The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 — 7
‘M’ finally through its
early-season gauntlet
After
winning
its
first
four games of the season, the
Michigan women’s basketball
team has since dropped three
of its last four — including
three games against ranked
opponents.
The Wolverines (5-3), who
haven’t had a home game since
Nov. 19, will finally play at the
Crisler Center after spending
the last week and a half on the
road. Being on the road so much
can certainly have an impact
—
especially
with
such
a
young team —
according
to
Michigan coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico.
“Definitely
I
think
these
past
couple
weeks
were
really
difficult,
sometimes
you
forget that,” Barnes Arico said.
“Then you add a young team
on top of the travel and then
they’re
like,
‘My
goodness
coach, it’s exams, and we’re on
the road.’ At the circle the other
day, they were like, ‘We thought
this was going to be the coolest
thing, but really we just want to
get back to the dorm so we can
study for our exams.’
“So I think at Michigan
academically, it’s so challenging
that they’re just trying to stay
afloat right now and try and be
the best students they can be
while at the same time be the
best basketball players they can
be.”
The Wolverines have had
seven players log minutes in
every game, four of whom
are underclassmen: freshman
guard Amy Dilk, freshman
forward
Naz
Hillmon,
sophomore guard Deja Church
and sophomore forward Hailey
Brown. To say youth is a major
part of this team’s identity in
the young season would be an
understatement.
Barnes Arico, though, says
she sometimes loses focus of
her team’s inexperience and
needs to remind herself that
not all of her squad’s problems
can be fixed right away.
“You
know
sometimes
I
forget this, but the Marquette
coach (Carolyn Kieger) said
this to me: ‘It’s amazing how
good your team is after you lost
the program’s
all-time
leading scorer
(Katelynn
Flaherty),’
”
Barnes
Arico
said. “And then
I
sometimes
look
at
our
team and say
‘Holy cow, we
have
Nicole
Munger
and Hallie Thome who are
experienced kids and then
we have all (these) kids that
are trying to figure it out.’ … I
sometimes need to have a little
bit of patience with that.”
Michigan, which has four
games remaining before the
start of Big Ten play, will have
the chance to get back on the
winning track as all four of its
upcoming opponents currently
hold a combined record of
just 5-26. This stretch begins
Thursday when the Wolverines
host LIU Brooklyn.
This stretch will be an
important
moment
for
the
Michigan, as it will be the young
players’ final opportunity to
prepare
themselves
before
conference
play
—
when
balancing youth and playing
on the road will be the new
normal.
BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer
“Definitely I
think these past
couple weeks
were ... difficult.”
Hughes stars on offense, up-and-down on ‘D’
Michigan coach Mel Pearson
often says Quinn Hughes is
worth the price of admission
alone.
The sophomore defenseman
— the No. 7 overall pick in the
2018 NHL Draft — seems to have
an eye-popping play in every
game for the No. 14 Michigan
hockey team. Whether he’s
dangling the puck between a
defender’s legs on a breakout
or finding a teammate in the
perfect spot for a goal, Hughes’
dynamic playmaking is key for
the Wolverines.
In
this
weekend’s
series
against
Michigan
State,
Hughes continued his trend of
offensive production. As more
of a two-way defenseman than
a lockdown blueliner, Hughes
is noted for his ability in the
offensive zone.
In
Friday
night’s
game
at Munn Ice Arena in East
Lansing, Hughes notched three
assists — one on each goal
Michigan scored for a season-
high tally. It’s his second three-
assist game this season and the
third time he has scored three
points in a night.
“It’s hard to prepare (for
Hughes) because it’s not that
it’s unorthodox, (but) he’s very
creative,” said Michigan State
coach Danton Cole. “He attacks
you at different angles. He puts
you on different things. You just
have to be aware of him and you
try not to get him loose. Quinn’s
very good with the puck, and his
feet are outstanding, and you
throw an elite brain in there. …
He’s fun watching play, and he’s
hard to keep an eye on.”
The
Spartans
seemed
to
keep a better eye on Hughes on
Saturday night as he tallied just
one point. But it was a big one.
On the power play in the
first period, Hughes sent a pass
through all four of Michigan
State’s penalty killers and found
senior defenseman Nick Boka in
the left circle. Boka’s slapshot
beat the sprawling goaltender
Drew DeRidder, and Michigan
took the lead, 1-0.
“(Hughes) made an amazing
pass,” Boka said. “I was just
lucky to be in that far side and
just try to get it to the goal, and
lucky enough, it went in.”
Hughes
now
leads
the
Wolverines in points with 19 —
two more than
sophomore
forward
Josh
Norris.
His
offensive
production
ranks
ninth
in the nation
overall
and
ranks
third
among
defensemen.
But
on
the defensive side of the ice,
Hughes’ production hasn’t been
as consistent.
In Friday’s game, he was on
the ice for three of the Spartans’
four goals and he ranks last on
the team in plus-minus with a
minus-six rating.
“It is what it is,” Hughes said
Friday. “Obviously, I don’t want
to be on the ice for any goals, but
I’ll go watch the tapes and I’ll
look at it tomorrow. Hopefully,
tomorrow, I can maybe have the
three assists without being on
the ice for any goals.”
While Hughes only had one
assist Saturday, rather than the
three he hoped for, his defensive
skills were more prominent.
Late in the third period,
the game was tied at one goal
apiece. It seemed
that
at
any
moment
either
team could break
the stalemate and
win
the
game.
Michigan
State
forward Tommy
Apap was coming
down the right
side of the ice
toward freshman
goaltender
Strauss Mann with just Hughes
in between. Hughes skated
in and broke up the play,
preventing Apap from having
a chance at the game-winning
goal.
Minutes later in overtime,
Hughes again prevented a goal,
this time by poke-checking the
puck away from forward Patrick
Khodorenko.
“Hughes had a really solid
game,” Pearson said. “He gives
you everything he has, plays
a lot of minutes and is a game
breaker.
He’s
a
difference
maker. He’s worth the price of
admission. You don’t have to be
a hockey genius to walk in the
building and see really who the
best player is, the player who
controls the play.”
While
Hughes
controlled
the play Saturday, it came
in contrast to his defensive
performance Friday. Michigan
as
a
whole
was
stronger
defensively Saturday night, and
Hughes’ increased effort may be
the key.
Pearson has spoken numerous
times this season about needing
defensive
commitment
and
consistency,
and
Saturday’s
performance may well serve
as a confidence boost for an
often-maligned defense. The
Wolverines held Michigan State
to just 18 shots in regulation.
And while Hughes has lit
up the stat sheet offensively,
his defensive commitment has
taken longer to come through.
But
if
he
finds
that
consistency,
it
could
be
a
difference-maker for Michigan.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
Cecconi hopes postgame talk sends
message to his Michigan teammates
When Joseph Cecconi sat
down for a press conference
after Saturday’s shootout loss to
Michigan State, he was clearly
disappointed in the weekend’s
results.
The
senior
defenseman
knew that the No. 15 Michigan
hockey team had expected to
come away with more than
one point in two games against
the
Spartans,
who entered the
weekend
firmly
at the bottom of
the Big Ten.
“We
just
talked
to
the
team,
it’s
unacceptable,”
Cecconi
said
Saturday.
“It’s
a
big
rivalry
against Michigan
State, and you want those six
points and you only come out
with one. (It’s) not where we
wanted to go with that.”
The Wolverines have fought
for
team-wide
commitment
throughout
this
season.
It
was
this
weekend’s
series,
however, that may have been
the proverbial last straw for
Cecconi. According to Michigan
coach Mel Pearson, Cecconi
doesn’t speak his mind to the
team very often, despite being
its captain.
But
after
this
weekend’s
series, he had something to say.
“After the game, me and the
other captains and then (senior
forward) Brendan Warren, we
all had a little bit of information,
our little piece of mind that we
wanted to let the team know,”
Cecconi said. “The weekend
was unacceptable in all of our
minds, and we just wanted to
talk and figure some things out.
Lay a foundation and things
like that, just so we know our
expectations going into next
weekend.”
The expectations, both from
Cecconi and from Pearson, are
fairly simple. Each member
of the team needs to buy in to
Pearson’s system and commit to
team defense.
Both player and coach believe
that once individual buy-in
comes, the consistency will
follow and Michigan will start
to perform at the level it was
expected to when the season
began.
“We have a lot of skilled
players,” Cecconi said. “We
might need some of them to buy
into the system a little bit more.
Same with the
younger
guys,
same
with
pretty
much
everyone.
Everyone needs
to get on the
same
page
and once that
happens, we’re
gonna be a very
good
team,
because
we
have the skill.”
Getting players to buy in to
the system has been something
Pearson
has
talked
about
since the first game of the
year. Especially now that the
Wolverines are facing some
adversity, it seems that is more
important than ever.
“We still have to get the buy-
in from everybody,” Pearson
said. “I think we’re still —
sometimes when things aren’t
going your way, you try to take
things into your own hands
and not just play within the
systems and what not. We have
competitors, and they want to
win. They have to understand
that we just gotta keep playing
together and then we’ll be
okay.”
The Wolverines are now in
a similar place to where they
were last season at this time.
They haven’t won a game since
Nov. 16, but each game has been
close. One of the losses came in
overtime, two came in shootouts
and one was in regulation. All
were decided by one goal.
Last
year,
they
started
stringing
wins
together
in
January and ended up in the
Frozen Four. It was then-
captain Tony Calderone who
called the team together at
that time and told them that
they needed to start winning or
they wouldn’t make the NCAA
Tournament.
This year, Cecconi hopes
he’s the one that turns things
around.
“I think he had the whole
team and just told them that
winning can become a habit, but
so can mediocrity, and we just
want to make sure that doesn’t
— they just don’t accept that,”
Pearson said. “I think that’s
what he’s trying to say, and
that’s our message to them.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes was an offensive spark against Michigan State but was inconsistent on defense.
“It’s hard
to prepare,
because ... he’s
very creative.”
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Joseph Cecconi gave a postgame talk to his team after they lost in a shootout.
“We still have
to get the
buy-in from
everybody.”