The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
February 11, 2019— 3B
Charles Matthews makes the difference for ‘M’
Three weeks ago in Madison,
Michigan’s undefeated season
lay in the balance of a one-point
game with seven minutes to
play. That time, the Wolverines’
offense wilted, scoring just 10
points over the remainder of
the gane and falling, 64-54, at
the hands of the Badgers.
So on Saturday afternoon
against the same opponent,
when Michigan was faced with
a near-identical situation up
one with 7:13 to go, the question
became how it would avoid a
repeat of the final score. But
just as soon as the predicament
had manifested itself, Charles
Matthews — one of the biggest
culprits in the Wolverines’
loss last month with three
turnovers, two fouls and just
two field goals in the second
half — provided a solution.
Midway through the second
half,
Wisconsin’s
offense
started clicking for the first
time all afternoon, demanding
that someone on Michigan
answer the call — a situation
that would normally call for
sophomore guard Jordan Poole
or freshman forward Ignas
Brazdeikis
to
take over.
But as those
two
combined
to go 5-for-20
from the field,
Matthews
put
the
kind
of
stamp
on
the
game that, for
him, has been
restricted
to
the
defensive
end for the better part of
the past two years. It’s what
Michigan coach John Beilein
envisioned
for
Matthews
when
he
transferred
from
Kentucky three years ago as
highly-touted,
former
five-
star recruit. But as consistent
as his defensive impact has
been, Matthews’ offense has
only grazed the expectations
set by those lofty high school
accolades.
“I never doubted myself,”
Matthews said. “I understand
as a player you go through
those times. It’s going to be
more times in my career when
I have bad games. I have a lot
of basketball left in me. I never
got discouraged and continued
to shoot my way out of it, any
bad moment.”
The game’s defining moment
will be Matthews winding
the shot clock down with 30
seconds to go
and a five-point
lead,
daring
Wisconsin
to
stop him before
hitting a step-
back, fadeaway
jumper to seal
an
eventual
61-52 win.
That, though,
was
merely
a
culmination
of
the preceding 11 minutes, in
which Matthews went 7-of-8
from the field, scored 14 points
and fell three points short of
single-handedly outscoring the
Badgers.
“With
most
players,
it’s
very contagious,” Beilein said.
“Just make a shot, and all of a
sudden, you say, ‘Man, I got it.
I got it going.’ Make two, ‘I got
it going.’ You miss two or three
in the row, it’s really hard to
make the fourth, fifth, sixth.
There’s no magic in that either.
He made shots and then all of
a sudden, he made more shots.”
The
stretch
began
with
11:22 to play, when Matthews
— who had scored just four
points over the game’s first
29 minutes — answered a
Kobe King jumper with a
driving layup. As Wisconsin
responded with baskets on its
next two possessions, so too
did
Matthews,
keeping
the
Badgers at arm’s
length
as
they
threatened
to
take their first
lead of the second
half.
Matthews’
baskets
came
during a stretch
when
none
of
his
teammates
could find bottom, finishing
a combined 2-for-10 over the
final 14 minutes. It’s a reversal
of roles for Matthews, who
often
frustrates
in
these
moments — as he did in that
loss in Madison — stifling
Michigan’s
offense
with
ambitious mid-range jumpers
and poor decision making.
“It’s definitely a huge boost
being able to have a guy like
Charles go against — utilize
his
mismatch,”
Poole
said.
“Especially when he gets going,
being able to give it to a guy in
the post when he’s able to go
to his go-to shot and knock it
down is definitely huge.”
This time, though, it was
his teammates providing the
frustration. With three minutes
to play and Michigan holding a
tenuous three-point lead, Poole
and junior point guard Zavier
Simpson jacked up a pair of
contested
threes
on
consecutive
possession,
sending
an
irritated
Beilein’s hands
into
the
air
with
each
miss.
But
when
Matthews
caught the ball
at the top of the arc amidst a two-
minute scoring drought with
a 1:30 to play, that frustration
quickly disappeared. He drove
to his right, pulled up over Nate
Reuvers and let go. And for the
sixth time in ten minutes, the
ball swished through the net.
So when he pulled up for
that jumper a minute later with
a chance to ice the game, the
expectation was — for once —
that it would fall through. And
as it had all afternoon, it did.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews went 7-for-8 with 14 points in the last 11 minutes of Saturday’s game.
Already down 1-0 to No. 7
Arizona in the bottom of the
first inning and facing a bases-
loaded jam, the pressure was
on for the No. 19 Michigan
softball team. As the Wildcats’
Alyssa
Palomino-Cardoza
sent the ball all the way back
to the wall, that lead seemed
all but certain to drastically
increase. But just as it looked
like
the
Wolverines
were
going
to
face
a
five-run
deficit, junior outfielder Haley
Hoogenraad jumped up to grab
the ball, calling an end to the
inning and blocking Arizona
from potentially gaining a
substantial lead.
While
Michigan
didn’t
win, strong defensive plays
like that by Hoogenraad were
instrumental to the success
of the team all weekend, as
she made several important
catches in each game.
“Haley Hoogenraad plays
one heck of an outfield and
she makes some great plays,”
said Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins. “She does a great
job for us. We just ask for
everybody to do their part and
if you’re in the outfield, if you
can touch the ball, catch it.
She’s done a great job for us
over the years and she’s done
nothing but get better and
better.”
Added
Hoogenraad:
“We
played pretty well over the
weekend. I think we had a lot
of really good plays and a lot of
really smart plays. Our defense
again looks like it’s going to be
really strong.”
In the bottom of the fifth
inning, another smart play
came from Hoogenraad when
she dove in the right field to
make the catch and secure
an out with two on base for
Arizona.
“I think I had a couple
of good catches that really
helped keep us in the game,”
Hoogenraad said. “The one
later
in
the
game,
when
there were runners on first
and second, kept them from
potentially scoring. Those are
important.”
An
aggressive
outfield
is
nothing
new
for
the
Wolverines, a team known for
their strong defense. Michigan
had the third highest fielding
percentage in the NCAA last
season
behind
Oklahoma
and Florida. This weekend,
the outfield was anchored by
veteran juniors Hoogenraad
and Thais Gonzalez. The group
was rounded out by Lexie
Blair, a freshman who proved
very useful on both sides of
the game. Blair came out of
this weekend with a perfect
fielding percentage as well as
four runs, just one run behind
the team leader, senior Faith
Canfield.
“Defensively,
I
think
I
did pretty well,” Blair said.
“I
felt
really
comfortable
out there, especially having
two upperclassmen lead me
and mentor me the whole
weekend.”
Despite
their
solid
performance this weekend, the
outfielders hope their defensive
play will only improve as the
season continues.
“Collectively, I would say
there were some hiccups in
between each game,” Blair
said. “With it being the first
weekend, I think we did pretty
well, especially from practicing
indoor and coming here, being
on a bigger stage and being
outside. We did pretty well, but
there are definitely things we
can work on.”
I never get
discouraged
and continued
to shoot.
He made shots
and then all of
a sudden, he
made more.
LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer
As expected
In season’s opening weekend, Michigan wins three and drops two in Florida, its defense buoyed by Haley Hoonengraad
Going into the sixth inning
against South Florida, the No.
19
Michigan
softball
team
needed a spark.
The
Wolverines,
1-2
on
the weekend thus far, led the
unranked Bulls 2-1, only scoring
in one of the first five innings.
Michigan’s
offense
hadn’t
fared
much
better
in
the
first three games, with the
Wolverines scoring only one
run against No. 7 Arizona,
none against No. 5 Florida
and five runs total. The team
pitched solid innings, caught
essential fly balls and played
tight defense, but scoring wins
games, and Michigan wasn’t.
And then the sixth inning hit.
Batting in four runs in addition
to a and a grand slam in the final
two innings, the Wolverines
hit
their
stride
offensively,
notching a 10-1 win in their
fourth game of the season.
In
the
USF
Opening
Weekend
Invitational,
Michigan went 3-2, beating
North
Carolina
State
4-3,
South Florida 10-1 and Illinois
State 11-4 but dropping games
against Arizona and Florida,
2-1
and
6-0,
respectively.
Despite
maintaining
strong
defense throughout most of
the tournament, the team’s
offense
fluctuated,
starting
slow and building up to strong,
high-scoring wins to end the
weekend.
Though Michigan started the
tournament with a win against
the Wolfpack, the team’s close
game
showed
an
offensive
weakness for the Wolverines,
who trailed 3-1 after the fourth
inning and barely edged a win
with three RBI in the fifth
inning. Without power hits,
that trend continued through
Saturday morning in Michigan’s
losses to Arizona and Florida.
Regardless, the Wolverines
stand by their style of play, even
with the hopes of an occasional
power hit.
“I think we like consistency,”
said
Michigan
coach
Carol
Hutchins. “Whether we hit it
over the fence or not, I want
to see us air it out at times,
especially when it’s in hitter’s
counts.”
Despite the offensive lag,
the
Wolverines
saw
that
power hit from senior second
baseman Faith Canfield, who
hit a grand slam against South
Florida to energize the team’s
offense before a decisive win
over Illinois State. Canfield’s
leadership, along with that of
other upperclassmen, set a good
example for young hitters like
freshman outfielder Lexie Blair,
who tallied seven hits on the
weekend.
“Anything to help my team to
be a spark plug, that’s my main
thing,” Blair said. “One of my
goals for me is to find any way
to get on base.”
Even with highs and lows at
the plate, Michigan’s steadfast
defense anchored the team,
most notably on the mound in
freshman pitcher Alex Storako’s
regular-season debut. Storako
split
time
with
sophomore
pitcher
Meghan
Beaubien,
and
both
performed
well,
allowing 1.13 and 1.06 WHIPs,
respectively. Hutchins noted
that Storako will be a force
in the lineup going forward,
surpassing sophomore Sarah
Schaefer as the second pitcher.
“(Schaefer) needs to improve
to get herself into the rotation,”
Hutchins said. “... The first-
weekend timing is tough. I
thought we got better as the
weekend went, and that’s all I
can ask.”
LILY FRIEDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior outfielder Haley Hoonengraad’s defense was instrumental in Michigan’s first five games of the season, in which which the Wolverines went 3-2.
Wolverines top Lions
Hailey Brown couldn’t miss.
The sophomore forward was
hitting three-pointers of varying
difficulty, from all over the floor.
Within a span of five minutes,
Brown single-handedly turned
Sunday’s game on its head in the
second quarter — from a nine-
point deficit to a one-point lead for
the Wolverines by the end of the
half.
Catalyzed
by
Brown’s
performance,
the
Michigan
women’s basketball team (16-9
overall, 7-6 Big Ten) escaped State
College with 66-62 win over Penn
State (10-13, 3-9).
The beginning of the game
could not have gone much worse
for
the
Wolverines.
Without
freshman point guard Amy Dilk,
sidelined with a knee injury,
turnovers
plagued
Michigan’s
offense.
“We were a little short-handed,”
said Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. “And with the quick
turnaround, it was difficult to
prepare someone to take over that
role at the point guard position. I
thought you saw that today with
the pressure we faced early on.”
Penn State’s 12-point run finally
ended in the closing seconds of
the first quarter with Brown’s
first three-pointer and a put-back
layup from junior forward Kayla
Robbins. Still, the Wolverines,
having committed eight turnovers
in the first quarter, trailed by four.
Michigan’s dismal offensive
performance
continued
into
the second frame. Senior center
Hallie Thome had an especially
disapointing performance in the
first two quarters. She failed to
make a single bucket, missing
all 11 of her shots from the field.
Thome also had two consecutive
shots blocked downlow by Penn
State’s Lauren Ebo. And on the
ensuing possession, the Lady
Lions capitalized with an open
three to push the lead to nine.
Dilk’s absence clearly put a dent
into the Wolverines’ rotation, as a
trio of seldom-played freshman —
Danielle Rauch, Ariel Young and
Emily Kiser — entered the game
in relief.
Still, the Wolverines managed
to stay in the lead by one in the
first half as a result of Brown’s
prolific shooting performance and
two late free throws from Church,
overcoming 13 first-half turnovers.
“I couldn’t even believe we
were up by one,” Barnes Arico
said. “Just watching the game it
was like holy cow, we’re up. That’s
the difference threes make instead
of twos.”
Out of the break, Thome found
freshman forward Naz Hillmon
on the block for an easy layup.
Shortly after, Penn State’s Taniya
Page hit an off-balance floater and
the back-and-forth nature of the
second half was beginning to take
shape.
“Hailey
came
in
at
the
beginning of the week and said
‘Coach, I’m just playing like myself
right now, I’m in a little bit of a
funk and need to get out of it,’ ”
Barnes Arico said. “She spent a
lot of time last year in the gym,
getting up shots with (assistant)
coach (Melanie Moore) and that’s
what she did again this week.
She played incredible. She really
helped us to victory today.”
A three from the corner and a
tough floater from the Lady Lions’
Siyeh Frazier gave them a three-
point lead with just under four
minutes to go.
For her 18th and 19th points,
Hillmon responded with a sweet
spin move in the paint and a tough
hook shot.
Tied at 62, Munger gave the
Wolverines the advantage for
good, pulling up from the foul
line and hitting a jumper as the
shot clock expired. Munger then
hit two free throws to ensure the
Wolverines secured their fourth
consecutive win.
“That was one of the most
exciting locker rooms I’ve been in
after the game,” Barnes Arico said.
“We had to have different people
step up. Even if it’s only one play,
those plays can be the difference in
a close game. I think we saw that
today. I think the kids have a little
bit of confidence right now. We’re
all about February. February is our
month.”
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
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