The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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.