4B — February 13, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Defense blossoms in Bloomington
BLOOMINGTON — Just a few
weeks ago, the Michigan men’s
basketball team was completely
reliant on its offense in order to win.
The Wolverines’ 91-85 win over
Nebraska on Jan. 14 showcased
what many thought would be the
strategy Michigan would have to
take to pick up any future wins.
Even Michigan head coach John
Beilein, knew to a degree, that the
Wolverines had to rely solely on
their ability to outscore opponents
to find any success in the conference
schedule.
But Beilein believed that inciting
any action from the Wolverines on
the defensive end would halt their
dependence on putting up massive
point tallies to win games.
“We can score points as you can
see,” Beilein said following that win.
“Trying to outscore people, you still
have to defend better. We’re not
doing that. We don’t have the depth
or right players to do that. We’ve got
to find these little steps to try and
get better.”
A month after those comments,
Michigan won a basketball game —
thanks in large part to its defense.
On Sunday, the Wolverines
prevented Indiana from finding any
sort of rhythm on offense, forcing
the Hoosiers to commit 15 turnovers
in Michigan’s 75-63 win.
Though it might be hard to
believe, the same team that gave
up 85 points to the Cornhuskers’
unspectacular offense in Ann Arbor
transformed into the one that shut
down Indiana offensively for 40
minutes in Bloomington.
“I want to embrace the fact that
we had a great overall game, start
to finish,” said senior guard Derrick
Walton Jr. “We had a great defensive
effort and great defensive principle.
We stayed in front of guys and knew
the scouting report. And most of all,
when the going got tough, we never
fumbled.”
For Michigan, simplifying its
defensive scheme and focusing on
the basics has helped it get the stops
it needs.
No player better exemplified
the
Wolverines’
defensive
transformation than junior guard
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman.
Facing a difficult matchup with
the Hoosiers’ lead scorer, James
Blackmon
Jr.,
Abdur-Rahkman
didn’t give the Indiana guard any
breathing room on the perimeter
and took advantage of his weakness
in turning the ball over.
Blackmon finished with just
seven points while committing
two turnovers. Abdur-Rahkman
had similar success shutting down
Blackmon in the Ann Arbor leg
of the series on Jan. 26, but the
fact that he was able to replicate
it in Bloomington was a good sign
moving forward for the Wolverines.
Michigan’s perimeter defense
overall, which had the Big Ten’s
worst
3-point
conversion
rate
against for much of the season, has
steadily improved, and turned in its
best performance to date against
Indiana.
The
Wolverines
forced
the
Hoosiers into shooting 21 percent
from behind the arc and converting
just four triples the entire game.
Indiana entered as one of the
conference’s best 3-point shooting
teams, not just because of its
talented guard play, but because the
Hoosiers have a frontcourt that is
unafraid to launch long shots.
Indiana center Thomas Bryant
entered Sunday’s game shooting 45
percent from deep, but didn’t hit
a single one of his four attempted
threes. Sophomore forward Moritz
Wagner and redshirt sophomore
forward DJ Wilson stayed in front
of Bryant outside the post, and
provided help on defense to prevent
Bryant from expanding his game
and becoming dangerous outside
the paint.
Abdur-Rahkman, Wilson and
Wagner have all also become
more vocal on defense, and that
has helped Michigan improve its
weaknesses on the defensive end,
particularly on the perimeter.
“It’s really interesting going into
a huddle when I hear (Wagner),
or I hear (Wilson), or (senior
wing Zak Irvin) instructing other
players about what we have to do on
defense,” Beilein said. “That’s really
healthy for us.”
The Wolverines’ mentality on
the defensive end has completely
changed in the past month. While
there seemed to be apathy for
making defensive stops culminating
in the Wolverines’ blowout at
Illinois and the barnburner against
the Cornhuskers, Michigan knows
it has the bodies and talent to be a
top-half Big Ten defense.
Walton has taken charge in
changing mentalities from the point
guard position, becoming a more
physical and aggressive presence
defending opposing guards. That
mindset has trickled down to his
teammates, who he believes can all
become elite defenders.
“We have so much defensive
potential with all five guys being
able to stay in front of their guy,”
Walton said. “There’s a lot of things
that go into guarding guys; it’s
schemes, it’s different actions. Just
making sure we’re on top of that
with the same effort level, it’s the
only difference.”
Michigan’s defense, though, still
has several faults. The Wolverines
still aren’t a great rebounding team,
and were outrebounded again by
the Hoosiers 32-29. Their lack of
depth puts a cap on how aggressive
individual players can be to keep
Michigan out of foul trouble.
But the Wolverines have an
offense
powerful
enough
to
overcome some of the lingering
problems
that
remain.
Fixing
its
mentality
was
Michigan’s
biggest hurdle on the defensive
end, and Sunday showed how
far the Wolverines have come in
attempting to fix that problem.
“The energy on that side of the
ball is just at the level where it
was elite in the early conference
and early season,” Walton said.
“… People know that when we get
stops, we have such a potent offense.
Nine times out of 10, when we get
stops, we’re going to win.”
As
Michigan
enters
the
homestretch of the regular season,
its defense appears to be coming
together and helping to win games
now more than ever. Holding
Indiana to 60 and Michigan State to
57 points earlier in the week shows
the potential that the Wolverines
have been holding back defensively.
Now Michigan has to find a way
to bottle that intensity and ensure it
can last.
“Just knowing that’s the hump
we have to get over that made such
a great story for us earlier in the
season,” Walton said. “Getting
back to enjoying playing defense
and stopping people is all the
difference.”
BRANDON CARNEY
Daily Sports Writer
Wolverines hold off Badgers, 75-66
On New Year’s Day, the No.
21 Michigan women’s basketball
team traveled to the Kohl Center
and defeated Wisconsin, 73-56.
Sophomore center Hallie Thome
scored 37 points and nabbed 14
rebounds that day.
Thome did not have quite as
many points or rebounds Sunday
— notching 13 and 6, respectively.
This time it was junior guard
Katelynn Flaherty who led the
Wolverines to victory over the
Badgers by a score of 75-66.
Flaherty finished the game with
35 points, just three shy of her
record set on Jan. 7 against Ohio
State.
Michigan (10-2 Big Ten, 21-5
overall) earned the win despite
the struggles of guard Kysre
Gondrezick.
The
freshman
sensation scored just three points
in the entire contest.
“We had to grind out a tough
one today,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “Our ability to
do that is positive. Anytime you
can get a victory, we’re definitely
going to take it.”
Wisconsin (1-11, 6-19) proved
to be a pesky opponent for the
Wolverines, as the Badgers trailed
just 55-51 with nine minutes to go
in the final quarter. But senior
guard Siera Thompson pulled
down a defensive rebound, found
Thome for a layup, and Wisconsin
never recovered.
It wasn’t only the fourth
quarter where the Badgers kept
the game close, though.
The Wolverines had difficulties
on the glass in the first quarter,
as
Wisconsin
outrebounded
Michigan, 13-7. Despite those
rebounding woes, the Wolverines
held a 13-12 advantage at the
end of the frame thanks to
seven points from Flaherty. The
Badgers abetted Michigan’s cause
by turning the ball over six times
in the opening frame.
“We definitely need to rebound
better,”
Flaherty
said.
“But
eventually we found people in
good positions. I just felt good
today. A lot of my shots were open,
which wasn’t the case the past
couple of games.”
More issues cropped up for
the Wolverines in the second
stanza. Michigan made just six of
its 12 free throws and mustered
merely two offensive rebounds.
Gondrezick added to the woes,
by not registering a single point,
rebound or assist in the first half.
It prompted Barnes Arico to give
her five minutes off, and little
went right for the Wolverines
early in the game.
But Flaherty once again came
to the rescue. She netted 14 points
in the second, including the first
five points of the quarter, which
allowed Michigan to take a 35-29
lead into halftime.
“I’m grateful every day that I
have Katelynn Flaherty on our
team,” Barnes Arico said. “There
are some days when Katelynn’s
shot might not be falling, or
some days where teams are face
guarding her, and she doesn’t get
very many open looks. But the
attention that she draws each
and every single day, whether she
has a day where she scores 35,
whether she has a day where she
scores 11, is a difference maker for
our team.”
The third frame threatened
to go the way of the first two,
as Wisconsin made two quick
baskets to cut its deficit to two
points. Michigan was in danger
of falling to an opponent that
walked into Sunday’s contest with
only one Big Ten win.
Then junior forward Jillian
Dunston stepped up. After getting
in foul trouble in the first half,
her first play of the second half
involved forcing a steal, beating
Badger forward Marsha Howard
to the ball and racing down the
court for a layup. The Wolverines
maintained a lead of at least four
points for the remainder of the
game.
“When
we
don’t
have
(Dunston) in the game, we’re a
different team,” Barnes Arico
said. “She provides so much
energy and so much hustle. She
has such an incredible motor.”
From there, sophomore guard
Nicole Munger tallied six points
in the third quarter, which gave
Michigan a 52-46 lead heading
into the final quarter. Munger
finished Sunday with her first
career double-double, tallying 12
points and 10 rebounds.
The
difficulty
of
the
Wolverines’
schedule
will
increase substantially over the
next week, as Michigan prepares
to travel to Indiana (7-5, 17-8)
on Thursday before taking on
Michigan State (6-6, 16-9) at
Crisler Center on Sunday. The
Wolverines know they will have
to clean up Sunday’s issues in
order to emerge victorious in
those contests.
“Today, I don’t think we did a
great job of taking away the other
team’s strength,” Barnes Arico
said. “Knowing your personnel
and knowing, ‘Okay, if that kid is
going to go right shoulder, right
shoulder,’ or if a kid is going to
drive left. We need to be able to be
locked into those things.”
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
Junior guard Katelynn Flaherty scored 35 points — 14 in the second quarter alone — to help Michigan top Wisconsin.
NATHANIEL CLARK
Daily Sports Writer
Flaherty resurfaces
in win over Badgers
In the Michigan women’s
basketball team’s previous two
games, Kysre Gondrezick has
been stuffing the stat sheet.
The freshman point guard has
led the Wolverines in scoring
in those contests — typically
a mainstay of junior guard
Katelynn Flaherty — putting up
a career-high 25 points against
Purdue on Wednesday.
But on Sunday afternoon,
Flaherty returned to her role
as the team’s most elite scorer,
barraging Wisconsin for 35
points on 12-for-17 shooting —
including six 3-pointers — in
Michigan’s 75-66 win over the
Badgers. The performance was
her second-best scoring total
and trails only the 38-point
outburst she posted Jan. 7 in
a loss to Ohio State — a game
she wishes she could’ve bested
against Wisconsin.
“I wasn’t really thinking
about
(breaking
my
point
record) until I saw it and I was
kinda frustrated with missing
my foul shots. I was just happy
that we were winning. … (Jillian
Dunston) set great screens so a
lot of my shots were wide open,
which they haven’t been in the
past two games.”
Like sophomore center Hallie
Thome, who had a career-best 37
points and grabbed 14 rebounds
in the Wolverines’ previous
matchup at Wisconsin, Sunday’s
contest offered a similar aura
with Flaherty leading the charge.
But Flaherty’s efforts proved to
be much more important this
time around, as the Badgers kept
their deficit within single digits
throughout most of the match.
In the first quarter, Flaherty
seemed to be the only player who
could put the ball in the basket.
While she shot 3-for-5, the rest
of the team struggled, going just
3-for-13, and the rest of the game
carried along to the same accord.
Flaherty’s seven first-quarter
points appeared to be just
another day at the office for
her, but after the first inbounds
pass of the following period,
Wisconsin couldn’t contain her.
She finished the quarter with 14
points, hitting three treys and
maneuvering her way to the
basket at will.
“Some of the shots, me and
(assistant coach Megan Duffy)
were laughing on the bench,”
said sophomore guard Nicole
Munger, who finished the game
with her first career double-
double. “She was like five feet
behind the 3-point line, fading
backward. It’s Kate, she’s gonna
make them.”
Flaherty kept Michigan alive
throughout the game, but her
most crucial baskets came in
a timely fashion. At both the
3:38 and 2:28 marks of the final
quarter, Flaherty aggressively
charged toward the basket and
picked up consecutive and-1
layups to bring the Wolverines’
lead
to
double
digits
and
effectively put the game away.
“It
just
gave
us
such
momentum,”
said
Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico. “She
was really incredible. She really
did a great job of finishing. You
can find people (down low),
but making the plays does not
always happen and Katelynn can
finish so many plays. Her and
(Munger) put the team on their
backs and really pulled out this
victory for us.”
Gondrezick’s
recent
emergence as a prolific scorer
has been a welcome sight for
Michigan, but after scoring just
three points against the Badgers,
even she has learned that in light
of Flaherty’s previous struggles,
it’s always reassuring when
Katelynn Flaherty is hitting her
shots.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
The Michigan men’s basketball team stepped up on the defensive end of the court against the Hooisers.