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Sports
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 — 7

Quick turnaround helps shake dust

Both of the Michigan women’s
basketball team’s matchups this
past weekend felt closer than
its 20-point margins of victory
would suggest.
On Friday, the Wolverines
demonstrated an inability to
hold onto the ball, tallying 19
turnovers and 22 fouls.
“Hailey Brown got in foul
trouble
early,
(Akienreh
Johnson) got in foul trouble
early, (Naz Hillmon) got in foul
trouble,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “We’ve got
to work on staying out of foul
trouble, and we’ve got to work
on being able to adjust to the
officiating.”
It was an ugly game defined
by mistakes, but after a day’s
worth of rest and the experience
of 40 minutes of basketball,
Michigan managed to gain a
grip on its mistakes. Against
Bradley, it was cleaner — despite
still committing 12 turnovers, it
limited itself to 13 fouls.
Unlike Friday, there wasn’t
a series of five plays in which
four ended with turnovers, and

a player fouling out on Sunday.
There
wasn’t
five
straight
possessions
that
ended
in
turnovers either.
Instead, there was precise
ball movement. At one moment,
Hillmon was able to gather a
rifled pass from Brown, before
quickly recognizing a triple team
and, in the blink
of an eye, finding
a
wide
open
senior
guard
Kayla Robbins for
a layup.
The precision
picked
up
in
the second half
Sunday with only
four
turnovers
against
nine
assists
as
the
stakes grew higher and the
Wolverines faced adversity from
a comeback push by Bradley.
“The third quarter, they were
able to knock down some threes,
but I thought the start of the
fourth quarter we regrouped
and finished the game strong,”
Barnes Arico said. “(We) did a
better job of taking care of the
basketball in the second half,
which was great to see.”
Another
big
part
of

Michigan’s growth from Friday
to Sunday was Hillmon — its star
player — making herself a force.
She was stifled Friday, fighting
against double teams and trying
to come into her new role as the
focal point of the offense. None
of those troubles presented
themselves Sunday on her way to
a double-double
as she racked
up 12 rebounds
with 10 second-
chance points.
“Last
game
I
was
really
lacking in that
category,”
Hillmon
said.
“I
just
really
wanted to go
out and just say
that every rebound was mine,
and really just try to hustle and
get to the boards, like offensively
and defensively, but really just
trying to work in and hustle
every play.”
Perhaps it was simply first
game jitters, or an adjustment
back
into
the
harshness
of
college
basketball,
but
Michigan’s growth in just one
day showed what it was capable
of.

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico stressed staying out of foul trouble ahead of Sunday’s win over Bradley.

Michigan tops Michigan State, 2-1
in Big Ten Tournament first round

With
the
game
tied
up
and 20 minutes remaining in
regulation,
senior
forward
Jack Hallahan took a free kick
from the right-side that sailed
through the box untouched. The
Michigan faithful released an
anguished sigh of frustration.
Missed scoring opportunities
were mounting, and it appeared
this was another miss for the
Wolverines.
Just a split second later,
though, vexation transformed
into
euphoria.
Hallahan’s
curling ball took a fortuitous
bounce high off the turf, flying
into the top left corner of the
goal and giving the Michigan
men’s soccer team the lead.
Hallahan
lept
emphatically
into the air and pumped his
fist, the stadium buzzing at the
sight of his heroics. His goal
proved to be the difference, as
the Wolverines (10-4-4 overall,
4-1-3 Big Ten) held on to defeat
rival Michigan State (3-12-3,
3-3-1) 2-1 in the first round of the
Big Ten Tournament on Sunday.
“When we got the draw,
we knew it was going to be
difficult,” said Michigan coach
Chaka Daley. “In a game like
this, with the rivalry, records
are thrown out the window.
From that standpoint, to get
over the hump and find a way
to win the game in come-from-
behind fashion is really good.”
First half struggles painted
an all-too familiar picture for
the Wolverines. Despite holding
an advantage in shots and time
of possession, Michigan entered
the locker room trailing at the
half, 1-0, thanks to a goal by
Spartan forward Gianni Ferri.
“The mentality, at that point,
is to still keep playing,” Daley
said. “We want to be positive as
a group. When we came here,
you had to score to win the game
in the end. So, if you’re down
one goal, that doesn’t change the
mentality.”
Sophomore forward Derick
Broche sparked the Wolverines

in the second half. Coming off
the bench, Broche consistently
pushed up the left flank, setting
a more aggressive tone. In the
60th minute, Broche broke the
scoring spell — a shot by junior
forward Umar Farouk Osman
brushed off junior defenseman
Jackson Ragen in the center
of the box, trickling past the
last line of Spartan defense.
All alone, Broche buried the
ball into the bottom left corner,
energizing the team and tying
the game.
“When it came to me, I was
like ‘just shoot
it,’ ” Broche said.
“It was on my
strong foot, and
luckily I was able
to put it in. I had
one five minutes
earlier
that
I
didn’t, and I was
like, ‘can’t miss
this one.’ ”
Throughout
the
second
half, Michigan proved more
relentless on attack, challenging
the Michigan State defense with
fastbreaks and strong crosses,
which resulted in an increase
in shots. The team grew to
embrace the match’s physicality
— each team committed double-
digit foul totals — showcasing
a tangible sense of hunger and
aggression.
On the other end, after
allowing the early goal, the
Wolverine defense shaped into
form as a wall between the

ball and freshman goalkeeper
Owen Finnerty. The Spartans
were kept in check offensively,
mustering only one shot on
goal in the second half. Even
when junior defenseman Austin
Swiech left the match due to
injury, the defense persisted,
as junior forward Mohammed
Zakyi filled in seamlessly at left
back until Swiech could return.
“The guys tightened it up
after the goal, making sure they
fought,” Daley said. “And these
guys have been doing it all year,
fighting like crazy all along and
you really can’t
say
enough
about
them.
They’ve grinded
for us.”
With
the
win,
Michigan
extended
its
season,
advancing
to
play
Penn
State
in
the
tournament
semifinals
on
Friday.
The
victory was also paramount
for the team’s hopes of earning
a bid in the upcoming NCAA
tournament.
“We can use our whole
season, especially this game, as
a springboard,” Hallahan said.
“We’ve been doing well, beat
our rivals again — twice in a
row — and came from behind.
We know that we can grit it out
if we’re ever down in a game and
come back and win the game.
It’s a huge step for the team.”

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
The Michigan men’s soccer team beat Michigan State, 2-1, on Sunday.

If you’re down
one goal, that
doesn’t change
the mentality.

‘It’s gonna start coming’: How Michigan is addressing power play woes

Sitting in a waiting area outside
of his office, Mel Pearson’s mind
wandered to Mo Farah.
Farah is a distance runner who
represented Great Britain in the
2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,
running the 10,000 meters.
He came in the favorite and
came out winning gold — his
fourth.
The track event, the distance
runner and his accolades have little
to do with the Michigan hockey
team, yet when Pearson brought
up the athlete while discussing the
team’s offensive struggles, there
was no confusion on why.
The Wolverines are no favorites,
nor has this group of players won it
all even once — let alone multiple
times. But it was the events within
the race that drew the comparison
from Pearson.
Farah
had
fallen
midway
through the run after getting
clipped on the back of his heel by
another runner during the 10th
lap. It wasn’t intentional, nor was
it Farah’s fault. But as a result, the
British runner fell, costing him his
pace and place.
“He could have just laid there,”
Pearson said. “Already had his
gold, was knocked down, but he
got up and ended up winning.
“Once you get knocked down
and sometimes it seems like it’s
hard to get back up, but that’s all
we have to do.”
It was the type of tenacity
Pearson has seen in the Michigan
players
during
their
current
power-play slump.
Against
Minnesota,
the
Wolverines
went
0-for-9
on
power plays, reflecting the pains
of their overall lack of offensive
production
for
the
weekend.
Four of the man-advantages went
without a single shot on goal for
Michigan. The team just couldn’t
find a breakthrough on offensive
special teams.
And it derives from a multitude

of reasons. There was no single
answer, as Pearson liked to put it,
or else he would have it fixed. But
something that stuck out to him
was the unnatural way the puck
moved — “choreographed,” in his
words.
Having
things
forced goes hand-
in-hand with the
mentality of players
as the goals refuse
to drop. There’s
a hill to climb for
players,
forwards
in particular, when
their role is to score
goals,
and
they
can’t. So, to combat
the mental stain the scoring
drought has, the team practices
with more figurative weight on
their sticks so that when gametime

comes, those weights are removed,
and feel a little more natural.
“I just say a little bit more of a
sense of urgency to do the little
things right in practice,” said
sophomore
defenseman
Nick
Blankenburg.
“So
when
it
comes
to
the
game, we’re not
gripping
our
sticks too tight
or then we can
just go out there
and
have
the
confidence
to
make the right
place
and
not
be nervous or
anything.
“I
think
we’ve
just
been
preaching, ‘Yeah, you know, to talk
going our way can’t feel bad for

ourselves.’ ”
It’s easy to get crestfallen when
the losses start piling up, and the
goals don’t. But the team mentality
on the crux of the struggle is the
same. Play through it, because the
process is exactly
what it’s supposed
to be.
“But I think
soon it’s gonna
start
coming,”
Blankenburg
said. “The offense
and we just gotta
stick to good team
defense and the
rest will come.”
Pearson
had
seen it before, even in his most
successful year as Michigan’s
coach. Coming in with seniors
Cooper
Marody
and
Tony

Calderone on the power play, it
wasn’t hard to see why that unit
brought so much success. But even
that dominant line had its times of
trouble, as Pearson likes to remind
the team. No matter how good you
are, adversity is
going to hit even
the best of players.
“And
even
at
times
when
you’re rolling and
know you have a
good power play
it
struggles
at
times,”
Pearson
said. “I think my
first year, Cooper
and
Tony
and
those guys are really good. But we
went through, you know, moments
where we weren’t very good, and
we just couldn’t get anything

going.”

Added
Blankenburg:

“Sometimes the pucks just aren’t
going in and that’s on the power
play, even strength. I think it just
happens. And that’s part of the
adversity that we’re going to face
(as) the year goes on.”
And it’s more than just not
scoring goals.
Part of adversity is the doubt —
the fear that the gameplans, the
strategies, the systems just aren’t
working. But as Michigan falls
deeper in the hole, it’s the belief
in the process that keeps them
running on through.
“There’s a ton of example, you
know, adversity,” Pearson said. “I
mean, if you call this real adversity
by not scoring any goals? We’ll be
fine.”

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Nick Blankenburg said that Michigan’s struggles on the power play are just part of the adversity the team will face throughout the season.

After 0-for-9 power play mark in weekend disappointment against Minnesota, Wolverines look for more puck movement

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Editor

A little bit more
of a sense of
urgency to do
the right things.

If you call this
real adversity
by not scoring?
... We’ll be fine.

BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan’s power play

14%

conversion rate on the
season, ranking 39th out
of 60 in the nation.

6

power play goals, the last

one coming on Nov. 1 in

Columbus.
3

power play goals for Nick

Pastujov, to lead the team. No

other player has more than one.

15.6%

Michigan’s conversion rate

in 2018-19, which ranked

44th in the country.

I thought the
start of the
fourth quarter,
we regrouped.