The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, January 26, 2018 — 7

The No. 16 Michigan women’s 

basketball team is cruising, and 
the road ahead looks clear.

Having pummeled Michigan 

State on Tuesday, 74-48, the 
Wolverines (7-2 Big Ten, 18-4 
overall) are currently on a 
five-game winning streak that 
includes victories over then-No. 
8 Ohio State in Columbus, as 
well as a monstrous, 44-point 
win against Illinois.

Michigan now ranks second 

in the Big Ten standings and 
is well on its way to qualifying 
for the NCAA Tournament. If 
there ever was a time for the 
Wolverines to take a breather 
and pat themselves on the back, it 
would be this weekend, heading 
into Sunday’s matchup against 
a bottom-feeding Northwestern 
team.

But that is not what Michigan 

coach Kim Barnes Arico has 
planned for her team. She is 
already planning for the trip 
ahead as Michigan gets set to 
face the Wildcats (2-5, 9-12) 
Sunday afternoon in Evanston.

“We just have to be locked 

in, focused,” Barnes Arico told 
WTKA. “Every matchup in our 
league is a great matchup. You 
can’t go by anyone’s record.”

The Wildcats graduated star 

forward Nia Coffey from last 
year’s team that finished with 
a 20-11 record. With four new 
freshmen on the roster, they 
are much younger than before. 
But with youth comes growing 
pains, and these have been 
apparent. Northwestern has lost 
four of its last five games and sits 
at twelfth in the conference.

On top of the growing pains, 

captain Lydia Rohde’s injury 
midway through the season has 
also weakened the Wildcats. 
The senior guard is a gifted 
shooter and a key part of her 
team’s offense, shooting over 
40 percent from beyond the arc. 
Rohde is one of the few veterans 
on a team filled with youngsters. 

Without her, Northwestern is 
without its leader.

The Wildcats also suffer from 

the absence of another talented 
guard. Junior Amber Jamison 
— who started in 11 contests her 
sophomore year — has taken 
a leave of absence this season, 
weakening 
Northwestern’s 

backcourt depth further.

With 
all 
the 

changes 
in 
the 

depth 
chart, 

others 
have 

had to step up. 
Unexpected 
contributions 
have come from 
freshman 
guard 

Lindsey Pulliam, 
sophomore 
forward 
Abi 

Scheid 
and 

junior forward Pallas Kunaiyi-
Akpanah who lead the team 
in 
scoring, 
averaging 
14.0, 

12.9 and 10.6 points per game, 
respectively.

It is unlikely the Wildcats 

will be able to keep up with 
the Wolverines and 3-point 
markswoman Katelynn Flaherty. 
The senior guard averages 23.3 
points per contest and has made 
tremendous improvements in 
running the point. Against the 
Spartans, Flaherty showed off 
her passing ability, racking up 
six assists and creating countless 
scoring chances for her team 

when she drew double teams.

Even if Northwestern finds 

a way to contain Flaherty, 
Michigan has no shortage of 
firepower. Junior center Hallie 
Thome and junior guard Nicole 
Munger continue to significantly 
contribute to the offense, and 
freshman 
forward 
Hailey 

Brown has also shown potential. 

And 
even 
if 

the 
Wildcats 

can 
stump 

Michigan’s 
offense, 
its 

stout 
defense 

— it allows just 
60.1 points per 
game 
— 
has 

rescued 
the 

team before.

Given these 

circumstances, 

the Wolverines should have 
a fairly smooth ride against 
Northwestern, 
barring 
an 

unacceptable performance.

But Barnes Arico wants to 

make sure there are no bumps 
at all, and wants her team to stay 
focused.

“You just have to play the best 

Michigan basketball that we can 
play,” Barnes Arico said. “We 
wanna make sure that there is 
never a doubt moving forward 
that we are putting ourselves in 
a position to win a championship 
and be selected in the NCAA 
Tournament.”

Report: Enos leaving for Alabama

The 2017 Michigan football 

team’s offensive woes were no 
secret.

Watch 
footage 
of 
the 

Wolverines 
and 
it 
becomes 

apparent almost immediately. 
Michigan’s pass offense had the 
fourth-fewest yards per game 
and total passing touchdowns 
in the Big Ten, an amalgam of 
a porous line and indecisive 
quarterback play. The shiftiness 
of Karan Higdon and Chris 
Evans were a band-aid as the 
run game averaged 177.7 yards 
per game.

For a 2018 season already 

littered 
with 
sky-high 

expectations, 
Michigan 
has 

reportedly 
hired 
Minnesota 

offensive line coach and run 
game coordinator Ed Warinner 
to shore up a weak offensive line 
— one that is also losing its most 
consistent talent in left tackle 
Mason Cole.

Football Scoop broke the 

news of Warinner’s hire on 
Saturday, a report that was 
quickly met with speculation 

on social media. The following 
day, Football Scoop reported 
that Warinner was a strong 
candidate to join forces with 
new Tennessee Titans head 
coach Mike Vrabel — the pair 
coached together at Ohio State 
— and no longer considered for 
the Wolverines’ opening.

As of the publishing of this 

story, 
Warinner’s 
Twitter 

profile appears to have put 
these rumors to bed, despite no 
official statement. His profile 
picture and cover photo display 
the Block ‘M’ and a portrait 
of Michigan Stadium, and his 
biography reads “University of 
Michigan.”

Under Warinner last season, 

the Golden Gophers’ run game 
finished third in the Big Ten 
in rushing yards per game 
(182.4), led by Rodney Smith. 
In his previous coaching stint 
at Ohio State as an offensive 
coordinator, 
the 
Buckeyes’ 

rushing attack finished in the 
top 15 nationally in every season 
of his five-year tenure there. 

Warinner’s official title and 

job responsibilities have not 
been released yet. Currently, all 

10 of the Wolverines’ available 
coaching positions are filled, 
which would relegate Warinner 
to an analyst role — that title 
limits 
him 
from 
coaching 

on-field 
or 
participating 
in 

recruitment efforts.

A coaching position may be 

opening soon, though. Dan Enos 
— who was reported to have 
joined Michigan’s staff as a wide 
receivers coach on Jan. 10 — is 
expected to become an associate 
coach and quarterbacks coach 
at Alabama, according to Pete 
Thamel of Yahoo Sports.

Enos 
was 
initially 
hired 

away as Arkansas’ offensive 
coordinator and would have 
been tasked with developing a 
young wide receiver core that 
played to their inexperience in 
2017. Junior Grant Perry and 
freshman 
Donovan 
Peoples-

Jones 
led 
the 
Wolverines’ 

receivers with 307 and 277 
receiving yards, respectively.

Michigan 
will 
have 
its 

work cut out to improve on 
a disappointing 8-5 season, 
but it’ll have to figure out its 
coaching staff first if it hopes to 
take that next step.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh may be on the hunt for another assistant coach soon.

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Editor

Enos signed a contract to join Michigan’s staff in December 

KBA, Michigan look to keep cruising

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Kim Barnes Arico and Michigan will play Northwestern this weekend.

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

“Every 

matchup in our 
league is a great 

matchup.”

Against No. 6 Ohio State, Wolverines will find out how far they’ve come

It has taken over three months, 

but the overarching narrative 
of the Michigan hockey team’s 
season finally appears to have 
found some stability.

The Wolverines brought their 

high-octane 
offense 
to 
Penn 

State in October and earned an 
encouraging split against the 
defending Big Ten champions. 
Two weeks later, they took four 
points from Minnesota thanks 
to two furious comebacks in the 
third 
period. 
The 
rebuilding 

process after a 13-19-2 season 
appeared to be ahead of schedule.

But this momentum hit a wall 

shortly after, as Michigan won 
only one of its next seven games 
while allowing 4.3 goals per 
contest. This wasn’t a team even 
close to being ready for serious Big 
Ten contention.

That is, until the Wolverines 

went to Mariucci Arena and 
swept the Golden Gophers in 
Minneapolis for the first time 
since 1977. The next week, they 
held the Nittany Lions — the 
nation’s highest-scoring offense 

— to zero goals during even-
strength play en route to a second 
consecutive sweep, vaulting from 
sixth to third in the conference 
standings in just nine days.

Michigan has seen multiple 

scoring lines develop, including 
the emergence of junior Brendan 
Warren, sophomore Jake Slaker 
and 
freshman 

Josh 
Norris 
to 

complement 
the 

first line of seniors 
Dexter Dancs and 
Tony 
Calderone 

and 
junior 

Cooper Marody. 
Sophomore 
Hayden Lavigne 
stood 
on 
his 

head all weekend 
against 
Penn 

State, saving 77 of 79 shots, and 
has firmly asserted himself as the 
Wolverines’ top goaltender. In 
the words of coach Mel Pearson, 
Michigan has figured out “how to 
play to have success.”

“One thing that Mel always 

tells us is it’s about the process,” 
Norris said. “Especially (in the) 
last six or seven games, I think 
we’ve done a good job of sticking 

to our systems and our strengths 
as a team.”

The 
seventeenth-ranked 

Wolverines (7-7-2 Big Ten, 12-10-
2 overall) will need to do that and 
more this weekend, as they travel 
three hours down the road to 
battle with No. 6 Ohio State (8-5-1, 
15-5-4) in a matchup that will test 

just how much 
the 
Wolverines 

have progressed 
this season.

On 
the 
last 

weekend 
of 

November, 
the 
Buckeyes 

defeated 
Michigan, 3-2 and 
5-1, at Yost Ice 
Arena. 
Neither 

game 
was 
as 

close as the scores suggest. Ohio 
State was comprehensively better 
in every facet of play, and the 
Wolverines were, in their own 
words, outworked.

“The makeup came off and we 

saw a lot of the blemishes this 
weekend,” Pearson said on Nov. 
25. “We were able to cover some 
things up, (but) this weekend 
we saw a little bit of some of the 

issues that we’re going to have 
going forward.”

Those issues — including, but 

not 
limited 
to, 
undisciplined 

defense, lack of offensive depth 
and inconsistent 
goaltending 
— 

were met quite 
convincingly 
against 
Minnesota 
and 

Penn State. But 
the 
Buckeyes 

are still every bit 
the 
well-oiled 

machine 
they 

were two months 
ago.

In fact, Ohio State may be even 

better at this point. It has won 
seven of its last eight, allowing 
just 15 goals in those games. Two 
weeks ago, the Buckeyes blew out 
the Nittany Lions, 5-1, in State 
College, snapping Penn State’s 

11-game unbeaten streak.

Ohio State relies mainly on a 

stingy defense that allows just 2.1 
goals per game, with goaltender 
Sean Romeo and his .924 save 

percentage 
serving 
as 
the 

backbone. It is 
formidable 
on 

special 
teams, 

having 
killed 

90.1 percent of its 
penalties, a figure 
which leads the 
nation.

But 
the 

Buckeyes 
have 

their 
share 
of 

playmakers on offense as well. 
Forward Tanner Laczynski is the 
engine that makes their offense 
go, leading the nation with 23 
assists and ranking third with 34 
points. Mathew Weis and Mason 
Jobst complement Laczynski with 

26 and 23 points, respectively.

Yes, Michigan has its work 

cut out for it this weekend. But 
that’s just the reality of life in the 
Big Ten. There are no breaks, no 
rewards for success. Only really 
good teams, week in and week 
out.

But 
the 
Wolverines 
are 

confident that they’re one of 
those teams, that they’re fit to 
survive the pressure cooker 
that is this conference. Their 
performance this month backs 
up that belief.

Now, they must back it up once 

again.

“We go into games really 

confident, and we know that we 
can beat anybody when we play 
our best,” Norris said. “When 
we have all the guys on the same 
string and we’re in the same boat, 
we have a really good chance of 
winning every game.”
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

Freshman forward Josh Norris is confident that the Wolverines can “beat anybody” when they play their best.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“One thing that 
Mel always tells 
us is it’s about 
the process.”

Ohio State 

relies mainly 
on a stingy 

defense.

No. 17 Michigan was swept at home by the Buckeyes in the first two meetings between the rivals this season

