The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 — 7
There for the taking
M
el Pearson’s timing was
interesting, to say the
least.
Sitting in
the bowels of
Little Caesars
Arena on
Saturday
night after
Michigan
had defeated
Michigan
State, 3-2, to
claim the Iron
D Trophy,
Pearson was
asked how significant the victory
was to his team.
“Huge. You can’t say it enough,”
the Wolverines’ coach replied.
“We want home ice in the playoffs.
I think we were picked to finish
sixth in the conference, so we’ve
got something to prove.”
It’s a noticeably different
tone from the one Pearson
struck earlier this season. That
was months ago — back when
Michigan’s dismal 13-19-3
campaign of a year prior was still
poignant, rather than the wisp of
a memory it is now.
Back then, the Wolverines,
curiously, didn’t act like a team
with a ton to prove. Yes, they were
picked to finish second-to-last in
a loaded Big Ten. No, that didn’t
mean much to them at all. Pearson
said at Michigan’s media day in
late September that he would pick
his team to win the league if he
were a forecaster.
“We don’t try and look too
much into that,” said senior
forward Dexter Dancs at media
day. “But it’s obviously a little bit
of an ‘F you,’ I guess you could say,
to us. … It was a little bit of a topic
of conversation, but, you know
what, we’re not looking too much
into it.”
And it’s been that way
all season. Preseason
prognostications clearly brought
some motivation, but the
Wolverines’ success this season
has never really felt like a rags-
to-riches, chip-on-shoulder
underdog story. This was further
evidenced when Michigan took
down then-No. 4 Minnesota on
Nov. 11. After that game, Pearson
was asked if his team made a
“statement” with the win. His
response was firm and definitive.
“No, no, no,” he said. “I told
our team we expect to win every
night, so it’s not a statement game.
We’ve got a lot of games, but it’s a
good win.”
Last Saturday, then, was the
first time in a good while that
Pearson or any of his players had
sought validation.
The timing is interesting,
because Michigan has already
proven itself.
There are just four games
left in the Wolverines’ regular
season, and at least six when you
include the Big Ten Tournament.
After 30 games and all the twists,
turns, ups and downs that came
with them, Michigan has nearly
escaped the Big Ten gauntlet
relatively intact.
With the victory over the
Spartans, the Wolverines moved
to third place in the conference
standings and 14th in the Pairwise
rankings, putting themselves
firmly on the NCAA Tournament
bubble. It’s a position that few
outside of Ann Arbor would have
imagined they’d inhabit five
months ago.
The hard work needed to get to
this point, however, has already
been put in.
Michigan can proudly list a 3-1
record against Penn State and a
road sweep at Minnesota on its
resume. It arguably outplayed
then-No. 2 Notre Dame when the
two teams met for a home-and-
home series in early January. The
Wolverines have battled through
adversity, such as the absence
of key players Josh Norris, Will
Lockwood and Quinn Hughes
for three games due to the World
Junior Championships in January,
and the loss of Lockwood for the
entire season after a shoulder
injury.
In his first season on the job,
Pearson has completely revamped
Michigan’s offense. In 2016-2017,
it languished, ranking 57th out
of 60 teams in Corsi percentage
— a measure of puck possession
and shot differential — and
42nd in goals per game. The
Wolverines are up to 21st and 14th,
respectively, this year.
While the first four months
of Michigan’s season haven’t
always provided a consistent
narrative from game to game,
a wholesale overview of those
30 games clearly reveals what
the Wolverines have proven to
be — young, talented and much-
improved, strong in some areas
and shaky in others, with a very
real chance at the postseason.
This weekend brings two
clashes — one home and one
away — with the Fighting Irish.
Michigan shouldn’t, and maybe
won’t, be punished excessively if
they suffer a sweep at the hands
of the No. 1 team in the nation.
But a victory would likely do
wonders for the Wolverines’
hopes.
“We’ll be ready and I know
Notre Dame will be ready,”
Pearson said Saturday. “But we
had two good games with them,
and we’ll look forward to it.”
After that, however, Michigan’s
schedule offers no such ambiguity.
The final regular season home
series is a non-conference set
against Arizona State. And the
Wolverines are guaranteed a
best-of-three quarterfinal series
in the Big Ten Tournament,
likely against either Penn State,
Wisconsin or Minnesota — which
Michigan, three points ahead of
the fourth-place Gophers, is likely
to host.
A sweep against the Sun Devils,
who rank 56th in Pairwise, feels
imperative. As does a first-round
tournament victory in a series
against the Nittany Lions or
Badgers — the loser of which
likely would see their tournament
dreams vanish.
If Michigan accomplishes
both of those feats, a semifinal
matchup against Notre Dame or
Ohio State likely awaits. Win then,
and it becomes nearly impossible
to picture the Wolverines failing
to snag an at-large bid. But at that
point, why not just win the Big
Ten and remove all doubt?
It’s past the time for validation.
At this point, Michigan’s identity
is all but finalized. What’s left
requires putting that identity into
action.
The Wolverines have earned
their spot on the bubble.
Everything after that is there for
the taking.
Shames can be reached at
jacosham@umich.edu or on
Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson believes last weekend’s wins were important.
JACOB
SHAMES
Wolverines struggle in
Match Play tournament
The Michigan men’s golf team
opened up its spring season on
Thursday
at
the
prestigious
Hammock Beach Golf course in
Palm Beach, Fla.
After
a
three-and-a
half
month hiatus, the Wolverines
matched up against Ohio State
in the opening round of the Big
Ten Match Play Championship.
They
struggled
against
the
Buckeyes, ultimately falling, 5-1.
Sophomore Brent Ito was the only
successful golfer for Michigan, as
he notched a 4-2 victory.
“Although we started off slow,
there were still a lot of positive
things we saw from the guys,”
said
Michigan
coach
Chris
Whitten.
Following the loss to Ohio
State,
the
Wolverines
saw
massive improvements against
top-seeded Purdue. The squad
became more familiar with the
course, but still fell, 4-2. Junior
Nick Charlson offered a bright
spot in his matchup, which came
down to the final holes before he
eventually prevailed, finishing
two up on his opponent.
“The team played much better
against
the
Boilermakers,
I
thought,” Whitten said.
Sitting in last place in the
division
heading
into
the
weekend, Michigan looked to
shape things up going into its
matchup
against
Maryland.
The tournament, however, got
interrupted by a fog delay, thus
reducing the match from 18 holes
to nine. This did not bode well for
the Wolverines, as they lost a pair
of matches coming down to the
final few holes.
“Today was a lot of situational
things,” Whitten said. “One putt
you needed for momentum just
never fell our way.”
The
Wolverines
faced
Nebraska in one last consolation
match Saturday afternoon.
Freshmen Henry Spring and
Charlie Pilon each tallied victories
against the Cornhuskers. Spring
won his match, 6-4, while Pilon
sank
Nebraska’s
Sean
Song,
4-3. The match proved to be the
most competitive of the day, as
the Wolverines finished with 2.5
victories. However, this was not
enough, as the Cornhuskers came
out on top, 3.5-2.5.
Michigan faces a two-week
break before its next action at the
Southwestern Jones invitational.
And it’s clear there is a lot of
improvement to be made before
then.
“We need to get back into the
rhythm for our next tournament,”
Whitten said.
MICHAEL HERSHENHORN
For the Daily
FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Michigan men’s golf team lost all four of its matches this weekend.
Wolverines need to find their flow
O
n Jan. 23, the Michigan
women’s basketball team
put
Michigan
State to
shame with a
26-point vic-
tory. When
the two sides
met again last
Sunday, the
Wolverines
started the
game with a
7-0 run and
looked like they might cause fur-
ther humiliation to their rivals.
That didn’t happen. Michigan
quickly lost its touch and fell to
the Spartans, 66-61.
After the game, Michigan
State coach Suzy Merchant best
described the Wolverines’ fallout:
“They couldn’t get into a flow,”
Merchant said.
Come to think of it, when was
the last time No. 23 Michigan (9-5
Big Ten, 20-7 overall) was in its
flow?
Yes, the Wolverines won
their prior contest against
Northwestern in dominant
fashion, by 21 points. Senior guard
Katelynn Flaherty and junior
center Hallie Thome had silenced
the offensive critics, tallying 36
and 25 points, respectively. But at
12th in the conference and 184th
in the RPI rankings, the Wildcats
aren’t exactly the most skilled
team.
A team like Michigan is
expected to dismantle opponents
of Northwestern’s caliber. While
the lopsided victory may have
boosted the Wolverines’ morale,
they hardly reached their flow.
Michigan surely wasn’t in its
flow the week before that, either.
The Wolverines were upset, 63-56,
by Rutgers on the road, and also
blew a 16-point fourth quarter
lead in an overtime loss to Purdue.
While these two teams are a
step up from Northwestern, they
still aren’t anywhere close to the
top of the pack in the conference.
The Scarlet Knights are ninth in
the Big Ten and were on a four-
game losing streak at the time.
And against the Boilermakers,
Michigan was cruising — as
expected — but completely fell
apart. Both were contests the
Wolverines — who have been
nationally ranked all season —
should have easily won.
The three matchups prior were
all blowout victories. One was
against Illinois — who is last in
the Big Ten standings — and the
others were against the Spartans
and the Wildcats.
Though Michigan outscored
its opponents by an impressive 91
points through these three games,
nothing less was expected. For
instance, the main reason the
Wolverines dominated Michigan
State in the first meeting was
because the Spartans were
burdened by injuries. The second
matchup perhaps seemed more
indicative of the true result.
Through this lens, the last time
Kim Barnes Arico’s team won a
meaningful game was almost a
month ago in Columbus. On Jan.
16, the Wolverines topped then-
No. 8 Ohio State, 84-75. They shot
over 53 percent from the floor in
that game and attacked the basket
well. It was a signature win.
Michigan was in its flow.
The recent loss against
Michigan State marked the
Wolverines’ third defeat in their
last four games.
“We battled till the end,”
Barnes Arico said after the game,
“but were never really able to
recover.”
The season is spiraling out of
control. Michigan is still hanging
on to its NCAA Tournament
aspirations, but just barely.
With two games left in the
regular season, the team still
has a chance to get redemption.
Recovery will be tough, though,
as it will face Minnesota on the
road and No. 10 Maryland at
home.
To make the most out of what’s
left, the Wolverines must keep
battling and find their flow.
Kumar can be reached at
kumarrp@umich.edu or on
Twitter @rohantoocold.
‘M’ comes up short at
Indoor Championships
Heading into the weekend
ranked No. 10 in the nation,
the Michigan women’s tennis
team knew it would have to
get past tough opponents at
the ITA National Team Indoor
Championship. What it didn’t
anticipate was a disappointing
1-2 weekend record.
Hoping to get four points
against Georgia Tech just like
it had done in an invitational
to kick off the season, the
Wolverines came up just short
when it counted.
“We went in knowing they
were a really tough team, but
I think we took
some confidence
from when we
played them in
our invitational
about a month
ago,” said junior
Kate
Fahey.
“We knew we
could hang with
them, but they
honestly
just
played
better
(Friday).”
After an uncontested first
day of doubles matches, when
Michigan dropped the point
to Georgia Tech, it came out
with a different fire the next
day. Facing No. 12 Auburn,
the Wolverines took no time
to
make
adjustments
and
get started on the right foot,
claiming the doubles point
with 6-0 and 6-1 victories.
“Obviously
the
coaches
were a little disappointed in
our doubles, and we talked
about it and realized it can
only go up from here,” Fahey
said. “We all played with no
pressure. We played to win,
and I think that was the
difference.”
However,
Michigan
was
not able to keep its lead for
long, losing tight matches at
the last four singles positions.
No. 6 Bella Lorenzini and No.
4 Mira Ruder-Hook dropped
their final sets in tiebreakers,
giving Auburn the two points
needed for victory.
“(Mira) did a really good
job. She went down 5-2 in
the third set, but she really
stayed tough,” Fahey said. “I
heard (associate head coach
Teryn Ashley-Fitch) tell her
to be aggressive and keep
going for her shots because
that’s really her game and
what she does well. The other
girl just played a really good
tiebreak.”
With one more match left
against the host Wisconsin,
Michigan faced the unusually
disastrous
prospect
of
a
winless
record.
Its
thirst
for
a
win showed in
the box score,
sweeping
Wisconsin,
4-0.
“We
did
have some fire
in
our
belly
after losing two in a row,”
Fahey said. “We wanted to get
some redemption and get one
win from the weekend.”
Though this past weekend
didn’t go as planned, Michigan
is staying positive for the long
conference season ahead.
“Indoors is always a great
tournament to go to because
you are surrounded by the best
teams in the country, early in
the season. It is like a preview
of the NCAA Tournament,”
said Michigan coach Ronni
Bernstein. “We would have
liked to have gotten a few
more wins, but it is a long
season and we will have more
opportunities to face some of
the best teams in the country.
“We know what we need
to work on and will continue
to get better as this season
progresses.”
WOMEN’S TENNIS
AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
For the Daily
“We did have
some fire in our
belly after losing
two in a row.”
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
The Michigan women’s basketball team has been struggling recently, and the Wolverines need to find their flow now, because they’re running out of time.
ROHAN
KUMAR