The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
January 13, 2020 — 3B
Loss shows lack of progress
In the Michigan women’s
basketball team’s first game
against
Maryland,
the
Wolverines
turned
the
ball
over 23 times, shot 1-of-12 from
3-point range and got no points
from their bench — three issues
that have plagued them all
season and cost them a huge
road win.
Entering Michigan’s second
game
against
Maryland,
sophomore
forward
Naz
Hillmon
stressed
that
the
Wolverines needed to make sure
these issues wouldn’t cost them
again.
But from the start of Sunday’s
game, it was clear they would
be a factor. After Michigan
(11-5 overall, 2-3 Big Ten)
scored on its first possession
and prevented the Terrapins
(12-4, 3-2) from getting on the
board for the first 2:30, the
Wolverines turned the ball over
six times in six minutes, scoring
just two points. The sloppy play
allowed Maryland to jump out
to an eight-point lead that only
grew bigger, resulting in a 77-49
Michigan loss.
“You have certain players you
want to get to, certain players
you want to give it to at certain
times, and when you can’t do
that you get out of the flow of the
offense,” senior guard Akienreh
Johnson said. “They were just
denying our next pass or taking
away what we really wanted to
do.”
As poorly as the first quarter
went for the Wolverines, it
only got worse in the second.
Michigan turned the ball over
six more times in the first four
minutes of the quarter as the
Terrapins went on a 9-2 run.
Even
with
Maryland’s
two
leading scorers — guard Kaila
Charles and forward Shakira
Austin — combining for just
two points in the first half, the
Wolverines trailed by 16 at the
break.
“They just took away passing
lanes, really denied our lanes,”
Johnson said. “They switch one
through five and then have the
help side, so we’re not really
used to teams switching one
through five the entire game,
even the smallest screen. So
really finding plays to get people
open because most plays they
know so they just stand there.”
With
Michigan’s
starters
struggling and playing sloppily,
an all too familiar situation
arose. They could have used
someone to come off the bench
and provide a spark, but the
Wolverines’
bench
players
combined for just four points
prior to the fourth quarter,
when the game was well out of
reach.
The
Terrapins,
unlike
Michigan, found points from
their secondary scorers. With
Austin on the bench in foul
trouble and Charles struggling,
Maryland turned to guards
Diamond Miller and Ashley
Owusu — both of whom came
off the bench — along with Blair
Watson to lead the offense.
The trio combined for 25 of the
Terrapins’ 37 first-half points.
“We thought if we did a
great job on Kaila Charles
we would put ourselves in
a really good position to be
successful,”
Michigan
coach
Kim Barnes Arico said. “We
did a tremendous job on taking
people out, but then we didn’t
take out the other people. We let
other people get hot. It’s gotta
be a total team defensive effort.”
In the second half, needing a
huge comeback, the Wolverines
looked
to
gain
momentum
with
3-point
shooting.
But
the inability to consistently
shoot threes that has afflicted
Michigan all season continued,
as the Wolverines made 1-of-
8 attempted 3-pointers in the
second half.
While Michigan took better
care of the ball in the second
half — committing just eight
turnovers as opposed to 14 — the
Wolverines had dug themselves
too deep of a hole. In the end,
their inability to correct the
same problems that have hurt
them all season and lost them
in the first Maryland matchup
proved fatal.
F
ollowing its heartbreak-
ing one-point loss to
Maryland in the Big Ten
Tournament semifinals last
season, the Michigan women’s
basket-
ball team
entered
this year
looking for
revenge.
Two
weeks ago
in College
Park, the
Wolverines
played the
Terrapins
close for three quarters before
Maryland pulled away and won
by 15, adding more fuel to the
fire for Sunday’s matchup at
Crisler Center.
But instead of providing a
fierce, hotly contested battle
among top Big Ten teams,
Michigan came out flat and
played anxious, mistake-ridden
basketball. In their 77-49 loss,
the Wolverines endured many of
the same struggles that plagued
them in losses earlier this season
— including turning the ball over
14 times in the first half alone.
“Our kids have played well
against some top teams this
year, so they really felt like this
was an opportunity for us to get
them at home,” Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico said. “We
wanted to get Maryland back,
and we came in really trying to
do that, and I think that made
us turn the basketball over a lot
early.”
Points are typically hard to
come by for any team that plays
the Terrapins. Their size and
athleticism helps them hold
opponents to just 54.3 points per
game on 34.7 percent shooting
— good for 15th and 25th in the
country, respectively.
But in the first half, the Mary-
land defense
didn’t do too
much to stifle
the Wolverines’
shooting, as they
shot a respect-
able 41.7 percent
from the field.
Instead, Michi-
gan’s problems
stemmed from
its turnovers,
which forced
a low volume of shots. Though
the two teams shot at about the
same efficiency, the Wolverines
attempted just 24 shots in the
first half, which, when compared
to Maryland’s 36 attempts, put
Michigan in a nearly impossible
position to succeed.
“I think that we’re just being
kind of loose with the ball. We
just think that the next pass will
be there,” senior guard Akienreh
Johnson said. “We’re starting to
face teams that are just as long,
just as quick as us, so we have to
realize just like we’re long and
quick, we’re athletic, we can
jump, things like that — other
teams can do that too.”
In the second half, the Wol-
verines cleaned up the turn-
overs, but couldn’t hit any shots
to get back in the game. Similar
to the first game against the Ter-
rapins — where Michigan shot
1-of-12 from three — the Wolver-
ines only hit 1-of-8 second-half
3-pointers. They tried to work
it inside to sophomore forward
Naz Hillmon, their most reli-
able scorer. But with the threes
not falling, Maryland was able
to close out down low and limit
Hillmon’s effectiveness in the
paint. Michigan made 14-of-38
layups on the game.
“(Maryland’s) size up front is
pretty big,” Barnes Arico said.
“We were going strong to the
basket, but one, we didn’t finish,
and two, we were knocked off
the ball a little bit. But we gotta
be able to make those plays.”
Against Penn State and
Michigan State, the Wolverines
played clean, disciplined basket-
ball and indicat-
ed they may have
moved past their
turnover-prone
offense. Sunday,
against arguably
the best team in
the Big Ten, the
Wolverines had
an opportunity
to prove they’re
ready to take the
next step up as
a program, but missed it rather
badly.
Still, the Terrapins won’t be
Michigan’s last chance to make
a statement this season. Though
they missed a golden opportu-
nity against an elite level team,
the depth of the Big Ten this
year means the Wolverines have
plenty more high-profile games
to show they can compete at the
highest level.
For now, question marks
will continue to surround this
Michigan team. With the talent
the Wolverines have, they likely
haven’t yet reached their ceiling,
but they first need to clean up
their mistakes.
Otherwise, they may never
find it.
Brendan Roose can be reached
at rooseb@umich.edu or on
Twitter @BrendanRoose.
Wolverines fall to Gophers, 75-67
MINNEAPOLIS — Marcus
Carr was calculating.
With Zavier Simpson staring
right back at him and over
10,000 Golden Gophers’ fans
anxiously awaiting his next
move, Carr proved once again
to be a steady hand.
The
Minnesota
point
guard floated to the left wing,
dragging Michigan’s defense
with him, and rifled a pass back
across his body to the opposite
side of the floor. The recipient
was Payton Willis, and despite
being scoreless to that point,
Willis had time to set his feet,
compose himself and drain a
25-footer.
The Wolverines needed a
stop on that possession, with
their deficit at eight and just
over a minute remaining in
regulation. Instead, they gave
up a wide-open 3-pointer.
In what had been a sleepy
Sunday afternoon start was
far from lethargic by the end.
Thanks, in part, to Carr’s play
down the stretch, the Gophers
(10-7 overall, 3-3 Big Ten)
outlasted Michigan (11-5, 2-3)
in a back-and-forth bout, 75-67.
With
students
still
on
winter
break
and
a
noon
tipoff, Williams Arena was
eerily quiet for much of the
first half. Michigan’s efficient
start offensively also tempered
enthusiasm.
Simpson
might’ve
been
running the show, but the
Wolverines
had
a
well-
balanced
scoring
attack
—
freshman wing Franz Wagner,
sophomore forward Brandon
Johns Jr. and senior center Jon
Teske were all involved. Late in
the first half, Michigan held a
30-19 lead.
“They had six threes early,”
Minnesota
coach
Richard
Pitino said. “We were there, but
we weren’t jumping. They’ve
got some size. Wagner’s big
and a couple of their guards
are bigger than we are, but
we were letting them get too
comfortable. They push you
through ball screens and make
you make a decision about what
you’re going to do.”
That
advantage
masked
the fact that the Gophers’
Daniel Oturu was going to
work down low — consistent
with
Michigan’s
defensive
philosophy to withhold the
double-team for the opposing
big man. Whether it was Teske
or backup center Austin Davis,
Oturu got whatever he wanted.
Sparked by Oturu and a
few big baskets from Carr,
Minnesota went on a nine-
point tear, cutting what was a
once-sizable gap down to a one-
point deficit at halftime.
And with the momentum in
their team’s favor, the Gophers’
faithful came to life.
Oturu picked up where he
left off following his 20-point
first half. After trading baskets,
he slammed home an alley-
oop off a feed by Carr to give
Minnesota a 45-41 advantage
by the first media timeout of
the second half.
“I thought in the first half, we
were very active defensively,”
Michigan
coach
Juwan
Howard said. “We contested a
lot of their shots, able to get the
rebound, were active with our
hands. In the second half, Carr
was very patient off pick and
rolls, and was good at reading
where the defenders are. You
can’t speed him up and has a
nice pace to his game.”
The Wolverines had been
knocked back on their heels.
When Oturu went down hard
on a rebound attempt and left
the game for three minutes of
the second half, Michigan saw
a slight opening.
Simpson, as he has done so
often over the course of his
career, shouldered the burden
and clawed his team back into
the contest. The senior point
guard hit his patented hook shot
in the lane, sank a contested
3-pointer from the top of the
key and found Wagner behind
the arc again.
On the opposite end, Carr,
who finished with 21 points,
weathered
the
storm
for
the home team. Both teams
continued to exchange buckets
as crunchtime approached. By
the 4:30 mark, the game was
knotted at 62.
The Gophers’ steadiness and
composure won out, though.
Minnesota scored 10 straight
points to send the Wolverines
packing. Oturu finished off
his 30-point outing with a
layup
underneath
before
Alihan Demir hit a floater. On
a turnover by sophomore guard
David DeJulius, Carr sank two
free throws.
Up five, but with the game
still very much up for grabs,
Willis’ spot-up shot on the
Gophers’ next trip down the
floor finally allowed their fans
to exhale.
“The ball didn’t go in the
basket for us.” Howard said.
“We
weren’t
aggressive
enough, and confident enough
to get our shot down there on
our end. They scored again … it
was like score, stop, score, stop.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get
a chance to capitalize on any
of our offensive sets down the
stretch.”
Michigan hangs on to beat Spartans
The usual complement of
maize and blue on display in
Cliff Keen Arena’s bleachers was
diluted with green and white, a
group whose raucous cheering
filled the gym from the opening
match.
But it was the home crowd
who
would
cheer
last
and
loudest, as the No. 25 Michigan
wrestling team (2-2 overall, 1-0
Big Ten) weathered a late rally
by Michigan State (4-3, 0-1) to
topple their rival, 22-14.
The Wolverines wasted no
time asserting themselves. In
the first period alone, redshirt
sophomore Jack Medley accrued
over a minute of riding time on
the Spartans’ Logan Griffin.
Medley’s performance paved the
way for a 13-4 major decision in
the 125-pound weight class.
Medley’s
teammates
capitalized on his hot start, as
133-pound redshirt freshman
Joey Silva made his season
debut with a decision over
Garrett Pepple. Thanks to the
contributions of 10th ranked
redshirt junior Kanen Storr and
No. 15 redshirt freshman Will
Lewan, Michigan exited the first
half up, 16-0.
“For a guy (Silva) that hasn’t
competed in quite a while, he had
great composure in that match
and managed positions really
well,” Michigan coach Sean
Bormet said.
The
Wolverines’
early
successes were typified by the
efforts of 141-pound freshman
Cole Mattin. His patient probing
of Matt Santos’ tendencies for
two tense periods was rewarded
with a lunging takedown aimed
at Santos’ exposed legs.
“I knew that shot was there
from the beginning, but I just
didn’t take it yet,” Mattin said.
“Whatever you can do to win,
you’ve gotta do.”
Added Bormet: “We were
getting
the
takedowns
and
building our riding time and
taxing those guys on the bottom.
We did a good job setting the
offense, getting to our leg attacks
and getting a lot of takedowns.”
The second half would not
proceed nearly as smoothly for
Bormet’s wrestlers — the team
went on to drop four of the next
five matches to Michigan State.
The
riding
time
advantage
which
had
resulted
in
so
many takedown opportunities
disintegrated, forcing Michigan’s
wrestlers to claw their way out of
steep deficits.
In
the
174-pound
match
between redshirt freshman Max
Maylor and the Spartans’ Layne
Malczewski, a flaw in Maylor’s
technique
compounded
the
freefall.
“He made one mistake in the
position of his arm,” Bormet said.
“If he doesn’t make that mistake
and finishes that takedown, it’s a
totally different match.”
As Michigan State’s Nick
May slipped past redshirt senior
Jackson Striggow for a hard-
fought 5-2 decision — bringing
his team within two points of
the tying score — he waved to the
Spartan supporters, who erupted
in applause.
But the comeback fell short,
as the Wolverines’ decorated
heavyweight,
sophomore
Mason Parris, pinned Christian
Rebottaro in 29 seconds, securing
a 22-14 win for Michigan in
dramatic fashion.
“I just wanted to get the crowd
pumped and put an exclamation
point on our dual win,” Parris
said.
Although
the
Wolverines’
errors cut into their lead, they
were not so significant as to
derail their victory. The team’s
strong start ensured as much,
and the Michigan wrestlers
denied the hostile elements of
the crowd an opportunity to faze
them.
“That’s the great thing about
wrestling,” Bormet said. “We
drown ourselves in adversity
every day.”
Same issues plague ‘M’ in 77-49 loss
JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer
BRENDAN
ROOSE
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico mentioned Maryland’s size as a factor in the Wolverines’ 77-49 loss on Sunday.
I think that
we’re just being
kind of loose
with the ball.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior center Jon Teske didn’t get any help in the post against Daniel Oturu.
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
JOSEPH ARONOFF
Daily Sports Writer
JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily
Freshman Cole Mattin took down Michigan State’s Matt Santos as the Wolverines beat the Spartans, 22-14.