8 — Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

With “a little bit of cannibalism 
going on,” ‘M’ stays above the fray

The Big Ten is eating itself 
alive.
That’s clear to anyone who’s 
watching. Including Michigan 
coach John Beilein.
“There’s 
a 
little 
bit 
of 
cannibalism going on right now 
between the teams — it just 
happened Saturday with some 
of these away teams winning,” 
Beilein said on a conference call 
with reporters Monday. “That 
was something we wanted to stay 
from when we were at home, for 
sure.”
Those road wins on Saturday 
— Ohio State beating Nebraska 
and Rutgers beating Penn State — 
were far from the least-surprising 
results in the conference over the 
weekend. That same day, Illinois 
took down No. 13 Maryland, and 
the next day, No. 9 Michigan 
State went to Purdue and fell by 
10 points.
One of few teams to stay 
removed from the chaos resides 
in Ann Arbor, as Michigan has 
started Big Ten play with an 
8-1 record. And the Wolverines 
would like it to stay that way.
“I definitely would have taken 
that (at the beginning of the 
season),” Beilein said.
The other coaches in the 
conference can’t boast quite as 
sunny dispositions.

“Our team in general right now 
is soft,” Indiana’s Archie Miller 
said Friday night after Michigan 
went into Assembly Hall and 
blew out the Hoosiers, 69-46. 
“And we’re also for whatever 
reason right now scared, and you 
can just tell by the way that we 
played.
“The fight isn’t there right 
now, and the confidence isn’t 
there on either end of the floor 
to be able to capitalize on any 
type of opportunity that we have, 
to be honest with you. There’s 
nothing we’re doing well.
“You know, there’s nowhere 
to go. You just move on to the 
next step, try to figure it out, 
and you’ve got to find a way to 
get some confidence in yourself, 
which for us is a preparation to 
go on the road and play Rutgers, 
so that’s what we’re worried 
about right now. But playing 
against the level of competition 
in this league right now and 
what we’ve got going on, we’re 
just not playing at a high enough 
level, and that really, really to be 
honest with you, bothers me.”
But Indiana isn’t the only team 
that will look back at the month 
of January as one filled with 
squandered opportunities. The 
Big Ten can boast depth right 
now — only four of its teams are 
out of tournament contention 
— yet, outside of the Wolverines 
and Spartans, who suffered their 

first conference loss Saturday, no 
team feels like a lock to make the 
NCAA Tournament right now.
Things will be better for the 
conference, undoubtedly, than 
last year, when just four teams 
made it. Joe Lunardi’s latest 
Bracketology on ESPN.com has 
10 Big Ten teams making it, more 
than any other conference.
But 
cannibalism 
has 
its 
downsides, 
and 
discomfort 
is one. Well, for everyone but 
Michigan, that is.
Instead 
of 
fretting 
about 
actually playing in March, as the 
Wolverines were at this time last 
year, they can go into Tuesday’s 
contest against Ohio State — and 
the final five weeks of the regular 
season — worrying only about 
playing at their best when they 
get there.
“Sunday we had a really good 
workout,” 
Beilein 
said. 
“We 
spent some time lifting weights. 
Spent time on Michigan instead 
of worrying quite as much about 
the next opponent.”
Three days earlier, Beilein had 
been asked about the challenge 
in front of Miller — building 
Indiana back into a perennial 
contender, as Beilein had to do 
for Michigan. To some degree, 
though, you could replace the 
Hoosiers with 11 other Big Ten 
teams in that question.
But the Wolverines are above 
the fray.

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein has kept Michigan safely above the Big Ten’s middle ground with an 8-1 conference record.

Michigan falls to Baylor

Applause and cries of “Go 
Blue!” echo off the walls of the 
Varsity Tennis Center. All eyes 
are on Court 2 as Michigan’s 
Connor Johnston and Harrison 
Brown face off against Baylor’s 
Roy Smith and Sven Lah. Coaches 
murmur words of advice to their 
players, while teammates shout 
words of encouragement from 
the sidelines. Then, all at once, 
the crowd retreats into silence. 
There’s a loud pop as the 
ball is hit into play. A smacking 
sound as Brown returns the 
serve. Then, once again, the 
crowd erupts into cheers, as 
Brown’s shot flies past Smith’s 
outstretched racket and the ball 
bounces once, then twice, off 
the court, lifting the Wolverines 
past the Bears to earn Michigan 
the doubles point of the contest. 
The No. 24 Wolverines (1-2) 
won two out of three doubles 
matches Sunday, a bright spot 
in a disheartening loss to No. 11 
Baylor, who will move forward 
to the ITA tournament following 
Sunday’s win and a win Saturday 
over No. 12 Georgia. 
“It was great that we were 
able to win the doubles on a 
tiebreaker,” said Michigan coach 
Adam Steinberg. “That’s really 
important to us going forward.”
In singles, Michigan was 
not able to put on as strong a 
showing, losing four of their 

six matches to the Bears. The 
Wolverines got off to a strong 
start, with four of the singles 
players winning the first set of 
their respective matches, but 
they could not hold onto the 
lead. 
Freshman Andrew Fenty lost 
to Baylor’s Johannes Schretter 
2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Senior Myles 
Schalet lost to Will Little of the 
Bears 7-6 (9), 6-0; Johnston lost 
to Matias Soto of Baylor 6-2, 
2-6, 6-3; and freshman Patrick 
Maloney lost to Lah 6-4, 7-6 (4).
“We just have to work on being 
more aggressive at important 
times in the match,” Steinberg 
said. “We kind of sit back and 
hope and wait and wish the 
other team will miss. And it just 
doesn’t work that way against 
these top-ranked teams.”
Michigan’s technical prowess 
was on full display on Sunday, 
as the Wolverines often used 
shots with a manipulated spin 
on the ball to win points against 
the Bears, especially during the 
singles matches. The Wolverines 
were also very successful when 
they attacked at the net. The 
volley game was mostly a factor 
in the doubles, helping the 
Wolverines to win their two out 
of three matches. 
“Some of the guys who have 
a good feel for the ball can 
manipulate it, and that’s an 
advantage,” 
Steinberg 
said. 
“Some of our guys are talented 
enough to do that.”

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

MIKE ZLONKEVICZ/Daily
Michigan’s doubles play was a bright spot in its loss to Baylor.

Three takeaways from a split against Penn State

After beating Penn State on 
Thursday, the Michigan hockey 
team went to New York City 
looking to build off momentum. It 
did the exact opposite, losing 5-2.
Here are the takeaways.
Strauss Mann is still a viable 
option
After five goals through two 
periods, junior goaltender Hayden 
Lavigne was pulled in favor of 
Strauss Mann. The freshman, with 
13 games under his belt, was put in 
the game for a change of pace. Up 
until that point, every breakaway, 
odd 
man 
rush 
or 
defensive 
breakdown for the Wolverines 
resulted in a dangerous scoring 
opportunity for the Nittany Lions 
— which more often than not 
resulted in a score.
While 
the 
circumstances 
weren’t pretty, Mann took his 
chance and showcased a good 
argument for why he is still a viable 
option.
In his start in net Jan. 8 
against Merrimack — his last 
appearance before Saturday — 
Mann allowed three goals on a 
.889 save percentage, and Lavigne 
was subsequently chosen to start 
the following back-to-back games 
against Ohio State.
However, 
when 
given 
the 
opportunity against Penn State, 
Mann recorded 19 saves, prevent 
any further Nittany Lion goals and 
gave Michigan a chance to come 
back. His performance included 
stops on breakaways, one-on-
none looks and defensive-zone 
turnovers.
“We really like him as a 
goaltender, and we think he has a 
bright future at Michigan,” said 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “I 
didn’t want to have to get him in 
like we did but he went in and I give 
him credit, that’s a tough situation 
to go in and he played extremely 
well. He gave us an opportunity to 
try and get back into the game.”
Mentality breakdown
The Wolverines committed a 
plethora of errors Saturday, but 

one especially prevalent reason 
for the defensive meltdown was 
mentality.
After hitting the post four times, 
unable to convert any chances 
in the first period, frustration 
mounted. As Pearson noted, the 
team outplayed Penn State in the 
initial period yet found itself in a 
three-goal deficit.
“I 
think 
we 
got 
a 
little 
frustrated with that,” said redshirt 
sophomore Luke Morgan on the 
team’s inability to break open 
scoring in the first frame. “When 
that happens, it led to mental 
mistakes and some of it we can 
work on, but sometimes it’s just the 
way the game goes.”
The team made a mental 
adjustment to play differently due 
to its circumstances. As Pearson 
put it, the Wolverines didn’t play 
their game. And it was initiated 
by the new aggression they played 
with after conceding the first goal 
to Penn State.
Michigan became desperate for 
goals, and it caused the Wolverines 
to make defensive mistakes.
“Some of that could have been 
the frustration because the puck 
wasn’t going in the net and it 
doesn’t work that way,” Pearson 
said. “... We did not get the result 

we 
wanted. 
Very 
frustrating 
in the locker room because we 
know we’re a better team. We 
beat ourselves tonight, plain and 
simple.”
Defensemen pushing further 
than they needed to be. Players 
being less than careful with 
the puck. Allowing breakaways 
due to poor positioning. These 
on-ice mistakes were caused by 
the mental mistake of being too 
frustrated. Every player wanted 
to end the unlucky streak of bad 
bounces, and that ended up costing 
them.
“We didn’t play on the right side 
of the puck,” Pearson said. “We did 
not sense danger –– and I don’t 
want to say our whole team, but 
a few individuals. We just didn’t 
sense that urgency or the danger 
and they made us pay.”
Added Morgan: “Coach said, 
‘We can’t outscore our mistakes, 
we have to play a solid 60 (minutes) 
the whole way through.’ ”
Pearson doubts decisions
Pearson had his doubts in his 
decisions. Being a coach is never 
easy — it requires all sorts of 
decision-making. Against Notre 
Dame on Jan. 5, he made it clear 
just how stressful it can be, jokingly 
telling people to turn away from a 

coaching career.
“It’s frustrating –– chances 
at the open net, our defenseman 
ices the puck when we had an 
opportunity to make a play,” 
Pearson said about his feelings in 
the last stretch of the Notre Dame 
outdoor game. “And they score on 
the faceoff. … It’s a rush, and there’s 
nothing like it when you’re playing 
sports at a high-intensity level.”
That stress came despite a win.
Throughout the season, he had 
expressed his concerns as a coach. 
After extended breaks or holidays, 
he might mention in passing 
about worries on players’ focus or 
preparedness.
On Saturday, he made it clear his 
concerns on his decisions leading 
to the New York experience.
“I second guess myself as a 
coach all the time,” Pearson said. 
“You’re always worried. We didn’t 
get to skate on Friday. Should 
we have practice on Friday? We 
skated this morning, did that have 
anything to do with it? We gave 
them a lot of free time yesterday 
in New York, did they go around 
and do their thing? Did that throw 
some guys off?”
Coaches have their fair share 
of worries, but these worries have 
weight.

D

uring the first quarter of 
Sunday’s game at Crisler 
Center, Nicole Munger 
fell to the floor, only getting up 
with the aid of her teammates 
and the Michigan training staff.
The senior 
guard Munger 
sat out the 
remainder of 
the contest 
against in-
state rival, No. 
23 Michigan 
State, with an 
undisclosed 
injury. The 
Wolverines 
struggled in 
her absence, eventually digging 
themselves deeper into a hole they 
couldn’t climb out of, losing 77-73.
With the defeat, Michigan fell 
to 3-6 in conference play — tied for 
10th in the Big Ten. Though the 
Wolverines are out of the running 
for a regular-season crown and 
are unlikely to win the Big Ten 
Tournament beginning in just 
over a month, viewing the team’s 
struggles in a vacuum yields an 
incomplete assessment of their 
season.
Munger’s injury is just another 
line on a laundry list of adversities 
Michigan has faced.
Most Big Ten programs went 
through turnover following last 
season. Five of the conference’s 
top seven scorers moved on from 
college. With that said, only one 
of them finished first on their pro-
gram’s all-time leading scorer list: 
Michigan’s Katelynn Flaherty.
Coming into the season, most of 
the talk centered around Flaherty’s 
departure, and rightly so. Replac-
ing your primary ball-handler and 
a three-time All Big Ten first team 

selection, with a freshman in Amy 
Dilk — albeit a five-star recruit 
— is clearly an adjustment and 
shouldn’t be overlooked.
The Wolverines are also 
extremely young. Of the eight 
players comprising the primary 
rotation, five are underclass-
men. While “one-and-dones” 
have become commonplace and 
seniors unusual in men’s college 
basketball, this isn’t the case on the 
women’s side. So, when Michigan 
trots out a largely inexperienced 
lineup, growing pains should be 
expected.
The Wolverines’ chances are 
hindered even more when their 
veterans, like Munger, are side-
lined due to injury. The notion that 
injuries can be used to explain a 
team’s struggles over the course of 
a season is widely discredited by 
the general sports populace. Every 
team deals with injuries, they 
say. While this is true to a degree, 
within the context of their season, 
the injuries faced by Michigan are 
important to mention.
When Munger went down on 
Sunday, the Spartans capitalized 
and their lead ballooned to double 
digits.
“In the locker room, we talked 
about the importance of under-
standing situations in the game,” 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico told reporters after the loss. 
“Whether it’s the first quarter, end 
of the second quarter or end of the 
game. Without your leadership 
and experience out on the floor 
though, they’re kinda learning on 
the job. These are some new situa-
tions that Amy is in, Deja (Church) 
is in. Even (sophomore forward 
Hailey Brown), who had to play 
outside a bit more. Michigan State 
had the experience edge over us 

for sure.”
Injuries have also hampered 
senior center Hallie Thome, the 
team’s second-leading scorer from 
last year. She experienced back 
spasms in early December and 
played limited minutes in the three 
games leading up to conference 
play.
Acclaimed resources define 
the word “excuse” as “to try and 
remove blame from.” Alternatively, 
a “reason” is a “statement offered 
in explanation or justification.” It 
is easy to label the above “adversi-
ties” as excuses for Michigan’s 
struggles this season. But if we’re 
being impartial, they’re better 
characterized as reasons.
The Wolverines’ 12-9 overall 
record through 21 games is far 
from inspiring, but within the con-
text of this season specifically, it 
shouldn’t be all that surprising.
Moreover, a majority of these 
losses have come by narrow mar-
gins. With the exception of losses 
to No. 10 Texas, No. 22 Marquette 
and No. 12 Minnesota, Michigan 
has been within double digits in 
the fourth quarter. Despite the 
adversity, the team has continued 
to fight. Michigan’s performance 
following Munger’s injury exem-
plified this fight. The team cut the 
Spartans’ lead to just four points 
multiple times in the fourth quar-
ter. The desired results may have 
been lacking at times this season, 
but a positive mentality has been 
maintained throughout.
“Obviously we have a lot of 
fight,” Dilk said. “Like you said, it 
was a rivalry game, everybody was 
fired up to play. I think it shows a 
lot of growth too. We were down 
by a lot in the Ohio State game, 
too, and we came back to win. 
Unfortunately, today that didn’t 
happen, but we don’t give up. We’ll 
continue to fight.”
Back in November, Munger 
expressed aspirations of winning 
the program’s first Big Ten Cham-
pionship. That dream is now all 
but unattainable. Still criticizing 
this year’s Wolverines without 
realizing the reasons behind their 
struggles isn’t fair to anyone. 

Brennan can be reached at 

conbrenn@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @connrbrennan.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

ALEX POMPEI/Daily
Freshman goaltender Strauss Mann recorded 19 saves after replacing Hayden Lavigne in Michigan’s loss on Saturday.

Excuses and reasons

CONNOR
BRENNAN

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Senior guard Nicole Munger was helped off the floor during Sunday’s game.

