8 — Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Accelerate your academic progress
Engage in a new area of study
Earn transfer-credits close to home
Check out our summer programs at
ltu.edu/summer
Southfield, Michigan
be our guest at Lawrence Tech
this summer!
May 20 –
July 26
Architecture and Design | Arts and Sciences
Business and Information Technology | Engineering
THE ORREN C. MOHLER PRIZE LECTURE AND RECEPTION
Cosmic
> Reveal Einstein’s Gravitational-Wave Universe <
Collisions
Dr. Vicky Kalogera
Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor,
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Northwestern University
Wednesday
March 13, 2019
Lecture 1:00 pm
Reception 2:00 pm
Forum Hall
Palmer Commons
Should you require any reasonable accommodations to
ensure equal access and opportunity related to this event please
contact Stacy Tiburzi at 734-764-3440, or stibu@umich.edu.
Similar mistakes cost Wolverines
Michigan could not stop
Cassius Winston. Again.
Michigan State stymied the
Wolverines’ ball-screen game.
Again.
Michigan blew a second-half
lead. Again.
The
difference
between
Feb. 24 in Ann Arbor — a 77-70
Wolverine loss — and three days
ago in East Lansing? Saturday
was not only for bragging
rights but for a conference
championship.
Michigan lost to Michigan
State, 75-63, and came away
with neither. The reasons why
either had roots stemming from
the team’s first
meeting or were
taken
directly
from the game
two weeks ago.
First
up:
Winston — the
newly-minted
Big Ten Player
of the Year —
who scored 27
points and eight
assists
in
the
first meeting while playing
from tip-off to final buzzer.
Postgame
Saturday,
sophomore
forward
Isaiah
Livers was asked what the
Wolverines’ biggest takeaway
from two weeks prior was. He
sighed and gave a no-doubter of
an answer.
“Can’t let Cassius take us
across the court on a ball-
screen,” Livers said. “He did it
again and again and again in
the second half,
and we had no
answer for the
run.”
Michigan
looked to have
an answer early
on.
Instead
of
hedging
ball-screens
—
sending
junior
center Jon Teske
with
Winston
on the perimeter to push him
away from the basket, which
the Wolverines had done in the
first meeting — they switched
them, taking away many of the
easy assists to a wide-open roll
man that Winston tallied in
February.
Junior
Zavier
Simpson,
meanwhile, was his normally
rugged
defensive
self
once
again.
When
Winston
and
Simpson went at it, Michigan’s
point guard usually won the
battle. Winston shot just 1-for-
5 with seven points in the first
half.
But ultimately, Winston was
too good and too much. As the
Wolverines bricked their lead
away, Winston — just as he had
done two weeks ago — slithered
around defenders and got to
the rim with ease in the second
half. His 23 points and seven
assists led both categories.
If there’s one person who
could have stopped Winston,
or at least prevented him
from taking total control of
the game, that
man was lined
up across from
him in a blue
jersey. Simpson
couldn’t, for the
second time in a
row. There’s no
shame in that,
but Simpson —
who, according
to
freshman
David DeJulius,
told his team that Winston’s
performance was his fault —
certainly felt differently.
“We
couldn’t
stop
him
from
turning
the
corner,”
said assistant coach DeAndre
Haynes. “He turned the corner
at will, anytime he wanted to.”
The Wolverines had no more
luck scoring off their own
ball-screens. Michigan State
coach Tom Izzo’s stroke of
genius in the first matchup was
switching every
screen and cut
off
Simpson’s
dribble
penetration,
forcing one-on-
one
situations.
With one of its
offensive staples
neutralized,
Michigan
fell
apart.
Coming
into Saturday, the Wolverines
were optimistic that this time
would be different. They were
merely caught off-guard by
the Spartans’ adjustments, and
with time to make their own,
they would put the shoe on
the other foot. Michigan was
prepared to attack mismatches
— such as finding Teske down
low after a guard switched onto
him — and show discipline on
isolations.
The Wolverines did neither.
Simpson missed 10 of 13 shots,
including many at the rim.
Teske took just five shots —
the same as in February — and
Michigan stopped trying to feed
him. The Wolverines’ 15 points
in the last 14 minutes mirrored
their slump of nine points in 15
minutes in the second half of
the first game.
“I thought we had a really
good plan the first half,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
“The second half, kids just
aren’t used to (Michigan State’s
defense). … Just things we gotta
learn.”
Much
credit
belongs
to
Michigan
State,
especially
Xavier
Tillman.
The
sophomore
forward
showed
the athleticism to shut down
guards on the perimeter and the
explosiveness to lock down the
paint when the guards got that
far, finishing with five blocked
shots. Tillman was a matchup
nightmare
the
Wolverines
couldn’t wake up from.
Against players like Winston
and
Tillman,
there’s
only
so much a team can do. But
whatever Michigan had the
chance to do, it was unable
to — and the product was a
result earned in a painstakingly
familiar way.
“We weren’t poised when
we needed to,” Beilein said.
“We needed to be poised at that
time and we weren’t. We didn’t
show.”
The regular season is over
now. By the time of their
first game in the Big Ten
Tournament, the Wolverines
will have had five days to
recover and gear up for a
new phase of their campaign.
They’re also likely to receive
reinforcements,
as
redshirt
junior wing Charles Matthews
appears
close
to
returning
from an ankle injury for the
postseason, where Michigan
has historically hit its highest
gear.
But if the Wolverines revert
to their old tendencies like they
did Saturday, if they can’t learn
from their mistakes and apply
those lessons in time, they’ll
have a tough time finding that
level.
Canfield’s bat catches fire out West
The weather may have been
hot, but Faith Canfield came out
scorching.
As a Southern California
native,
the
senior
second
baseman is used to the heat.
Temperatures hovered around
the mid-70s when the No. 25
Michigan softball team battled
against some of the nation’s top
competition at last week’s Judi
Garman Classic and Arizona
State Invitational, but no source
of heat was more intense than
Canfield’s bat.
The flip of the calendar
brought
about
some
much-
needed success for Canfield,
who came into the month with
a .283 batting average — a figure
well below her lofty standard.
Canfield
posted
respective
batting averages of .398 and .391
in her sophomore and junior
seasons en route to earning
All-America honors in each
campaign.
On Feb. 19, Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins told The Daily
that she wanted to see Canfield
“take this team by the horns.”
Despite games against No. 5
Florida, No. 7 Arizona, and No. 9
Louisiana State, the Wolverines
limped into this month without
a
signature
win.
Much
of
their shortcomings paralleled
Canfield’s efforts to rediscover
the swing that placed her among
the nation’s best infielders. After
14 starts, she entered this month
with just three multi-hit games,
four RBIs and zero extra-base
hits.
But when the new month
rolled around, Canfield took a
firm grasp of those horns.
Canfield sparked Michigan’s
success at the Judi Garman
Classic on March 1, driving in
a pair of runs with a go-ahead
single
in
the
sixth
inning
against
previously-unbeaten
No. 2 UCLA, which propelled
the Wolverines to a 3-1 upset
victory. The win gave the
team an energy boost, while
Canfield’s big hit had the exact
same effect on a personal level.
Two
days
later,
Canfield
reached base in two of her
three at-bats in Michigan’s 4-2
victory over No. 5 Washington.
Her confidence at the plate gave
way to success on the basepath,
as she scored a run and swiped
a bag in the team’s second upset
in as many games.
Later
that
afternoon,
Canfield delivered once again.
This
time,
the
Wolverines
were deadlocked in a scoreless
tie against California State-
Northridge in the final inning
when she stepped up to the
plate. With junior outfielder
Haley
Hoogenraad
standing
on second base, Canfield laced
a double into right field. When
the dust settled, her walk-off
heroics lifted the Wolverines to
an unbeaten weekend after a 7-8
start.
“(Canfield) is doing her part,”
Hutchins said. “She’s gone above
and beyond this past weekend
and I’m hoping it can inspire us
and give us some confidence.”
When the team made its way
south of Canfield’s home state,
her hot streak continued at
the Arizona State Invitational.
She reached base safely in four
of Michigan’s five games —
including a pair of three-hit
efforts in the last two contests
of the weekend — highlighted
by a power surge against New
Mexico State. Canfield recorded
a pair of doubles and launched
her first long ball of the season
in the Wolverines’ 3-0 victory
over the Aggies.
Between
the
two
tournaments, Canfield posted 13
hits in 29 at-bats — good for an
average of .448 — while driving
in six runs and striking out just
twice. Less than two weeks
after sitting on a .283 batting
average, her clip has ballooned
to .347.
Though her success on the
field has helped the Wolverines
add tallies to their win column,
it was Canfield’s continued work
ethic through a cold February
that struck the most meaningful
chord to her teammates.
“It’s been great looking to
(Canfield),”
said
freshman
outfielder Lexie Blair. “She’s
one of our team captains and
you really just she that drive in
her when she plays, and I know
she has her moments when she’s
struggling a little bit. Before
I even came here, I grew up
watching her over her years in
Michigan, finally seeing her as
a senior, seeing her doing her
thing, being consistent as she is,
the past couple weekends have
been amazing and I really look
up to her, and so do many other
people.”
If Michigan is to sustain any
success, Canfield can’t afford
to loosen her grip on the team’s
horns.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein and his team lost to Michigan State under similar circumstances as two weeks ago.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior second baseman Faith Canfield has seen renewed success in March.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
(Winston) did it
again and again
and again in the
second half.
I thought we
had a really
good plan in
the first half.