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.