The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, November 14, 2018 — 7A

Pearson addressing faceoff struggles

Some people get a thrill out of
the chase — whatever that chase
entails.
That
is,
unless
you’re
Michigan hockey coach Mel
Pearson and what you’re chasing
is the puck.
Despite
having
won
52
percent of its draws this season,
the No. 16 Michigan hockey
team (5-4-0 overall, 1-1 Big Ten)
has lost the faceoff battle in each
of its previous three games.
And it’s no coincidence that
the Wolverines’ two top faceoff
winners, sophomore forward
Josh Norris and junior forward
Nick Pastujov, both struggled
this past weekend against Notre
Dame.
Norris — who was nursing a
minor hand injury last weekend
— won just 13 of 39 faceoffs over

the weekend, while Pastujov
took seven of 22 puck drops in
the circle. The two forwards
have taken 54 percent of the
draws thus far for Michigan, so
in many senses, the team goes as
they go.
“When you’re not playing
with the puck, you’re chasing,”
Pearson said after Tuesday’s
practice. “You have to try and
get it back instead of having
possession, so you’re chasing
the puck a little bit. And part
of that is intensity too. Just the
preparation and being ready to
play.”
Pearson made it clear that the
blame cannot always be placed
solely on whoever is taking the
faceoff. The team that retains
possession after the draw is
recorded with the faceoff win.
So, in instances where there is
a 50-50 puck, the team to gain
control records the win. This is

where the overall intensity that
Pearson addressed comes into
play — another issue that the
Wolverines have struggled with
early on this season.
Perhaps overshadowed by the
team’s recent faceoff woes is the
performance of junior forward
Adam Winborg. While Michigan
has won 85 of 190 draws in its
last three games, Winborg has
quietly won 18 of 26 draws over
that same stretch — the only
games in which he has seen
significant ice time this season.
“It’s one of those things that
will help keep him in the lineup
when you’re winning faceoffs
like that,” Pearson said. “It gives
me a lot of confidence to play him
against anybody — especially
in draws in our zone because
I know he has more than a 50
percent chance to win those
faceoffs.”
Winborg played in all but one

regular season game last year, so
his lack of ice time thus far may
come as a bit of a surprise. But
given his success in the faceoff
circle, particularly in light of the
Wolverines’ recent struggles,
Winborg is a silver lining and
figures to continue receiving ice
time moving forward.
Though Michigan has won
two of its last three games,
faceoffs are an area of play that
need to see improvement. As a
result, Pearson stated that one
of their big focuses in practice
recently has been the faceoff:
taking more of them, addressing
strategy on draws and ensuring
that skaters “are dialed in and
ready for the drop of the puck.”
This is especially important
with its upcoming matchup
against No. 5 Penn State this
weekend — which leads the Big
Ten with a 62 percent faceoff-
win percentage this season.

Freshmen class ready
to make impact for ‘M’

Coming into this season,
the
biggest
questions
for
the
Michigan
women’s
basketball team were how
to replace the program’s all-
time leading scorer, guard
Katelynn Flaherty, and how
to maintain the team’s recent
success.
The
Wolverines’
answer
is
twofold:
the
improvement
of
returning
players and the evolution of
freshmen.
Prior
to
this
season,
Michigan
welcomed
its
highest-ranked
recruiting
class since the program’s
creation.
Highlighted
by
guard Amy Dilk and forward
Naz
Hillmon,
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico’s
freshman
class consists of four former
ESPNW
100
recruits,
including
forward
Emily
Kiser
and
guard
Ariel
Young,
with
guard
Danielle Rauch
rounding
out
the group.
“They’re
definitely
a
special group of freshmen,”
said
senior
center
Hallie
Thome. “They’re going to
make an everlasting impact
on this program for sure.”
For a team that has as
many freshmen as it does
upperclassmen, the younger
players will play a pivotal
role
for
the
team
going
forward, with their collective
successes
telling
of
the
Wolverines’ overall success.
In order to get there,
though, the freshmen will
need the guidance of the
older players to help them
improve
their
skills
and
better adjust to college ball.
“I think that if you’re on
a team that’s just something
that
you
expect,”
said
sophomore
forward Hailey
Brown on the
older
players’
mentorship
role.
“…
This team is
very
unique
because we can
all learn from
each other. It’s
not necessarily
that
I’m
someone’s mentor, it’s like,
‘What can I teach you, but
what can you teach me as
well?’ I think it’s a very cool
role to have but it also works
the other way, too.”
Due in large part to the
skill level of every player
on
the
Michigan
roster,
the freshmen have already
noticed a vast improvement
in their game.
For Hillmon specifically,
the competition she faces in
practice on a daily basis is
far more competitive than
what she faced in high school
games, let alone in high
school practices.

“In my high school, I
was the only big, so I didn’t
really have anyone pushing
me
every
day,”
Hillmon
said. “But … (now) I have a
lot of people to push me in
practice and make me want
to be better. The competition
day-in and day-out is very
different from high school.”
In addition to the change
in
basketball
competition
for the freshmen, they have
also experienced the same
transition to college life that
every
university
student
experiences at some point in
their life.
Going about that transition
can be hard for anybody, so it
has been especially helpful
for Hillmon and the other
freshmen to not only have
each other, but also have the
older players guide them.
“It’s
been
awesome
having
someone
to
go along this
journey with,”
Hillmon
said.
“I
would
probably
be
terrified if I
was the only
freshmen,
so (it’s nice)
being able to talk to them and
really vent when something
isn’t going our way because
it’s so different from high
school.
Having
somebody
there to encourage us — they
know exactly what’s going
on through my mind — so
them being there to help me
through it, just to talk to
somebody or go and get food.
“But
the
upperclassmen
are very helpful in that way,
too, because they’ve been
through it and they try to
grab our hands and take us
there with them, so that’s
been very helpful as well.”
Barnes Arico has loved
watching the bonds form
between
her
older
and
younger players, and looks
forward
to
watching
the
freshmen
continue
to
grow
as
the
season unfolds.
“I
think
we all are so
excited
about
(the freshmen)
class,” Barnes
Arico
said
after an 88-40
win over Mount St. Mary’s
on Friday night. “They’re a
special group, led by Amy
Dilk, starting at the point
guard position for us. … But
the rest of the freshmen
really stepped up and were
outstanding tonight as well.
They’re a great group and
they’re just gonna continue
to improve as the season goes
on.”
While this freshmen group
may still be adjusting to the
college life, once they are
fully settled in and find their
footing, they’ve got a chance
at making a big impact in the
Big Ten.

In Villanova trip, Eli Brooks returns to his past

The first thing to understand
about Spring Grove, Penn. is that
it’s a small town’s small town.
According to the 2010 Census,
it houses a population of 2,167.
It’s known for a paper mill,
and the smell wafting from it.
Spring Grove Area High School
graduates roughly 200-250 kids
a year and exceedingly few go
on to play any type of sport at a
higher level.
This is also the place that
produced Eli Brooks.
The sophomore guard stood
in the Crisler Center media
room last Friday, in the lead-
up to the No. 18 Michigan
men’s basketball team’s contest
against Villanova, fielding the
type of questions you’d expect
for a homecoming. Jon Teske
and Jordan Poole are giving up
their allotted tickets for Brooks,
but that’s still not enough.
Brooks thinks eight people are
getting tickets on their own in
addition to the 12 or so he can
get for friends and family.

There’s also the matter of
his recruitment — one that, at
a time, seemed a lock for the
Wildcats. Brooks was on-record
calling Villanova his dream
school and when Jay Wright
extended an offer, it felt like a
commitment was a formality.
Wright himself said as much
at the Final Four, the last time
these two teams met.
“They do have a freshman
on the team right now that I
thought we were going to get
from
Pennsylvania,”
Wright
said then. “And probably not
allowed to say who I really felt
we were getting and John beat
us for him. And he’s going to be
a really good player for them.”
Reflecting on it last week,
Brooks
called
it
a
“tough
decision,” saying a visit to
Michigan swayed him at the
time. Two years removed from
his commitment, it’s not too
dissimilar from the language he
used then.
Brooks’ 2017-18 season was
somewhat antithetical to the
Wolverines’. He broke into the
rotation early, and was the first

freshman to earn a starting spot,
unseating Zavier Simpson two
weeks into the season. He kept
that job until January. Then he
didn’t.
The rest of the way, Brooks
averaged 4.3 minutes per game.
Simpson
lapped
him,
then
Jaaron Simmons passed him in
the depth chart. Brooks was, in
all but name, out of the picture.
“I think that it happens to the
seniors, who come to college as
freshmen,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein. “They basically
don’t have days where — they’ll
have a day or two and then they
get back to it. They don’t have
Zavier Simpson guarding them
every day in practice. Or sit on
the bench, and then go in two
minutes and do something good.
So, you lose all your confidence.”
This year, Brooks’ role is
already more defined. He has
played over 20 minutes in both
of Michigan’s first two games,
knocking down two 3-pointers
in the opener to go with four
assists. As the Wolverines look
for ways to score, it’s Brooks
who could reap rewards.

But back to Spring Grove.
The first inkling that Eli
Brooks might have a future in
basketball came when he was
11. His dad’s men’s league was
down a player, so they asked
Eli to step in. He dropped six
points, holding his own against
a bunch of bigger, better dudes.
“They tried to block my last
shot,” Brooks said, “then it went
in. So it was pretty fun.”
By the time Brooks was a
junior in high school, he was the
best player the town had seen,
maybe ever.
“I’ve never seen anyone who
can create an atmosphere like
Eli did,” said Greg Wagner,
Spring Grove’s athletic director.
“We would travel ... and people
would come to see Eli. Not just
the game, but to meet Eli. And
after games, there would be
mobs on the court of people
who wanted to meet Eli, get a
picture taken with Eli, have Eli
sign their shirts and things like
that.”
The stories start to flow like
beer from a tap. There was the
time a guidance counselor from
another school emailed Wagner,
prompting an internal freakout,
only to have it be a picture
of Brooks in the stands with
a youth basketball program.
There were all the road games
that Spring Grove’s fans drove to
so they could get a glimpse.
There was the first league
championship since 1971, and
then there were the crowds. In
a town of 2,167, there would be
crowds between 1,800-2,000
packed into Spring Grove’s gym,
standing room only, the air thick
with humidity.
There’s one other athlete to
come out of Spring Grove in
recent years: Hali Flickinger,
a 2016 Olympian who placed
seventh
in
the
200-meter
butterfly. When she competed
in Rio, the town held viewing
parties in the park. The thing
about small towns — they’re
proud of their exports.
When
Brooks
eschewed
Villanova,
he
became
just
that, an export. It’s games
like
Wednesday’s
that
will
determine just how successful
of one he’ll be.

ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Junior forward Adam Winborg has been one of Michigan’s top players during the faceoff, winning 18 of 26 draws over the past three games for the Wolverines.

MIKE ZLONKEVICZ/Daily
Freshman forward Naz Hillmon is adjusting to collegiate-level basketball.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Sophomore guard Eli Brooks will return to his home state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday to face Villanova.

JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer

“They’re
definitely a
special group of
freshmen.”

BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer

“... (now) I have

a lot of people
to push me in
practice ...”