8 — Friday, December 1, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Big Ten beckons as Wolverines are looking to rebound

It’s the season of giving, and 

boy could the Big Ten use some 
luck after this week.

The Big Ten/ACC Challenge 

came and went, 
and it was an 
unsightly scene 
for the former. 
The 
Big 
Ten 

posted a 2-11 
record against 
its 
fellow 

Power 
Five 

conference 
foes, unveiling 
harsh 
signs 

of 
the 
down 

year that many 
expected. 
Now 
for 
the 

Michigan 
men’s 
basketball team, with a newly-
designed Big Ten schedule, 
the first of two December 
conference 
matchups 
begins 

Saturday against Indiana and 
both teams desperately need a 
pick-me-up victory. 

The 
Hoosiers 
(4-3) 
have 

essentially been a captainless 

ship thus far, with seven players 
averaging seven or more points. 
Guard Robert Johnson is the 
closest qualifier to be recognized 
as Indiana’s leader, ranking first 
on the team in scoring with 14.1 
points per game. The bulky, 195-
pound senior is the only Hoosier 
averaging more than 25 minutes 
per 
game 
and 
could 
pose 

the greatest challenge to the 
Wolverines (6-2), who remain 
in limbo over who will take over 
the point guard reins.

Johnson 
was 
especially 

impressive in Indiana’s narrow 
91-81 loss to No. 1 Duke on 
Wednesday, 
showcasing 

an 
expansive 
range 
while 

contributing 
tough 
defense 

on the Blue Devils’ backcourt 
amidst an otherwise porous 
defensive effort by his team.

On Saturday, the direction 

of the contest may ultimately 
depend 
on 
which 
Indiana 

shows up — the one that lost to 
Indiana State at home by 21, or 
the one that was neck-and-neck 
with Duke for almost a full 40 
minutes.

This volatility, though, is all 

too familiar to Michigan. After 
a nearly flawless performance 

against 
UC 
Riverside 
last 

Sunday, the Wolverines looked 
like 
they 
somehow 
picked 

up more momentum against 
No. 13 North 
Carolina 
with 

an astonishing 
8-for-8 
start 

from 
the 

field. 
The 

incredulous 
shooting 
was 

short-lived, 
as 
Michigan 

followed 
that 

start 
with 
a 

more 
typical 

20-for-58 finish en route to an 
86-71 defeat.

“I 
think 
North 
Carolina 

might be that good, and we’re 
definitely not that bad. But we 
certainly played poorly,” said 
Michigan coach John Beilein 
after the loss. “... We (shot 
well), too. But we all of a sudden 
went out of that and got a little 
uncharacteristic of ourselves 
and we got what we deserved.”

Added junior forward Moritz 

Wagner: “I don’t like to say 
that 
(we’re 
young) 
because 

that sounds like an excuse. … 
We can’t allow that stuff. That 

just can’t happen. We’re a great 
group and we always talk about 
how great our chemistry is. 
We’ve gotta show that on the 

floor.”

A 
15-point 

defeat 
to 
a 

college basketball 
powerhouse isn’t a 
cause for concern, 
of 
course. 
The 

Wolverines’ 
torrid 
scoring 

pace 
initially 

illustrated 
their 

potential to attack 
from all spots on 

the floor. Wagner waltzed freely 
in the paint, Charles Matthews 
continued creating space for his 
shots and Michigan was passing 

well and finding open looks 
from beyond the arc — they just 
weren’t falling like they should 
have.

An 
obvious 
weak 
point 

the matchup against the Tar 
Heels 
revealed, 
however, 

is 
inconsistent 
frontcourt 

defense from Wagner and fifth-
year senior forward Duncan 
Robinson. 
North 
Carolina’s 

Luke Maye had a field day 
overpowering Robinson, and 
Wagner struggled to corral 
defensive rebounds over the 
more-athletic Theo Pinson and 
the towering Garrison Brooks 
and Sterling Manley. Indiana’s 
De’Ron 
Davis 
and 
Juwan 

Morgan may not carry the same 
finesse as the Tar Heels big 

men, but they will be the biggest 
front court duo the Wolverines 
have faced so far.

“We weren’t ready for the 

quickness, the speed and the 
precision that they run with,” 
Beilein said. “We weren’t locked 
in defensively, we just weren’t 
locked in. I can’t tell you why. 
We’ve seen it before, we’ve gotta 
shore it up.”

Eight games into the season, 

Beilein is yet to solidify an 
eight- or nine-player rotation 
that would put the cynical fan at 
ease, even against a rebuilding 
team like the Hoosiers. With 
Big Ten season starting early, 
having that decided quickly is 
becoming the fine line between 
winning and losing.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Junior forward Moritz Wagner finished with 20 points, but it wasn’t enough to lead the Wolverines past North Carolina.

Michigan must extend its rotation

or risk running out of gas 

A

mong the problems 
exposed in the Michigan 
women‘s basketball 

team‘s loss to No. 3 Notre Dame 
on Wednesday: depth, or lack 
thereof.

The 

Wolverines 
scored all 
of six bench 
points, four 
of them 
coming 
after coach 
Kim Barnes 
Arico 
emptied the 
bench once 
the Fighting 
Irish stretched their lead to 20.

When the game was still 

within reach, Michigan was 
locked into a seven-woman 
rotation. Freshman guard Deja 
Church and sophomore forward 
Kayla Robbins were the only 
players coming off the bench for 
any sustained time.

All five Wolverine starters 

played at least 30 minutes. 
Senior guard Katelynn Flaherty 
played 39, senior forward Jillian 
Dunston totaled 38, and junior 
center Hallie Thome notched 
34. Church was the only bench 
player with over five minutes.

Given that no Notre Dame 

player went over 35 minutes, it 
may not be a coincidence that 
Michigan expired at the start of 
the fourth quarter.

“I think that (our strength 

coach) Jamie (Preiss) has 
conditioned us very well so 
I think that we’re prepared 
for anything,” Thome said 
after the game. “It wasn’t like 
fatigue physically, I think it was 
mentally just always having to 
locate Arike (Ogunbowale) and 
just be aware of where everyone 
is.”

There’s no doubt that trying 

to stop Ogunbowale — who 
finished with 32 points for the 

Fighting Irish — took a mental 
toll on Michigan. But the notion 
that there was no physical 
fatigue at all, well, that’s a 
tough sell.

The Wolverines were 

scrambling on defense all 
night, not just to keep up 
with Ogunbowale, but to stay 
competitive on the boards. 
They were outrebounded by 
a 42-28 margin, but given 
that Notre Dame had a clear 
size advantage, it could have 
been worse. To stay that close, 
Michigan bracketed the 6-foot-
4 Jessica Shepard off the ball 
for the early part of the game. 
That left the Wolverines 
scrambling for rotations 
on nearly every defensive 

possession.

They scrapped that strategy 

before the first half was over, 
but sprinting around the floor 
like their lives depended on 
it had to have some effect — 
especially when nobody had a 
chance to catch their breath.

Right now, Michigan doesn’t 

seem to have the depth to 
compete with the nation’s best. 
Even Robbins, who has flashed 
the ability to play Dunston’s 
role as a defensive grinder and 
off-ball catalyst, was trusted 
with all of five minutes on 
Wednesday.

As for the rest of the bench, 

the Wolverines are still waiting 

for someone to emerge.

Freshman point guard 

Priscilla Smeenge got two 
minutes of playing time on 
Wednesday when the game was 
still attainable, but that was a 
flash in the pan. She’s had just 
five minutes of playing time this 
season.

As for sophomore guard 

Akienreh Johnson, Barnes 
Arico has yet to trust her 
for more than a few minutes 
each game and didn’t play 
her against the Fighting 
Irish until garbage time. 
Ditto for sophomore forward 
KeAsja Peace. Junior forward 
Samantha Trammel has gotten 
on the floor for only three 
minutes all year. One of these 
players has to emerge as a 
reliable rotation option for 
the team to compete against 
tougher competition.

They can’t depend on 

Flaherty to play 39 minutes a 
night — that’s an unreasonable 
ask for anyone, even the 
team‘s cornerstone. She‘s 
averaging 37.3 minutes per 
game right now and four of 
Michigan’s games have been 
against pushovers. What‘s that 
number going to look like once 
conference play picks up?

This can’t continue, or the 

Wolverines will be out of gas 
by Christmas. Lucky for them, 
there’s still nearly a month 
left before Big Ten play starts 
and Michigan should breeze 
through teams like North 
Florida, Fort Wayne and 
Delaware State.

Barnes Arico has to use that 

time to figure out an eighth 
spot in the rotation and balance 
out the minutes distribution 
a little more. If she doesn’t, 
it will come back to bite the 
Wolverines.

Sears can be reached on 

Twitter @ethan_sears.

Season in Review: Wide receivers

With the Michigan football 

team’s 2017 regular season in 
the books, the Daily looks back 
at the performance of each unit 
this year and looks ahead to the 
future in 2018. In this edition: 
wide receivers.

This season, the Wolverines 

had to absorb the loss of their 
two leading receivers from 
2016 — Amara Darboh and 
Jehu Chesson.

Quite 
simply, 
their 

departures showed.

The duo of fifth-year seniors 

combined for 1,362 yards and 
nine touchdowns to finish off 
their Michigan careers. This 
year, the Wolverines had five 
main receiving targets — junior 
Grant Perry, sophomores Kekoa 
Crawford and Eddie McDoom 
and 
freshmen 
Donovan 

Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black 
(the latter of whom fell victim 
to injury in September) — 
but managed just 938 yards 
and 
three 
touchdowns 
in 

comparison.

Perry, the veteran of the 

group, led the way with 25 
catches for 307 yards and a 
touchdown, but even as the 
primary option, he faced a drop 
in production from a season 
ago. As the third receiver in 
2016, he collected 183 yards and 
a touchdown on just 13 targets.

Crawford had a bright start 

to the season, hauling in a 
career-high four receptions for 
a career-best 83 yards with one 
touchdown against Cincinnati. 
But an increased role in the 
passing game didn’t last long 
for the sophomore, who didn’t 
catch more than two passes in 
a game for the rest of the year. 
His 
counterpart, 
McDoom, 

faced his own struggles in his 
second season, garnering just 
81 yards all year.

Peoples-Jones, though he 

didn’t begin the season as a 

starter, turned into Michigan’s 
second-best receiver in his first 
year as a Wolverine, catching 16 
passes for 219 yards. While he 
didn’t reach the end zone as a 
receiver, he did have a 79-yard 
punt return touchdown against 
Air Force. His classmate, Black, 
opened the year as a starter and 
looked poised to have a stellar 
campaign before a foot injury 
against Air Force derailed his 
season.

To 
be 
fair, 
Michigan’s 

receiving unit had to deal with 
a carousel of quarterbacks 
throughout the year. Redshirt 
junior Wilton Speight, redshirt 
freshman Brandon Peters and 
fifth-year senior John O’Korn 
all spent time under center 
for 
the 
Wolverines 
during 

various points of the season, 
which could have factored 
significantly 
in 
Michigan’s 

struggles through the air in 
2017.

HIGH POINT: In a season 

with 
few 
options 
in 
this 

category, 
the 
Wolverines’ 

second 
game 
of 
the 
year 

against Cincinnati sticks out as 
the best performance from the 
unit.

All 
three 
of 
Michigan’s 

starting wideouts — Perry, 
Crawford and Black — caught 
four 
passes 
on 
the 
day, 

amassing a total of 160 yards.

Crawford and Perry also 

each found the end zone with 
43- and 33-yard touchdowns, 
respectively — the only time 
that multiple receivers scored 
in the same game all year.

Granted, 
the 
Wolverines’ 

passing game did have a few 
other strong outings, but much 
of the credit for that belongs to 
tight ends Sean McKeon and 
Zach Gentry.

The pair combined for 561 

yards and five touchdowns 
this year, and they connected 
especially well with Peters 
during his stint at the helm of 
Michigan’s offense.

LOW POINT: If his stellar 

start hadn’t reached an abrupt 
conclusion, Black might be in 
the above category. But just 
three weeks into his freshman 
season, the 6-foot-3 wideout 
had to be carted off the field 
late in the fourth quarter. He 
wouldn’t return for the rest of 
the year.

The day after the game, 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh 
said that Black would need 
to undergo surgery to repair 
a crack on the outside of his 
foot. Though no announcement 
has yet to be made, Harbaugh 
said in mid-November that he 
will explore the possibility of 
pursuing a medical redshirt 
for Black, which would allow 
him to preserve four years of 
eligibility.

Through three weeks, Black 

was the Wolverines’ leading 
receiver with 11 catches for 149 
yards and a touchdown.

Michigan 
certainly 
could 

have 
used 
his 
dynamic 

presence to breathe life into its 
passing offense in 2017.

THE 
FUTURE: 
The 

Wolverines won’t be losing 
anyone this time around.

All five receivers will be back 

to man the rotation next year, 
assuming Black’s recovery is 
smooth and he remains healthy 
over the course of the fall.

While seniors Drake Harris 

and Maurice Ways announced 
this week that they will pursue 
graduate transfers elsewhere, 
neither receiver made an impact 
on the field for Michigan. The 
most notable transfer news 
came from Speight, whose 
departure 
should 
stabilize 

the relationship between the 
Wolverines’ 
throwers 
and 

catchers next season.

With a full offseason as the 

presumed starter, Peters and 
his receivers will have plenty of 
time to develop their chemistry 
in order to turn the passing 
game around in 2018.

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Editor

Indiana at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
Michigan 6-2; 
Indiana 4-3

When: 
Saturday 
12:30 P.M. ET

Where: Crisler 
Center

TV/Radio: 

CBS

Man, it’s college 
basketball, I’m 
not gonna say 
we’re young.

BETELHEM ASHAME

Managing Sports Editor

FOOTBALL
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

ETHAN 
SEARS

They can’t 
depend on 
Flaherty 
to play 39 
minutes a 

night.

