The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
November 26, 2018 — 3B

Offensive gameplan leaves lingering questions

Standing at the podium, hat 
fixed, mood stoic, there wasn’t 
much Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh could say.
A reporter asked broadly 
about his offensive gameplan. 
Harbaugh’s 
response 
was 
terse.
“Wanted to run our best 
plays,” he said. “Throwing, 
moving the ball, outside zone, 
inside power. We had basically 
everything — drop back, zone 
read. Roll-outs, boots, that was 
our plan.”
After 
the 
thorough 
undressing that was Saturday’s 
62-39 
loss 
to 
Ohio 
State, 
nothing was left unworthy 
of 
scrutiny. 
The 
offensive 
gameplan — and the execution 
that 
ensued 
— 
certainly 
warranted closer examination. 
And upon that examination, 
it was a gameplan devoid of 
necessary creativity.
On 
its 
face, 
Michigan’s 
offensive output was far from 
the main issue. The Wolverines 
posted 401 total yards and 39 
points. Before the game, most 
would 
have 
thought 
those 
numbers would have sufficed 
for a win — even a comfortable 
one. 
But that fails to encapsulate 
the lack of ambition, and clear 
contrast in styles, throughout 
the game — especially at the 
outset. 
Harbaugh isn’t wrong; there 
was plenty sprinkled into the 
offense throughout the game. 
The emphasis was clear: He 
hoped the running game would 
take control, work the clock 
and tire Ohio State’s defense. 
Off that, junior quarterback 
Shea Patterson could make 
plays out of zone-read and 
play-action. It’s what they’d 
done all year, so why should 
Saturday have been different?
And for a while, it was 
working to an extent. Early in 
the second quarter, Michigan 

had run 25 plays to Ohio State’s 
six, tallied 98 total yards to 
the Buckeyes’ 17 and held 
possession of the ball for 12:35 
to Ohio State’s 1:55. 
Yet 
at 
that 
point 
the 
Buckeyes still led the game, 
7-6.
Ohio State opened up a 21-6 
lead in the blink of an eye, and 
that’s when the 
challenge 
was 
truly pressed on 
the Wolverines’ 
offense. 
Had 
they 
been 
playing with a 
lead, 
perhaps 
this game would 
have played out 
differently. 
For 
a pro-style, run-
first 
offense, 
playing with the 
lead is always the plan until it 
can’t be.
But when that plan was 
thrown 
out 
the 
window, 
Harbaugh 
and 
his 
offense 
had no response. There were 
no big plays. The read-option 
that had become a staple 
of the offense was few and 
far between. There was no 
challenging a susceptible Ohio 

State 
secondary 
Maryland 
torched for 51 points last week.
Michigan threw the ball 10 
or more yards past the line of 
scrimmage just four times in 
the first half, when the game 
was within striking distance. 
Including 
penalties, 
those 
plays averaged 13.5 yards. The 
other 40 plays averaged 4.5 
yards per play.
It 
seemed 
like a coaching 
staff 
intent 
on bashing its 
head 
against 
a 
wall. 
And 
all the while, 
the Buckeyes’ 
offense 
was 
running circles 
around 
the 
Wolverines’ 
defense 
by 
spreading their offense out, 
getting their weapons in space 
and letting their All-Big Ten 
quarterback deliver.
Ohio State ended the game 
with six touchdown drives 
that lasted fewer than three 
minutes. 
The 
Wolverines 
offense ran 16:12 off the clock 
in their first six possessions 
and had just six points to 

show for it. That contrast was 
evident all day.
There is the larger question 
now, which many seem eager 
to litigate, of Jim Harbaugh’s 
pro-style offense. To be fair, 
that criticism was muted no 
less than a week ago.
It 
would 
be 
wrong 
to 
insinuate this team ran the 
same offense it has for the last 
three years under Harbaugh. 
To a large extent, Harbaugh 
altered this offense quite a 
bit with Patterson in tow — 
and it was evident in several 
dominant wins. Saturday, for 
example, Michigan ran 70 of 
its 85 plays from the shotgun 
or 
pistol 
formations. 
That 
would be unheard of in the last 
three seasons.
In the end, Harbaugh was 
right. Michigan ran its “best 
plays.” 
It 
included 
those 
concepts 
he 
mentioned 
in 
the 
press 
conference. 
The 
Wolverines 
won’t 
suddenly 
become a spead team as long as 
Harbaugh is the coach. Tweaks 
are one thing. Overhaul isn’t 
coming.
On Saturday against Ohio 
State, those “best plays” were 
not enough. And now, let the 

Shifting expectations
S

ix games into the season, the 
Michigan men’s basketball 
team is 
6-0. The clos-
est of those 
were 19-point 
wins against 
Norfolk 
State, Holy 
Cross and 
Providence. 
Its defense 
is the best in 
the country, 
per KenPom’s 
adjusted defensive efficiency. It 
was ranked ninth in last week’s 
AP poll — ahead of any other Big 
Ten team — and will likely move 
up on Monday. And if you listen 
to Michigan coach John Beilein, 
you’d think he was unaware of any 
of that.
“I don’t think we’re this 
juggernaut,” Beilein said, after the 
Wolverines dispatched Tennessee-
Chattanooga, 83-55, on Friday 
afternoon. “I think we’re OK. ... We 
don’t have that type of experience 
yet to just say, ‘OK, watch out. Here 
comes Michigan.’ ”
Beilein’s job, of course, requires 
him to say things like that. And it’s 
true that six games in November 
— most of them against terrible 
competition — don’t make a season.
But not all of those wins are 
hollow. Crushing Villanova, by 
27, at Villanova — that means 
something. So does dispatching 
Providence, a likely tournament 
team, by 19 points.
“I think we certainly got 
some teams that are rebuilding,” 
Beilein said. “Villanova, George 
Washington and Providence. They 
all lost some pretty key players — 
as we did.”
A month ago, it looked like this 
would be a rebuilding year for the 
Wolverines — or at least what a 
program that just made a national 
title game could classify as such. 
Nobody knew where the shooting 
would come from, how quickly 
the freshmen could be integrated, 
whether sophomores Isaiah Livers 
or Eli Brooks could take the next 

step.
The shooting hasn’t been great, 
but the defense is so good that it 
hasn’t mattered. Only one of five 
freshmen has played significant 
minutes, but that freshman, Ignas 
Brazdeikis, is averaging 15.7 points 
per game, and looks like a star. 
Playing Livers, a natural forward, 
at the ‘5’ has unlocked a new level 
for the Wolverines on both sides 
of the ball; Brooks has been more 
than serviceable coming off the 
bench.
North Carolina and Purdue, two 
teams in KenPom’s top-15, loom 
next week, and the Wolverines 
can reasonably expect to win both 
games.
None of those questions from 
the start of the season have been 
fully answered — they can’t be in 
six games. But if things continue 
this way, Michigan won’t just 
compete in the Big Ten, but sustain 
a spot in the national conversation.
The Wolverines, already, 
have recalibrated expectations, 
changing the conversation around 
the team. Beating the Tar Heels 
— who smacked them in Chapel 
Hill around this time last season 
— would be yet another signal of a 
shifting ceiling.
“I feel like we’re alright,” said 
sophomore guard Jordan Poole. 
“We’re getting the shots that we 
practice. We can get better shots. 
But we also are turning down some 
shots. We’re not being aggressive 
in some areas. It’s definitely just 
coming for our defense, we’re 
getting a lot of stops. We should be 
running hard in transition. It’s just 
a lot of little things that we can still 
work on.”
Like Beilein, Poole is supposed 
to talk about improving when 
faced with questions about how 
good Michigan is. And like Beilein, 
there’s a kernel of truth in there. 
The Wolverines can get better.
That’s what makes the first six 
games so scary.

Sears can be reached at 

searseth@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @ethan_sears.

Wolverines fall to Wisconsin in shootout

It only takes one play to 
change a game.
Saturday night, the No. 14 
Michigan hockey team (6-5-1 
overall, 2-2-1 Big Ten) had two 
of them in regulation before it 
tied with Wisconsin (5-7-1, 1-3-
1), 2-2, in double overtime and 
then fell in the shootout.
Late in the third period, facing 
a 
one-goal 
deficit, 
redshirt 
sophomore 
forward 
Luke 
Morgan received a pass from 
junior defenseman Luke Martin 
as he was crossing the offensive 
blue line, all alone in front of 
goaltender Daniel Lebedeff.
A little bit of stickwork and a 
quick shot later, and Morgan had 
notched his first goal of the year 
and tied the game at two.
“Good to see (Morgan) get off 
the mark there,” said Michigan 
coach Mel Pearson. “It’s just 
gonna help him and give him 
some confidence. … We’re gonna 
need that secondary scoring 
going forward. We’re getting 
guys to contribute now and 
we’re doing a good job. Good for 
(Morgan). That was a big goal.”
But despite Morgan’s heroics, 
eight minutes later, the game 
was still tied, and the Wolverines 
headed to their third straight 
overtime game.
Michigan sustained pressure 
on 
Lebedeff 
through 
most 
of the first overtime period 
but couldn’t knock the puck 
through. With 1:20 left in the 
stanza, senior defenseman Nick 
Boka was whistled for hooking. 
The penalty kill held strong, 
sending the game to double 
overtime and 3-on-3 action for 
the second night in a row.
Wisconsin 
had 
an 
extra 
skater to begin the second 
overtime period, but Michigan 
neutralized the man advantage. 
The five minutes of 3-on-3 came 
and went, and the game was still 
tied.
“You want to win them in 
regulation, but we’ll take it any 
way we can if we have to drag it 
to overtime,” Morgan said. “We 
have to come out with the win 
some way. It’s best in regulation, 

you don’t have to worry about 
it, it’s not as nerve wrecking at 
times, but we’ll take it any way 
we can.”
But on Saturday, the next step 
was a shootout for the extra Big 
Ten point — not a victory for 
either side. The game went down 
as a tie after the first overtime, 
meaning each team earned one 
point for conference standings. 
The shootout winner earned the 
second point.
Junior 
forward 
Will 
Lockwood went first in the 
shootout and his effort was 
just barely saved by Lebedeff. 
Next, Wisconsin forward Wyatt 
Kalynuk shot wide of the net.
Following 
Kalynuk, 
sophomore defenseman Quinn 
Hughes fired a shot that went 
well wide.
As the second shooter in the 
second round, forward Max 
Zimmer beat junior goaltender 
Hayden Lavigne five-hole, and 
the Badgers streamed onto the 
ice to celebrate.
Before it got to the shootout, 
or even scored a goal, Michigan 
was down by two and struggling 
to find a rhythm.
For the first time all season, 

Lavigne earned the starting 
nod on back-to-back nights. He 
came up with some big saves in 
the first five minutes, effectively 
neutralizing 
the 
constant 
pressure from the Badgers. But 
4:21 into the first period, Hughes 
was called for slashing and the 
Wolverines were sent to the 
penalty kill for the first time in 
the game.
Less than a minute later, with 
Wisconsin pressuring Lavigne in 
the crease, Boka lost his footing 
and allowed his assignment — 
defenseman K’Andre Miller — to 
slip past him and tuck the puck 
past the outstretched glove of 
Lavigne. He got part of his glove 
on the puck, but it wasn’t enough 
to save the goal.
In the second period, Lavigne 
fell victim to another defensive 
breakdown. When Michigan’s 
defenders 
slipped 
out 
of 
position, forward Jack Gorniak 
was able to get his stick on the 
puck and flip it up over Lavigne’s 
shoulder.
Suddenly, 
the 
Wolverines 
trailed, 2-0. The game appeared 
to be slipping out of reach.
Shortly afterwards, Hughes 
entered the offensive zone with 

the puck and slipped it across 
the ice to sophomore forward 
Josh Norris. Norris found fellow 
sophomore forward Jack Becker 
coming down through the slot 
and put the puck right on his 
stick.
Becker tapped the puck past 
Lebedeff and cut the Wolverines’ 
deficit to 2-1.
But the two goals would prove 
to be not enough, after all the 
extra periods and the shootout. 
Michigan’s power play, which 
entered the weekend ranked 
seventh in the nation, failed to 
score on any of its seven chances. 
The Wolverines recorded just 
12 shots across those seven 
opportunities.
“We’ve been riding our power 
play,” Pearson said. “It’s been 
really good for us lately. It’s 
been winning us a lot of games. 
Tonight, and this weekend, 
we just came up empty. I think 
that’s why we’re just looking 
at getting the three points and 
basically a split this weekend.”
Morgan’s late-game play gave 
Michigan hope momentarily, but 
the offense couldn’t overcome 
its woes and the late goal wasn’t 
enough to eke out a victory.

‘M’ dominated by Texas 
in Gulf Coast Showcase

Michigan’s quick start — a 
string 
of 
three 
consecutive 
layups offensively — did not 
last. In fact, by the end of the 
first quarter, it was as if that 
two-minute spell hadn’t even 
happened.
Texas proceeded to rattle 
off 19 straight points before the 
Wolverines managed another 
basket, building up a 23-8 lead 
heading into the second quarter.
Michigan (4-1) never really 
recovered from that sequence, 
as the No. 10 Longhorns (5-0) 
staved off any sign of a comeback 
en route to a 69-52 win in the 
Gulf Coast Showcase semifinal.
Though the Wolverines were 
coming off a quality win against a 
ranked Missouri team on Friday, 
Texas was a class above anything 
they had faced so far in the young 
season. The Longhorns lost a few 
substantial players from last 
year’s team, but they retained 
multiple starters and reloaded 
with the nation’s second-ranked 
recruiting class.
Their size and talent proved 
too much for Michigan to 
overcome. 
The 
Wolverines 
usually match up with teams 
well, especially because of senior 
center Hallie Thome’s influence 
inside. This was not the case 
Saturday.
Texas’ 
6-foot-4 
starting 
center Jatarie White controlled 
the paint, rendering Thome 
somewhat ineffective offensively, 
as she finished with just eight 
points in 30 minutes.
“I think their physicality 
surprised us at first,” said 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico. “I think we tried to go 
inside and they were really 
bumping, really being physical, 
really pushing us off the block. 
They sent double teams right 
away. We weren’t used to that.”
On 
the 
wings, 
Michigan 
didn’t fare much better. Both 
sophomore Deja Church and 
senior Nicole Munger struggled 

to find their mark, shooting 7-for-
29 
collectively. 
Alternatively, 
Longhorn guard Audrey Warren, 
a member of that highly-ranked 
recruiting class, poured in 15 on 
6-of-9 shooting.
All 
of 
the 
Wolverines’ 
offensive 
struggles 
— 
chief 
among them being a 13.9-percent 
shooting clip — culminated in 
just six second-quarter points, 
which allowed the Longhorns to 
open up a 25-point lead heading 
into the locker room.
“I think it’s important, as 
much as we think we have an 
experienced team with Hallie 
and (Munger), there are a lot of 
young kids,” Barnes Arico said. 
“A lot of young kids are getting 
a lot of minutes, so I think they 
need to understand this is a top 
team in the country. This is how 
physical the game is going to be. 
If we want to be at this level, this 
is how we are going to need to 
compete.”
One of the lone bright spots 
for the Wolverines was the play 
of freshman point guard Amy 
Dilk, who once again showed 
signs of settling into her starting 
role. Thanks in part to her 
performance in the second half, 
Michigan clawed back late to 
avoid a blowout scoreline.
“I 
think 
she’s 
growing 
more and more comfortable,” 
Barnes Arico said. “And (she’s) 
understanding 
what 
the 
expectations are. I was really 
happy that she attacked the rim 
a little bit more and looked to be 
offensively aggressive.”
The Wolverines regained some 
semblance of confidence with 
their second-half performance — 
shooting 45.5-percent from the 
field.
Another positive for Michigan 
was the return of junior guard 
Akienreh Johnson from injury. 
Though she won’t factor into the 
starting lineup, she does provide 
a bit more depth going forward.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Junior defenseman Luke Martin notched the assist on Michigan’s game-tying goal against Wisconsin on Saturday.

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s offensive gameplan lacked creativity in the Wolverines’ 62-39 loss at Ohio State.

“Throwing, 
moving the ball, 
outside zone, 
inside power.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer

Read the full story online at 
MichiganDaily.com

MEN’S BASKETBALL

ETHAN 
SEARS

