The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, March 15, 2017 — 7
BY THE NUMBERS
Senior guard Katelynn Flaherty
23.2
Average points per game
129
Total assists this season
2.7
Average rebounds per game
36.8
Average minutes played per game
A dream come true for Flaherty and Dunston
D
espite never having
played in the NCAA
Tournament, senior
forward Jillian Dunston is
confident in the Michigan
women’s basketball team’s
chances in March Madness.
She said as much this past
Wednesday, with a declaration:
“We’re not
afraid of any
team.”
And why
would they
be?
Under
Dunston’s
leadership,
the
Wolverines
have amassed
a 22-9 overall
record, including marquee wins
over Marquette, Nebraska, Ohio
State and Maryland — all of
which are also slated to compete
in the Big Dance. She’s coming
off a strong regular season,
where she was one of the top
rebounders in the Big Ten with
an average of 9.1 per game.
She serves as a much-needed
supplement to her fellow
classmate — guard Katelynn
Flaherty — who is one of the
best scorers in the country.
But while her buoyancy could
be warranted, it could also
simply be ignorance.
Michigan is surely a very
good basketball team. But how
they compare to the nation’s
elite is still to be determined.
They do hold wins over
ranked conference foes in then-
No. 8 Buckeyes and then-No.
13 Terrapins. However, the
Wolverines were routed in their
two games against ranked non-
conference opponents — then-
No. 5 Louisville and then-No.
3 Notre Dame. Though those
games were early in the season,
they weren’t even close, as
Michigan was outscored by
a combined 45 points. And,
as impressive as its Big Ten
wins were, conference games
always possess an element of
unpredictability that should be
accounted for.
If the
Wolverines
do get past
10th-seeded
Northern
Colorado on
Friday, they
have a lofty task
ahead of them
in Baylor. The
Lady Bears (31-1)
are a two seed as
the No. 2 team in the country.
They possess the second-best
offense in the nation, scoring
86.6 points per game. For
comparison, Michigan ranks
35th and averages 75.5.
Let’s face it, the Wolverines’
chances are far from ideal.
But they have come a
long way. They are the first
Michigan team to make the
tournament
since 2013.
They have also
secured wins
over rivals
Ohio State and
Michigan State.
And the
seniors —
Dunston and
Flaherty —
have come the
furthest in their
four years in Ann Arbor. The
tournament is a chance for
them to show off just how good
they really are.
“For them to be on the
national scene, they’ve
established themselves as
two of the best players in the
country,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “For the
rest of the world to have an
opportunity to see Katelynn
Flaherty I think is really
important. She’s been really
special for us and it’s going to
great for her to be playing in
front of national television.”
The senior duo has certainly
left its mark.
Including postseason play,
the two have amassed 91 wins
at Michigan. And while it’s the
lesser of the two tournaments,
the pair helped the Wolverines
raise their first-ever banner
in Crisler Center with a 2017
WNIT Championship. Now,
they have qualified for the
NCAA Tournament.
“(The Tournament) was our
main goal,” Dunston said. “And
now that we’ve gotten there, we
don’t want to just show up. We
just want to continue to take
care of business.”
On an individual level,
Flaherty will leave Michigan
the program’s all-time leading
scorer in her four years as a
starter. As for Dunston, she has
been the outspoken leader for
the Wolverines for the past two
seasons. She also has the third-
most rebounds and 11th-most
steals in Michigan history.
And most of all, the two have
now accomplished a lifelong
ambition.
“We’ve worked so hard to
get to this point,” Flaherty said.
“I know it’s been both of our
dreams since we were young
girls to go to college and play
in the NCAA Tournament. So
to finally make it here our last
year is really exciting.”
Sharf can be reached
at hsharf@umich.edu.
BY THE NUMBERS
Senior forward Jillian Dunston
3.3
Average points per game
111
Total assists this season
9.1
Average rebounds per game
32.3
Average minutes played per game
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Seniors Katelynn Flaherty and Jillian Dunston will finally have their shot at the NCAA Tournament after missing out in their previous three years in Ann Arbor.
HUNTER
SHARF
To finally make
it here our last
year is really
exciting
Defense derails Wolverines
in 8-3 loss to Lawrence Tech
With two outs in the top of the
seventh inning, Ako Thomas saw
a hard hit grounder squirt off his
glove as two runners crossed the
plate. Lawrence Tech’s Joseph
Russo had smashed a ball at the
junior shortstop, who attempted to
field it on a hop. The play extended
the Blue Devils’ lead to 7-3 before
another single completed the six-
run inning, and gave Lawrence
Tech an 8-3 advantage that it held
over the final two frames.
The play not only put the
Michigan baseball team in a
hole from which it was unable to
recover, but served as a microcosm
of the Wolverines’
disastrous
start
to
the
season.
After establishing
themselves
as
one of the Big
Ten’s
premier
defensive units a
season ago, they
have committed
27 errors in just 15
games.
“It’s
just
another game where we played
very sloppy on defense and gave
the opposition a huge inning,” said
Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “The
four errors stand out, but it’s just
the execution of playing defense
and taking care of the baseball.”
While the errors have been a
huge blemish on Michigan’s 4-11
start, they have been far from the
only problem. Their three-run
output
Wednesday
afternoon
marked the third consecutive
game in which the Wolverines
have scored four runs or fewer.
“The defensive side of things
… is causing the hitters to get
behind a hole,” Bakich said, “and
then they start pressing. They’re
not
stringing
quality
at-bats
together because they’re looking
at climbing out of a deficit.”
The
correlation
between
defensive struggles and offensive
stagnation cannot be ignored.
Michigan jumped out to an early
lead courtesy of a RBI groundout
and single from redshirt junior
Miles
Lewis
and
freshman
outfielder
Jesse
Franklin,
respectively.
Minutes after Franklin’s single
put the Wolverines’ in control,
though,
the
lead
crumbled
in an all-too-familiar turn of
events.
Freshman
shortstop
Jack Blomgren short-hopped a
throw that skipped past Franklin,
allowing Lawrence Tech’s first run
to score and igniting Michigan’s
collapse.
“It was the little things again,”
Bakich said, “and it’s the little
things that have plagued us all
year and that is something that
we are absolutely laser-focused on
and that we are going to work to
correct.”
Two
innings
later,
the
Wolverines’
defensive
woes
compounded, as
the Blue Devils
plated
four
unearned
runs
in their six-run
seventh.
The
first run of the
inning
scored
on a double into the corner after
sophomore right fielder Christian
Bullock missed the cut-off man,
allowing Tyler Cleasby to score
from first.
Three pitches later, with a
man on third and the infield in, a
hard-hit grounder found junior
second baseman Blake Nelson.
Even a high throw from Nelson
easily beat Cleasby to the plate
before redshirt freshman catcher
Marcus Chavez mishandled the
throw, allowing the go-ahead
run to score. Five batters and a
pitching change later, Thomas’
error pushed the Michigan deficit
to four.
“We’re letting one negative play
turn into three negative plays,”
Bakich said. “If something bad
happens, we just got to be able to
shut it down and get back to the
positive side of things.”
In a familiar refrain, one bright
spot for the Wolverines came
from its starting pitching. Junior
southpaw
William
Tribucher
went five innings, allowing one
unearned run on three hits while
striking out four Lawrence Tech
hitters. It was the fifth game in
seven in which Michigan’s starter
gave up three runs or less — a
stretch over which the Wolverines
have gone 2-5.
“It was encouraging,” Bakich
said. “(Tribucher) threw strikes,
he was aggressive in the strike
zone, he was very consistent
and executed his pitches well. …
In those five innings, he looked
pretty good. He looked like the
Will Tribucher that we know he
is.”
Ultimately,
though,
the
starting pitchers’ performances
need to carry over the rest of the
team.
“We’re just gonna stick with
it,” Bakich said. “We’re gonna
continue to believe that we’ve got
good players and a good team and
we’re just gonna keep a relentless
focus and attack on the little things
and make sure that if we take care
of those, then the big things like
the outcome of the game will take
care of itself.”
Michigan crushed by yet
another mid-game surge
With the seventh inning
looming, the Michigan baseball
team was sitting pretty.
Junior left-hander William
Tribucher
had
just
tossed
five inspiring innings against
Lawrence
Tech,
relenting
only one unearned run and
propelling
the
Wolverines
(4-11) to a 3-1 lead. Michigan
was hitting in stride against
the Blue Devils (17-9) and
ended the fifth with an RBI
single from sophomore catcher
Harrison Salter.
The sixth inning followed,
and went off with only a
minor hitch. Junior reliever
Troy Miller had entered the
game and immediately gave
up a home run. Michael Rinke
demolished the ball, sending it
past the left field fence on the
opposite side of the park. Miller
quickly
found
redemption
by striking out his next two
opponents.
The
Wolverines
closed out the inning without
securing a run.
Then came disaster.
Miller quickly struck out the
first batter, then gave up two
runs with seemingly as much
haste. Miller had racked up two
earned runs and didn’t show
any signs of slowing down
when Michigan
coach
Erik
Bakich
made
a
desperate
pitching
change. Senior
right-hander
Jayce
Vancena
entered
the
game
and
allowed
four
additional runs
before stopping
the bleeding with a much-
needed strikeout.
When
the
dust
settled,
the Wolverines had given up
six runs off three hits and
committed
three
defensive
errors. All in one inning.
“Sloppy,” Bakich said. “It
was the little things again,
and it’s the little things that
have plagued us all year and
that is something that we are
absolutely
laser-focused
on
and that we are going to work
to correct.”
For this Michigan team, it’s a
broken record. The Wolverines
consistently put themselves in
a great position to contend for
each game through four or five
innings, then sluggish bats and
sloppy defense seal their fate.
Michigan has lived by this
routine in many of its previous
contests, dropping games to
Lipscomb, Stanford and San
Diego State in similar fashion.
In a textbook example of
this pattern, the Wolverines
had held the Aztecs scoreless
through four innings when
they faced them on Feb. 26.
San Diego State subsequently
exploded onto the scoreboard
with a four-run fifth inning,
giving it a 4-1 lead. From there,
Michigan didn’t have enough
firepower to claw itself out of
the deficit, ultimately losing,
4-3.
It’s troubling for any team
to have destructive habits,
especially this early in the
season. However, the one silver
lining in this disappointing
start is that the team now
knows what to
fix — and has
time to fix it.
“We’re
not
taking care of
the
baseball
and
we’re
letting
one
negative
play
turn into three
negative plays,”
Bakich said. “If
something bad
happens, we just gotta be able
to shut it down and get back
to the positive side of things.
What you’re seeing right now
is a team whose confidence is
shook.”
In addition to regaining
confidence,
leadership
and
high-quality
play
are
also
needed to aid this battered
squad. When one player does
well, it seems to carry over to
the rest of the team.
Behind Tribucher’s bright
performance
also
lied
a
solid defensive outing that,
at the end of it, pushed the
Wolverines
into
the
lead.
Things took a turn for the
worse once the pitching and
defense became sloppy.
“Right now, the defensive
side of things is causing the
pitching to be out there a long
time,” Bakich said. “It’s causing
the hitters to get behind a hole
and then they start pressing.
They’re not stringing quality
at-bats
together
because
they’re looking at climbing out
of a deficit.
“It’s just all connected, so
we just gotta get rid of this
feeling and get back to what we
know how to do, which is work
extremely hard and trust that
our training is going to take care
of the outcome on the field.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior left-hander William Tribucher provided the lone bright spot Wednesday.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer
“We’re letting
one negative
play turn into
three negative
plays”
“If something
bad happens,
we gotta be able
to shut it down”