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December 07, 2018 - Image 7

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The Michigan Daily

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, December 7, 2018 — 7

Poole credits improvement to work with student manager

Jordan Poole once said he
never missed three times in a
row.
But five minutes into the
Michigan men’s basketball game
against North Carolina on Nov.
28, he fired from beyond the arc,
and the shot clanged out. It was
the sophomore guard’s third
consecutive misfire.
Two minutes later, Poole
subbed out of the game. On the
sideline, he found junior Andrew
Jensen — a student manager on
the team. Jensen reminded him
to keep his guide hand straight.
At halftime, Jensen watched
closely as Poole went through
warmups, reminding him each
time to watch his guide hand
and keep his follow-through
locked in. Then he advised Poole
to just keep shooting.
The adjustments worked. In
the second half, Poole hit four
threes and scored 15 points.

***

Student
managers
have
a unique role in mentoring
players. Like coaches, they see
every practice, then watch and
rewatch every game. They can
pick out intricacies in a player’s
habits — like Poole’s crooked
guide hand. But unlike a coach,
managers are often friends with
the players off the court, adding
an extra layer of depth to their
relationship. That’s the case
with Jensen and Poole.
The day they met was a simple
case of being in the right place
at the right time. But it’s grown
into more than that.
“I needed a manager to
work out when I first got here
last year, coming in before my
freshman year,” Poole said. “And
he just happened to be in the
gym. I introduced myself, he
said he was Andrew and … we
just always started to work out.”
Jensen was only there for a
few days during the summer, but

when the school year started up,
Poole stuck with him. And this
past summer, they took their
relationship to a new level. They
worked out together 2-3 times a
day, working on
Poole’s areas of
inconsistency,
such as shooting
and
ball-
handling.
“I was going
through a spurt
over the summer
where
I
just
really
couldn’t
make
a
shot,”
Poole said. “ …
We work out all
the time so he really looks at
how I shoot or how I dribble and
he was like, ‘Yo, J, I think we
need to get your handle tighter

back, or start to get it tighter
again.’
“And I looked at it and it
was just something I kinda
was overlooking at the time,
but then when
I really started
to
sit
down
and
analyze
I
was
like,
‘For
sure, yeah, we
definitely need to
… start working
on
my
ball-
handling,’
and
we’ve been doing
that and we’ve
been
dedicated
ever since.”
Jensen noticed that Poole
often didn’t keep his head up
or go at full speed during ball-
handling drills. While shooting,

he had a tendency to release his
off hand, which made the ball go
left. Poole got frustrated when
shots frequently bounced to the
left and Jensen told him exactly
what was wrong.
Poole listened.
That
trust
didn’t
come
right away. At
first, Poole was
overconfident.
Jensen
still
remembers
how, that first
summer,
Poole
would
say
that
he
never
missed
three
times in a row and other,
similar declarations. With that
overconfidence came an original
hesitance about Jensen’s skill.

But when he underestimated
Jensen and it knocked him
down a peg, it fueled Poole’s
competitiveness and drive to
improve.
“Me
and
another
manager,
Zach,
we guarded him
a lot, so he was
able to work on
his
one-on-one
skills,”
Jensen
said. “And I think
that
he
didn’t
think we were
actually capable
defenders
because we were
managers, but we both played
in high school so I think he was
a little bit surprised by us. So
we always give it to him when

we get stops and he gets a little
upset about that, but usually he
comes back and he scores on us.”
And as they worked together
more and more on the court,
they also got closer off it —
their favorite pastime is playing
Call of Duty: Zombies. Their
friendship allowed Poole and
Jensen to come up with creative
drills tailored to the other, but
more importantly, it developed a
sense of trust between the two
that wouldn’t be present with a
coach.
“We’re both able to be honest
with each other,” Jensen said.
“And I think that’s important in
a relationship like this. … A lot of
people in his position probably
wouldn’t listen to a manager, but
him, it’s just different. I’m able
to critique him and he accepts
that.”
Now, if Poole’s shot is off
during a game, Jensen knows
he can tap Poole on the shoulder
and give a simple message: Fix
it.
Poole almost certainly will.

***

In recent weeks, Michigan
coach John Beilein has praised
Poole’s improvement on ball-
handling. In that game against
the Tar Heels, Poole had four
assists but no turnovers. And
after missing those first three
shots, he finished 5-for-8 from
beyond the arc. On Saturday,
he followed it up with a 5-for-
5 performance on 3-pointers
against Purdue.
It’s a process, and Poole won’t
have perfect shooting or ball-
handling overnight. But when
asked about his improvements,
he’s quick to note he didn’t do it
alone.
“It’s
definitely
been
something that I’ve been ...
amping up over the summer
but especially these past couple
weeks,” Poole said on Friday.
“It’s (because of) a manager on
the team that I’m good friends
with. His name’s Andrew.”

‘M’ faces Minnesota in speed battle

Fast, skilled and newly helmed
— Minnesota has all the tools to be
great, though its 4-6-2 record might
show otherwise.
The
Michigan
hockey
team
(6-6-3 overall, 2-3-3 Big Ten) faces
off against the Golden Gophers
on Friday and Saturday in what
Michigan coach Mel Pearson thinks
is a crucial time of the year.
There’s no doubt the start of the
season, with a .500 record, is not the
direction the team had envisioned.
So with the last stretch of the first
half being a home series right before
the holiday break, the Wolverines
view it as a good point to turn things
around and use the mid-season end
as a gateway to positive momentum.
“Absolutely, we’re still looking
for a weekend that’s gonna turn
things around,” said senior forward
Brendan Warren. “We all know
what we have to do, we all have to
get on the same page, and I think
this would be a good weekend for
that and hopefully we can get some
crucial points for the Big Ten and get
us some confidence and get us on a
roll going into Christmas.”
The confidence boost isn’t a given,
though.
Despite a subpar start, Minnesota
is noted to be one of the fastest teams
in the conference, and in Pearson’s
eyes, the quickest in the country. Put

simply, the Golden Gophers know
how to skate.
“They’ve always been one of the
quickest teams in the country so they
like to use their speed,” Pearson said.
“Obviously, they’re in a transition
with a new coach but that’s the
biggest thing. We have to make sure
we’re slowing them down.”
Slowing them down will be key,
because first-year Minnesota coach
Bob Motzko has implemented a style
of play that best utilizes the team’s
strengths. With speed obviously at
their advantage, the Golden Gophers
force a run-and-gun style on the
ice, which causes both teams to
constantly go up and down the rink.
It’s a style not unlike Michigan’s
own. Also noted for their speed,
the Wolverines often run the ice to
try to get the upper hand in a fast-
paced battle. A slower pace could
prove detrimental to Michigan, who
equally relies on its speed to win
games.
“We’re not a team that wants to
play slow,” said senior defenseman
Joseph Cecconi after a shootout
loss to Michigan State. “We have
too much speed in the front and the
backend to play slow. To counter
that, we just have to play fast. We
tried to play fast. I thought we played
fast, but we could play faster and
stronger.”
The key for the Wolverines,
however, is not to just play to its
strengths, but to take away the

Golden Gopher’s chances. Giving
them less breathing room in the
lanes creates turnovers that a fast
team will often commit in the heat
of action.
“We have to take their time and
space away,” Pearson said. “We
have to get a good start. We have not
had great starts. We have had good
starts. We’ve gotten the lead, but we
have to sustain that.
“So I think the other thing is
playing with the lead and trying to
minimize the penalties too. We have
to play a disciplined game, because
they have a great power play because
of their skill level. To me, they have
the most skilled team in our league,
players one through 27.”
To Michigan, the players try to
approach it like any other game.
The difference is that it is at home, a
place that’s crucial in earning the Big
Ten points needed to move up the
standings.
“We got to start taking advantage
of being at home,” Pearson said. “We
can’t change what’s happened the
last few weeks where we have a huge
save, and then think of what we can
do in points we need to get at some
point in the Big Ten. They’re going
to be tough every weekend, it just
looks that way, so we need to take
advantage of being at home. We’ve
played well; we’ve played well. I
want to emphasize that we have
played well, we just haven’t finished
and get those points we need.”

ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Sophomore guard Jordan Poole finished Wednesday’s game with 5-for-8 shooting against the Tar Heels after missing his first three consecutive shots.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

“We’re both
able to be
honest with
each other.”

“I’m able to
critique him
and he accepts
that.”

EVAN AARON/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson and the Wolverines will host Minnesota for a two-game series in Ann Arbor this weekend.

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