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March 01, 2019 - Image 7

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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.

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