The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, October 18, 2018 — 7

Too skilled to sit, Brazdeikis to learn multiple positions

Ignas Brazdeikis is officially 
listed as a forward. Don’t let 
that fool you.
The top-40 prospect, who 
headlines the men’s basketball 
team’s 12th-ranked recruiting 
classes, per 247Sports’ compos-
ite score, is firmly behind red-
shirt junior Charles Matthews 
at small forward. That’s more 
a product of Matthews’ abil-
ity as a scorer and anchor for 
a defense that ranked third in 
adjusted efficiency last season. 
But Brazdeikis’ talent is enough 
to warrant some unorthodox 
moves.
“We gotta get him out on the 
court somehow,” Beilein said 
last week at Big Ten Media Day.
Doing so means also playing 
Brazdeikis at shooting guard 
and power forward, forcing the 
freshman to learn multiple posi-
tions in Beilein’s notoriously 
complex system. Since coaching 
in Division I, it’s the third time 
Beilein has done that. The last 
was with Johannes Herber, who 
played under Beilein at West 
Virginia from 2003-06; the first 
was with Scott Ungerer, who 
was under Beilein’s tutelage 
from 1998-2002 at Richmond 
and who, like Brazdeikis, is list-
ed as 6-foot-7.
For Ungerer, too, playing 
multiple positions as a fresh-
man 
was 
as 
much 
a 
result 
of necessity as 
versatility. 
The 
Spiders suffered 
so many injuries 
that 
Ungerer, 
a 
point 
guard 
in high school, 
had to play cen-
ter in a game at 
UConn.
“I’ll 
prob-
ably jump to a conclusion with 
Ignas,” Ungerer told The Daily 
in a phone interview. “You’ve 
gotta have somebody who’s 
smart enough, especially in 

(Beilein’s) system, to be able 
to pick up and play multiple 
positions. Because there is a 
pretty 
significant 
difference 
in Beilein’s two-guard offense 
between 
the 
guard and the 
forward and the 
center.
“Those 
are 
the three pivot 
spots. So you’ve 
gotta have some-
body who’s adept 
and kind of com-
fortable, and can 
have 
a 
pretty 
quick, 
high-
learning agility to pick up the 
different motions.”
Being 
the 
4-man 
means 
playing on the wing. Often, in 
Beilein’s offense, it means get-

ting the entry pass as opposed to 
the shooting guard, who splits 
the responsibility of bringing 
the ball up.
It’s a little more compli-
cated than that, 
though.
“The offense, 
a lot of it, is 
predicated based 
on motion and 
movement,” 
Ungerer 
said. 
“So, 
some-
body 
makes 
one change and 
cuts 
backdoor, 
it changes the 
whole flow of the play. So I 
needed to know what everybody 
was doing from every position.”
The reads Brazdeikis will 
have to make, in other words, 

change drastically based on 
position. As much as his abil-
ity to slide between two posi-
tions depends on the physical 
— can he guard players across 
the 
spectrum 
without trouble? 
— the mental is 
just as impor-
tant.
“I 
wouldn’t 
do it if I didn’t 
think he could 
do it,” Beilein 
said. “... One day 
I’m gonna say, 
‘You’re a 4-man, 
you’ve 
gotta 
crash the boards on offense.’ 
And then I’m gonna tell (him), 
‘No, you gotta be back when 
you’re a 2-man.’ So there’s a lot 
of things. He’s gonna not be per-

fect at it, but he’s gonna grow 
as a player. He’s a guy that can 
handle this. His basketball IQ 
is good, and he picks up things 
quickly.”
Brazdeikis’ 
physical skill is 
already 
there, 
in droves. He’s 
older than most 
freshmen at 19 
and lit up the 
prep school cir-
cuit last season 
at 
Orangeville 
Prep in Ontar-
io, Canada. On 
Michigan’s trip 
to Spain in August, Brazdeikis 
averaged 15.7 points and 7.0 
rebounds in three games, lead-
ing the team in scoring, per 
stats compiled by The Athletic’s 

Brendan Quinn.
If you’re looking for a reason 
Beilein wants him on the court 
so badly, that’s it. Three exhibi-
tion games though they may be, 
if Brazdeikis can put up those 
numbers in that setting, hav-
ing been with the team for just 
weeks, think about what he can 
do with once fully integrated. 
Brazdeikis is a hamster running 
in a ball. He may need a little 
more structure, but the energy 
— and ability — he brings is pal-
pable.
“He’s such a good driver that 
he’ll pass up an open shot, or 
he’ll doubt whether he’s open 
because he knows, anytime, (he 
can) just get to the hoop in prior 
experiences,” Beilein said. “In 
the Big Ten, you ain’t getting to 
the hoop. So we gotta get him to 
be able to slow down, play with 
pace.”
It could take time for that 
slow-down to happen, Ungerer 
said, but Brazdeikis has a noted 
advantage in the Spain trip. 
Already, he has played live com-
petition against real opponents, 
albeit in an exhibition setting. 
And his performance was up to 
par.
Still, there may be kinks to 
work out early on. Miscommu-
nication could be a telltale sign, 
Ungerer said, that Brazdeikis is 
still learning to play within the 
system. Once he does, Brazdei-
kis may quickly become good 
enough for the 
next level.
“When (Braz-
deikis) has the 
ability to go to 
the NBA — I 
think 
he’s 
got 
a great shot of 
playing 
profes-
sional basketball 
— (that) they’re 
gonna 
want 
a 
guy 
that 
can 
play a lot of positions,” Beilein 
said. “A guy that can pass, can 
rebound, can shoot and can 
defend three or four positions. 
Iggy, I believe he can do that.”

EVAN AARON/Daily
Freshman Ignas Brazdeikis was a top-40 prospect before committing to Michigan and is now learning how to play multiple positions for the Wolverines this season.

ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer

“We gotta get 
him out on 
the court 
somehow.”

“I wouldn’t 
do it if I didn’t 
think he could 
do it.”

“In the Big 
Ten, you ain’t 
getting to the 
hoop.”

Lockwood ready to help Michigan offense

Standing just outside the 
left circle, Will Lockwood 
waited to receive the puck 
from sophomore forward Josh 
Norris. Norris rifled a pass 
right to the junior forward’s 
stick, and Lockwood fired a 
shot that found twine.
With one flick of his stick, 
he halved the Michigan hockey 
team’s deficit in the first game 
of the season. And though the 
Wolverines would eventually 
fall to Vermont in that matchup, 
Lockwood’s goal mattered for a 
different reason.
It was his first goal in a 
Michigan sweater since 2017 
after suffering a season-ending 
shoulder injury in January 
2018.
“It was awesome,” Lockwood 
said of the goal. “Any time you 
get an opportunity to score in 
Yost and you end up putting one 
in, it’s an awesome experience. 
… To have that one go in was a 
good feeling.”
It was a long road from the 
initial injury to being ice-ready. 
Lockwood 
worked 
toward 
returning for the beginning 
of the 2018-19 season, nine 
months 
after 
undergoing 
surgery.
On April 15, just ten days 
after the Wolverines’ season 
ended with a loss to Notre 
Dame in the Frozen Four 
semifinal 
game, 
Michigan 
coach Mel Pearson tweeted a 
photo of Lockwood practicing 
on the ice at a darkened Yost 
Ice Arena — alone.
“I 
saw 
determination, 
focus,” Pearson said. “He really 
did a great job getting himself 
ready to play and making sure 
he was strong enough to go. He 
redefined his body … He really 
committed himself to making 
sure he could do everything he 
could to get himself ready for 
the season.”
After notching 11 points in 16 
games last season, Lockwood’s 
return to the ice promises to 
help the Michigan offense 
recover from the loss of last 
season’s three top scorers.
“It’s great having him back 

because it gives us so many 
more options to have a player 
like him, whether on your 
power play or penalty kill,” 
Pearson said. “He can play 
in all situations. He’s a good 
player, too, so you put him with 
other players and he lifts their 
game up, too. He’s got great 
individual skills, but he makes 
people around him better.”
Through their first game — 
plus two exhibition matchups 
— the Wolverines have scored 
12 goals and given up 15. And 
at the same point last season, 
through two games and one 
exhibition, 
Michigan 
had 
scored 13 goals and given 
up just five. While the goals 
scored differs very slightly, the 
goals against shows a glaring 
change.
And 
it’s 
that 
increased 
number of goals against — the 
sign of a struggling defense — 
that shows the real offensive 
issues for the Wolverines. The 

best defense is a good offense, 
and Michigan demonstrates 
that the adage is true.
“The best defense is to be 
playing in the offensive zone,” 
Lockwood said. “We’ve been 
working on that, and a lot of it 
is puck control and supporting 
each other.”
When a team has possession 
in the offensive zone and 
manages to score, the defense 
has to do little work. But 
when a team loses possession 
entering the offensive zone 
or leaving the defensive zone, 
the defense is suddenly on its 
heels attempting to prevent a 
goal. And while the role of the 
defense is to prevent the other 
team from scoring, a lack of 
offense makes that job harder.
“You get behind and then you 
start pressing,” Pearson said. 
“You do different things. Your 
style changes, it shouldn’t. … 
We’ve gotta make sure we take 
care of our defensive zone first. 

If you’re giving up four and 
five goals, you’re gonna have to 
score more, and that puts a lot 
of pressure on your forwards to 
do that.”
As 
one 
forward 
in 
the 
Wolverines’ top line, Lockwood 
stands in position to take on 
that pressure. 
And after sitting in the 
stands for Michigan’s trip to 
the Frozen Four, he’s ready 
to be back competing on the 
ice. With three points in the 
Wolverines’ first three games, 
Lockwood has settled back 
in as one of Michigan’s top 
scorers and has made it clear 
he won’t let opportunities pass 
him by this season.
“I felt like I was missing 
a little something in my life 
(when 
I 
wasn’t 
playing),” 
Lockwood said. “But to be back 
— it feels great to be on the ice 
every day. I have a different 
mindset. I don’t really take 
anything for granted.”

‘M’ sweeps road slate

Michigan volleyball coach 
Mark Rosen clinched his 400th 
career win with the Wolverines 
on Friday, after over 20 years in 
Ann Arbor.
More 
dear 
to 
Rosen 
was that he achieved this 
accomplishment alongside his 
wife, associate head coach Leisa 
Rosen.
No. 13 Michigan (17-2 overall, 
6-2 Big Ten) swept its weekend 
road tilts against rival Ohio 
State (12-8, 3-5) and Maryland 
(12-8, 3-5) in five and four sets, 
respectively.
On the road Friday in a hostile 
environment, the Wolverines 
jumped out to a two sets to 
none lead against the Buckeyes. 
But in a game with so much 
emotion, Ohio State did not go 
away easily, and countered by 
taking the next two sets behind 
a flurry of adjustments.
“Every team in the Big Ten 
is good,” Rosen said. “But it’s 
those teams that maybe don’t 
have as good a record and 
haven’t had as much success 
that I don’t want to say you look 
past, but it’s a little harder to 
prepare for them because on a 
given night, they can play really, 
really well.
“Ohio 
State 
made 
some 
pretty significant changes in 
their lineup and their tactics. 
They just did a great job of 
serving the ball aggressively 
and switching their blockers 
around so they could match up 
differently with our hitters. I 
just thought that they played 
really well and adjusted, and we 
had to make sure we adjusted to 
the their adjustments.”
That they did.
Although it dropped both 
the third and the fourth sets, 
Michigan remained confident 
in its gameplan and unleashed 
its not-so-secret weapon in the 
fifth set, senior outside hitter 
Carly Skjodt. She finished the 
match with 23 kills, tied for the 
team lead.
“In 
the 
fifth 
we 
really 
challenged her to be super 
aggressive and bang out of 

trouble,” 
Rosen 
said. 
“You 
know, when we’re in trouble, 
we tell her to just go after it, and 
don’t just try to keep the ball in 
play. Carly did a great job in the 
fifth set, and she was great all 
weekend.”
Equally 
great 
was 
Paige 
Jones, the freshman outside 
hitter from Ohio, about whom 
Rosen gushed.
“She was playing in her home 
state, against the big school in 
her state and she had her whole 
high school there, probably even 
her county was there,” Rosen 
said. “That’s a lot of pressure 
to have on you as an 18-year 
old freshman. And she played 
outstanding, and that tells you 
a lot about her fortitude and her 
makeup. She’s a kid who’s not 
afraid of those moments.”
As Rosen alluded to, the 
stage 
elevated 
Jones’ 
play. 
She finished the match with a 
career high 23 kills, which tied 
the veteran Skjodt for the team 
lead.
Coming off the rivalry game 
in Columbus though, Michigan 
had a hiccup in its first set 
against the Terrapins, and lost, 
25-19.
“Maryland came out and was 
serving the leather off of the 
ball.” Rosen said. “They were 
playing clean defense, they 
were great offensively and we 
just couldn’t get anything going.
“But that’s why we reset it 
and play best of five.”
And in an odd second set 
where the Wolverines won with 
just eight kills — around half 
their season average for kills-
per-set — they mentally reset. 
Michigan came out firing on all 
cylinders in the next two sets 
and never looked back en route 
to a four-set victory.
But 
as 
the 
Wolverines 
progress deeper into the season, 
Rosen knows more work is 
needed to tack onto his now 401 
wins.
“Since we’ve got some youth 
on the court,” Rosen said, “we’ve 
got to continue to develop those 
guys and progress to where, by 
the end of the year, six weeks 
from now, we’re playing our 
best volleyball.”

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
ADAM RICH
Daily Sports Editor

VOLLEYBALL

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior forward Will Lockwood has notched three points through three games for the Wolverines so far this season.

