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