6A — Thursday, February 21, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Improvement on free throws
spurs Wolverines down the stretch
With the clock running down
and Maryland facing a 10-point
deficit, Anthony Cowan grabbed
Zavier Simpson. The whistle
blew.
Cowan was playing hack-
a-Simpson, assuming that the
junior guard — a notoriously poor
free-throw shooter — would miss,
giving the Terrapins an extra
possession.
But Simpson no longer fits
his reputation. In Big Ten play,
Simpson has hit 22-of-28 from
the charity stripe — a 76 percent
clip. And against Maryland, he
continued the trend, sinking
both free throws to extend the
Michigan men’s basketball team’s
lead.
Cowan didn’t try his luck
again.
“It’s a long way from last
year, where it was hard for him
to find the bucket and the free-
throw line,” said sophomore
forward Isaiah Livers. “Now he’s
one of our late-game — I think
everybody
—
nobody
minds
Zavier getting the ball.”
It goes beyond just Simpson.
Redshirt junior wing Charles
Matthews and junior center
Jon Teske — 58 and 57 percent
shooters
in
their
careers,
respectively — are both up to 63
percent in conference play.
Teske, Matthews and Simpson
are the Wolverines’ three best
defenders as well — making them
vital to have on the court down
the stretch. But in prior months,
Michigan coach John Beilein
faced the choice of removing
them and losing their defense
or keeping them and giving
opponents the opportunity to
take advantage. In that sense, the
teamwide improvement has paid
dividends in more ways than one.
***
Last season — in which the
Wolverines shot just 66 percent
— proved by far the worst free-
throw shooting team in Beilein’s
tenure. Because of that, Beilein
decided from the beginning that
foul shots needed a renewed
focus.
“We’re practicing it more,”
Beilein said at the team’s media
day on Oct. 22. “It’s been a thing
that we’ve taken for granted
because we had so many good foul
shooters that we didn’t practice it
as much. We probably practice it
500 percent more knowing that
they need to do that.”
Players who miss from the
stripe during games — from key
members of the rotation to walk-
ons — stay after practice the next
day to shoot 15 to 20 free throws.
Beilein
has
also
stressed
the mental side of things. He’s
introduced the team to meditation
and visualization exercises. The
night before a game, he instructs
players to picture themselves
getting to the line and draining
the shot so that during the actual
thing, they’ll have the confidence
to actually make it happen.
These new practices, along with
more experience, have paid off.
Michigan is shooting 75 percent
from the stripe in Big Ten play.
“A lot of hard work has really
helped with it,” Beilein said.
“When you get on the big stage
and you’ve gotta make those free
throws and you’re all alone out
there, you sorta get used to it.”
That’s certainly been true of
Simpson. Early on in the season,
he wouldn’t indulge reporters’
questions about his foul shooting,
viewing them as slights to his
ability. But with his numbers
now, the only inquiries he has to
face are about his improvement
— and about how his free throws
have helped down the stretch, not
hurt.
“I feel like it was all mental,”
Simpson said after the game
against the Terrapins. “ … Not
being a great free throw shooter
last year, you can capitalize your
weaknesses and that’s what I did.
Hopefully, it can continue, but at
the same time, I’m gonna keep
working.”
Last year, teams knew they
could foul Michigan at the end of
games, daring the Wolverines to
make or break the contest from
the line.
But this year, a more common
sight
is
what
happened
on
Saturday: The opposing team
tries, but Michigan calmly sinks
each free throw.
Then, the dare goes back to the
other team: Do they want to risk
trying it again?
Often, they don’t.
Pastujov reflects on growth this year
In his third season with the
Michigan hockey team, junior
forward Nick Pastujov has started
piecing together the elements of
his game.
The Florida-native has put forth
career-high numbers in goals
and points – notching 10 and 20,
respectively, with four games still
remaining in the regular season.
He began the year with a three-
game goal streak and surpassed
his previous career high of four
goals after just 10 games.
Pastujov
has
quietly
put
together
his
most
complete
season to date. So quietly that
Michigan coach Mel Pearson
was unaware of his current goal-
scoring drought – one that dates
back to the championship game
of the Great Lakes Invitational
Tournament.
“I hadn’t realized that he hasn’t
scored because his play hasn’t
diminished,” Pearson said. “He’s
continued to play well, and you
can play well and not necessarily
score goals.”
After recording just one and
four goals, respectively, in his first
two seasons with the Wolverines,
his 10 goals through 30 games may
have come as a surprise to some.
But for Pastujov, it is a part of his
game that he felt was previously
there.
“Well
before
I
came
to
Michigan I kind of was producing
a lot with Team USA,” Pastujov
said.
“I
think
through
two
shoulder surgeries and becoming a
freshman that kind of knocked my
confidence back and that’s when
kind of the production stopped.
But then kind of getting back to
how I felt like before, like feeling
confident again, I think in those
first two years I really got a chance
to round out my defensive game.”
His goal drought may have gone
unnoticed because of the other
things Pastujov does on the ice.
Whether it’s clogging up the area
in front of the net or showing off
the defensive skills he developed
over his first two seasons, they
are all pieces of his game that are
coming together.
But that goal production could
easily be much higher, too.
In the first period against
Penn State on Jan. 26, Pastujov
had three shot attempts strike
iron and one later in the game
for good measure. Add in a
couple unfortunate bounces in
Minneapolis against the Golden
Gophers on plays that prevented
Pastujov from scoring — including
a point-blank open net miss in
the 4-3 loss and a game in which
he set his season-high with seven
shots — and you’d be looking at
Michigan’s leader in goals.
It is a hypothetical scenario
but all just to say that the scoring
opportunities are still coming for
Pastujov. Through the first half
of the season, the goals followed.
But now, despite the number in
the goal scoring column staying
stagnant, his play and the play of
those around him has not.
“He’s making players around
him better,” Pearson said. “And
that’s the thing that he’s done
even though he’s not scoring.
He’s making good plays for the
guys who are scoring, whether it’s
(Jack) Becker or (Will) Lockwood
or whoever he may be with.”
Lockwood, Pastujov and Becker
have been on a line together since
the series at Columbus on Jan. 11.
Since then, Lockwood has
recorded eight goals in those last
nine games — perhaps a testament
to the elevated play of Pastujov.
And though the goals are not
coming for Becker, aside from the
pair he had against Michigan State
on Feb. 8, he is fourth on the team
with 84 shots behind Lockwood,
junior Jake Slaker and Pastujov,
meaning that the opportunities
are coming for the linemates.
For Pastujov, though, even now
that the goals are finally coming in
his third season, it is about more
than finding the back of the net.
Brienne Minor is ready for her final chapter
Donning
a
gray
sweatsuit,
Brienne Minor stood draped over
a railing next to the court and
watched. There was the occasional
cheer, a passing conversation here,
a word of encouragement there.
But mostly, just silence.
It was the Michigan Invitational
— the final exhibition tune-up for
the Michigan women’s tennis team
on Jan. 21 — and Minor was sitting
out the singles round.
Precautionary reasons?
“Mhmm. She’s good. She’s
fine,” said Michigan coach Ronni
Bernstein, tentatively. “… Not
overdoing it with her.”
It’s been 20 months now since
Minor watched a forehand return
from Florida’s Belinda Woolcock
sail long, flung her racket in the air,
clenched her fists and cemented
her place in history. The first
Michigan woman — and the first
Black woman — to win the NCAA
singles title. From unseeded fairy
tale to national narrative in the
blink of an eye. Twenty months
since reaching the apex of her
sport. Twenty months that might
now feel more like 20 years.
“I just like kind of, at the end of
it, I just couldn’t really believe that
it happened,” Minor told The Daily
last week. “... I just remember I felt
really relaxed that week. I was just
having fun, and it was like some of
the best tennis I’ve played.”
Her rise was chronicled in the
New York Times, Washington Post
and The Michigan Daily, among
others. It’s one of tremendous
athletic
achievement
—
a
supernova hot streak, a historic
week, a generational achievement.
It is the centrality of Minor’s
story, but it is not the final chapter.
Minor, then a sophomore, played in
the US Open. She handled droves
of media requests and a sudden
influx of fame. And she did it all
before the age of 20. But, with two
years of school left and no desire
to tempt professional fate just yet,
Minor had to face a question as
bewildering as it was simple.
What next?
The predicament is inherently
front-facing, an unnatural vantage
point for Minor. The thing to
understand about Brienne Minor
is that, even as she reached the
pinnacle of her sport, etched her
name in the throes of Michigan
lore, ascended to stardom, it was
never about her.
Nor was it about her when those
fortunes flipped.
***
It was early March 2018 when
Brienne Minor dialed the phone.
This was not what her junior
season was supposed to look like,
and she knew it. Those around
her had insisted she would emerge
from knee surgery in the summer
of 2017 stronger. But as the pain
persisted, frustration festered. She
went nearly two months without
registering a singles win to start
the season.
This was far from Minor’s first
encounter with knee issues. She
has battled patellar tendinitis in
both knees for much of her playing
career. It has loomed menacingly
in the subtext of her career; an
injury which demands rest, for an
athlete naturally resistant to it.
Minor
had
surgery after the
2017 season and
sat out the fall of
the 2018 season to
ensure, she hoped,
a
full
recovery.
But
when
that
promised
full
recovery
never
truly came, unease
grew.
“The
pain
got to a certain
point
where
it
was
constantly
on
her
mind
and
constantly
affecting
her
matches,”
said
Ronit Yurovsky, a
former teammate
and now-volunteer
assistant coach for
the
Wolverines.
“But I think with
that being said, there’s a little bit
more of a mental side to it as well.”
That toll manifested itself on the
court, where the reigning NCAA
Singles Champion went several
months without winning a singles
match. And the pressure of that
inescapable pedestal — reigning
NCAA Singles Champion — did
her no favors.
“I was just really sad all the time
that I couldn’t get it done for my
team,” Minor said. “Over and over
again.”
In the midst of that drought,
Minor turned to Yurovsky. The
two have talked frequently since
they were teammates in 2016.
During Minor’s improbable run
in 2017, Yurovsky insisted she take
an ice bath after the first night to
minimize wear and tear during the
grueling week. “And Bri hates ice
baths,” Yurovsky said. “It’s one of
the things she absolutely dreads.”
It became a rite of superstition —
reluctantly climbing in the cold
tub night after night if for no other
reason than she’d done it the night
before.
But this time around, the
problem was more complex. And
the answer couldn’t be chalked up
to superstition.
“I just tried to let her know that
it’s OK, you know,” Yurovsky said.
“Just because now you have this
added pressure, it doesn’t mean
that it’s not OK to lose here and
there. It’s just sort of how you’re
able to get through it. And I told
her that it just takes one or two
when you get your confidence
back.”
Minor
considers
that
conversation a turning point in her
senior season. She notched a 6-2,
6-1 win over Iowa’s Zoe Douglas
on Mar. 16, her first singles victory
of the year. She then followed it up
with three more straight-set wins
to re-calibrate her season and,
perhaps, more than that.
Minor finished the year 11-7
in
singles
matches,
including
8-1 in Big Ten action. She also
was
instrumental
in
helping
lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten
Tournament title, just the second
in program history.
But her return to winning ways
served more as a Band-Aid to the
issues still beneath the surface.
Asked whether she felt 100 percent
at any point last season, Minor
does not hesitate.
“Uh, no,” Minor said, “because
after my procedures the pain still
came back in my knees. So I was
definitely never physically 100
percent.”
What about now?
“Nope, definitely not.”
She will have knee surgery
in the offseason, and perhaps
in a different context — or for a
different athlete — she would get
the surgery done now. For Minor,
that is not a consideration.
But Minor details the minutiae
of her injuries and struggles with
an upbeat tone. Were it not for the
words coming out of her mouth, it
would seem just as plausible she
was sharing her favorite memories
from that week in Athens, Ga.
Not an ounce of regret. Not a
hint of fear. Just a constant, bright
smile.
***
So, here is Brienne Minor,
20 months removed from a life-
altering achievement, sitting in
an office, neither effusive of her
past nor daunted by her uncertain
future. She is not tethered to her
achievements nor unraveled by
any of the misfortune. Just Bri to
most. Bri-yonce, to some.
Perhaps
that’s
simply a fortune
Minor has earned.
Her story comes
with the inherent
security
blanket
of
permanence.
Minor
has
accomplished
more in her 21
years
on
earth
than most ever
will; and it’s basic
human
nature
— to a degree —
to rest on those
laurels. At least,
that’s how most
would see it.
Those
closest
to
her
would
undoubtedly
resist that kind
of
egotistical
framing.
“She
is
very
much herself at all times, which is,
on one hand, just so remarkable,”
said Mira Rudor-Hook, Minor’s
doubles teammate for two seasons.
“We all go through phases of just
self-doubt — she also had just a
lot of expectations on her. And,
honestly, I felt like she actually
navigated that very, very well. And
it also made a massive impact on
our team.
“We all knew she was coming
back from that and we now had a
national champion on our team.
Day-in, day-out, she’s just so
humble, it does massive things to
just how we all interact together. I
would say I didn’t see a difference,
honestly. I would just be like that’s
Bri — whether she wins a national
title or doesn’t.”
What comes of the twilight of
Minor’s college career is yet to be
seen — and not entirely up to her.
She is playing through the pain
that remains; and so far, doing so
quite capably, posting a 3-0 singles
record in the early going of the
spring season.
She has professional aspirations
and, the health of her knees
permitting, has the talent reach
them.
Ask her, though, and she’ll
choose
to
emphasize
the
importance of her role as a senior
leader on a team brimming with
potential, currently ranked 13th
in the nation. And her goals lie
squarely in team success.
“I definitely want (the team) to
win the Big Ten Tournament and
then also go far in NCAAs,” Minor
said. “Obviously the goal is to win
it, but, you know, baby steps.”
“I don’t know, I just want her to
enjoy it,” Rudor-Hook added, on
her hopes for Minor. “Like to enjoy
the girls and the team and to give
herself the credit that she deserves
to be honest.”
For Minor, this senior season
rests on striking that balance. She
cares about the tangible, and what
more can be obtained for herself
and
her
teammates.
Perhaps
equally important, particularly
to those around her, though, is
appreciating what’s already there.
Twenty months removed from a national title, Minor is fighting through prior injury struggles to cap off a storied career
MAX MARCOVITCH
Managing Sports Editor
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Zavier Simpson has shot 76 percent from the free-throw line in Big Ten play.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior forward Nick Pastujov has put forth career-highs in goals and points, with 10 and 20, respectively.
MAX KUANG/Daily
Senior Brienne Minor has prioritized team achievements, like a potential Big Ten title, in her senior season this year.
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer