While families come together 
from far and wide to devour 
turkey, watch football and reluc-
tantly talk politics, the Michigan 
men’s basketball team will be 
facing its fiercest competition 
to date at the Battle 4 Atlantis 
Tournament.
Hosted every year in the Ba-
hamas, the tournament hosts a 
variety of college basketball’s 
historic programs in an ear-
ly-season slugfest prime for early 
resume-building and testing 
weaknesses.
 This year, the Bahamas will 

welcome the Wolverines (4-0) 
along with No. 6 North Carolina 
(4-0), No. 8 Gonzaga (6-0), No. 10 
Oregon (5-0), No. 13 Seton Hall 
(4-1), Iowa State (3-1), Alabama 
(2-2) and Southern Miss (2-3). 
On Wednesday, Michigan kicks 
off the tournament against the 
Cyclones in one of its first true 
tests of the season.
 The Wolverines are guaranteed 
at least three games throughout 
their stay in Atlantis and could 
face any of the visiting opponents 
throughout the tournament.
 The Daily breaks down the 
three teams Michigan is most 
likely to face and what the Wol-
verines must be thankful for in 
the event of a Thanksgiving day 

win.
 Iowa State
 When the Wolverines take the 
floor on Wednesday against Iowa 
State, they will face a team that 
is practically their mirror image. 
Well, more like a funhouse mirror 
that slightly distorts the image.
 The Cyclones use an up-tempo 
offense centered around a dy-
namic, ball-dominant guard who 
excels at ball distribution and 
rains 3-point shots. Add some 
bruising post players and a slight-
ly worse turnover ratio and you 
have the Michigan Wolverines.
 Iowa State’s offense is high-
lighted by one of the most 
exciting players in the country in 
sophomore Tyrese Haliburton. 

The point guard leads the nation 
in assists per game with 10.3. 
Who’s number three on that list? 
Senior guard Zavier Simpson.
 Haliburton has emerged this 
season as one of the best facili-
tators in college basketball and 
continues his potent threat from 
deep after hitting 43.4 percent of 
his shots from beyond the arc last 
season.
 Accompanying Haliburton 
is a loaded backcourt in Penn 
State transfer Rasir Bolton and 
Colorado State transfer Prentiss 
Nixon. Bolton leads the team in 
points per game, with 12.5, and is 
a consistent perimeter threat.
 Per usual this season, Michi-
gan’s clear advantage here is size 
and presence down low. If the 
Wolverines can find points in the 
paint, rebound effectively and 
find ways to neutralize Halibur-
ton’s prolific passing, then they 
should be able to walk out with 
an important win.
 North Carolina
 If Michigan snakes out a win 
on Wednesday, it’s set to face the 
winner of Alabama-North Caro-
lina. Assuming the Tar Heels, the 
clear favorite, take this one, the 
Wolverines will face their tough-
est opponent to date.
 North Carolina has mowed 
down opponents thus far this 
season on its way to a 4-0 record 
and a plus-13.7 scoring margin. 
And it all goes through one 
man: freshman sensation Cole 
Anthony.
 Saying the Tar Heels’ entire 
team identity is shaped around 
one figure will take some getting 
used to for college basketball 
pundits this season. North 

Carolina coach Roy Williams has 
consistently favored depth on his 
rosters and uses a wide array of 
talent to carve up opponents.
 This season, though, that’s not 
the case; everything has rested 
on Anthony’s shoulders. So far, 
this is the furthest thing from a 
problem seeing as the true fresh-
man is leading the team in many 
statistical categories, including 
points per game (22.8), assists 
(4.5) and steals (1.8).
 Aside from the freshman phe-
nom, North Carolina has used 
its elite size to outrebound and 
outplay its opponents early in the 
season. If Michigan matches up 
against the Tar Heels in Atlantis, 
big men Jon Teske and Colin 
Castleton will have to prepare for 
a battle down low.
 Alabama
 Pay attention, because up-tem-
po basketball with prolific guard 
play will be a running theme 
throughout this tournament; and 
the Crimson Tide might exempli-
fy this more than any other team.
 Alabama coach Nate Oats loves 
running wheeling-and-dealing 
offenses whose guards almost 
consistently find success scoring 
the ball. This year’s leading guard 
comes in the form of 6-foot-3 
sophomore Kira Lewis.
 As a 17-year old freshman last 
season, Lewis led the team in 
many offensive categories and 
stands to be a primary key of 
Oats’ new offensive system. He 
leads the team with an eye-
brow-raising 21.5 points per 
game. Accompanying Lewis are 
other capable guards in freshman 
guard Jaden Shackleford and 
West Virginia transfer Beetle 

Bolden.
 If Michigan has proven any-
thing early in the season, it’s that 
it knows how to handle up-tempo 
teams who love to launch a lot 
of 3-point shots. The Wolverines 
have conquered similar offenses 
in Creighton and Houston Bap-
tist, making the necessary defen-
sive adjustments and hammering 
their opponents down low.
 When it comes down to it, a 
mid-level Alabama team should 
not threaten Michigan.
 Gonzaga, Oregon, Seton Hall, 
Southern Miss
 The other side of the bracket 
comes loaded with ranked teams 
in Gonzaga, Oregon and Seton 
Hall. For the sake of brevity, 
enjoy one sentence of analysis for 
each team.
 Gonzaga: Forward Killian Tillie 
is back, and his ability to stretch 
the floor makes the Bulldogs a 
lethal team with a multi-faceted 
offensive attack.
 Oregon: Another absolutely 
loaded backcourt highlighted 
by premier point guard Payton 
Pritchard which will keep even 
the most tenacious defenses up 
at night (The Wolverines take 
on the Ducks on Dec. 14 in Ann 
Arbor).
 Seton Hall: Good luck to Simp-
son in trying to lock down the 
one-man wrecking crew that is 
Myles Powell.
 Southern Mississippi: While the 
Golden Eagles may seem like a 
fish out of water among the fierce 
competition, big man Boban 
Jacdonmi (16.4 points and 7.6 re-
bounds per game) has emerged as 
a leader and could keep Southern 
Miss in some games.

Jack Aho kicked into full gear, 
edging ahead of the crowd in 
the final stretch of the 6.2-mile 
NCAA Championship race. 
As the end approached, the 
junior burst into form, finishing 
the course at 40th place, just 
enough to clinch All-American 
honors for the second straight 
year.
 The final race of the sea-
son proved to be one of the 
strongest performances of the 
year for the No. 16 Michigan 

men’s cross country team, 
which finished seventh out of 
31 teams for the Wolverines’ 
highest finish at the champion-
ships since 1999. When asked 
what stood out about this team 
that allowed them to have such 
success, Michigan coach Kevin 
Sullivan singled out a handful of 
his runners.
 “(Junior) Devin Meyrer, who’s 
been one of our captains this 
year, has been one of the biggest 
leaders on the team,” Sullivan 
said. “He’s also been our No. 1 
runner in every race but one. 
(Senior) Isaac Harding and Jack 
Aho have also both consis-

tently improved throughout 
the season, and (junior) Joost 
(Plaetinck) has had a breakout 
year for us. They’ve really been 
a force for us, especially the last 
four meets of the season.”
 Aho and Meyrer both finished 
in the top-40, which automati-
cally grants a runner All-Amer-
ican honors. Meanwhile, 
Harding just missed the cut at 
44th place, and senior Jordy 
Hewitt and Plaetinck also ran 
to strong finishes at 96th and 
101st, respectively. The team’s 
strong finish came as no sur-
prise to Sullivan, who expressed 
strong confidence in his team’s 

abilities.
 “Every one of our guys ran 
the way I knew they could run.” 
Sullivan said. “I think its fantas-
tic that we had two All-Ameri-
cans in Devin Meyrer and Jack 
Aho. When you factor in that 
Isaac Harding just missed out, 
we were this close to having 
three All-Americans. It wasn’t 
so much that anybody ran better 
than expectations as much as 
it was that we all came and put 
our best races together on the 
same day. That’s what it takes to 
perform well as a team.”
 The team carried significant 
momentum into the NCAA 

Championships, with big finish-
es in each of the past two weeks. 
The previous week, with bids to 
the championships on the line, 
Michigan finished third out of 
29 teams at the Great Lakes In-
vitational. In doing so, the Wol-
verines beat out Indiana and 
Wisconsin, two teams ranked 
higher at the time, and clinched 
their eighth appearance at the 
championship meet in the past 
nine years. 
 The week before that, Michi-
gan finished in third place at the 
Big Ten Championships, scoring 
higher than a Purdue team 
ranked in the top 10 at the time 

of the race. This string of meets 
allowed the team to achieve one 
of its preseason goals – finishing 
in the top 10 at the champion-
ships.
 “The nice thing about our 
team is that they always kept 
their composure and felt they 
could be a top-10 team,” Sulli-
van said. “This was something 
our team never lost sight of 
throughout the course of the 
year. This was the stage where 
our performance really mat-
tered. 
 “It was one last opportunity to 
end the season strong, and we 
took advantage of that.”

Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 — 7

Battle 4 Atlantis preview: What to expect

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
The Wolverines’ upcoming trip to the Bahamas will be their first road trip and first true test.

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

Men’s cross country races to highest finish since 1999

PAARTH SHARMA
For the Daily

As Mason Parris rises, he
continues to stay the course

 As Michigan’s Mason Parris 
mingled with a procession of 
young fans decked head-to-toe in 
maize and blue clamoring for his 
signature on their hats, t-shirts and 
posters, the sophomore heavy-
weight and team captain took a 
moment to reflect upon the hard 
fought win over Central Michi-
gan’s Matt Stencel that sealed his 
team’s victory. 
 For Parris, as the successes ac-
crue, so too do the responsibilities. 
Acutely aware of his rising profile, 
he doubles down on the habits 
that made him an elite wrestler, 
locker room leader and owner of a 
budding fanbase. Take it from his 
coach.
 “Mason’s a great leader,” said 
Michigan coach Sean Bormet. 
 “The style he wrestles is the style 
we like to see at all the weight 
classes, so I really like that we 
have a heavyweight that pours on 
the offense, that wants to score 
a lot of points and wants to put 
guys on their back and pin them. 
And that’s another reason he’s the 
captain.”
 Parris’ example was not lost 
on his teammates. Freshman 

141-pounder Cole Mattin’s gutsy 
come-from-behind win was his 
first at Cliff Keen Arena. Redshirt 
freshman 174-pounder Max May-
lor also capped his home debut 
with a win, the first match of the 
meet in which a Michigan wrestler 
secured riding time advantage. 
But in an afternoon replete with 
star performances, Parris’ shone 
brightest.
 “He dominated the action in that 
match,” Bormet said. “It didn’t 
result in a score until towards the 
end of the match, but all that work 
he did and all that action he creat-
ed in the match led to that score.”
Parris, the No. 3 heavyweight in 
the country, is well-acquainted 
with his opponent, No. 7 Matt 
Stencel. Sunday marked the sixth 
meeting between the two. Parris 
now leads the series 4-2, but it was 
Stencel who eliminated him from 
the 2018-19 NCAA Championships 
in Pittsburgh. 
 “Wrestling him is always a really 
good rivalry,” Parris said. “He’s the 
one who put me out at NCAAs, so 
it’s definitely something I thought 
about all year round, just beating 
him. He’s the one who kind of 
stopped me from my goals last 
year, so I knew I had to give it my 
all every time I wrestle him, but I 

know it’s always gonna be a great 
match every time we go.”
 In what the public address 
announcer called the “marquee 
match of the day,” Parris took to 
the mat with deafening applause. 
For much of the first period, Sten-
cel and Parris, as all good wrestlers 
do, lunged at one another like bulls 
locking horns, each trying to size 
up the other. The period ended 
without a score, but the one who 
struck first would likely emerge 
the victor.
 Parris is deceptively shifty for a 
heavyweight. In the second period, 
he slipped out from under Sten-
cel’s grasp, earning a point on the 
escape. Stencel responded in kind, 
tying the match with an escape of 
his own. But Parris slammed the 
door shut in the waning seconds of 
the third period, pinning his foe to 
the ground, taking the match, 4-1.
 Yet even in victory, Parris seeks 
improvement.
 “I’m getting better each week 
moving my hands, moving my 
feet, getting to my attacks, and this 
week, just after that match, still 
working on that stuff and still fin-
ishing my takedowns,” Parris said. 
 “I just know the guys look up to 
me, so I’ve always got to stay really 
good and just lead by example.”

JOSEPH ARONOFF
For the Daily

 In cross country, the entire sea-
son comes down to one day. The 
months of training, the many races 
and the countless miles all can lead 
to a euphoric climax or a feeling of 
missed opportunity. The Michigan 
women’s cross country team got 
the latter. 
 The Wolverines came into Sat-
urday’s meet ranked eighth in the 
country and with a shot to finish 
on the podium. The day didn’t 
go as planned, though, as they 
finished 13th, failing to capture 
their seventh top-10 finish in the 
last 10 years.
 “You always want to try and 
come out of here ranked better 
than you were going in,” said 
Michigan coach Mike McGuire. 
“And in that regard, we didn’t meet 
our objective.”
 Michigan’s biggest problem was 
its rough start. At the two-kilo-
meter mark the Wolverines found 
themselves in 10th and had only 
freshman Erika VanderLende 
running near the front of the 

race. Their second through fifth 
runners were packed up near the 
100th-place mark. For reference, 
the teams vying for a top-five spot 
all put four to five runners ahead of 
the Wolverines’ second runner, ju-
nior Kathryn House, who McGuire 
said “was compromised” coming 
in, as she had a cold. Junior Maddy 
Trevisan — a team leader through-
out the year— also didn’t have the 
best performance, she finished in 
145th.
 One of Michigan’s bright spots 
was VanderLende. She was the 
third-highest finishing fresh-
man, coming in 25th and earning 
All-American honors.
 With Saturday being the last race 
of the season, this also meant one 
last time for the seniors to repre-
sent the block ’M’ on their chest.
 “(The seniors) would’ve liked to 
go out on a bit of a higher note,” 
McGuire said. “We’ll measure it off 
the body of work and the season 
that we had, it still was solid. But 
it wasn’t reflective of the trend 
we made going forward out of the 
regional meet, and in that regard it 
was a bit of a disappointment.”
 While disappointed with the 

outcome, McGuire also talked 
about the season as a whole being 
what they should focus on. And 
for good reason, as the Wolverines 
took second place in the regional 
meet and third in the Big Ten 
meet. And, while their lofty goals 
at the beginning of the season 
never materialized, they’ll still 
have a top-15 finish to look back 
on and a breakout season from 
VanderLende, who could be one of 
the sport’s brightest stars for years 
to come.
 McGuire also talked about 
the impact Trevisan had on the 
team and what she meant to the 
program.
 “Our captain Maddy Trevisan did 
a great job,” McGuire said. “Her 
impact on the program has been 
long-felt and we’re gonna miss 
her.”
 So, in a sport where one day can 
define an entire season for good 
or for worse, McGuire made sure 
to remember the journey that led 
up to that final day and reflect on 
everything, good and bad.
 “Overall, it was a pretty good 
season,” McGuire said. “
Just not a 
great day.”

SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan women fall flat at the 
NCAA championships, take 13th

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Sophomore heavyweight Mason Parris, the No. 3 heavyweight in the country, defeated No. 7 Matt Stencel of Western Michigan.

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Redshirt junior runner Maddy Trevisan came in 145th overall for the Wolverines.

