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SportsWednesday
January 8, 2020 — 3B
Pearson increasing focus on details
going into second half of the season
After Michigan’s loss to
Michigan Tech last Tuesday,
coach Mel Pearson — as he
always does — went back to look
at the tape from the game. This
time, he noticed something he
thought may have been the key
factor in his team’s 4-2 loss to
the Huskies.
The
Wolverines
had
37
shots on goal, including 20 in
the first period, but only had
traffic in front of Michigan
Tech goaltender Matt Jurusik
on two of those 37 shots.
“We watched a lot of hockey
over the weekend, NHL (and)
college games,” Pearson said
Monday.
“When
you
start
breaking down goals and how
they’re going in, usually there’s
a lot of traffic. … We need to get
traffic.”
It’s no secret that offense has
been one of the biggest issues
for Michigan this season, and
its anemic average of 2.25
goals per game
ranks 48th of
60 teams in the
country. When
there
aren’t
bodies in front
of
the
net,
the
opposing
goaltender has
more time to
see the shots
coming
at
him. And not
having a skater on the doorstep
eliminates any chance of a
rebound opportunity after a
save.
For the second half of the
season, Pearson’s main focus
for
his
team
is
increased
attention to detail. So far,
that’s entailed getting bodies
in front of the net to take the
goaltender’s eyes away and
readying for rebound chances.
In
Monday’s
practice,
the
majority of the drills were
focused on exactly that.
“Attention to detail, even
when you do little drills,
someone getting in front of the
goalie or constantly standing
to the side of the net,” Pearson
said. “It’s not fun to get hit
with that puck, it
hurts a little bit,
but you’ve gotta
get there. You’ve
gotta
pay
that
price.”
Outside of the
focus on getting
bodies
to
the
net,
Pearson
wants to see the
Wolverines
put
more
emphasis
on all aspects of the game.
Whether that’s a small detail of
the forecheck system or making
sure to stay focused mentally
late in games, it all counts.
“There’s certain things we
do when we’re either down or
tied that we do really well and
then once we get the lead, we
start trying to change those
kinds of things in our game,”
senior
defenseman
Luke
Martin said. “I don’t know
what it is, whether it’s mental
or what the deal is.”
Michigan has 11 losses this
season, but only three have
come by more than one even-
strength goal. In three games,
the other team scored an
empty-net goal late to win by
a two-goal margin. On the flip
side, the Wolverines have won
only one game by a single goal
— their six other wins have at
least a two-goal margin.
When
they
can
create
separation,
they
can
win.
When it’s a close game, they
frequently fall short. These
things matter in must-win
games.
“We’ve been really good for
the most part and then a bad
play or just a mental lapse has
hurt us,” Pearson said. “I think
the biggest thing is we just
have to clean some things up
and a little attention to detail.
They’re not huge things. And
then the other thing is just we
have to get everybody on the
same page.”
“... We’re just finding ways
to lose games instead of win
games, and we’re not far off,
but winning can be habit and
losing can.”
‘M’ falls short against Oregon State
As Jackson Striggow walked
onto
the
mat
in
the
day’s
penultimate match, he knew what
he needed to do to keep Michigan
alive. A win from the senior, even
by a decision, would pull the
Wolverines within four points.
With the nation’s third ranked
heavyweight, sophomore Mason
Parris, coming up next, Michigan
could have pulled out a win.
Striggow, however, fell 5-3,
squashing the Wolverines’ hopes,
as the No. 22 Michigan wrestling
team (1-2) fell to Oregon State
(3-1), 21-15. The six deciding points
came from a Michigan forfeit
at 133 pounds, where it failed to
make weight.
Sophomore
Jack
Medley
tried to set the tone early for the
Wolverines, opening the meet
with an 11-0 major decision at 125
pounds. The match saw him get an
early takedown and continue the
attack through all three periods.
“I felt pretty decent in my
match,” Medley said. “I thought
my energy could’ve been a bit
better, I kinda forced myself to
hustle back to the center.”
Medley’s
performance
put
Michigan
up
4-0,
but
was
immediately overshadowed by the
forfeit at 133 pounds, taking away
the Wolverines’ only lead of the
day.
The next match at 141 set the
tone as freshman Cole Mattin led
for the majority of the match but
failed to see it out, losing 6-5.
“Our finishing was not good
enough today,” Michigan coach
Sean Bormet said. “We’re capable
of being much better at finishing.”
Mattin started a string of
matches where the Wolverines
lost three of four, with their only
win coming from freshman Will
Lewan at 157 — keeping Michigan
from falling behind by double
figures.
Freshman Max Maylor came
up with only four matches left and
an eight-point deficit to overcome.
Maylor earned a major decision
in his match, cutting the Beavers’
lead in half.
“Maylor wrestled a really good
match,” Bormet said. “Really glad
to see him penetrate and get his
offense early in that match.”
Maylor’s match could have
proved a turning point in the
match for Michigan, but Oregon
State had other plans.
Freshman Bobby Striggow fell
behind by two early and never
caught up, but he prevented the
Beavers from getting bonus points,
losing by decision, 8-2.
This put the score at 18-11
when Bobby’s brother Jackson
Striggow came out, still just barely
in reach. Jackson’s 5-3 loss meant
the undefeated Parris would have
no impact on the outcome of the
meet. Despite the gap, he still
went out and earned a 15-5 major
decision to bring the final score to
21-15.
The main separator between
the two teams ended up being
the Wolverines’ inability to win
close matches or finish strong
when they held the lead. Michigan
consistently took an early lead in
the first period, but then failed to
close the match out.
“We put guys out there that we
knew were gonna be in some close
matches,” Bormet said. “We felt
confident we could still win those
close matches, unfortunately we
did not.
“I’m a little disappointed in a
few of our weight classes just in
terms of how we wrestled in those
matches. Some of the effort we put
in a few of those positions, that’s
gotta improve. The expectation is
a lot higher.”
Shooting leads Wolverines past MSU
Near the end of the third
quarter, the Wolverines saw
the game slipping away.
Michigan
State
forward
Madreika Cook had just buried
a 3-pointer, and a Michigan
turnover and foul allowed the
Spartans to cut the Wolverines’
lead to one. Michigan State (8-6
overall, 1-2 Big Ten) had all the
momentum, and “Go Green, Go
White” chants rang through an
otherwise silent Crisler Center.
Michigan (11-3, 2-1) got its
answer from sophomore guard
Amy Dilk. Just before time
expired, she caught a pass
from junior forward Hailey
Brown, set her feet and buried
a 3-pointer. From there, the
Wolverines
dominated
all
the way through, securing a
signature 89-69 win over their
in-state rival.
At the start, the Spartans
set the tone offensively with
a
3-pointer
on
their
first
possession. They relied heavily
on the three early on, shooting
3-of-6 from beyond the arc
in the first quarter, including
two makes from guard Taryn
McCutcheon.
The Wolverines, meanwhile,
went
to
their
bread
and
butter and attacked the rim.
Sophomore
forward
Naz
Hillmon was unsurprisingly
the most productive at the
hoop. Though she shot an
unusually inefficient 3-for-11
in the first half, she managed
to draw fouls at the rim and
converted
on
5-of-6
free
throws. She finished the first
half with 11 points.
“(We needed to) match her
energy,” said Michigan State
coach Suzy Merchant. “The kid
wants the ball, she ducks in, she
can score the ball. … If you’re
gonna have any chance to beat
Naz, you have to have someone
on your team that can do the
same thing that she can do at
the same level of intensity, and
we didn’t have that.”
Hillmon’s
success
down
low was made easier by Dilk’s
ability to pass the ball and
drive the lane. She tallied
three assists and no turnovers
— which had been a problem
earlier in the season — in the
first half, and added eight first
half points of her own, six of
which came at the hoop.
“I think that all of my
teammates
being
such
offensive threats opened up
the paint for me to be able to
get those shots,” Hillmon said.
“Especially Amy driving in and
attacking the basket, people
had to really focus in on her
and worry about the outside
shooter, so it just really opened
everything up.”
Michigan’s
ability to force
turnovers helped
it
to
carry
a
35-32 lead into
halftime.
The
Wolverines
picked up three
steals
in
the
second
quarter
alone
—
two
of which came
from senior guard Akienreh
Johnson. Johnson used her
speed and length to cut down
a number of Michigan State
possessions, especially when
defending the pick-and-roll.
When a miscommunication left
a Spartan forward open under
the basket for what looked
like a guaranteed two points,
Johnson jumped in and swiped
the ball out of her hands.
“We focus on defense a
lot,” Hillmon said. “We want
to pressure them and make
it
uncomfortable
for
them
because we know that a lot of
times teams do that do us.”
In the third quarter, both
defenses
disappeared.
As
Michigan State shot 69 percent
in the quarter — and making
both of its 3-point attempts
— Michigan needed its own
answer on offense.
At a crucial juncture where
the Spartans hit a pair of quick
buckets to cut the lead to
three, the Wolverines looked
in danger of letting the game
slip away. But on the next
possession, Dilk drove to the
basket and picked up a layup
and a foul. She missed the
free
throw,
but
got
her
own
rebound,
leading
to
a
3-pointer
from
Brown
that stretched
Michigan’s lead
back to eight.
Dilk’s buzzer-
beating
shot
would cap off
a third quarter
where the Wolverines shot an
astounding 91 percent.
In the fourth quarter, it was
all Michigan. The Wolverines
went on a 16-0 run — Michigan
State didn’t score for the first
five minutes of the quarter —
that put any hopes of a Spartan
comeback to bed. In a game that
felt evenly matched through
three
quarters,
Michigan’s
strong second half shooting
— they shot 78 percent from
the field in the second half —
propelled it to a convincing
win, not just over a quality
opponent, but over its biggest
rival.
No. 5 Michigan reaps rewards of
offseason in Orange Bowl Classic
The
words
“hard
work”
and “reward” are rarely used
to describe the same thing.
Usually, the former is seen as
the latter’s antithesis.
But according to Michigan
women’s swim and dive coach
Mike
Bottom,
his
team’s
training trip to Florida, which
began shortly after Christmas
and concluded with the Orange
Bowl Classic in Key Largo, Fla.
this Friday, was both.
“We go down, we have a
meet, see how we’ve done and
where we are,” Bottom said.
If his team’s performance
against
little-known
foes
including
Wisconsin
La
Crosse, Florida International,
and
Colorado
and
Wagner
Colleges, can function as such a
barometer, the No. 5 Wolverines
(3-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) appear
ahead of schedule. Michigan
did more than sweep every
entered event; in only one did
the Wolverines fail to place two
swimmers in the three medal
positions. They won the meet
without the benefit of points
from the men’s team, a boon
which other squads could not
capitalize on. The dominance
occurred in unfamiliar waters
—
conditions
including
an
outdoor,
short-course
pool,
which is not NCAA regulation.
“The course is a little bit
different — it’s meters, as
opposed
to
yards,”
Bottom
said. “The times are not so
meaningful, it’s the racing that
becomes most meaningful in
the meet.”
Michigan now owns meet
records in all but two events;
sophomore Maggie MacNeil
set two in this year’s rendition
in the butterfly and backstroke
sprints. MacNeil also served
as the opening leg of the 200-
meter medley relay, using her
two laps of butterfly to help the
Wolverines’ quartet to a six-
second victory.
Also on that relay, in a
breaststroke
capacity,
was
sophomore
Olivia
Carter.
A
midyear
transfer
from
Georgia, where she was the
SEC Freshman of the Year
and got named to the All-SEC
First Team, Carter arrives with
expectations as high as her pile
of hardware.
“She swims a lot of different
events, so she will be scoring a
lot of points in different places,”
Bottom said.
On Friday, Carter showcased
her versatility across distances
and strokes. In addition to
her
breaststroke
entry
in
Michigan’s
victorious
200-
meter medley relay, she also
notched a meet record in
the 100-meter butterfly and
swam to the touch against her
teammate, sophomore Victoria
Kwan,
in
the
200-meter
butterfly. Kwan won by a tenth
of a second.
“(Carter) chose us after a
lot of research, got to know all
of our team and our coaching
staff, we got to know her really
well as well,” Bottom said. “…
We’re real fortunate to have her
and get her into school.”
Carter’s arrival comes at an
opportune time for Michigan,
which is preparing for a pair
of dual meets against No. 15
Indiana and No. 18 Ohio State.
“They’re gonna be difficult,”
Bottom said. “… And then we
take it from there, just one step
at a time.”
SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Writer
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Editor
JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer
BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Sophomore Jack Medley opened Sunday’s meet with an 11-0 decision, though Michigan eventually fell to Oregon State.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior defenseman Luke Martin said Michigan struggles with a lead.
I don’t know
... whether it’s
mental or what
the deal is.
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Sophomore center Naz Hillmon drew praise from Suzy Merchant on Sunday.
(We needed
to) match (Naz
Hillmon’s)
energy.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Mike Bottom has an exciting new piece in sophomore Olivia Carter, a transfer from Georgia.