8 —Thursday, November 15, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Philly Special

‘M’ avenges national championship 
loss to Nova with blowout, 73-46 win

VILLANOVA, Pa. — This was 
not supposed to happen.
Last April, Villanova took the 
floor in San Antonio and put on a 
spectacular display of basketball 
dominance. 
The 
Wildcats 
seemingly scored at will, while 
suffocating the Michigan men’s 
basketball team on the other end.
Wednesday night in Villanova, 
history was supposed to repeat 
itself.
And it did — except that the 
roles were reversed, with the 
18th-ranked 
Wolverines 
(3-0 
overall) jumping out to an early 
lead and never looking back in a 
stunning, 73-46 win.
If anything went as expected 
on Wednesday, it 
was 
Michigan’s 
defensive 
dominance. After 
allowing 
just 
13 points in the 
second 
half 
of 
Saturday’s 
win 
over Holy Cross, 
they limited the 
eighth-ranked 
Wildcats (2-1) to 
17 first half points 
on 6-of-25 shooting.
Postgame, Villanova coach 
Jay Wright was asked what went 
wrong for his team. Midway 
through a lengthy self-reflection 
on the Wildcats’ performance, he 
stopped and corrected himself.
“Number one: their defense.”
At half time, Villanova trailed 
in all but two categories — 
personal fouls and turnovers. 
The 
Wildcats 
finished 
with 
two more free throws than the 
Wolverines but the turnover 
disparity 
remained, 
as 
they 
finished with 21 — seven more 
than their made field goal tally.
“We really are gonna probably 
be as good as our defense is 
gonna be this year,” said coach 
John Beilein. “And it was really 
good today.”
“People ask, ‘well what’s this 
scheme or what did you do?’ 
We have really good individual 
defenders, including our big guy 
Jon Teske. They’re really good at 
picking you apart and finding a 
weakness. We didn’t have many 
weaknesses 
individually 
on 
defense today and that was a big 
difference.”
Eight minutes into the first 
half, 
Michigan 
had 
already 

quieted a raucous Villanova 
crowd by building an early 14-8 
lead. That wasn’t enough for 
Beilein, who replaced junior 
center Jon Teske with freshman 
forward Ignas Brazdeikis and 
shifted 
sophomore 
forward 
Isaiah Livers to the ‘5,’ where 
he would remain until Teske 
returned with 25 seconds left 
in the half. By that point, the 
Wolverines led, 44-17.
Livers 
made 
a 
dramatic 
introduction to his new position, 
pulling up from just beyond the 
3-point arc to hit Michigan’s 
second 
consecutive 
3-pointer 
and start a 25-5 run, but his 
biggest impact came on the 
defensive end.
“(Livers) allows us, with a 
driving big like they have, he 
can 
stay 
in 
front of him,” 
Beilein 
said 
“… 
And 
then, 
hitting 
those 
two 3s in the 
first half really 
was big for us. 
You’ve watched 
our games, you 
know 
right 
now, we were 
struggling 
getting open shots from outside. 
He knocked down those two 3s.
Added Wright: “If they’re 
with (Livers) at 
the ‘five’ and he’s 
the 
biggest 
guy 
and he’s guarding 
our guards, that’s 
a hell of a team.”
But much like 
against 
Holy 
Cross, 
it 
was 
Brazdeikis 
and 
redshirt 
junior 
forward 
Charles 
Matthews leading 
the way for the Wolverines. 
Matthews led all scorers with 19 
points — including 16 in the first 
half.
His most ferocious two came 
with the game teetering on the 
edge of a blowout, as Michigan 
led with 26-13 with 6:29 to 
play in the first half. Livers 
missed a layup under the hoop, 
but Matthews elevated above 
multiple 
Villanova 
would-be 
rebounders to slam home a two-
handed dunk before flexing to 
the crowd.
“I just play and let my passion 
take over,” Matthews said. “It 
was an exciting game, it was a 

fun game and I got the dunk, and 
I just screamed. I didn’t know 
what else to do.”
Livers made amends on the 
next possession with his second 
three of the day. Sophomore 
guard Jordan Poole followed 
up with an isolation three over 
forward 
Jermaine 
Samuels 
before 
Brazdeikis 
completed 
an 
and-one 
to 
extend 
the 
Wolverines’ lead to 24.
If 
the 
Wildcats 
had 
any 
suppositions 
of 
a 
second-
half comeback, 
junior 
guard 
Zavier Simpson 
— 
Michigan’s 
defensive star 
all 
night 
— 
quickly 
put 
those to rest 
with a basket, steal, and fast-
break assist to put the Wolverines 
up 32 within two minutes.
From 
there, 
the 
rest 
of 
the game — much like the 
closing minutes of the national 
championship — was little more 
than a formality. Only this time, 
it was Michigan exhibiting its 
dominance.
“Whatever the final score 
was,” Wright said, “it wasn’t that 
close.”
Safe to say, that is not 
something 
the 
defending 
national 
champions 
were 
planning to say about a 27-point 
defeat.

Stubborn defense fuels Wolverines 
as they hold Wildcats to 46 points

VILLANOVA, 
Pa. 
— 
It 
happened exactly as John Beilein 
expected.
On 
Villanova’s 
second 
possession, senior forward Eric 
Paschall drove the lane, right at 
Ignas Brazdeikis. With Paschall’s 
40-pound 
weight 
advantage 
and three more years of college 
experience, it should have been 
an easy two points. Instead, 
the freshman held his ground, 
absorbed the contact and took the 
charge.
“We thought they’d isolate him 
and go right at him,” Beilein said. 
“And he stuck right in there and 
drew a charge. That was moving 
his feet. Many players come in 
as freshmen, they aren’t ready 
to do that or it wears them out … 
His endurance and his toughness 
today were outstanding.”
It’s hard to point to the defining 
moment of a blowout like the 
27-point 
shellacking 
Michigan 
unleashed 
on 
the 
Wildcats 
Wednesday night. But just 78 
seconds into the game, Brazdeikis 
had set the tone.
The freshman forward from 
Ontario, 
Canada 
joined 
the 
Wolverines with a reputation for 
scoring. A knack for shutdown 
defense doesn’t show up on his 
scouting report.
It did, however, appear on 
Wednesday’s boxscore. Brazdeikis 
stifled Paschall all night, forcing 
him 
into 
an 
uncharacteristic 

3-for-14 shooting night and just 10 
points, and matching the Villanova 
power forward on every one of his 
drives to the basket.
“Iggy’s kind of like a mini pit 
bull,” said redshirt junior forward 
Charles Matthews. “He’s not 
scared of anything. He took the 
challenge, played against a good 
four-man. He came out there, just 
played hard, played smart and 
tried the best he can.”
With Michigan boasting elite 
defenders such as Matthews junior 
guard Zavier Simpson and junior 
center Jon Teske, it makes sense 
why the Wildcats tried to attack 
Brazdeikis, sensing a relative soft 
spot in the nation’s third most 
efficient defense. It didn’t work — 
and neither did anything else.
“They’re really good at picking 
you apart and finding a weakness,” 
Beilein said. “We didn’t have 
many weaknesses individually on 
defense today.”
Meanwhile, the pre-perceived 
strengths 
of 
the 
Wolverines’ 
defense 
remained 
strengths. 
Simpson — the fiery, hard-nosed 
leader of the unit — racked up 
a whopping six steals while 
relentlessly hounding point guard 
Collin Gillespie into five turnovers 
to 
just 
three 
assists, 
which 
prevented Villanova from finding 
any rhythm offensively.
“He’s just such a tough kid 
and he’s tough to get off the floor, 
sometimes I have to drag him off 
the floor,” Beilein said. “... (His 
teammates) look at him and they 
see leadership all over him.”

Added Villanova coach Jay 
Wright: “Every time (Gillespie) 
caught it, they were in on him. 
That’s why he was driving so 
much, and when he was driving 
they were just banging the hell out 
of him, not letting him go by them.”
Matthews, 
meanwhile, 
matched up with shooting guard 
Phil Booth, who came into the 
contest averaging 20 points per 
game. All night long, Matthews’ 
range and athleticism thwarted 
the Wildcats’ normally lethal 
perimeter attack, closing out hard 
on 3-point shots, recording two 
blocked shots and holding Booth 
to nine points on 2-for-8 shooting.
Beilein noted that Villanova 
shot 
just 
15 
3-pointers 
on 
Wednesday — less than half of its 
season average, and an essential 
ingredient in Michigan’s victory. 
Matthews’ length and athleticism 
were huge reasons why.
“He’s just active. His defense 
is what’s making us right now,” 
Beilein said. “Booth is a heck of 
a player. A heck of a player. So 
Charles is relentless when you give 
him a matchup like that.”
The Wildcats had no more 
luck dealing with the Wolverines’ 
big men, either. Teske is known 
for his prowess in the paint, but 
Wednesday showcased a different 
side of his game. Michigan often 
defended Villanova’s ball screens 
by switching Teske onto the ball 
handler, and the 7-foot-1 giant 
proved he was no statue.
“Most teams, if you switch a 
ball-screen, they’re not gonna get 
more complicated after,” Beilein 
said. “So Jon can do that. Jon can 
really move his feet, and that was 
very obvious today.”
Last 
season, 
the 
Wildcats 
possessed 
the 
second-most 
efficient offense in the KenPom 
era. On Wednesday, Villanova 
scored just 46 points total. It shot 
31.8 percent from the field and 20 
percent from behind the 3-point 
line. It had more turnovers (21) 
than made field goals (14).
And for Michigan, it was the 
entire team — Simpson all the 
way down to the unheralded 
Brazdeikis — that made such a 
performance possible.
“Their 
defense 
was 
very 
physical, very aggressive, and 
really locked in to their scouting 
report,” Wright said. “... They’re 
playing with Brazdeikis at the ‘5’, 
and he’s the biggest guy and he’s 
guarding our guards.
“That’s a hell of a team.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman wing Ignas Brazdeikis (left) took a key charge early in Michigan’s 73-46 win over Villanova.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“We really are 
gonna probably 
be as good as 
our defense.”

“Whatever the 
final score was, 
it wasn’t that 
close.”

Michigan looking to continue growth against Western Michigan

For 
a 
relatively 
young 
Michigan women’s basketball 
team, every game is another 
opportunity to grow.
A Thursday night trip to 
Kalamazoo to take on Western 
Michigan (1-1) is no different.
Though 
the 
Wolverines 
(1-0) may have Big Ten title 
aspirations come the end of 
the season, their goals are 
much less ambitious at the 
moment.
“I think the team is just 
focusing 
on 
getting 
better 
each 
and 
everyday,” said 
senior 
guard 
Nicole Munger. 
“We’re looking 
to be the best 
team 
we 
can 
be, and that’s 
going to take 
some time but 
everybody 
is 
enthusiastic 
about 
the 
process.”
Michigan is coming off a 
dominant home opener against 
Mount St. Mary’s, where its 
starters combined for 62 points 
en route to an 88-40 win. The 
Wolverines’ defense was a 
bit shaky in the first quarter, 
allowing Mount St. Mary’s to 
score nearly half their total 
points within the first quarter. 
The offense picked up the 
slack though. Senior center 
Hallie Thome, specifically, got 

anything she wanted.
With Michigan in control, 
coach Kim Barnes Arico could 
afford to empty the bench and 
give freshmen some valuable 
game 
experience. 
Forward 
Naz Hillmon scored 10 points, 
while guards Ariel Young and 
Emily Kiser pitched in four 
points each.
There 
wasn’t 
much 
to 
complain about from Barnes 
Arico’s perspective, but with 
some tough tests coming up 
at the end of November, every 
minute detail counts. So as 
Michigan turns its attention 
to the Broncos, 
the team’s focus 
is 
on 
starting 
strong.
“I 
think 
for 
the 
entire 
team, freshmen 
included, 
it’s 
important 
that 
we come out of 
the gates ready 
to play for 40 
minutes,” Barnes 
Arico said. “I think that’s 
happened to us the past couple 
of games where we came out 
kinda comfortable and in the 
first quarter they scored a lot 
more baskets than we would’ve 
liked. Once we settle down and 
follow the game plan, I think 
we were able to stop them and 
really do a good job. So the goal 
is really to play that way for 40 
minutes.”
If the Wolverines hope to 
accomplish this, their defense 
will have to be cognizant of 

Western Michigan’s forward 
Leighah-Amori 
Wool. 
The 
sophomore starter is averaging 
18 points through the Broncos’ 
first two games. Though most 
of Western Michigan’s other 
contributors are experienced 
upperclassmen, none of them 
present 
the 
scoring 
threat 
that Wool does. As a result, 
the Michigan lineup should 
be well-equipped to deal with 

them.
The 
Wolverines’ 
length 
should also help their cause. 
Much like Mount St. Mary’s, 
Western 
Michigan’s 
lineup 
doesn’t feature a player taller 
than six feet — Wool being the 
tallest. Down low, Thome and 
6-foot-2 
sophomore 
Hailey 
Brown should be able to take 
advantage.
Following 
Western 

Michigan, 
Michigan 
will 
return 
home 
for 
a 
game 
against Detroit Mercy, before 
its schedule really heats up 
Thanksgiving weekend at the 
Gulf Coast Showcase.
“We’re 
going 
down 
to 
Florida to play Missouri in the 
opening round,” Barnes Arico 
said. “In that tournament, 
dependent 
on 
how 
things 
shake out, we can have an 

opportunity to play Texas 
and Duke too. So three top-25 
programs: boom, boom, boom. 
Those early-season tests in 
the non-league will only help 
prepare us for league play.”
With all that said, priority 
number one for the Wolverines 
right 
now 
is 
their 
game 
against Western Michigan and 
the learning opportunity that 
comes with it.

CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer

MIKE ZLONKEVICZ/Daily
Freshman point guard Amy Dilk and the rest of the Michigan women’s basketball team is looking to continue its steady improvement against Western Michigan.

“I think the 
team is just 
focusing on 
getting better.”

