8A — Wednesday, Feburary 21, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Versatile players help Michigan
In South Bend, Ind. on Friday,
sophomore
forward
Adam
Winborg notched the first goal
of the Michigan hockey team’s
series against Notre Dame, a
goal that would catalyze the
rest of the offense to rout the
top team in the country.
Winborg is just one example
of an emerging category of
Wolverine skaters who fill a
utility role.
“Yeah, he scored a number of
goals on a couple power plays
last year and he’s willing to
block shots on the PKs,” said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson,
“and he’s good on face-offs. So
he can play, he’s one of those
utility players.
“I guess you can play him in
a lot of different situations and
trust him. And that allows us to
be able to slot him into different
areas in the game and that’s
where his value comes. It’s just,
he’s so versatile.”
While the spotlight for the
13th-ranked Wolverines (11-10-
3 Big Ten, 16-3-3 overall) have
mostly been placed on veteran
top-line leadership, Michigan
has found its backbone in the
younger utility players.
Joining Winborg’s ranks on
offense are sophomore Nick
Pastujov, freshman Jack Becker
and junior Brendan Warren.
The trio has combined for 32
points thus far — which isn’t
even as many points as junior
forward
Cooper
Marody’s
leading 37 — that adds a marginal
advantage.
While
Winborg’s
goal helped the Wolverines
prevail over Notre Dame, their
offensive contribution pales in
comparison to their off-puck
feats.
“Personally, for me, it’s been
a little bit of a different season
than last year, but it’s been
good,” Winborg said. “I have
a good role on the team, like
killing penalties and working
five-on-five and trying to do
that to the best of my ability.”
As evident in the series against
the Fighting Irish, the entire
Michigan squad was hustling all
over the ice, blocking shots and
killing penalties — something
that wasn’t so apparent in the
beginning of the season.
In roughly four minutes of
man-disadvantage time Sunday,
the
Wolverines
yielded
no
tallies.
In
its
two
past
series,
Michigan has let just two
power-play goals in, and much
of that can be attributed to
the likes of Winborg, Pastujov,
Becker and Warren, all of whom
have taken a prominent role in
shot-blocking and clearing.
“This year is more of a PK
role and I’m enjoying that,”
Winborg said. “I think that’s a
big part of the game and it for
sure can help a team like in tight
games like last weekend, it’s
one goal games and if you can
prevent them from scoring then
it’s going to help out the team.”
And, with Pearson’s recent
emphasis on varying the lineup,
every player has gotten the
chance to work on different
lines, even in huge games like
this past weekend.
“Now we know we have some
good
chemistry
on
certain
lines,” Pearson said. “And you
know you always have that in
the bank but it’s good to be able
to, even in a game, just throw
different guys out to see what
you have.”
While teams in the past have
found success when specializing
players into different concrete
roles, this year, Michigan has
found success in quite the
opposite.
With
numerous
young
utility players on the roster
with substantial playing time,
the Wolverines have excelled
in having their skaters play
loosely.
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Sophomore forward Adam Winborg is one of several players whose main contributions don’t show up on the stat sheet.
ROBERT HEFTER
Daily Sports Editor
Penn State gelling ahead of clash with Wolverines
Wednesday is Senior Day for
the Penn State men’s basketball
team. That has meant a larger
crowd than the usual barren
amount and a jovial atmosphere
at Bryce Jordan Center. A slew
of pregame senior festivities is
typically the sole attraction for
fans. By the time the final home
game of the year rolls around, the
Nittany Lions have seldom had
much to compete for.
But this year is different, and
everyone in State College knows
it. The slogan ‘We’re climbin’
decorates the shirts the school
will give away Wednesday. It’s an
apt slogan.
After years of mediocrity,
Penn State has been a surprise
this year, positioning itself for a
shot at the NCAA Tournament
contingent on a strong finish.
Last Thursday, the Nittany Lions
completed a sweep of then-No.
8 Ohio State with a dominant
23-point victory before playing
No. 9 Purdue to the wire on the
road Sunday.
Penn State (9-7 Big Ten, 19-10
overall) is quite dangerous and
has everything to play for as it
welcomes No. 17 Michigan (11-
5, 22-7) on Wednesday. A win
could push the Nittany Lions off
the bubble for the first time since
2011.
“This Penn State team is
making a great run right now and
is really talented,” said Michigan
coach John Beilein. “They’re
young, and they’re extremely
talented.”
That
youth
and
skill
is
perfectly
embodied
by
the
Nittany Lions’ sophomore class.
With one of the purest outside
strokes in college basketball,
sophomore point guard Tony
Carr leads the Big Ten, averaging
nearly 20 points and ranks fifth
in assists with around five per-
game.
Manning the interior is one
of the conference’s best interior
defenders in Mike Watkins — a
6-foot-9,
254-pound
forward
good for nearly three blocks
and 10 rebounds a contest.
Small forward Lamar Stevens,
meanwhile, adds a scoring threat
to the frontcourt, averaging over
15 points a contest.
“Their
sophomores
are
outstanding,” Beilein said. “They
got a shot blocker inside. They
can shoot it, they can pass it.”
That all contributes to a strong
sense of trepidation for the
Wolverines. Two weeks ago, they
ran into another surging team
on the road in Northwestern and
lost after a disastrous second
half. A similar story unraveled
in Lincoln, where Nebraska
dominated
Michigan
to
a
20-point win in January.
Penn State could be an even
taller task for the Wolverines.
“This is one that will be really
difficult for us,” Beilein said.
“This is a game where we’re
absolutely going to have to play
our best game of the year if we’re
going to be in it at the end.”
Further complicating things
for Michigan is the possibility
that the Nittany Lions play
zone
defense
—
something
they’ve
flashed
throughout
the
season.
From
Southern
Mississippi in November to the
Feb. 6 Northwestern loss, the
Wolverines have struggled to
adjust against the zone.
“That’s the challenge,” Beilein
said. “We’re going to have to
make foul shots, we’re going
to have to limit their (second-
chance) shots, and when we’re
open from 3, we’re going to have
to knock it down because you
won’t have much of a margin of
error in this game.”
Michigan
did
many
of
these things well in Sunday’s
victory over Ohio State. Senior
guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman, who will be making
his final regular season trip to his
home state of Pennsylvania on
Wednesday, led the Wolverines
with 17 points, while understudy
and freshman guard Jordan
Poole added 15.
Michigan is playing its best
basketball of the season as March
approaches — but so are the
Nittany Lions.
Penn State is indeed climbing,
and Wednesday will be its biggest
game in recent memory. A sold-
out Bryce Jordan Center will
undoubtedly let the Wolverines
know it.
“They’ve
done
it
before
against big crowds,” Beilein said.
“But we’re going to have to play
at our best.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein recognizes the challenge ahead as his team will take on a Penn State team eager to earn a NCAA bid.
MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor
‘M’ struggles at Moon Golf
Invitational, finishes in 10th
Controlling the golf ball
was the theme of this week’s
tournament for Emily White.
The senior headlined the
Michigan women’s golf team
at the Moon Golf Invitational
with the team’s highest score,
tying for 28th place. The
wind was howling throughout
the third round, but White’s
control allowed her to move up
seven spots after that round of
play.
“She made a lot of birdies
this week and controlled her
golf ball really well,” said
Michigan coach Jan Dowling.
“She came out pretty strong
to start the spring and she was
ready to go.”
White’s performance was an
outlier, though, as the rest of
the team struggled through its
first competition of the spring
season with a 10th place finish
out of 13 teams. The team
hadn’t competed since the end
of October, so there was quite
a bit of dust to knock off in the
first round Monday as the team
scored 312, its worst score of
the season.
But
the
team
adjusted
to the course in Monday’s
second round and scored 298
with
a
large
improvement
in the quality
of play and ball
control.
The
Wolverines
finished
the
first day in 11th
place,
with
sophomore
Hannah Ghelfi
tied
for
21st
individually.
“We dug ourselves into a
pretty big hole after the first
round, it certainly wasn’t our
best golf,” Dowling said. “We
played two solid team rounds
in round two and round three.
In round two we made some
nice adjustments … so that was
good.”
A solid showing in Tuesday’s
final round moved Michigan up
one spot to 10th place overall.
The
Wolverines’
two
individual golfers, Ghelfi and
sophomore Alisa Snyder, were
consistent
throughout
the
three rounds. Ghelfi scored
a career-best 73 in Monday’s
second
round,
and
Snyder
finished in a tie for 48th
with scores of 78, 76, and 77.
Their scores did not count
for the team score, but the
performances may lead Ghelfi
and Snyder to a spot in the
starting lineup.
“There’s a lot of pieces that
go into picking the lineup,
including past play,” Dowling
said. “The good thing about
our team is that we’ve got some
depth, and we’ve got some
things to figure out as far as
who’s going to be in the starting
lineup moving forwards.”
Resilience was a highlight
for
Michigan
during
the
competition after a challenging
first
round.
Each
golfer
improved upon her first-round
score in the second or third
rounds, an encouraging sight
for
Dowling
as the spring
season begins.
The positive
takeaways
from
the
spring’s
first
competition
show
early
signs of a solid
campaign
for
the Wolverines,
but they will
need to continue to work on
losing the cobwebs before the
team can be where it wants to
be.
WOMEN’S GOLF
BAILEY JOHNSON
For the Daily
“We dug
ourselves into
a pretty big
hole.”