The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, March 1, 2019 — 7

Wolverines focused on regular 
season finale against Wisconsin

Prior to this season, senior 
guard Nicole Munger and senior 
center Hallie Thome pondered 
expectations for what was to 
come.
“Nicole said at the end of the 
summer, ‘Coach, I think we 
have an opportunity to be Big 
Ten champs next year,’ ” said 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico. “And her and Hallie 
debated that and wavered that 
and went back and forth on 
that and they came to common 
ground that that’s gonna be 
our message for our team this 
season, and that’s gonna be our 
goal for our team this season. 
And they’ve kind of stuck with 
that.”
The Big Ten Tournament 
tips off in less than a week, but 
for now, the Michigan women’s 
basketball team (10-7 Big Ten, 
19-10 overall) is putting those 
aspirations on standby. The 
final regular-season matchup 
— Sunday afternoon against 
Wisconsin 
(4-13, 
13-16) 
— 
garners more attention.
“My focus is on Wisconsin,” 
Barnes Arico said. “We have a 
Big Ten tournament? When’s 
that?”
Though 
she 
was 
clearly 
joking, there’s truth underlying 
Barnes Arico’s comment.
The two teams will meet for 
their second time this season. 
The Wolverines won the first 
outing, 76-70, in Madison at the 
start of the month. They’ll look 
to replicate that result at Crisler 
this weekend.
Michigan 
started 
out 
slowly in that game, but solid 
performances 
by 
freshman 
forward 
Naz 
Hillmon 
and 
freshman 
guard 
Amy 
Dilk 
helped the team prevail. Hillmon 
led the team with 20 points and 
eight rebounds, shooting 8-of-

9 from the field. Dilk helped 
generate much of that scoring, 
finishing with eight assists.
The 
roommates 
could 
potentially lead the team again. 
Hillmon has been top-notch 
recently. Since the previous 
meeting, she has averaged 16.3 
points a night. In the past two 
games against Michigan State 
and Rutgers, she dropped 27 and 
21 points, respectively.
“Naz 
has 
just 
been 
tremendous,” Barnes Arico said 
on Inside Michigan Basketball 
Radio Show. “And every now and 
again, she’ll have a freshman-
like moment, but it doesn’t really 
last for too long. She’s just been a 
special player.”
Dilk suffered a right knee 
injury 
against 
Nebraska 
— 
immediately after facing the 
Badgers. She sat out the next 
three games before playing 16 
minutes against the Scarlet 
Knights. And she tallied 29 
minutes last Sunday against the 
Spartans.
“I think she’s getting close 
to 100 percent and we’re gonna 
need her down this tail stretch 
here,” Barnes Arico said.
The Wolverines are coming 
off a loss at Michigan State 
that 
snapped 
their 
seven-
game win streak. Turnovers 

and fouls contributed to their 
downfall. Michigan lost the ball 
25 times and gave the Spartans 
27 free throw attempts — of 
which they made 23. With no 
midweek contest this week, the 
Wolverines have had time to 
fine-tune.
“We haven’t had a bye week 
all season,” Barnes Arico said 
on Tuesday. “So it’s great for us 
to work on things that Michigan 
needs to get better at and some 
of the things that we haven’t 
been successful at in the next 
couple days.”
Forwards Marsha Howard 
and 
Imani 
Lewis 
are 
Wisconsin’s top scorers, both 
averaging double digits. That 
said, the Badgers have struggled 
throughout the season with just 
two road wins. They’ve lost 
four of six since last playing 
Michigan and sit at second-to-
last in the conference standings.
The Wolverines appear to be 
the clear favorite and should 
soon be able to take on their 
bigger desires.
“It’s just another opportunity 
for our team to go out there and 
show what we’ve been working 
on and how great we can be,” 
Munger said. “ … One more game 
and then we can focus on (the 
Big Ten Tournament).”

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

Freshmen to play key role

Per man, as Mel Pearson 
likes to think, Wisconsin is the 
most talented team in the Big 
Ten.
The 
Michigan 
hockey 
coach points to the Badgers’ 
speed 
and 
skating 
ability 
when explaining why they’re 
so dangerous. But with their 
talent, it begs the question 
as to why they are sitting one 
point from the bottom of the 
conference.
“They’re 
very 
young,” 
Pearson said. “And they’re 
starting to mature. They’ve 
been in most games. They’ve 
had a couple recently that have 
gotten away from them, but 
they’re a scary team.”
One notable characteristic 
Wisconsin shares with the 
Wolverines 
is 
youth. 
The 
Badgers roster nine freshmen 
and seven sophomores, many of 
whom are major contributors 
to 
the 
team. 
Michigan, 
similarly, has 10 freshmen and 
six sophomores.
In the previous series in 
November, it was Wisconsin’s 
freshmen 
who 
made 
the 
difference, scoring all three of 
its goals in the series. Despite 
the impact, their inexperience 
showed as well, committing 
late-game 
penalties 
that 
jeopardized the result of the 
match.
This 
weekend, 
Pearson 
expects an entirely different 
team — for both sides.
“I think we’ve grown a 
lot,” Pearson said. “I think 
we matured a lot since then, 
and the freshmen have grown 
a lot as you can see by Nolan 
Moyle’s 
play, 
Garrett 
Van 
Wyhe, and Nick Blankenburg 
and Jack Summers, and you go 
down the list, those guys have 
really taken steps.
“And I think Wisconsin too, 
some of their freshmen are 
no longer freshmen. They’re 
playing like upperclassmen.”

The growth in Michigan’s 
freshmen has been evident. 
Even as of last weekend, Moyle 
broke out for three goals against 
Ohio State, scoring back-to-
back goals to win Friday’s 
game 
for 
the 
Wolverines. 
Van Wyhe connected with 
Moyle for both of those goals, 
highlighting 
the 
chemistry 
the two built on throughout 
the season. Blankenburg broke 
open the scoring for Michigan 
on Saturday, and Summers 
stepped up to the plate after 
Luke Martin went down.
The upcoming weekend will 
be the final regular season 
series for both teams. Having 
come off a nail-biting series 
split against the Buckeyes, 
Michigan 
failed 
to 
secure 
home ice for the Big Ten 
Tournament. 
Instead, 
the 
Wolverines will need three 
points out of the series against 
the Badgers to get home ice.
“Well, 
I 
thought 
(last) 
weekend was intense when we 

played Ohio State,” Pearson 
said. “And I think it’s going to 
go up another level because of 
the implications. I mean, they 
still have a chance for home 
ice and we’re battling for that. 
So 
everyone’s 
still, 
there’s 
still something on the line for 
everybody.”
The 
Wolverines 
haven’t 
seen too many high-stakes 
situations in the season, but 
Pearson believes that the team 
can rise to the occasion.
“It can put pressure on you, 
but it can also excite you,” 
Pearson said. “And I hope it 
does the latter, I hope the guys 
are excited about that. We’ve 
been pretty good on the road 
this year. We’ve yet to be swept 
on the road, we’ve found a way 
to win and get points, every 
weekend we’ve played this 
year, and I expect the same out 
of this group. I know they’ll be 
ready to play, they’re anxious 
to get back at Yost, but we just 
need to play Friday’s game.”

Catch a wave: Baseball looks to 
capitalize on trip to California

While the students of the 
University of Michigan head off 
to rest their weary brains during 
Spring Break, the No. 17 Michigan 
baseball team (6-0) is going to 
work in sunny California.
“That sounds like baseball 
heaven to me,” said head coach 
Erik Bakich. “Eight games in ten 
days, we are fired up for that.”
On this trip, the Wolverines 
will face four teams currently 
with a winning record in addition 
to a talented Southern California 
team looking to prove itself.
Michigan kicks off its Spring 
Break on Friday with a three-
game series against Cal State-
Northridge 
(5-4), 
which 
is 
coming off a 4-3 loss to No. 3 
UCLA — a game in which they 
gave up a one-run lead in the 
seventh 
inning. 
Looking 
to 
avenge the loss, the Matadors 
will be eager to take down a 
ranked Michigan team trying to 
extend its unbeaten run as long 

as possible.
After Cal State-Northridge, 
the Wolverines will enjoy a 
day off before playing Long 
Beach State and University of 
California-Irvine 
on 
back-to-
back days where the real test 
starts for its pitchers. Star juniors 
left-hander Tommy Henry and 
right-hander Karl Kauffmann 
will have to keep the heat on after 
just four days of rest.
The Dirtbags, currently 0-7, 
will try to improve on a poor start 
to the season, but they will be 
coming off one day of rest from 
their series at Ole Miss.
The 
Anteaters, 
conversely, 
will be coming off of five days of 
rest and eager to play their first 
ranked team of the season.
What Michigan is looking 
forward to most comes on the 
final weekend of Spring Break, 
when it will be playing against 
No. 19 Oklahoma State inside of 
Dodgers Stadium.
“I’m 
really 
excited 
about 
the Dodgertown classic and to 
get the opportunity to play in 
Dodgers Stadium,” said Bakich. 

“Just hearing from the guys that 
are on the team in 2017, it was one 
of those life memories that you 
make, getting to play in Dodgers 
Stadium. So I’m excited for the 
kids that they get to experience 
that 
and 
play 
in 
Dodgers 
Stadium.”
Over the three-game stretch 
the Wolverines will play the 
Bruins and Trojans at their home 
fields before the finale against 
the 
Cowboys. 
The 
toughest 
stretch of games for Michigan 
in the early season, these three 
matchups will prove how good 
the undefeated Wolverines really 
are before they come back to play 
in Ann Arbor for the first time all 
season.
Bakich, though, is not looking 
past the early week matchups.
“Everyone that we play out 
on the West Coast are perennial 
powers, 
from 
Cal 
State-
Northridge to Long Beach to 
Irvine to UCLA, USC, Oklahoma 
State,” Bakich said. “From that 
standpoint we’re going to be 
really tested in those eight games 
over the 10-day period.”

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

CARTER FOX/Daily
The Michigan baseball team will play eight games in 10 days over break, including one at Dodger Stadium.

KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Naz Hillmon scored 20 points in the last game against Wisconsin.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan trying to overcome 
struggles with mental game

Michigan 
softball 
is 
unranked. It hasn’t defeated 
a ranked team, it’s yet to 
dominate an entire tournament 
and it’s lost more games than 
it’s won.
The Wolverines have hit a 
total of two runs in four games 
against ranked opponents and 
scored three runs or fewer in 
over half of their games.
Last weekend, Michigan left 
the LSU Invitational in Baton 
Rouge, LA with three losses 
in five games, and it wasn’t 
happy. The team let up seven 
runs in one contest against 
an unranked Stanford team, 
complicating 
the 
pitching 
staff’s 
previously 
perceived 
reliability.
The Wolverines left the third 
week of the season as coach 
Carol Hutchins’ first losing 
team this far into a season in 
35 years. After a start like that, 
how could they be happy?
Michigan is in uncharted 

territory, and it’s time to own 
up to it.
After 
weeks 
of 
“mental 
lapses,” 
“lack 
of 
focus” 
and other mental problems 
plaguing the Wolverines — as 
players have said — it’s worth 
looking at why the team can’t 
seem to click mentally. If the 
problem really lies in lack of 
focus, then why can’t Michigan 
get on its game? When they do, 
they blow by teams, play tough 
against 
ranked 
opponents 
and perform well offensively 
and 
defensively 
against 
difficult schedules. So why 
is mental acuity so hard for 
the Wolverines to find, and 
how will they live up to the 
potential we’ve seen in bits and 
pieces of games?
Players 
weren’t 
made 
available this week to answer 
those questions.
We’ve seen the chemistry in 
short stints. Michigan trounced 
South 
Florida 
and 
Illinois 
State in the USF Opening 
Weekend Invitational, held No. 
9 Louisiana State to a close 1-2 

loss last weekend and carries 
over much of the talent from 
last year in its upperclassmen. 
We know how the Wolverines 
are capable of playing, and 
they know it too, as players 
have said several times. But 
something isn’t clicking with 
the softball team, and we’ve 
seen it so far this season.
Last weekend, sophomore 
left-hander Meghan Beaubien 
said 
she 
didn’t 
have 
the 
right mindset or clear head 
to throw well, and that she 
corrected that mindset for 
her no-hitter in the California 
State-Northridge 
game. 
Beaubien threw one of her 
best games of the season that 
day. But the problem lies in 
the fact that she, and many of 
her teammates, can’t emulate 
those 
performances 
every 
game.
We all know that Michigan 
softball hasn’t had the start it 
wants, and we all know that 
something is wrong, so now it’s 
up to the Wolverines to let us 
know why.

LILY FRIEDMAN
Daily Spors Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan softball team continues to point to “mental issues” to explain a sluggish 6-8 start to the season.

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson was highly complimentary of Wisconsin’s potential.

