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...