The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 — 7A
In win, Michigan turns Gators’ water off, advances to Sweet Sixteen
DES MOINES, Iowa — Two
years
ago,
when
Michigan
upset No. 2 seed Louisville to
reach the Sweet Sixteen, John
Beilein, Super Soaker in hand,
crept into the locker room
and sprayed water all over his
jubilant players.
Luke
Yaklich,
then
an
assistant
at
Illinois
State,
wasn’t around to experience it.
But on Saturday, the Wolverines
advanced to the Sweet Sixteen
with a 64-49 win over Florida,
and afterwards, Yaklich’s light-
brown close crop was matted
down with water, the product
of a celebratory bottle-pouring.
Yaklich was perfectly fine
with it — sophomore forward
Isaiah Livers said he ran “right
for the water.” But if he had
been upset and in search of for a
culprit, Charles Matthews was
to blame.
“He literally said this: Going
into the Sweet Sixteen, you’ll
know that feeling when you
pour water on the head coach,”
Livers said. “He said, ‘Think
about pouring water on the
coaches when they come in here
after we win.’ ”
The redshirt junior’s speech
came at halftime as Michigan
led, 32-28 — a lead that felt like
it should have been larger. The
Gators were kept in the contest
by a 6-for-12 shooting display
from outside, uncharacteristic
of
a
33.4
percent
3-point
shooting team. This was even
more the case seeing as many
of Florida’s threes were tough,
closely-guarded attempts.
Eight minutes into the first
half,
Jalen
Hudson heaved
a
three
from
several
feet
behind the arc.
Jordan
Poole
did
everything
asked
of
him
—
he
moved
his feet, timed
his
jump
and
contested
the
shot well — but
the sophomore guard was still
left shaking his head as the ball
smacked off the backboard and
into the net.
“We’ll live with them hitting
tough shots,” Poole said. “Not
a lot of teams are able to be
in a situation where they can
make tough shots throughout
the entire night,
and if they do,
tip your hats to
them.”
But
the
Wolverines
weren’t
about
to take off their
caps just yet.
First
came
the
strategic
adjustment.
Point
guard
Andrew Nembhard ran the
Gators’ offense to perfection in
the first half, dishing out five
assists as Michigan couldn’t
stop him from getting downhill
out of ball-screen situations.
The Wolverines took these away
by going under screens to alter
Nembhard’s vision and prevent
his penetration.
“The
guys
understood the
pattern and the
flow
of
their
offense
and
that’s
where
the
basketball
intelligence
of
our players takes
over,”
Yaklich
said.
“They
understand
what hurt us. They can tweak it,
move all over the floor to take
that away, and it ends up being
good for us.”
At the same time, Michigan’s
leaders — Matthews and Zavier
Simpson — were there to make
sure their teammates kept their
composure, continued playing
strong defense and trusted
that the logical result of good
defense would follow.
“They’re
really
good
shooters, so they’re gonna make
some of those,” Yaklich said.
“But over the course of the
game, you just gotta stay true to
who you are and not make any
lazy decisions at halftime that
just take you out of who you are
defensively.”
Added sophomore guard C.J.
Baird: “The one thing is our
leadership and that’s the one
thing that keeps us composed.
Even if (Hudson’s) shot goes
in, Jordan was like, ah come
on, I can’t believe that went in.
The leaders are like, ‘OK, you
played good defense, look at the
positives there.’ Everybody’s
like, ‘OK, we can still do this,
even though that shot went in,
we’re still on it all the time.’ ”
And when the Wolverines
left the locker room, Matthews
made sure they were, indeed,
on it.
“First time in the huddle,
he came and said, ‘No more
threes. No more threes. Let’s
limit their threes,’ ” assistant
coach DeAndre Haynes told
The Daily. “He held it down for
us out there.”
What resulted
was
a
second
half
in
which
Michigan’s
defense,
as
usual,
looked
elite to both the
eyes and the stat
sheet.
Nembhard
had just three
assists
against
two
turnovers.
Florida hit 3-of-14 3-pointers.
It scored just 21 points. The
Wolverines, meanwhile, scored
the first 11 points of the second
half, and after weathering an
offensive dry spell of their own,
dunked the Gators out of the
NCAA Tournament.
When it was all said and done,
Michigan had not only “shut
their water off,” as Matthews
demanded, but found its own
water, using it to celebrate a
15-point victory.
At this point, you don’t need
any more evidence that the
Wolverines will ride or die with
their defense. It’s their identity,
and they’re proud of it. And on
Saturday, this meant rejecting
the radical idea that opposing
players
will
sometimes
hit
shots.
Instead, Michigan put its
clamps down as hard as it has
all season.
“The
defensive
identity
starts with our leaders and our
coaching and those guys, like
taking pride in your matchup,
taking pride in those shots,”
Baird said. “I don’t think last
year you would have seen
Jordan Poole get upset about
a shot going in over him. Now,
with the culture we brought in
and the coaches we brought in,
it’s really been important to us.
“It
really
helps
us
win
games.”
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan men’s basketball team celebrated in the locker room after Saturday’s 64-49 win over Florida by splashing each other and the coaches with water.
Big innings holding Wolverines back
Three outs.
String them together however
you can – a grounder, a strikeout,
a pop-up; a double play, a triple
play, a runner caught stealing.
No matter how it happens,
lately, that’s all that has stood
between the Michigan baseball
team and success: three outs.
The Wolverines have been
allowing big innings in crucial
matchups. Their usual lights-
out pitching has shown flaws,
and as they face increasingly
tough competition, those flaws
are being exploited, causing
significant problems for Team
153.
Their
series
against
No.
11 Texas Tech is the perfect
example. In Thursday’s game,
they gave up six runs in the fifth
inning. On Friday, they gave up
five runs in the sixth inning. And
in Saturday’s contest, there was
only one inning in which the Red
Raiders did not score.
“They hit against us almost
like they knew every pitch that
was coming,” said Michigan
coach Erik Bakich. “They took
advantage of our mistakes. They
did to us what we’ve done to a lot
of the teams we’ve played and
opened up a big margin.”
Whether it’s been defensive
errors, Jimmy Kerr and Blake
Nelson already have six errors
apiece on the season; pitching
difficulties, third starter Jeff
Criswell has racked up a 4.41
earned run average over 30.1
innings; or a combination of the
two, Michigan has not been able
to string together those three
outs. And their opponents are
making them pay.
Texas
Tech
swept
the
Wolverines in their three-game
series. Michigan’s first loss of
the season came in a game in
which Cal State-Long Beach
put runs on the board in three
consecutive innings toward a
final score of 8-7. And its 4-1 loss
to Southern California came
when they allowed the Trojans
to put up two runs in two
separate innings.
“(Our errors) were just very
costly, because they came at
the most inopportune times,”
Bakich said. “You can’t do that
against any team, but especially
a really good team. Every time,
they will make you pay for it.
And this weekend, they made us
pay for it.”
At
times
this
season,
Michigan’s offense has also
proven its ability to notch big
innings. A three-run seventh
inning against UCLA. An eight-
run third inning and a six-run
sixth inning against Manhattan.
A five-run sixth inning against
Western Michigan.
All of those games were wins
– 7-5 over the Bruins, 23-2 over
the Jaspers and 12-5 over the
Broncos.
When
the
Wolverines
can
piece
together
several
consecutive
quality
at-bats,
they’ve proven difficult to stop.
“When we can put big innings
together, and score three or more
runs in an inning, it certainly
helps us win the game,” Bakich
said. “That’ll continue to be
something that we leverage.”
Michigan is about to head into
Big Ten play with a weekend
series
against
nearby
rival
Michigan State. A home series
against Minnesota – likely its
toughest Big Ten competition
– and an away weekend at Ohio
State are not too far down the
road. If the Wolverines can
solidify their defense, and if
their pitchers rediscover the
dominance
they
showed
in
earlier stretches this season,
they will look to be a serious Big
Ten contender.
All that stands in the way are
three outs.
‘M’ Softball blows past Central
Michigan in run-rule victory
It was a long drive from
Ann Arbor to Mount Pleasant.
Many players had class earlier
in the day. The atmosphere
wasn’t energetic.
Madison
Uden
changed
that.
Led by the junior third
baseman’s two-run home run
in the third inning, the No.
23 Michigan softball team
beat Central Michigan, 8-0,
in a five-inning run-rule win.
With Uden’s home run and
a three-run home run from
senior
infielder
Mackenzie
Nemitz, the win carried on the
success the Wolverines had
at the plate Sunday against
Nebraska.
To start the in-state contest,
senior
outfielder
Natalie
Peters hit a single past the
third baseman into left field.
Freshman
outfielder
Lexie
Blair followed that hit with
a single of her own, moving
Peters to third. With two
Michigan players on base,
senior
Mackenzie
Nemitz
stepped to the plate. She didn’t
mirror
her
performance
in
Sunday’s
game
against
Nebraska
—
when she scored
a
booming
home run. She
didn’t
even
come out of the
play
on
base.
But
Nemitz’s
subsequent
groundout to the shortstop
drove Peters home, putting the
Wolverines on the board early.
Already up by one run,
Uden hit a home run to right
field that drove her and senior
first baseman Alex Sobczak
— who was already on base —
home, increasing Michigan’s
lead to three and completely
toppling the atmosphere at the
Chippewas’ field.
“(The home run) lit a spark
in us,” Nemitz said. “Traveling
to Central Michigan was kind
of a long drive and we all were
kind of just dead, and after
she hit that, it was just instant
light-up of everybody and we
just
continued
to
play
our
game.”
Nemitz
especially
did
that.
After
Peters hit a fly
ball for a double
that plated both
sophomore
shortstop
Natalia
Rodriguez and
senior second baseman Faith
Canfield to increase the score
to 5-0, Nemitz hit a home run
past right center field that
brought her, Peters and Blair
back around the bases to their
teammates
celebrating
the
team’s 8-0 lead around the
plate.
“It feels good,” Nemitz said.
“It’s something that I have
known I can do, so finally
having it happen is kind of like
a breakthrough moment and
kind of gives myself and my
teammates the confidence that
we need.”
On
the
mound,
that
confidence
also
showed.
Freshman right-hander Alex
Storako,
who
pitched
all
five innings, threw for eight
strikeouts, allowing only two
hits and zero runs on the day.
The game brought Storako’s
overall ERA down to 2.00 —
only 0.28 behind sophomore
Meghan Beaubien, who hasn’t
given up a run in her almost
30
innings
pitching
since
resuming play at Alumni Field.
“In the fourth inning, I got
out of a bases-loaded jam, so
going back on the field for the
fifth inning, I just knew that
I wanted to end the game and
with a bang,” Storako said.
“It’s just been exciting to be
a part of the atmosphere in
the dugout and on the field
when we celebrate at the plate
and it’s just really exciting to
see people and their at-bats
and just really getting to this
point.”
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
LILY FRIEDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
...if they do (hit
tough shots),
tip your hats to
them.
First time in
the huddle, he...
said, ‘No more
threes.’
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior left-hander Tommy Henry has a 0.41 ERA this season, but allowed six unearned runs in his last start.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior infielder Mackenzie Nemitz hit a three-run home run Tuesday.
It’s something
that I have
known I can
do...