8A — Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wolverines headed to U.S. Virgin Islands

Instead of eating turkey, the 

Michigan women’s basketball team 
will be sipping coconut water on 
the beaches of St. Thomas.

The Wolverines flew Tuesday 

morning to the U.S. Virgin Islands 
to 
participate 
in 
a 
marquee 

preseason 
tournament, 
The 

Paradise Jam, from Thursday 
through Saturday. According to 
its website, the Paradise Jam is 
the second-most popular tourist 
attraction for the islands, right 
after Carnival. 

Michigan 
will 
spend 
this 

weekend 
playing 
against 
its 

toughest 
opponents 
of 
the 

season by far: No. 25 Gonzaga on 

Thursday, Winthrop on Friday and 
No. 10 Florida State on Saturday. 
The quick succession of games will 
start a stretch of seven straight 
games on the road, and the whole 
team is bracing for the challenge. 

Michigan coach Kim Barnes 

Arico said she expects the team 
to be exhausted. “Besides that, 
I think everyone’s going to be 
in kind of a similar boat. It’s an 
exciting opportunity for us to 
take our team to a place where 
most of them haven’t been and to 
experience a little bit of time away 
from Ann Arbor. 

“Part of the college experience 

is having a great opportunity to do 
this. It’s going to be great for our 
team, and we’ll have some time 
to spend with each other away 

from where we’ve been for the last 
couple of months.” 

The Wolverines won their most 

recent contest against Western 
Michigan on Monday with a final 
tally of 66-40. Though the margin 
was considerable, Michigan had 
just made program history by 
scoring more than 100 points in 
three straight games, with the 
closest of those wins by 38 against 
Oakland on Nov. 11. 

Gonzaga just made it onto the 

Associated Press Top 25 list, but 
the Bulldogs are definitely worthy 
of their berth. They are coming off 
the program’s first win at Stanford, 
which has lost just eight games at 
home since 2007.

Forward 
Jill 
Barta 
leads 

Gonzaga with 16 points per 

game. The redshirt sophomore 
was just named the West Coast 
Conference Player of the Week 
for her performance against the 
Cardinals, where she shot 8-for-10 
from the field. 

“It’s going to be interesting 

because Gonzaga is an experienced, 
long team that’s going to pose some 
problems for us,” Barnes Arico 
said. “They’re really experienced 
and real good post players and 
really play well together. They’re 
coming off a great win at Stanford.” 

The Wolverines received 36 

points in the coaches’ poll — just 
one slot away from making it onto 
the list.

Next up after the Bulldogs 

will be Winthrop, which is on a 
three-game losing streak. The 
Eagles are having trouble with 
depth and turnovers. Against 
their most recent opponent, 
East Tennessee, only one player 
reached double digits. 

To finish out the series, the 

Wolverines face the Seminoles, 
who boast guard Brittany Brown 
— currently the only Florida State 
player to garner 500 rebounds, 
300 assists and 200 steals. The 
Seminoles’ other asset is Shakayla 
Thomas, who has led her team 
in points in three out of the four 
games this season. 

“So each night will be a little 

bit different,” Barnes Arico said. 
“I think we need to just try to take 
advantage of our strengths and try 
to continue and go in transition and 
use our speed and use our ability to 
score the basketball.”

The short turnaround between 

Western Michigan on Monday and 
Gonzaga on Thursday won’t leave 
much room to practice or work on 
details. Sophomore center Hallie 
Thome voiced concern about the 
Wolverines’ starts. 

Thome does believe, however, 

that the team mindset will be a 
true asset for Michigan. Despite 
impressive players like junior 
guard Katelynn Flaherty, no one 
player is concerned about stuffing 
the stat sheet. 

“We’re very excited to play 

more competition,” senior Siera 
Thompson said. “This is a test for 
us, and we’re all prepared. 

“We’re so excited to just enjoy 

the sunshine. And those hotel beds.”

SYLVANNA GROSS

Daily Sports Writer

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Senior Derrick Walton Jr. and Michigan are out of town again Wednesday.
‘M’ travels south for 
first true road game

The last time the Michigan 

men’s basketball team played an 
opponent from the Southeastern 
Conference, 
former 
Kentucky 
guard Aaron 
Harrison 
stuck 
a 

dagger in the 
Wolverines’ 
heart, hitting 
a 
3-pointer 

with 
two 

seconds 
left, 
sinking 

Michigan’s 
hope 
of 

making 
consecutive 
Final Fours.

The stakes 

will not be nearly as high 
when the Wolverines (4-0) 
travel to South Carolina (4-0) 
on Wednesday, but that won’t 
make Michigan take this early-
season clash lightly.

After two decisive victories 

in New York over Marquette 
and Southern Methodist, the 
25th-ranked Wolverines hope 
the momentum from their 
impressive display in the Big 
Apple will carry over as they 
face their first true road test of 
the season.

The Gamecocks also enter 

Wednesday 
undefeated 

through four games, but they 
have 
taken 
some 
punches 

getting to this point.

South 
Carolina 
needed 

a 
buzzer-beater 
to 
beat 

Monmouth at home last week, 
after 
it 
blew 
an 
18-point 

second-half lead and allowed 
the Hawks to come back and 
force overtime.

South Carolina still has the 

pieces to go toe to toe with 
Michigan, 
though. 
Guard 

Sindarius 
Thornwell 
leads 
the 

Gamecocks 
in 
scoring, 

putting 
up 

21 points per 
game thus far.

At 
6-foot-

5, 
Thornwell 

will 
be 
one 

of 
the 
taller 

guards 
the 

Wolverines 
have 
faced 
to 

date, and he will give junior 
guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman and senior guard 
Zak Irvin a difficult defensive 
assignment. South Carolina 
expects to get a performance 
out of Thornwell similar to 
what Michigan gets out of 
Irvin, a solid shooter who has 
many offensive capabilities 
and 
can 
hold 
his 
own 

defensively as well.

“(Thornwell) is a consistent 

35- to 40-percent shooter 
over 
his 
career,” 
said 

Michigan coach John Beilein. 
“(Thornwell and Irvin) are 
two seniors that really know 
how to play. He’s probably 
shooting the ball a little bit 
better than Zak is right now. 
I don’t know if his assist-to-
turnover is quite as good, but 
he’s just a good player. When 
you have a senior that’s been 
starting for a few years, that’s 

what (he) should be.”

Guard PJ Dozier, who hit 

the 
winning 
shot 
against 

Monmouth, brings a skill set 
and body similar to Thornwell’s 
that could also trouble the 
Wolverines. Beilein tried to 
recruit Dozier to Michigan 
back when the guard was in 
prep school, but due to family 
ties, Dozier chose to play for 
the Gamecocks.

“I saw him as a multi-

position player,” Beilein said. 
“A guy that was more (Caris 
LeVert)-like who could see 
the floor. He’s just a player, a 
6-(foot)-6 player.”

In the frontcourt, forwards 

Chris Silva and Maik Kotsar 
will match up better with the 
Wolverines than Marquette 
or Southern Methodist did. 
Silva is the more dangerous of 
the pair, averaging 10 points 
and 
seven 
rebounds. 
The 

6-foot-9 forward will most 
likely be guarded by junior 
forward 
DJ 
Wilson, 
who 

has been Michigan’s most 
versatile defender through its 
opening games.

The Wolverines will also be 

exposed to the most aggressive 
defense they have seen so far 
this season. South Carolina 
currently tops the SEC in 
rebound 
margin, 
grabbing 

12.5 more boards than its 
opponents each game, while 
also forcing an average of 14 
turnovers. With that said, 
Michigan will have to limit 
the Gamecocks in transition, 
especially having to watch for 
outside shooting threats.

“Although (South Carolina 

is) not big in steals, they are a 
pressure team,” Beilein said. 
“And they’re going to try and 
run us out of our stuff, and 
we’ve got to be really good 
making that extra pass. We 
need to keep our turnovers 
down. They’re forcing 14 or 

15 
turnovers 

a game. They 
also have 14 or 
15 a game so 
if we can play 
one 
of 
those 

games 
where 

we’re at nine or 
10 turnovers … 
we’ll be in good 
shape.”

South 

Carolina will be 

a tough test for the Wolverines, 
especially on the road. But 
handling the Gamecocks may 
only be part of the challenge 
Michigan 
will 
face 
in 

Columbia. After their triumph 
in New York, the Wolverines 
will need to stay grounded, 
as 
excitement 
around 
the 

program has risen to levels 
unseen since that game against 
Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

“In 
the 
grand 
scheme 

of 
college 
basketball, 
we 

haven’t 
done 
anything,” 

said 
senior 
guard 
Derrick 

Walton Jr. “I think everyone 
has a great sense of that and 
nobody’s walking around and 
lollygagging and saying we’ve 
accomplished anything. We 
haven’t accomplished anything 
because there’s still a good 
25 to 30 games left. We’re 
excited about what we have 
accomplished, and we’re just 
eager for more.”

“In the grand 
scheme ... we 
haven’t done 
anything.”

Michigan 
at South 
Carolina

Matchup: 
Michigan 
4-0; South 
Carolina 4-0

When: 
Wednesday 
5 P.M.

Where: 
Colonial 
Life Arena

TV/Radio: 
ESPNU

BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer

Michigan renews series with Lakers

When the Central Collegiate 

Hockey Association disbanded 
in 2013, Lake Superior State and 
Michigan’s 
hockey teams 
were 
split 

into 
separate 

conferences. 
This weekend, 
for 
the 
first 

time since the 
conference 
breakup, 
the 

two teams will 
face off again.

The former 

rivalry 
was 

not 
only 

bred from how often the teams 
played each other, but also by the 
competitiveness of each team. In 
an 11-year span from 1988-1998, 
the teams combined to win five 
national titles.

“They were really good, and 

we were pretty good, too,” said 
Michigan coach Red Berenson. 
“A lot of our games were 
showdown games in the race for 
first place. Of course, we were in 
the same conference, so we were 
playing them four times a year.

“Lake (Superior) State was 

a benchmark team. If we had a 
winning record against them, 
that meant we were a good team 
— like a good team nationally.”

Since then, the Lakers (6-6-0) 

have seen some struggles. The 
program has suffered through 
four 
straight 
losing 
seasons 

including an 8-28-2 mark in 
2014-15 — current head coach 
Damon Whitten’s first season.

This year, Lake Superior State 

— somewhat like the Wolverines 
(5-4-1) — has been inconsistent. 
The Lakers jumped out to a 6-1 
start this season. Over that time, 
the team outscored its opponents 
35-16, and rose to No. 20 in the 
USCHO.com poll.

After 
that, 
they 
have 

struggled, losing five games in a 
row heading into their matchup 
with Michigan.

Despite 
its 
recent 
losing 

stretch, Lake Superior State 
still 
boasts 
the 
ninth-best 

scoring offense in the country. 
And though the Wolverines are 
conscious of the Lakers’ offensive 
potency, 
they 

have 
kept 

the 
focus 
on 

themselves.

“We’ve 
been 

really 
focused 

on 
our 
own 

systems 
and 

kind of working 
off the (Boston 
University) 
weekend 
and 

going off of that,” 
said senior defenseman Nolan 
De Jong. “Everyone looks at the 
stats, and everyone looks at the 

scores, so we know they’re going 
to be able to score a lot of goals. 
But we’ve been really focused 
on our defense and making sure 
we’re a solid unit back there.”

So far this year, that unit has 

been solid. Michigan has the 
ninth-ranked scoring defense 
in the country, keyed in part 

by 
strong 

goaltending 
play. 
Freshman 

Hayden Lavigne 
has 
been 

especially stout, 
as he has the best 
save percentage 
in the country at 
.956.

Michigan’s 

game 
against 

Lake 
Superior 

State comes after somewhat of a 
down period for the Wolverines. 
They played just one exhibition 

game against the United States 
National 
Team 
Development 

Program’s U-18 team this past 
weekend 
and 
will 
have 
an 

early Thursday practice before 
taking the rest of the day off for 
Thanksgiving.

Though that bit of rest can be 

nice for a team in the midst of a 
long season, it is still a long break 
between meaningful games. And 
that’s a break that Michigan is 
excited to end.

“Bye weeks are nice, but you 

look at how many times we 
practice, and it’ll be 11 times 
before we get to play an actual 
two-game series again,” De 
Jong said. “Maybe it’s a bit of 
a refresher just to kind of get 
away for a second, and then get 
back at it. But I think we’re all 
excited to get back and play a 
two-game series and get in the 
groove again.”

Lake Superior 
State at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
LSSU 6-6-0; 
Michigan 5-4-1

When: Friday, 
Saturday 
7:30 P.M.

Where: Yost 
Ice Arena

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer

Wolverines play Lake Superior State for the first time since the end of the CCHA

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Senior defenseman Nolan De Jong captains Michigan back onto the ice against Lake Superior State this weekend.

“They were 

really good, and 
we were pretty 

good, too.”

