8 — Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Behind Enemy Lines 

The Daily sat down with Michigan State guard Eron Harris

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Michigan State guard Eron Harris will be one of the Spartans’ veteran leaders when they face Michigan on Tuesday.

After two straight losses 

dropped the Michigan men’s 
basketball team two games 
under .500 in its conference 
season, the Wolverines will face 
a familiar foe Tuesday night.

Last Sunday, Michigan (4-6 

Big Ten, 14-9 overall) traveled 
to East Lansing to take on 
Michigan State (6-4, 14-9) and 
suffered a 70-62 loss. Tuesday 
it’s the Spartans’ turn to head 
on the road, as they’ll travel to 
Ann Arbor looking to replicate 
the results of their previous 
matchup.

Though 
Michigan 
State 

guard Eron Harris scored just 
four points in the first matchup, 
he averages 11.6 — the third-
highest total on his team. As 
one of the few seniors on the 
roster this year, Harris will lead 
his team into Crisler Center 
to attempt a season sweep of 
Michigan. 

The Daily sat down with 

Harris at Big Ten Media Day 
in October to talk about the 
expectations surrounding the 
program, the holes left by last 
year’s senior class and the 
experience of playing under 
coach Tom Izzo.

The Michigan Daily: In 

recent history, Michigan State 
has pretty much consistently 
been at the very top on both the 
conference and national level, 
so how do you, as a team, deal 
with the constant expectations 
to be one of the best teams in 
the country?

Eron Harris: We don’t think 

about that. We just think about 
being the best we can be every 
day and just trusting in our 
coaching staff. They’ve won 
championships, you know what 
I’m saying, so they have a plan. 
We just gotta listen to them and 
do what we’re supposed to do, 
and the rest handles itself. So 
no, we don’t think about the 

expectations and everything, 
you know. It shows itself just in 
the way the media portrays us, 
the fans and everybody, but we 
just stay grounded.

TMD: You lost a considerable 

number of seniors from last 
season’s 
squad, 
including 

reigning AP Player of the Year 
Denzel Valentine. How do you 
plan to be able to replace those 
key cogs in the machine?

EH: 
Well, 
before 
they 

became leaders, there were 
leaders before them, and they 
had to pick up right behind 
those leaders, and so we’re 
going to do the same thing. Our 
coaching staff is going to make 
sure we do that, and we stay 
in communication with those 
guys, and they make sure we 
know the ropes. And also, we 
have the type of culture where 
older guys just come back, 
veterans come back, and they 
just keep us in the loop, so it 
won’t be too hard for us.

TMD: 
What 
do 
you 

personally feel you need to do 
to fill that void as a leader and 
a key contributor?

EH: 
Just 
listen 
to 
the 

veterans, listen to my coaches 
and just embrace my role as a 
leader. A leader is a leader in 
life, so I just gotta be a leader 
for the younger guys and in 
basketball, just pick up where 
our older guys last year left off.

TMD: The freshman class 

coming in has been called one of 
the best recruiting classes in the 
conference in recent memory. 
How do you think they have 
adjusted to the college level?

EH: They’ve adjusted pretty 

well. I’d actually say they’ve 
adjusted very well. They’re 
already kind of used to a college 
level. I’d say we’ve got a couple 
of McDonald’s All-Americans. 
We’ve got other types of All-
Americans, so these guys are 
mature players already. The 
learning pace for them has been 
so fast, so I’m impressed.

TMD: 
What 
are 
you 

expecting them, like Miles 
Bridges 
for 
instance, 
to 

contribute to the team on the 
floor and in the locker room?

EH: On the floor, I’m looking 

for him to compete. He’s a crazy 
competitor, just very athletic, 
looking for some dunks. He can 
play from the outside, he can 
handle the ball, just looking for 
an all-around game from Miles. 
In the locker room, I’m looking 
for those guys to listen to our 
leaders, but at the same time, 
be vocal in the areas they know 
because even our older guys 
are humble enough to listen to 
them because they know the 
game too.

TMD: Last month, Coach 

Izzo was inducted into the 
Naismith Basketball Hall of 
Fame. What is the experience 
of playing under a coach who 
is widely regarded as one of 
the best college coaches in 
the country and possibly of all 
time?

EH: Well, it’s a blessing. 

I’ve been blessed to be in this 
position. Just worked hard my 
whole life and stayed humble, 
and God brought me to this 
spot, so I can’t say much more 
than that it’s a blessing. But 
it just raises our standards as 
players, raises our standards 
as humans, and I just gotta 
embrace what I’m a part of and 
let the story play out.

TMD: What kind of coach is 

he like?

EH: He’s a humble coach, 

but he’s very, very hard on his 
players. He loves his players, 
but he’s very, very hard on his 
players. He expects a lot from 
his players, and he’s about 
details. He’s a detail coach 
because we have to cover 
everything to be able to come 
out on top, and that’s what he 
wants. He wants to be able to 
win, and we’ve got to buy into 
that system if we want the same 
thing.

BETELHEM ASHAME

Managing Sports Editor

Kysre is key

ON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

On Sunday afternoon, the 

Michigan women’s basketball 
team trailed by nine points 
heading into the final quarter 
against Iowa. With an undefeated 
record at Criser Center, it was 
the first real adversity the 
Wolverines had faced at home 
this season.

Someone needed to step up, 

and Michigan had no shortage of 
options. Junior guard Katelynn 
Flaherty — one of the nation’s 
most prolific 3-point shooters 
— was the primary suspect. If it 
wasn’t Flaherty, then the sure-
handedness of sophomore center 
Hallie Thome, or the experience 
of senior guard Siera Thompson — 
who iced the game against Indiana 
with four final-minute free throws 
on Jan. 10 — could surely do it for 
the Wolverines, too.

But when Michigan looked 

ready to accept its fate, it was 
freshman guard Kysre Gondrezick 
who salvaged the game and 
sparked the Wolverines to an 
improbable 72-70 victory over the 
Hawkeyes.

The matchup against Iowa, 

compared to similar games that 
the Wolverines were in last 
season, proved something that 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico already knew: Without 
Gondrezick, Michigan wouldn’t 
be able to make big comebacks or 
sustain 
seemingly-comfortable 

leads. A glaring example is last 
season’s shocking loss to Eastern 
Michigan, 
when 
the 
Eagles 

outscored the Wolverines 19-6 in 
the final quarter to eke out a one-
point win and hamper Michigan’s 
tournament resume.

“Last year we didn’t come 

out on the winning side of these 
games,” Barnes Arico said. “It 
took everything we had (against 
Iowa). I think it is also a sign of 
the development of the program 
and the growth of the team. … In 
the past if Katelynn Flaherty had 

an off night, we didn’t win the 
basketball game.”

In 
the 
final 
frame, 
with 

Flaherty struggling to score, 
Gondrezick wanted to put her 
coach’s sentiments to bed and 
disregard the stigma of the 
“freshman” label. The guard 
showed no signs of nerves, 
rallying for eight points, three 
boards 
and 
three 
steals 
— 

including one that was snatched 
from Iowa’s Ally Disterhoft and 
outletted to Flaherty for an easy 
layup to give Michigan the lead 
with 
47 
seconds 
remaining. 

Despite some missed free throws 
down the stretch, they did not 
detract from the greater impact 
Gondrezick had on the game.

“I feel great all the time when 

I’m on the court,” Gondrezick 
said. “I was ready. As the game 
went on I got more comfortable. 
We were shaken up in the first 
half with the defenses they were 
throwing at us. It was something 
we hadn’t seen before. … Everyone 
had a tough day at the line. I’m just 
glad we were able to convert when 
it mattered.”

It is rare to find a freshman at 

the helm of a must-win situation, 
but 
Gondrezick’s 
demeanor 

demonstrated that she was exactly 
where she was supposed to be.

“I don’t even want to talk to her 

about next year or the following 
year because each year watching 
them as a coach is so different,” 
Barnes Arico said. “Freshman 
year, as much as it’s the hardest 
year and it’s a transition in so many 
ways, it’s also the easiest year in 
so many ways because there’s no 
pressure. Nobody knows who you 
are and you can come out and just 
be who you are.

“All of a sudden you’re a 

sophomore like Hallie Thome 
at the top of everyone’s scouting 
report. Then you’re a junior and 
you’re supposed to be one of the 
best players in the country in 
Katelynn Flaherty and you’re 
being face-guarded and people are 
holding your shirt and you’re like 

‘Damn, I’m supposed to score 20 
points because I’m supposed to 
be the best player in the country.’ 
Kysre doesn’t know any of that yet. 
She just goes out and plays and 
she’s so fun to watch.”

Gondrezick’s 
performance 

against the Hawkeyes was just 
one piece of a much larger effort 
that garnered her a fifth Big Ten 
Freshman of the Week honor, 
as she notched career-highs in 
points (23) and steals (6) in the 
contest after scoring 19 in her 
previous game at Illinois. She 
also shot 2-for-4 from beyond the 
arc, improving her 3-point field-
percentage to .475, the fifth-best 
mark in the country.

Proof 
of 
the 
Wolverines’ 

improvement — and Gondrezick 
as a secret weapon — is no longer 
private. Michigan, sitting at 19-5 
overall, is now getting national 
recognition after being ranked No. 
21 in the Associated Press poll for 
the first time since week 12 of the 
2012-13 season.

While Gondrezick herself has 

helped propel the team into the 
national spotlight, her presence 
has also distracted opposing teams 
and catalyzed greater productivity 
from her teammates, too.

This was especially apparent 

during the most important play 
against Iowa, when Gondrezick 
handled the ball at the top 
of the arc to space the floor, 
ultimately leaving the paint 
open 
for 
sophomore 
guard 

Nicole Munger to receive a 
swing pass in the corner, drive 
the baseline and score with 27 
seconds left to seal the contest 
for the Wolverines. And that’s 
only one example.

Unless Michigan endures an 

epic collapse in its final six games, 
it finally looks poised to make 
— and compete — in the NCAA 
Tournament. It can largely thank 
Gondrezick for that. 

Wolfe can be reached at 

eewolfe@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @ethanewolfe.

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer

