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January 11, 2019 - Image 7

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, January 11, 2019 — 7A

An outdoor mirage
T

he win at Notre Dame was
supposed to be a turning
point.
Senior defenseman and captain
Joseph Cecconi said as much after
the Michigan hockey team beat
the Fighting Irish, 4-2, at Notre
Dame Stadium
on Saturday.
“We all
know that
it’s time to
turn this ship
around, and
all it takes is
one win,” Cec-
coni said. “It’s
three points
for us, and
we’re going to play Tuesday and
just going to continue (to) go on. It
doesn’t matter if it’s a league game
or not, and we’re just excited that
we got the win and it’s going to
turn us around a bit.”
But when Merrimack — ranked
52nd of 60 teams in the Pairwise
before Tuesday’s game against
the Wolverines — came to Ann
Arbor, Michigan found itself fail-
ing to build on the momentum
from Saturday’s win.
To put it simply, the Wolverines
fell on their faces in the 4-2 loss.
The Warriors average just 1.81
goals per game. Michigan gave
up more than double that, includ-
ing two in a span of less than five
minutes.
In many ways, the perfor-
mance mirrored the Wolverines’
season-opening loss to Vermont.
Both losses were riddled with
defensive lapses and an overall
lack of respect for the opponent.
But in that game against the
Catamounts, Michigan had the
excuse of being a young team still
trying to come together and find
chemistry.
“I thought we weren’t ready
to play tonight,” said Michigan
coach Mel Pearson after falling
to Vermont. “We weren’t really
ready to play. We came in today
with the mindset that it was going
to be easy.”
But nothing has been easy for
the Wolverines thus far.

Michigan skidded through the
first half of the season. The Wol-
verines won a weekend series only
once in the first half, when they
swept St. Lawrence — which has a
3-14-1 on the season and rank 59th
in Pairwise — in late October.
Michigan has also tied six times
in the first 19 games.
All of that was supposed to
change with the win over the
Fighting Irish — a victory over
one of the nation’s top teams on
the road. The win snapped a nine-
game winless streak that dated to
mid-November — and the Wol-
verines won without sophomore
forward Josh Norris and sopho-
more defenseman Quinn Hughes,
arguably their two best players.
The cards seemed to be set for
Michigan to get back on track and
make a run through the second
half of the season, just as it did last
year, when the Wolverines swept
No. 9 Minnesota in the second
weekend of the second half and
ended up in the Frozen Four.
And then Merrimack hap-
pened.
“Not prepared to play, and
that’s up to each player to be ready
to play,” Pearson said after the
loss. “We were worried as coach-
es, you go from playing Notre

Dame and you got Ohio State on
the back end and you got this mid-
week game.
“Couple comments from our
team, ‘We didn’t take them seri-
ous’ or whatever. I don’t know
how you can, because we’re not
that good. We have to take every
team serious to have a chance to
win.”
Michigan didn’t take the War-
riors seriously, and now its chance
to build on the momentum of the
win at Notre Dame is gone.
Once again, just like in the
Vermont game, the Wolverines
weren’t ready and ended up los-
ing to an opponent they should’ve
handily beaten.
There are no more excuses.
Michigan has had 21 games and
over three months to get ready to
play. Now, with the second half of
the Big Ten season looming, the
Wolverines are running out of
time to figure things out.
This weekend, Michigan will
visit No. 4 Ohio State, which leads
the Big Ten with 20 points and a
5-2-3 conference record. The Wol-
verines sit third with 15 points,
and a sweep of the Buckeyes could
put them in first place.
But that’s a tall order for a team
that just lost to bottom-dwelling

Merrimack and fell to Ohio State
all five times the two programs
met last season.
“They had our number last
year,” said junior forward Jake
Slaker Tuesday after the loss.
“We played them five times and
they beat us five times. We’re not
happy with that, and we know
how — they have a strong team.
“We’re going to go in there and
we got to throw the whole kitchen
sink at them. We got to really go
at them and try to grab as many
points as we can, because the Big
Ten’s tight right now and these
are huge games for us.”
Slaker is right. This weekend is
a huge series for Michigan.
There isn’t any more time for
talk of turning points or spring-
boards or any other cliché about
how a struggling team can save a
season.
It’s time for the Wolverines to
turn talk into action.
If they don’t, the win over
Notre Dame will become simply
one good win in a lost season.

Johnson can be reached
at bajohn@umich.edu or on
Twitter @BaileyAJohnson_

At midpoint, Michigan
remains up and down

The ball danced around the
rim for a few moments before
falling out of the cylinder and
landing harmlessly on the floor
as the final buzzer sounded.
The game had been decided by
only one point. This was the
scenario that played out for the
Michigan women’s basketball
team in each of its last two
games, against Purdue and
Northwestern, respectively.
The Wolverines (11-5 overall,
2-2 Big Ten), though, were on
different ends of the spectrum
in each of those games. Against
the
Boilermakers,
Michigan
watched as its final shot failed to
fall while, against the Wildcats,
the Wolverines watched with
the same helpless feeling as,
this time, their opponent’s shot
rolled out of the rim.
Despite
being
picked
to
finish third in the Big Ten
in
the
coaches’
preseason
vote, Michigan now sits in a
three-team tie for sixth place
through the first four games of
conference play. One reason for
its current record is because of
trends like this one: One day
the ball rolls the way of the
Wolverines while the next day
it goes the opposite direction.
With two conference home
wins and a pair of losses
at
Purdue
and
Nebraska,
Michigan’s play in the Big Ten
has so far been a microcosm for
their season performance as a
whole.
There have been flashes of
brilliance, like its thrashing
of
Missouri
and
No.
18
Minnesota,
and
moments
of disappointment, like the
Wolverines’ back-to-back losses
against No. 8 NC State and
No. 15 Marquette as well as
that heartbreaking loss to the
Boilermakers last Saturday.
Yet, one thing that Michigan

has consistently done well is
defend its home court. The
Wolverines are 7-0 at home this
season compared to just 4-5
when they are away from the
Crisler Center.
“We
really
challenged
ourselves
in
the
offseason
against
some
great
competition,” said Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico. “We
went on the road and we’ve been
on the road, we’ve had a lot more
road games than home contests,
in preparation for the long haul;
in preparation for the Big Ten
Tournament; in preparation for
the NCAA Tournament.
“What we have found is that
taking those bumps and losing
those games (is) tough, but
now we came out with a couple
of really good wins. So those
games have prepared us and are
(continuing to) prepare us.”
Of the Wolverines’ 14 games
remaining, half are on the road
while the other half will take
place in Ann Arbor.
If
its
current
trajectory
continues

winning
its
remaining home games and
losing
its
remaining
road
games
—Michigan
will
finish 18-12. That will almost
certainly not be enough come
NCAA
Tournament
time,
barring a Big Ten Tournament
championship.
Midway through the season,
Barnes Arico has taken away
the positives from her squad’s
road performances thus far
and is hopeful they can turn it
around.
“I think the way our league
has gone so far has kind of
showed us that, ‘Hey, we can
have a night where we’re not
happy with the outcome, but
we can’t put everything on the
outcome of the game,’ ” Barnes
Arico said. “If we are continuing
to improve, then we are going to
be a great program down the
stretch.”

Five keys to the Wolverines upsetting ninth-ranked Terrapins on the road

Last season, the Michigan
women’s basketball team all but
saved its season with a 71-65
win over then-No. 13 Maryland,
which went a long way in
ensuring the Wolverines a berth
in the NCAA Tournament.
Though it is just over halfway
through
the
season,
the
importance of Michigan (11-5
overall, 2-2 Big Ten) visiting
College Park to take on the
9th-ranked Terrapins (14-1, 3-1)
cannot be overstated. Just like
last year, a positive result for
the Wolverines could push them
over the line come the end of
the season. A loss, on the other
hand, could cripple their already
tenuous position on the NCAA
Tournament bubble.
Michigan
enters
the
contest off the back of a hard-
fought overtime win against
Northwestern, while Maryland
will also be riding high following
an
18-point
demolition
of
Nebraska.
The Daily breaks down the
keys to Saturday’s Big Ten clash.
Michigan’s struggles away
from home
It is safe to say that Crisler
Center
has
been
friendly
to Michigan. All five of the
Wolverines’ losses this season
have been away from home and
they have averaged just over
61 points and 17.4 turnovers in
these road losses.
In
contrast,
Michigan
is
averaging
81
points
per
game and 15.05
turnovers at home.
The
Wolverines
notched a home
upset over No. 12
Minnesota,
but
have
struggled
to
defeat
even
mediocre
teams
away
from
Crisler.
In addition, with freshmen
Amy Dilk and Naz Hillmon
in the rotation, and only a
few
upperclassmen
playing
significant minutes, Michigan
has
lacked
the
experience

needed to beat ranked teams on
their turf.
“I think our message has been
‘Continue to improve, continue to
improve,’ ” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “We’re trying
not to look at the outcomes but
to look at the process. Hopefully,
our improvement in practice will
result in victories. But it’s more
of a focus on improvement than
just results.”
Still, results matter and a win
against the Terrapins would be
the Wolverines’ best result to
this point of the season.
Controlling the boards
The
rebounding
battle
will also be a major factor in
Saturday’s outcome.
“Maryland does a tremendous
job
of
rebounding
the
basketball,” Barnes Arico said.
“We have to make sure we block
and hold them to one shot.”
Rebounding
has
been
a
strength
for
both
squads
throughout the first half of
the
season.
Both
Michigan
and Maryland are in the top-
10 nationally in total team
rebounds
and
rebounding
margin — though the Terrapins
have a slight advantage in both
categories.
Maryland’s only loss this
season came at home to Rutgers.
It is no coincidence that game
is one of only two in which the
Terrapins were outrebounded,
giving up a season-high 19
offensive rebounds to the Scarlet
Knights.
“They
are
big, long and
athletic,”
Barnes
Arico
said.
“They
really
have
a
motor
to
the
basketball,
so we have to
make
contact
with them. It’s
going to be key
for us to make sure they don’t
have multiple chances.”
Kaila Charles
There are only three Big Ten
players on the midseason John
R. Wooden Award watch list:
Minnesota guard Kenisha Bell,
Iowa forward Megan Gustafson

and Maryland’s do-it-all guard
Kaila Charles.
At 6-foot-1, Charles possesses
unique
size
for
the
guard
position.
“She is an incredible player,”
Barnes Arico said. “She’s really
a tough matchup for anyone. She
can go off the bounce, she can
elevate over you, can go left or
right, pull-up in
front of you. She
is really just an
incredible scorer.
We’re just going
to have to keep
the
basketball
out of her hands.”
Even
though
Charles’s
offensive
production
has
fallen off slightly
from last season — when she
was an All-Big Ten First team
selection — she still leads the
Terrapins in scoring and has lit
up the scoresheet on multiple
occasions already this season,
reaching double figures in all but
one game this season.

It’s no small task, but if the
Wolverines are able to limit
Charles’ offensive opportunities,
they will have a chance to pull
off the upset.
The point guard matchup
It has been an inconsistent
season for Dilk. The heralded
recruit has undoubtedly shown
signs of brilliance in her short
time
at
the
helm
of
the
Wolverines’
offense. And yet,
as
with
most
young
players,
there have been
growing pains.
In
recent
games,
her
confidence
and
decision making
have
been
on
the rise. She had solid offensive
outputs against both Minnesota
and Purdue, scoring 14 and 16
points, respectively, with just
three combined turnovers.
Though the offensive burden
does not fall squarely on Dilk’s
shoulders, there appears a clear

improvement
in
Michigan’s
offense when she looks to score.
“Her ability to score the
basketball really gives us a
different
dimension,”
Barnes
Arico said. “It helps to not pack
the paint against (senior center)
Hallie (Thome) and Naz inside.
So she has the green light on
offense and is getting more and
more comfortable. She has done
really well for us recently.”
Dilk’s counterpart on the
Maryland sideline is freshman
Taylor Mikesell. Mikesell is
the Terrapins’ second-leading
scorer behind Charles, averaging
14.8 points per game. Dilk’s best
offensive asset is her three-point
shot — hitting a 42.3 percent rate
beyond the arc.
Dilk will be tasked with
guarding Mikesell. Job number
one
will
be
minimizing
Mikesell’s opportunities from
deep, an area where Dilk is quite
capable. Her size and athleticism
were one of the reasons she was
a five-star recruit out of high
school. In order to win the
matchup against Mikesell, and

put Michigan in a position to
leave College Park with a win,
Dilk will have to play smart
and
aggressive
on
offense
and be mindful of Mikesell’s
movements when the Terrapins
are in possession.
Last word
The odds don’t favor Michigan
in this matchup — especially
against Maryland in its home
arena. Charles and Mikesell
are potent offensively, but the
Terrapins run deeper than that
duo. With that said, there have
been a number of surprising
results in the Big Ten so far
this season, and the Wolverines
have already pulled an upset of
their own against the Golden
Gophers. Despite its youth and
struggles on the road, a Michigan
victory against Maryland would
not necessarily be the most
surprising.
Controlling
the
boards, containing Kaila Charles
as much as possible and winning
the point guard matchup will
be pivotal if the Wolverines
hope to beat the Terrapins in
consecutive seasons.

BAILEY
JOHNSON

BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior forward Jake Slaker said that Michigan will have to throw the kitchen sink at Ohio State this weekend.

CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Freshman guard Amy Dilk will match up against Maryland’s Taylor Mikesell, who averages 14.8 points per game, when Michigan goes to College Park on Saturday.

“It’s more of
a focus on
improvement
than ... results.”

“It helps not to
pack the paint
against Hallie
and Naz inside.”

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