The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SportsMonday November 19, 2018 — 3B Michigan wins Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The first half of Sunday’s game started and ended the same way: junior center Jon Teske catching Providence’s defense napping and throwing down an easy dunk. That set the tone for the rest of the game. Though it was close at the beginning, the No. 18 Michigan men’s basketball team (5-0 overall) took control and never relented in a 66-47 win over the Friars (3-2) in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament. The Wolverines got out to an early lead after Teske’s dunk. Twice, freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis received long passes from junior guard Zavier Simpson and dunked them in on the fast break. The second time, he hung on the rim for a few seconds, savoring the moment as he let the ball roll down his body. Providence temporarily grabbed the momentum with a 6-0 run, punctuated by a deep 3-pointer from Maliek White, to cut the Wolverines’ lead to 21-20. But that was the closest the Friars got. On the following possession, Teske hit a pick- and-pop three — the first of his career — to keep Michigan in the lead with 3:49 remaining in the half. From there, the Wolverines capped off a 14-2 run with Teske’s second dunk to extend the lead to 35-22 at halftime. “At the end of the first half, we just wanted to come to the locker room excited and ready for the second half,” Brazdeikis said. “They went on their run, I feel like towards the end of that first half, so then we just bounced back.” Both teams played chippy — combining for four fouls in the first two minutes of the second half. Providence was able to take advantage early in the second half by grabbing extra possession, but sophomore forward Isaiah Livers made back-to-back 3-pointers to keep Michigan’s lead comfortable. And the Wolverines’ stifling defense helped extinguish any hope of a comeback. The Friars shot just 28.1 percent on field goals, while Michigan grabbed 28 defensive rebounds. Michigan ran its offense through Brazdeikis and Teske — who finished with 20 and 17 points, respectively. The rest of the team struggled to score, which ultimately kept the game from being a blowout. Simpson and redshirt junior Charles Matthews — both of whom scored in double digits Saturday — failed to get anything going offensively, combining for just 11 points. But even when that happened, Teske and Brazdeikis were there to grab a board or tip the ball in off the glass — and that was when they weren’t dunking. Teske had three dunks and Brazdeikis, two. With their flashy moves and an assist from the defense, the outcome was never in doubt. “Everyone can play on our team. It’s not gonna be one person that’s gonna be the best player on the court every day,” Brazdeikis said. “It’s gonna be, one day (Simpson), one day Jon, one day Charles and it always switches cause we all split the ball, so it’s just about being effective in other ways, and our team is just so talented that we all just click.” Added Michigan coach John Beilein: “That’s always gonna be our mindset going in. We’re gonna take what people give us.” Wolverines set to face Detroit Mercy Just two weeks into the season, the Michigan women’s basketball team (2-0) already has two dominant performances under its belt. First, the Wolverines dismantled Mount St. Mary’s, 88-40, in the season opener. And last Thursday, they cruised past Western Michigan, 79-42. There’s no reason to expect anything different to happen Monday night, when Michigan faces Detroit Mercy (1-3) at Crisler Center. Last season, the Titans finished with an abysmal 2-28 record. They are currently on a three- game losing streak, and on paper, they don’t match up well against the Wolverines. Detroit Mercy has just two players at or over six-feet tall, and only one of them — six-foot forward Paige Bellman — gets meaningful playing time. On the other hand, Michigan has 11 players in the six-foot club — including 6-foot-5 senior center Hallie Thome. She has been the Wolverines go-to player so far, leading the team with 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest. Both of Michigan’s opponents so far have lacked comparable height, thus allowing Thome to control the paint. Because of her height advantage, Thome often draws double teams. But so far, she has used solid footwork to weave around this. She should have no trouble finding the basket come Monday, as the Titans don’t seem to have a logical answer for her. With their length, the Wolverines have been successful under the glass. They’ve outrebounded opposing teams 106 to 46 and could widen the gap against Detroit Mercy. “I think that’s been a difference- maker kind of our last couple games,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico to WTKA on Thursday. “And we talked about that a lot coming into tonight.” When these two schools met last season, the Titans initially kept it interesting. Early in the opening quarter, they drained four three-pointers in a row to get a head start. And a few possessions later, they converted another triple to take a 10-point lead. The Wolverines fought back, though, tying the game at 20 by the end of the first frame. Michigan then pulled away quickly, notching an 86-50 victory. Detroit Mercy no longer has forward Brianne Cohen or guards Anja Marinkovic and Nicole Urbanick — its three leading scorers from last year. Cohen and Urbanick were both seniors last season, and Marinkovic transferred to play at Florida Gulf Coast. Now, forward Lexey Tobel leads the Titans with 13 points a game. In last year’s meeting, she scored a team-high 14 points. Bellman is their best rebounder, grabbing 7.8 boards per game. She also has the most steals and is tied for the most blocks, with a total of 11 and six, respectively. This will be the Wolverines’ sixth time facing Detroit Mercy under Barnes Arico. She won the last five and will likely win again on Monday. Regardless of the probable mismatch, the contest should allow Michigan to fine-tune its play and work out any remaining kinks before the season picks up pace. The weekend after Thanksgiving, the Wolverines will head to Estero, Fla. for the Gulf Coast Showcase. It will also give Michigan a chance to further implement its depth, which has been a focal point this season. Wolverines lose to Penn State in overtime, 7-6 STATE COLLEGE — A thrilling comeback on back-to-back nights seemed too good to be true for the Michigan hockey team. But what ensued on Saturday was thrilling nonetheless. After roaring back from a deficit in the third period for the second night in a row, the 16th-ranked Wolverines could not finish the job, falling to No. 5 Penn State in overtime, 7-6. The scoring got off to a quick start on the second night of the series between the teams. Sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes was penalized for hooking just 0:38 into the game, sending the Nittany Lions to an early power play. And less than one minute into the one-man advantage, forward Evan Barratt got Penn State out to an early 1-0 lead. Forward Liam Folkes skated up the left wing and passed across to Barratt who was set up in the slot just outside of the right faceoff circle. The duo got freshman goaltender Strauss Mann moving from right to left in the crease, and Barratt slotted the puck out of his reach to his left. Just two minutes later, the Nittany Lions struck again. Forward Aarne Talvitie streaked down left wing, shot to the far side and into the top right corner of the net past the glove of Mann to extend the lead to 2-0. With that goal, Penn State had struck twine on their first two shots of the night. After coming up with several big stops on Friday, Mann had earned his first back-to-back starts and was showing signs of struggle, while the Michigan defense failed pounce on 50-50 pucks in its own defensive zone, leading to plenty of early opportunities for the Nittany Lions. However, Mann remained even- keeled and came up with several big stops before the Wolverines cut into the lead. Near the halfway mark of the period, junior forward Nick Pastujov scored on a loose puck out in front of the crease. The initial shot came in from sophomore forward Josh Becker who streaked up the right wing on a pass from freshman defenseman Nick Blankenburg. Pastujov corralled the puck after Penn State’s defense was unable to clear it, making it 2-1. After Michigan’s initial goal, the defense seemed to pick up steam and began to win more pucks in its own zone. As the defense found some temporary success, the offense began controlling possession and getting more opportunities. And four minutes after Pastujov cut the lead in half, junior forward Will Lockwood, tied it up at 2-2. Junior forward Jake Slaker found Lockwood in the left faceoff circle. As Lockwood attempted to pass to an open sophomore forward Josh Norris, the puck took a deflection off a defender’s stick and past junior goaltender Peyton Jones. The period ended 2-2 with a combined 33 shots for the two teams. In the second period, the defensive intensity continued for the Wolverines. With that came some opportunities for offense, but they failed to capitalize. After a pair of minor penalties on freshman forward Garrett Van Wyhe and Penn State defenseman Kevin Kerr, four-on-four play ensued, and the Nittany Lions regained the lead as Barratt skated into the offensive zone towards the right faceoff circle with the puck, seemingly unmarked, and fired past Mann. Four minutes later Barratt scored again to complete the hat trick and gave Penn State a 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission. It was the same deficit Michigan faced on Friday night. Early in the third period, the Wolverines pulled within one as Hughes found sophomore forward Dakota Raabe from the left side of the ice as he put the puck past Jones, making the score 4-3. But the Nittany Lions were stubborn, not wanting to replicate the events of Friday. Just when it appeared Michigan had regained momentum, Penn State answered again and jumped out to a two-goal lead once more. “(The defense was) just casual,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “Not picking guys up, not playing aggressive at times. We looked confused in our zone, everybody trying to do somebody else’s job. Not trusting the communication, I mean a number of things.” Then, once again, the Wolverines scored to pull within a goal on a deflection from Pastujov, only to be answered yet again to make it 6-4 with eight minutes remaining. But the opportunity was there once more for Michigan, and for the third time in the period, they pulled within one goal. The puck found Van Wyhe with time and space in the right slot, and he fired a wrister to the top left corner into the net. “It’s crazy,” Pearson said. “Two nights in a row we’re down 4-2 going into the third period, and we come out and score the first goal to make it 4-3, and here we go again.” Then, with 1:05 remaining in the period, Norris fired a shot towards the net, and the puck snuck under the crossbar on a deflection off the stick of Lockwood to tie the game at six and send the game to overtime. The comeback came was all for naught, though. The Nittany Lions won the opening draw in overtime and fired the puck on net. Mann was unable to corral puck, and the rebound spewed out in front of the crease. Forward Sam Sternschein won the race to the net and scored, extinguishing the short-lived joy of the comeback for Michigan and winning the game for Penn State. “I’ve been in this game 37 years in college hockey, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ending quite like that on an innocent play,” Pearason said. “They just pushed forward to the puck, they shoot it and it goes off Strauss, he can’t control the rebound and they beat us to the puck… so, a tough way to lose, especially when you don’t get any points out of it –– points are so critical. We got a lot of work to do, but I did like the resiliency our team showed tonight.” In a series where both sides showcased their offensive firepower, the Wolverines’ defense was unable to replicate the third- period performance that earned them a victory on Friday. ALEC COHEN/Daily Junior center Jon Teske hit his first pick-and-pop three on Sunday and finished with 17 points against Providence. ARIA GERSON Daily Sports Writer “That’s always gonna be our mindset going in.” “We’re gonna take what people give us.” ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer WOMEN’S BASKETBALL RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily Junior forward Will Lockwood scored two goals in the Wolverines’ 7-6 loss on Saturday for a series split with Penn State. JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer The Michigan Daily Top 10 Poll Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with first-place votes receiving 10 points, second-place votes receiving nine and so on. 1. Alabama: If Auburn or Georgia are any better than The Citadel, these guys might be in trouble. 2. Clemson: Can’t wait for Clemson to get tested in the ACC Championship against *looks at ACC Coastal standings* Pitts- burgh…? 3. Notre Dame: Ian Book has earned his pinstripes far more than Giancarlo Stan- ton. 4. Michigan: Maybe the real Revenge Tour is the friends we made along the way. 5. Georgia: This just in: CFP committee chairman Rob Mullens has received the maximum Venmo payment from User: @$irby_Kmart 6. Oklahoma: Oklahomer? I hardly know her! 7. Washington State: Mike Leach took this joke and made it into a five-minute press conference answer. 8. LSU: It’s actually Fewer Miles. 9. Ohio State: Xore like Xaryland! 10. UCF: Yeah, they’re undefeated, but they also live in Orlando.