8 — Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
No Mercy
‘M’ blows out Detroit Mercy, 95-62
Detroit
Mercy
wasn’t
supposed to put up a close fight
against Michigan. Yet, with 4:44
remaining in the first half, the
Titans (1-4) scrapped their way
to a three-point lead over the
Wolverines (3-0).
Michigan,
who
would
ultimately win the game 95-62,
struggled early to find its rhythm.
The Wolverines accumulated six
turnovers in the first 15 minutes
and shot a mere 3-for-9 from the
free throw line in the first half —
a consistent issue for Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico’s squad
throughout this young season.
Detroit Mercy capitalized on the
Wolverines’ sloppy early play
and shot over 50 percent from
three in the first half.
“I think we were playing
to our opponent, we weren’t
playing to our ability,” said
senior center Hallie Thome.
“We had three turnovers to start
the game, so having that be the
start of the game kind of makes
everyone a little anxious.”
Then, as soon as the Titans
took
the
lead,
Thome
and
freshman forward Naz Hillmon
took over — scoring a combined
15 points in the final 4:30 of the
half — leading Michigan on a
20-0 run going into the locker
room comfortably up 54-37.
From
there
on
out
the
Wolverines dominated, forcing
turnover after turnover. Their
active press defense forced a
staggering 29 turnovers and
never gave Detroit Mercy a
chance to regain its footing and
climb back into the game.
“(Hillmon) definitely helped
us a lot,” Thome said. “Naz and
the press. She definitely set the
tone getting all those turnovers
and those ten-second counts. So
definitely to have someone, and
especially a freshman, set that
tone and give us that energy I
think we needed at that point
and having it carry over to all
of us helped us be able to kinda
(put) our foot on the gas and
keep going.”
Thome — who scored 25
points in just under 20 minutes
— could not be matched by the
smaller Titan team and scored
nearly every time she shot the
ball from the low post.
Hillmon, meanwhile, injected
an energy into the lineup that
seemed to have been lacking
since the opening tip. With
Michigan running a press for
much of the game, Hillmon
raced all over the court, forcing
turnovers and causing problems
for the Titans.
“(Hillmon’s)
energy
is
contagious,”
Barnes
Arico
said. “I think she just does a
tremendous job of bringing it
each and every single day. I think
it’s definitely a difference maker
in our program’s success so it’s
great to have her and I’m glad
she’s playing well right now.”
Hillmon’s
most
intense
moment, though, came with just
over a minute remaining in the
first half and the Wolverines up
10.
Following freshman guard
Amy
Dilk’s
missed
layup,
Hillmon collected the rebound
and put up a shot of her own
while getting fouled. As soon
as the ball slid through the
cylinder, Hillmon turned around
and let out an emphatic yell as
she flexed her muscles toward
her bench.
“I like to bring a lot of energy
to the game and if it’s ever flat I
want to give a yell or a high five,”
Hillmon said. “I think that being
able to bring some energy to the
team, that not only helps me and
makes me want to go harder, but
it definitely helps my teammates
knowing that there’s somebody
there encouraging them.”
Hillmon, who finished the
game with 22 points and eight
rebounds, and the rest of the
Michigan starters, would not set
foot on the court in the fourth
quarter following the slow start
with the game decidedly in
hand.
The Wolverines will now
prepare for the Gulf Coast
Showcase, where they will first
take on Missouri this Friday,
Nov. 23, before playing two
more games over the rest of the
weekend.
“I think we just really need to
pay attention to detail because
we’re going to be playing against
some
tremendous
programs
in Florida,” Barnes Arico said.
“Every possession is going to
matter; we need to be locked in
and we need to be focused; we
need to know our personnel,
know
our
assignments.
We’re going to have a quick
turnaround, not a lot of prep
time for the games, so it’s going
to be important that we’re
focused.”
ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Freshman forward Naz Hillmon teamed with senior center Hallie Thome to score 20 straight points against Detroit Mercy.
BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan struggles from stripe in win
The Wolverines beat Detroit
Mercy handedly on Monday
night, 95-62, but for much of
the first half that result was
anything but assured.
The
two
teams
traded
baskets deep into the second
quarter.
The
Titans
even
managed
a
lead
before
Michigan rattled off a 20-0
run to end the first half.
Two
factors
contributed
to the Wolverines’ inability
to
jump
out
to
a
more
commanding
lead
in
the
first fifteen minutes though:
missed defensive assignments
and poor free throw shooting.
The former can be chalked up
to spreading themselves too
thin on the press — something
they seemed to fix at halftime.
But the latter is part of a more
worrying trend.
Coming
into
the
game,
Michigan
was
27-for-45
from
the
charity
stripe,
exactly 60-percent, a mark
tied for 281st out of 349
Division-I teams. A 10-for-19
performance against Detroit
Mercy does not help that
average.
Within the context of such
a blowout, poor free throw
shooting might seem like a
trivial problem, but as the
Wolverines’
schedule heats
up in the next
week
with
games against
Missouri, and
possibly
two
other
top-25
teams, it may
come back to
bite them.
The
struggles
at the foul line are more
of a confidence issue than
anything
according
to
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico.
“I think that starts to get
in your head a bit,” Barnes
Arico said. “The key is just to
get in the gym to just get your
confidence back, get your
touch back. And try not to
think about the misses.”
Even key contributors and
typically-efficient
shooters
like
sophomore
guard
Deja Church — who shot
74.7-percent last season — and
freshmen Naz Hillmon have
been susceptible to the trend
so far.
“Coach was telling us just
now that it’s in our heads,
so we just have to shake it
off and make ourselves more
comfortable at the free throw
line,” Hillmon said. “We need
to avoid thinking too much
about it or too little (about it).”
Senior Hallie Thome added
in support of Church: “She’s
kinda struggling at the line,
but last year she made the
hardest free throws. We were
down three (against Nebraska)
and Deja got fouled at the
three-point line, made them,
and we went into overtime.
So I think it’s just definitely a
mental thing.”
The season is young and the
sample size is small. But since
the Wolverines seem to be
hitting on every
other
cylinder,
they are looking
to correct their
foul-shooting
struggles before
it
manifests
into something
bigger.
“You’ve been
shooting
them
since you first
started playing,
since you were a little kid, so
it’s something you can almost
take
for
granted,”
Barnes
Arico said. “Right now, we
can’t so we just have to make
sure we focus on it a little bit
more.”
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
“You’ve been
shooting them
since you first
started playing.”
The tired verbiage of rivalry week
J
im Harbaugh doesn’t like
making comparisons.
He says it demeans and
diminishes accomplishments.
Harbaugh, as he has done
every year
at Michigan,
treaded
lightly
Monday to
protect the
focus of his
players and
not give
opponent’s
fodder.
Despite
being the
expected road for Harbaugh
to take, it’s still strange.
In Bo Schembechler’s 1989
autobiography “Bo,” being
conservative was the antithesis
of what made him great.
“Quarterbacks are a special
breed,” Schembechler wrote.
“They need to be cocky, and
the cockiest I ever had was
probably Jim Harbaugh.”
Sitting at 0-3 against
Ohio State as a coach so far,
Harbaugh could just be saving
face and reserving judgment.
The farthest he went in
Monday’s press conference was
… not far at all. The message
was standard, but the meaning
was evident.
“I expect our team to be very
motivated,” Harbaugh said. “I
know I am.”
Yes, it’s rivalry week against
the Buckeyes, so perhaps his
caution is rooted in experience
— a guarantee he made to beat
Ohio State and an impending
Rose Bowl appearance when
Harbaugh was the Wolverines’
quarterback in 1986.
Though the high-stakes
game is fast-approaching, the
expectations of provocative
speech should no longer exist
for this point of the season. Yet,
the questions are inescapable,
and the answers are becoming
the same.
“It’s the Big Game,”
Harbaugh said about what
motivates him. “Even got a
name for it, doesn’t it?”
Even after Michigan won
that 1986 game, 26-24, in
Columbus, Harbaugh sings a
different tune, as well as in the
years following his declaration.
Dating back to his introductory
press conference in 2014,
he doesn’t make guarantees
anymore: “I’ve learned from
that.”
About an hour after
Harbaugh stepped away from
the podium Monday, senior
running back Karan Higdon
stood in the same spot, with
tight end Zach Gentry hulking
him to his right. A reporter
asked the question — goaded,
essentially — that now serves
as a prerequisite in a sound bite
media landscape: Like your
coach, will you guarantee a
win?
Higdon and Gentry shared
a look. What came after was
expected.
“Yeah, I do. I do,” Higdon
said, followed by a laugh.
“That’s how I feel. I believe
firmly in my brothers and this
team and this coaching staff.
And as a captain, I’ll take that
stand. Why not?”
It was
definitive, but
it was hardly
the assertion
Harbaugh made
32 years ago.
Higdon is a
captain of the
No. 4 team in
the country
with conference
and national
title hopes at stake. Yet, it has
already grabbed headlines and
incited social media furor.
It was not an unprompted
guarantee, and with the game’s
implications, should not be
treated as such. The only
notable aspect is that it breaks
the character of a seemingly
unbothered Michigan team.
“Having done it, I don’t
recommend it,”
Harbaugh said of
guaranteeing a
win in The Game
in 2016.
Though more
subtle, junior
linebacker Devin
Bush also made
a lofty claim,
referencing the
2016 overtime
loss on Monday.
“That was one of those
games where we didn’t finish,”
Bush said. “We’ve got another
opportunity to go in there.
“And I believe we’re gonna
finish the job.”
It’s not breaking news.
With everything to lose, the
past shouldn’t be considered,
and there is every reason to
think the game will be close.
Junior left guard Ben Bredeson
said “It’s just different in this
game,” with the exasperation of
three years of getting the same
question.
Ohio State coach Urban
Meyer also spoke with the
media in Columbus on Monday.
He assumed the same demeanor
as Harbaugh, even talking about
mutual respect.
“I can only speak for myself,
but I think the ‘R-word’ is
critical here,” he said. “… How
do you respect them and The
Game? You work so very hard to
do your best.”
There is never truly a
breaking point of the exhaustive
responses and unsettled debates
for this rivalry. It’s interesting
to hear Bredeson reflect on how
getting flipped off energizes
him, or how Bush feeds into the
boos. Sharing experiences and
the boredom of sameness are
not mutually exclusive.
Another reporter asked
Harbaugh then if it was just
another game on the College
Football Playoff hunt.
“Of course not,” Harbaugh
replied with disgust, like it was
blasphemous that the question
was asked at all.
Rivalry week doesn’t need to
have a different tone. It speaks
for itself.
Wolfe can be reached at
eewolfe@umich.edu or on
Twitter @ethanewolfe.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Senior running back Karan Higdon was asked Monday if he would be willing to guarantee a win against Ohio State, and after some internal debating, he obliged, saying he’ll “take that stand.”
ETHAN
WOLFE
“And as a
captain, I’ll take
that stand. Why
not?”