
a time of 3:46.09.

Also on Saturday, both fifth-

year senior Luke Papendick and 
junior PJ Ransford placed third in 
the 200-yard backstroke (1:43.71) 
and in the 100-yard butterfly 
(47.06), respectively. Junior Evan 
White, recently coming off of an 
injury, flirted with his personal 
best of 46.56 in the 100-yard 
butterfly (47.06), taking sixth in 
the event this weekend. Coming 
in seventh for the Big Ten in the 
100-yard freestyle (44.15) was 
junior Paul Powers.

Powers had the highest finish 

for Michigan’s men’s swimming 
on Sunday with a second-place 
finish in the 50-yard freestyle 
(19.79), his best time in this event 
so far this season. Ransford took 
third in the 1,000-yard freestyle 
(8:55.40) while Swanson placed 
seventh (9:22.93). Michigan had 
another top-three finish with 
White taking third in the 200-
yard individual medley (1:46.63). 
In 
the 
100-yard 
backstroke, 

Papendick finished fifth with a 
time of 47.41.

And the Wolverine women 

had exceptional performances 
too. 
Junior 
Gabby 
DeLoof 

competed against her sister and 
former Michigan teammate Ali 
DeLoof in the 400-yard freestyle 
relay. Team USA won the event 
with a time of 3:11.64, with Ali 
DeLoof swimming as the leadoff. 
Finishing second, Haughey and 
Gabby DeLoof contributed to the 
Big Ten’s relay team as the third 
and fourth legs.

Sophomore Yirong Bi helped 

the Big Ten with a third-place 
finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle. 
Competing 
in 
the 
100-yard 

medley backstroke was junior 
Clara Smiddy. Smiddy finished 
sixth behind Ali DeLoof, who 
beat the 51-second barrier with 

a time of 50.99 in 
the event.

“When 
you 

go 
down 
the 

line in almost 
every individual 
(event), 
we 

swam 
well,” 

Bottom said. “As 
a whole, the Big 
Ten swam and 
competed 
very 

well with a lot of 

best times.”

Though the Big Ten ultimately 

lost, multiple Big Ten relay 
teams set top collegiate times, 
demonstrating 
the 
potential 

strength of a future national team 
when some of these collegiate 
swimmers unite. Top times were 
recorded in the men’s 800-yard 
freestyle relay (6:19.08), the 400-
yard medley relay (3:07.93) and the 
400-yard freestyle relay (2:50.81). 
For the women, top times were 
recorded in the 400-yard medley 
relay 
(3:29.65), 
the 
800-yard 

freestyle relay (7:00.40) and the 
400-yard freestyle relay (3:13.29).

“The big lesson learned was 

that if you come together for 
a common goal, you can unite 
people,” Bottom said. “We stand 
in a world that’s really divided 
right now and it’s fun to see what 
happened at the meet, where Big 
Ten teams that are competitive 
came together in a way that really 
was exemplary and what we’re 
trying to do as a country.”

SWIMMING & DIVING

Haughey sets Big Ten record in 200-
yard freestyle, Swenson wins 400 IM

GRACE BOYLES

For the Daily

“It was about 

us coming 
together as a 
conference.”

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Junior forward Dexter Dancs tallied a goal and an assist in Michigan’s two-game series against Boston University.

Dancs looks to build on weekend improvement 

With just under 10 minutes 

left in the first period of 
Friday’s game against Boston 
University, the Michigan hockey 
team was on its second power 
play. Freshman forward Will 
Lockwood had just scored to put 
the Wolverines up, 1-0, and the 
team was looking to earn some 
cushion against the fourth-
ranked Terriers.

Junior forward Dexter Dancs 

received a pass from freshman 
defenseman Luke Martin at the 
blue line, and skated it up the 
right boards. Dancs drew Boston 
University’s 
Bobo 
Carpenter 

toward him, but right before 
Carpenter reached him, Dancs 
dished a backhanded pass to 
junior forward Tony Calderone, 
who ripped a one-timer through 
a crowd and into the back of the 
net.

It was just what Michigan 

needed.

The Terriers represented the 

Wolverines’ biggest game of the 
year, but there was one problem 
entering the matchup — Michigan 
was down a few seniors. Forwards 
Alex Kile and Max Shuart, 
defenseman Nolan De Jong and 
goaltender Zach Nagelvoort were 
suspended for “breaking team 
rules,” and as a result, Michigan 
coach Red Berenson and his staff 
had to reshuffle their lines.

Dancs was one beneficiary of 

the change. He was one of the 
returners from last season that 
was expected to make a leap 
in productivity this year. But 
because of a slow start — Dancs 
had only one point through eight 
games — the junior has spent 
much of the season being moved 
from line to line in an effort to 
spark the offensive side of his 
game.

Friday, Dancs was placed on 

the first line with Lockwood 
and freshman forward Jake 
Slaker, who have been some of 
the most consistent producers 
for the Wolverines. As it turns 
out, their performances may 

have been contagious. Dancs put 
together the best weekend of his 
season, assisting Calderone on 
Friday before tallying a goal for 
himself on Saturday.

After notching two points on 

the weekend, Dancs attributed 
his performance 
to 
both 
past 

success 
before 

college 
and 

his 
practice 

regiment 
this 

season.

“Scoring goals 

is what I used 
to do before I 
got here,” Dancs 
said. “The past 
two 
years, 

there’s been some players ahead 
of me that are very good. And 
I’ve gotten to watch them and 
learn from them. And I’ve been 
doing a lot of stuff with (assistant 
coach 
Brian) 
Wiseman. 
He 

scored a lot of goals when he was 
here, so he’s been helping me.”

While the offensive side of 

Dancs’ game is important, it 
wasn’t the only aspect in which 
he was better this weekend. 
Dancs also played a more physical 
brand of hockey. He was involved 
in multiple big hits, and was 

often 
chasing 

and battling for 
the puck in the 
corners.

But 
whether 

it’s 
with 

physicality 
or 

finesse on the 
offensive 
side 

of 
the 
puck, 

perhaps the most 
important thing 
for Dancs is to 

know his role on the team.

“I think he’s figuring it out,” 

Berenson said. “He’s starting to 
realize how he has to play to help 
our team. Sometimes a player 
comes out and they do what 
they want to do. And if they’re 
not doing what we need them to 

do, then they can be out of sync. 
And I think Dexter was out of 
sync. And now he’s playing more 
physical, he’s playing harder and 
he’s playing better.”

Though 
the 
improvement 

came to fruition this weekend, 
there is still work to be done.

“If he plays his best, I think 

he can be a top-six forward on 
this team, but last year he ended 
up playing mostly on the bottom 
six,” Berenson said. “He’s just 
now starting to show what he 
was doing last year. And if he 
develops — if he continues to 
improve — he’ll have a better 
role. He can help our power play 
if he plays well, and he can help 
our top six forwards.”

Added 
Dancs: 
“Coming 

into this year, my goal was to 
contribute 
more 
offensively. 

Throughout the first few games, 
it hasn’t gone that way for me. 
But I know if I trust the process 
and keep working hard, that’ll 
come.”

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer

“Scoring goals 
is what I used 
to do before 
I got here.”

Five things we learned: Howard & IUPUI

The Michigan men’s basketball 

team kicked off its season this past 
weekend with two double-digit 
victories over Howard and IUPUI 
in the Ann Arbor regional of the 
2K Classic.

Against Howard on Friday, the 

Wolverines struggled to deal with 
a matchup zone defense, a defense 
Michigan coach John Beilein said 
he had never seen in all his years 
of 
coaching. 
The 
Wolverines 

overpowered the Bisons, though, 
who ranked No. 328 in RPI last 
season and were missing James 
Daniel — the NCAA’s leading 
scorer last season — to an injury. 

Sunday 
against 
IUPUI, 

Michigan strung together a 13-0 
run to end the first half and went 
on to beat the Jaguars, 77-65.

The Wolverines will now travel 

to New York City to play in the 
2K Classic Championship Round. 
Michigan will play Marquette on 

Thursday and either Southern 
Methodist or Pittsburgh on Friday. 
But until then, here are five things 
we 
learned 
from 
Michigan’s 

season-opening weekend.

1. DJ Wilson is legit

During Michigan’s media day 

back on Oct. 3, Beilein likened 
the redshirt sophomore forward’s 
potential to that of former Indiana 
forward Troy Williams, who now 
plies his craft in the NBA with the 
Memphis Grizzlies.

No one, however, was expecting 

to see a return on that statement so 
early in the season. Friday against 
Howard, Wilson was a force inside, 
grabbing eight rebounds and 
scoring nine points in 20 minutes 
of action. Wilson continued his 
solid play Sunday, notching career 
highs in rebounds and blocks with 
14 and five, respectively. 

“His mindset is to get in 

there and get rebounds, loose 
basketballs, everything,” Beilein 
said. “... If he says to himself, ‘I am 
a rebounder and defender,’ he’ll get 
baskets.”

2. The battle between Donnal 

and Wagner is far from over

Going into the game against 

Howard, 
Beilein 
stated 
that 

sophomore 
forward 
Moritz 

Wagner would get the start. But by 
the end of the game, it was redshirt 
junior Mark Donnal who got the 
advantage in minutes, playing 
eight more than Wagner.

Sunday, Wagner started again, 

but Donnal was given ample 
playing time and both players were 
on the court for 19 minutes.

“I think both offensively and 

defensively, I just held my own and 
tried to be an energy guy of the 
bench,” Donnal said after Friday’s 
game.

Beilein now has a conundrum 

on his hands. While Wagner gives 
him a better offensive presence, 
he also also shows flashes of 
immaturity on defense. Against 
Howard, Wagner started the 
second half, but was taken out just 
seconds later for not picking up his 
guard on a ball screen. 

Moving forward, Beilein may 

be forced to switch back and forth 

between his two big men at the ‘5’.

3. Michigan is playing more 

aggressively on defense

Assistant coach Billy Donlon 

came to the team as a defensive-
minded coach, and that was 
evident during both games, when 
Donlon would get up from his seat 
to bark orders when Michigan was 
on the defensive end of the court.

This weekend, the Wolverines 

forced a total of 27 turnovers for an 
average of 13.5 per game, a far cry 
from the 7.5 turnovers Michigan 
forced per game last season. 
Granted, it is still early and this 
year’s average comes from a small 
sample size, but there were visible 
differences 
in 
the 
Wolverine 

defense from last season.

While Michigan was far more 

aggressive on the defensive end, 
it resorted to fouling at times. 
Fortunately for the Wolverines, 
Howard shot just 48 percent from 
the line.

4. The Wolverines are still 

relying heavily on the 3-point 
shot

Over the past several seasons, 

Michigan 
has 
put 
a 
heavy 

emphasis on its ability to shoot 
3-pointers. This weekend, the 

Wolverines shot 35 percent from 
behind the arc.

More interesting, though, was 

how often Michigan shot the 3-ball. 
Forty percent of the Wolverines’ 
shots were from deep, which is in 
line with their performance last 
year, when 43 percent of their 
shots were 3-pointers.

5. Bold prediction: DJ Wilson 

starts over Duncan Robinson 
against Marquette

With how well Wilson has 

played in the first two games of 
the season, Beilein may be forced 
to start Wilson at the ‘4’. Against 
IUPUI, Wilson played 80 percent 
of the minutes in the second half, 
with 
redshirt 
junior 
Duncan 

Robinson to the bench for much of 
the stanza.

“(Duncan’s) role will be varied,” 

Beilein said. “Does he start? Does 
he come off the bench? I love 
having a gunner come off the 
bench.” 

Wilson still has plenty to 

work on, including being more 
aggressive 
on 
the 
offensive 

front. But with his length and 
size, Michigan has a better 
defensive option, and it wouldn’t 
be a surprise to see Wilson in the 
starting five on Thursday night in 
Madison Square Garden. 

EVAN AARON/Daily

Mark Donnal is battling with Moritz Wagner for playing time at center.

MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Editor

