6A — Thursday, January 24, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEED A PLACE TO STAY THIS
SUMMER? BEST DEAL IN
LAND
MARK!
Subletting fully furnished, modern
apt in U‑M’s preeminent luxury
high‑rise. Close to central campus w/
beautiful view! Avail., 5/1‑8/5, 2019.
*Building includes TV lounge, exer‑
cise room, outdoor hot tub and grill
*Private bed and bath
*Fully furnished w/flat‑screen TV,
Wash
er/dryer, kitchen w/DW, MI‑
CRO + A/C
Call 240‑994‑6332 or email:
janetrose48@gmail.com
3 & 4 Bedroom Apts Avail Fall 19/20
$1800 ‑ $2680 + Utilities
Laundry On Site, Parking Avail
1015 Packard ‑ 734‑996‑1991
EFFICIENCY ‑ 1 & 2 Bedroom
apartments Fall 2019/20
Rents range $875 ‑ $1850
Most include heat and water
Showings scheduled M‑F 10‑3
734‑996‑1991
WORK ON MACKINAC ISLAND
This Summer – Make lifelong
friends.
The Island House Hotel and Ryba’s
Fudge Shops are seeking help in all
areas: Front Desk, Bell Staff, Wait
Staff, Sales Clerks, Kitchen, Baristas.
Dorm Housing, bonus, and discount‑
ed meals. (906) 847‑7196.
www.theislandhouse.com
By Roger and Kathy Wienberg
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/24/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
01/24/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Thursday, January 24, 2019
ACROSS
1 It can cause a
bad trip
4 Renders
speechless
8 Late-night host
with an orange-
blimp running
gag
13 Show of hands
14 Some Pequod
crewmen
16 Tapped pic
17 Many Bach
compositions
18 Sources of
“Family Feud”
answers
20 Soccer officials
21 Till this moment
22 Utah lily
23 Hush-hush org.
26 Rebuffed, with
“off”
29 Mob scenes
31 In bygone days
33 Retailer with
blue-and-yellow
megastores
34 Does penance
(for)
35 Clothing line
37 Go-aheads
39 Eye layer
40 Say
42 Hops hot spot
44 “Things Are Fine
in Mount __”:
Charley Weaver
book
45 Augment
46 Unborn
48 Scale members
49 Preserves, in a
way
51 Baton-passing
event
54 Switch partner
55 Makes moist
57 Electrical
generator
61 “The Matrix”
actress Carrie-__
Moss
62 Clothing
accessory,
perhaps ... or
what you can see
in each of four
groups of circles?
63 Cupcake
decorator
64 Andean shrubs
65 Little piggies
66 Nero Wolfe
creator Stout
DOWN
1 Center of power
2 Panels illustrating
film scripts
3 High capital
4 “Hey, sailor!”
5 General
concerns?
6 Unit of work
7 Let off
8 Solace
9 Responsibility
10 Wii forerunner,
briefly
11 Onassis
nickname
12 Foreign policy
advisory gp.
13 Plastic choice
15 100 sawbucks
19 Place for pins
and needles
22 Salts, say
23 King’s philosophy
24 Jousting mount
25 Test for purity
27 Scottish isle
28 Half a giggle
30 Letters for short
people?
31 Equidistant
32 Sparkly stone
34 Boss’ backup:
Abbr.
36 Witty remark
38 __ de toilette
41 Strict diet
restriction
43 __ paper
46 Whole
47 Get to work again
50 Japanese
aborigine
52 Subsidiary
structure
53 Belgian river
54 Phi __ Kappa
55 Dish (out)
56 Son of Zeus and
Hera
57 TV network
with much
Shondaland
programming
58 Summer sign
59 Solace for a sad
BFF
60 Ref’s ruling
Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT
SUBLETS
FOR RENT
HAPPY THURSDAY!
Enjoy the Sudoku
on page 2
‘M’ looks to win on road
At home this season, the
Michigan women’s basketball
team has won all eight of its
contests.
On the road, it’s just 2-6.
Yes, the Wolverines have
had
a
solid
season
thus
far
and
find
themselves
squarely
on
the
bubble
for the NCAA
Tournament,
but road games
have been their
kryptonite.
With
recent
losses
at
ranked
opponents
Maryland
and
Iowa,
Michigan
squandered
two
opportunities to boost its
resume with victories away
from Crisler Center.
With another road contest
on the horizon Thursday
night against Indiana, the
Wolverines
need
to
fix
their road woes if they wish
to return back to the Big
Dance for the second year
in a row under coach Kim
Barnes
Arico.
A
date
with
the
unranked
Hoosiers is the
opportunity to
right the ship.
Michigan’s
players
don’t see the
upcoming bout
against Indiana
—
which
is
currently
projected
to
make
the
NCAA Tournament — as a
daunting task. In the end, it
appears that the team is more
concerned
about
staying
together and taking the Big
Ten gauntlet one game at a
time.
“It’s
definitely
different
going
to
someone
else’s
house with their crowd,”
said freshman forward Naz
Hillmon. “In those moments
we just really need to be a
team and lock in and cheer
for each other.”
Hillmon,
who
had
20
points and eight rebounds in
Sunday’s 62-58 victory over
Ohio State, has emerged as
a key contributor along with
freshman guard Amy Dilk.
The two were
instrumental
in sparking a
fourth-quarter
comeback,
something
that the team
had failed to
do against the
Terrapins and
Hawkeyes.
“(That
win
showed)
us
that we can do it,” Hillmon
said. “When we’re down,
we’re going to know that
we can get back in the game
or we know that teams can
do it to us so it’s a learning
experience either way for us.”
Added
senior
forward
Taylor Rooks: “We’re showing
growth.
We’re
learning
how to play 40 minutes and
keeping our intensity all the
way to the end of the fourth
quarter.”
Senior
forward Nicole
Munger knows
that
every
game left on
the
schedule
will
be
a
battle, but she
knows that the
team is hungry
and ready to
take
on
any
opponent, even if it’s away
from the friendly confines of
Crisler.
“Every game in the Big Ten
is gonna be like this,” she
said. “It’s gonna be a grinder.
We try to stay hungry and
keep attacking each day, try
to get a little bit better.”
If
Michigan
wants
to
achieve its goals, that starts
Thursday.
TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer
O
n Saturday, then-No. 2
Michigan went into the
Kohl Center and was
repeatedly stymied. It was a
frustrating afternoon that saw
the Wolver-
ines shoot just
40.7 percent
from the field,
score a season-
low 54 points
and drop their
first game of
the season.
But despite
the woeful
offensive
performance,
Michigan coach John Beilein
remained unconcerned — at least
outwardly. The loss, he insisted,
was a product of Wisconsin’s
stifling defense. Though Beilein
made sure to remind reporters
that he never wants to lose, it
was seen as a welcome opportu-
nity for the Wolverines to reflect
and improve after two months of
straightforward wins.
“Credit Wisconsin, they had
a great game plan defensively,”
Beilein said. “They made us
score over them, like Wisconsin
teams always do. … So it’s just a
typical loss to Wisconsin.”
And for three days after the
loss to the Badgers, that line of
reasoning held water. Wisconsin
ranks ninth in adjusted defense
and has allowed just four oppo-
nents to top 70 points this sea-
son.
Then, Minnesota came to
town.
Wisconsin is objectively good
at defense. Minnesota is not,
ranking 12th in the Big Ten in
adjusted defensive efficiency.
And still, Michigan couldn’t
score. For over two months,
the Wolverines had not dipped
below 60 points in a game. On
Tuesday, they did so for the sec-
ond time in four days.
This time, Michigan escaped
with the win, thanks to a base-
line jumper by redshirt junior
forward Charles Matthews
that beat the final horn by mil-
liseconds. But despite the win,
Beilein’s postgame presser car-
ried a much different tone.
“We gotta grow a lot,” he said.
“We gotta grow a lot. We lost
a 13-point lead late. How many
times do you see that happen at
Michigan, where we let it go like
that?”
Beilein was, of course, refer-
ring to the four-minute, 51-sec-
ond scoreless stretch before
Matthews’ buzzer-beater, in
which the Wolverines went
0-for-6 from the field and missed
a pair of free throws. But that
sentence — How many times do
you see that happen at Michi-
gan? — could be used to describe
to any number of stretches from
the past two games.
It could describe the 2:52
Michigan went before scoring
its first point Tuesday. Or the 18
minutes the Wolverines went
without hitting a 3-pointer down
the stretch. Or the nine-minute
stretch of Saturday’s second
half when they scored just five
points, allowing a four-point
lead to become a six-point defi-
cit.
“We definitely didn’t play
our best game,” said freshman
forward Ignas Brazdeikis on
Tuesday. “And
(Beilein) let us
know about that
for sure.”
The big-
ger problem,
though, is that
Michigan has
no discernable
solution. On Sat-
urday, Beilein
attributed
the offensive
woes to his team’s 16 turnovers.
Against Minnesota, the Wolver-
ines slashed that number to six,
but were equally unimpressive,
undone by a lack of ball move-
ment.
“The ball’s stuck a lot and the
ball’s not moving,” Beilein said,
when asked to diagnose Michi-
gan’s struggles.
Then, he paused and offered
up the type of candidness that he
has rarely needed to display this
season.
“And here’s another thing,
the fast break. Sometimes, fast
break, we shouldn’t even do
it. Cause we’re jogging up the
court, we gotta sprint. We don’t
run. (Minnesota’s) numbers in
defensive transition, they’re not
great. But we jog up the court
and so, we can’t do it. So this is
what they get, you end up get-
ting scores in the 50s and 60s if
you’re not willing to bust your
butt to get up the court.”
That sloppiness on the fast
break reared its head on Tues-
day, when junior guard Zavier
Simpson threw a pass away in
transition, allowing the Golden
Gophers to curb
an 11-point Wol-
verines’ run and
kickstart their
13-point come-
back. Against
Wisconsin, it was
sophomore for-
ward Isaiah Liv-
ers who couldn’t
find Matthews a
2-on-1 fast break
that would have
put Michigan up by five with
8:41 to play. The Wolverines
never led by more than one
again.
But even when Michigan
checked its sloppiness at the
door and moved the ball like
Beilein wants it to, it couldn’t
find bottom.
At one point midway through
the first half, trying to cut into a
nine-point deficit, the Wolver-
ines ping-ponged the ball around
the perimeter, from sophomore
guards Eli Brooks and Jordan
Poole to Matthews and, finally,
to Brazdeikis in the corner. It
was their best offensive posses-
sion to that point, but as soon as
Brazdeikis — who was shooting
42 percent from deep just five
games ago — released, he took
two quick hops of resignation,
instantly knowing that he had
missed his ninth three in a row,
dating back to Jan. 10 at Illinois.
It ended up as one of six
missed threes for Brazdei-
kis, who finished 1-for-7 from
beyond the arc and 4-for-18
overall — part of a 3-for-22 team
performance from deep.
“We just gotta make them
when we’re open,” Beilein said.
“Some of our guys aren’t getting
open, it’s because they’re chang-
ing the basketball rules, saying
we don’t care. Wisconsin took
a player and just face guarded
one of our players. And he didn’t
have any help D, but that was the
thing, ‘this guy’s not getting a
look.’ And they’re making other
people do it. And every game is
different how they play us.”
Then, a reporter brought
Beilein back to his comments
after the Wisconsin loss, when
he called the loss a teaching
opportunity.
Were you expecting more
growth?
Beilein, again, had no choice
but to be candid.
“I was. I was. … Probably
foolish of me to think, ‘Geez, we
watched two days of film and it’s
just gonna carry over.’ ”
Mackie can be reached at
tmackie@umich.edu or on
Twitter @theo_mackie.
Wolverines meet Nittany Lions
with both teams at a crossroads
At the beginning of the season,
Michigan was ranked fourth in
the country and Penn State was
ranked fifth. Now, the Nittany
Lions are last in the Big Ten, with
the Wolverines only one point
ahead of them.
Out of all the teams in the tight
Big Ten this year, there might
not be two with more similar
season-long trajectories meeting
than when the Wolverines and
the Nittany Lions face off at Yost
Ice Arena Thursday and on the
national stage at Madison Square
Garden on Saturday.
When the two teams split
November’s series at State College,
Michigan found itself in a sizeable
hole in each matchup through the
first two periods. But in the blink
of an eye, the Wolverines racked
up a four-goal third period to win
the first game, and another one to
send it to overtime in the second,
only to watch Penn State’s Nikita
Pavlychev score six ticks into the
extra period.
At that point, the Nittany Lions
seemed set. With college hockey’s
most dominant offense and All-
American candidates like Evan
Barratt and Alex Limoges, Penn
State seemed destined to establish
itself as one of the best teams in
the Big Ten.
But since then, Penn State and
Michigan are 4-7-2 and 2-4-6,
respectively, since that roller-
coaster of a series. After lurking
around the top 10 of the Pairwise,
the Nittany Lions find themselves
at 18th. Like the Wolverines at
the beginning of the season,
Frozen Four hopes were not an
unrealistic ideal. But also like
Michigan, it’s on the outside
looking in.
“They’re a good team,” said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“They can score a lot, they’ve
scored 40 more goals than us
on the year. I was looking at it —
they’re dangerous. Just because
they have an off-week or month
doesn’t mean they’re not still
dangerous. … It’s been a shot here
and a bounce there, we’ve actually
played pretty good. You can look
at the record and say that’s not
true, but a few breaks and bounces
here and everything is different.”
The parallels don’t end just
quite there. To Michigan’s loss of
sophomore forward Josh Norris
to an undisclosed tear suffered
at World Juniors, Penn State
can raise its own World Juniors-
induced loss of freshman forward
Aarne Talvitie and his 16 points.
The
difference?
The
Wolverines have been here before
— and it shows. When they lost
then-sophomore forward Will
Lockwood for the season last year,
they still rebounded and found a
way to get hot. Since losing Norris,
Michigan has started a similar
momentum with top-10 wins over
Ohio State and Notre Dame.
“(Penn State’s) going through
what we’ve had the last couple of
years,” Pearson said. “Now they
haven’t had that before, I don’t
know how they’re going to handle
it, but it’s a similar situation.”
To vault back up into the top
of the Pairwise, both teams need
this series to be more than a
mirror of their inconsistent last
one-and-a-half months. Michigan
had a chance to sweep Ohio State,
but let it slip through. But for all
of the Wolverines’ blunders and
inconsistencies, they still have a
chance to be where they want to
be.
“Even if they’re 8-4-4, if we
play our game, we’re going to be
fine,” Pearson said. “And that’s
what we need to make sure
we’re doing, all the little things
we need to do to have success. …
We’ve been in every game since
November 9th.”
Getting back to the promised
land, though, will mean more
than just being on track.
It’s definitely
different going
to someone
else’s house.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
We’re going to
know that we
can get back in
the game.
RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson’s team must do more than split a series with Penn State, as it did in November.
Michigan’s offense must improve
THEO
MACKIE
NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Ignas Brazdeikis finished Tuesday’s game 4-of-18 from the field.
We just gotta
make them
when we’re
open.