The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
November 18, 2019 — 3B

Despite 
an 
inconsistent 
offensive performance in the 
first half, the Michigan men’s 
basketball team handily defeated 
Elon, 70-50, at home on Friday 
night behind strong defensive 
performances from senior center 
Jon Teske and senior guard 
Zavier Simpson.
Marred by fouls and apparent 
rhythm 
issues 
on 
offense, 
Michigan got off to a slow 
start, not scoring its first points 
until two minutes into the 
game despite a substantial size 
advantage on the Phoenix. The 
Wolverines did not take their 
first lead until five minutes had 
gone by, and they relinquished 
that lead just two minutes later. 
For much of the first half, the 
Wolverines’ shots did not fall, 
their offense as cold as the 
temperatures outside.
“It was just a little bit – we 
were stagnant,” said sophomore 
forward Colin Castleton. “It’s 
just moving the ball more, not 
just getting one pass and one 
shot. (Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard) wanted five or six 
passes. Just keep the ball moving, 
and we’ll find our energy.”
The defense kept Michigan 
in the game throughout the 
offensive 
woes. 
Teske 
and 
Castleton made the most of their 
sizeable height advantage, and 
Simpson and sophomore guard 
David 
DeJulius 
were 
tough 
matchups in the backcourt.
But something seemed to click 
for Michigan offensively around 
the eight-minute mark in the 
first half. The Wolverines took 
back their lead as DeJulius hit a 
jumper and Teske made a layup 
on a pass from Simpson thirty 
seconds later, putting Michigan 
back on top, 14-13.
From there, the Wolverines 
seized control of the pace of the 
game. On offense, their passes 

were sharper and their shooting 
cleaner; on defense, Simpson 
forced Elon into shots they 
couldn’t make, and the backcourt 
combined to force multiple shot-
clock violations. Michigan was 
finally dominating the game 
the way it had been expected 
to from the start. Going into 
the half, leading 31-22, the 
Wolverines had what they had 
lacked for much of the first half: 
momentum.
“It’s just about being more 
aggressive 
in 
transition,” 
DeJulius said. “We’re not trying 
to make any home runs – we’re 
just trying to make singles and 
doubles.”
From there, they didn’t look 
back, as the defense continued 
to 
stifle 
the 
Phoenix 
and 
Michigan’s 
shots 
found 
net 

instead of rim. The Wolverines 
finally made as much of their 
size advantage on offense as 
they had been doing on defense, 
physically overpowering Elon 
and outscoring it, 39-28, in the 
second half. 
Defensively, 
Michigan 
remained solid throughout the 
second half, holding the Phoenix 
to longer scoring droughts and 
forcing them into uncomfortable 
shots.
In the end, it wasn’t close. 
But for a long time, it was 
closer than it maybe should’ve 
been.
“It was a competitive game, 
and it was supposed to be that 
way,” Howard said. “It was never 
supposed to be an easy game. 
We’re never going to have an 
easy game.”

New coach, new system.
There was always going to be 
a bit of a learning curve, and an 
injury to freshman guard Franz 
Wagner, heralded as one of the 
most exciting players coming to 
Ann Arbor this year, wasn’t going 
to help things. 
There were signs of that in 
the highs and lows exposed in 
the offense in last week’s season-
opening victory over Appalachian 
State, a game the Wolverines led 
by 30 but only won by eight.
But the first half of Friday’s 
game against Elon was perhaps 
even more convincing evidence. 
Michigan trailed for much of the 
first quarter or so of the game. The 

Wolverines didn’t score until two 
minutes in, and didn’t lead until 
five minutes in, a lead they quickly 
gave up two short minutes later.
For much of the first half, the 
offense just was not functioning. 
What limited passing was going 
on was sloppy and often through 
traffic. No matter where on the 
court they were coming from, the 
shots were not falling. Michigan 
could not find a rhythm on the 
offensive end of the court.
“Every possession matters,” 
said 
Michigan 
coach 
Juwan 
Howard. “You could see that 
tonight. Every possession counts. 
We fought. From start to finish. 
The first half – it was a slugfest.”
Some of these offensive troubles 
were 
almost 
expected. 
The 
departures of Jordan Poole, Ignas 
Brazdeikis and, most importantly, 

John Beilein rocked this Michigan 
program, and the integration of a 
new system with new head coach 
Juwan Howard was always going 
to be a bit of a process.
But six weeks into practice, 
and with increasing in-game 
experience for this fairly young 
team, these are the issues that 
should be beginning to smooth 
out.
“It’s more ball movement – 
more player ball movement,” 
Howard said. “There were shots, 
open shots, that didn’t go down, 
but we have to have that next-play 
mentality. We can’t start making 
a compound mistake where we’re 
thinking about our offense, and 
the ball’s not going in.”
If these Wolverines are going 
to be the competitor they say they 
are, the contender they believe 
they are, at both the conference 
and national levels, a moment of 
truth, or at least a bigger test, a 
bigger challenge, is not that far 
down the road. After a challenging 
trip to Atlantis over Thanksgiving, 
Michigan will travel to No. 4 
Louisville in a little more than two 
weeks to start off a demanding 
four-game stretch in which the 
Wolverines will face strong Iowa 
and Illinois squads and a very 
dangerous Oregon team – all in 
the span of a week.
Against Elon, those mistakes 
were affordable, if far from ideal. 
Against teams of the caliber 
Michigan will face this season – 
with the likes of Michigan State 
looking to dominate the Big Ten 
– they will not be. The conference 
schedule is not that far off, and 
with the field shaping up the way 
it is, Michigan does not have a lot 
of time to find some answers – and 
some rhythm – on offense. 
“It’s just, as we watch film, 
seeing ways we can be more 
aggressive,” 
said 
sophomore 
guard 
David 
DeJulius. 
“Not 
just for ourselves, but ways we 
can penetrate and get it to my 
teammates in places where they 
can do something, too.”

‘M’ outlasts Kent State, 
80-71, staying unbeaten 

Michigan just went on a 8-1 
run, hitting layup after layup, 
dominating 
the 
inside 
and 
creating a seven-point lead. But 
just as the momentum seemed 
to pivot back in the direction 
of 
the 
Wolverines, 
quick 
3-pointers and turnovers from 
sophomore guard Amy Dilk 
compounded into a 10-point 
swing for Akron. 
Michigan trailed 
in a game for the 
first 
time 
all 
season.
The 
blows 
dealt 
by 
both 
teams in the last 
five minutes of 
the third quarter 
resembled 
the rest of the 
matchup, a tie 
that ended with the Michigan 
women’s basketball team (4-0) 
grabbing the last swing of 
momentum, beating the Zips, 
80-71.
For 
Michigan, 
everything 
was 
working 
inside, 
and 
everything 
went 
through 
Naz Hillmon. The sophomore 
forward ended the game with 
28 points and eight rebounds, 
going 10-for-11 from the free 
throw line. She also showed 
her ability to transition playing 
styles midgame, beginning the 
game dominating the paint, 
Akron 
transitioned 
in 
an 
attempt to stop her.
“It was more about how they 
were playing us, they started 
to pack it in a little bit to limit 
the space all around the floor,” 
Hillmon 
said. 
“Being 
able 
to space out and take those 
shots, I was able to open up my 
teammates for shots. So really 
try to space the floor and adjust 
based on their adjustments they 
made on packing the paint a 
bit.”
With Hillmon’s dominance 
inside, the Wolverines found 
themselves shooting from the 
paint at an impressive clip, 
hitting 70 percent of their 

shots, as well as getting to the 
free throw line and gathering 
vital points as the team went 
22-for-25 from the line.
Despite 
the 
efficiency 
of Michigan’s shots, Akron 
managed to hang around and 
threaten the Wolverines with 
their 
threes, 
shooting 
40 
percent from beyond the arc.
“We 
didn’t 
really 
make 
threes tonight,” said Michigan 
coach Kim Barnes Arico. “We 
didn’t 
really 
shoot 
threes 
tonight, so we 
had to make up 
those points in 
different 
ways, 
especially when 
a team makes the 
amount of threes 
that 
they 
did 
tonight, and I 
thought we were 
able to do that by 
being aggressive and getting to 
the free throw line. … We were 
trading threes for twos.”
The 
Zips’ 
ranged 
attack 
became even more dangerous 
when Michigan made mistakes 
and 
gave 
up 
possessions. 
Totaling seventeen turnovers, 
the 
Wolverines’ 
momentum 
would often die as soon as it 
began.
Sophomore guard Amy Dilk 
accounted for the plurality of 
turnovers on the team, with 
eight total, giving Akron an 
opportunity to score points on 
the fast break.
“(Dilk’s) a player, like you 
said, that she changes pace, she 
controls the game and when she 
goes, we go,” Barnes Arico said. 
“She had a couple of flubs there 
and that’s when they went on 
their run.”
Yet, when their back was 
against the wall — when the 
Zips took the lead — Michigan 
locked down and didn’t blink. 
Junior forward Hailey Brown 
came to life in the fourth 
quarter, scoring the only two 
three-pointers of the day for 
the team.
The Wolverines outscored 
Akron 25-13 in the fourth 

quarter, clamping down on 
defense, so that when Brown 
nailed her three-pointer at 
the seven-minute mark, the 
game felt over at 67-61, the 
momentum was Michigan’s.

Phoenix falling

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Junior guard Eli Brooks scored 10 points and played solid defense on Friday night as the Wolverines beat Elon, 70-50, to move to 3-0 on the season.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore forward Naz Hillmon scored a career-high 28 points in Michigan’s 80-71 win over Kent State on Saturday, helping the Wolverines move to 4-0.

Elon keeps it close early, but falls to Michigan, 70-50, after defense locks down

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

They started to 
pack it in a little 
bit to limit the 
space.

BY THE NUMBERS 
Michigan vs. Akron

28

Points by Naz Hillmon, a 
career-high

148:56

Amount of gametime before 

Michigan trailed this season.
70.27%

Michigan’s shooting percentage 

from the paint against Kent State.

6:59

Time left in the game when 

Michigan made its first 3-pointer.

