The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, January 17, 2020 — 7
‘M’ snaps skid, beats Badgers 68-56
After Sunday’s blowout loss
to
Maryland,
the
Michigan
women’s basketball team needed
to bounce back strong. Thursday
night against Wisconsin, the
Wolverines did just that.
Michigan (12-5 overall, 3-3 Big
Ten) came out fast, scoring nine
points in the first two minutes
and jumping out to an early
seven-point lead as the Badgers
(9-8, 1-5) had trouble defending
the Wolverines’ biggest threats.
Sophomore point guard Amy
Dilk — coming off two games
in which she shot a combined
4-for-25 and turned the ball over
often — was vital to the start,
making Michigan’s first basket,
assisting on another and grabbing
a rebound.
A Wisconsin timeout slowed
the
Wolverines’
offensive
momentum, but they locked
down
defensively.
Michigan
didn’t force many turnovers, but
the Wolverines prevented the
Badgers from getting the ball
in the paint and forced them to
take contested outside jumpers.
Wisconsin shot just 4-for-14 in
the first quarter and only scored
eight points.
Michigan’s offense struggled
at the beginning of the second
quarter — scoring just two points
in the first three minutes — but yet
again, its stout defense kept the
Badgers from coming back. Just
as Wisconsin’s offense started to
gain some momentum with two
baskets in three possessions over
a minute, sophomore forward
Naz Hillmon found her rhythm.
Hillmon, after being held to
just two points on 1-of-4 shooting
in the first quarter, scored nine
in the final seven minutes of the
second, leading the Wolverines
to a 16-point halftime lead. She
finished with 21 points and 14
rebounds. Dilk added four of her
12 points in this stretch.
“Naz seemed like she had a
little bit of a slow start and then
you look at the end of the game,
and she was incredible again,”
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico said on a postgame radio
show. “(She) is a rebounding
machine.”
The
Wolverines’
defense
struggled a bit in the second half,
though, allowing the Badgers to
shoot 52 percent after shooting
just 31 percent in the first half, but
their offense continued to click.
They got the ball into the paint for
high-quality chances and often
got to the line, where they were
10-for-10 in the half. Michigan
led by 19 with four minutes left
when Wisconsin ended the game
on an 11-4 run to finish with
only a 12-point deficit —most of
which came with the Wolverines’
reserves in the game.
Rebounding was key to the
Wolverines’
strong
offensive
performance, with Hillmon at the
forefront. In three of Michigan’s
five losses, the Wolverines have
been
outrebounded
by
their
opponents. With a starting five
consisting of players all 6-foot
or taller, and not many 3-point
shooting threats on the roster,
outrebounding
opponents
and
getting
second-chance
opportunities has been crucial
for Michigan. Thursday, the
Wolverines grabbed 48 rebounds
— 22 offensive — compared to the
Badgers’ 23, and scored 27 second
chance points.
“I thought we were awesome
on the offensive glass,” Barnes
Arico said. “Obviously we can
count on Naz every night to
really offensive rebound. But
Kayla Robbins was tremendous
on the glass, as was AK and Amy
Dilk. We just had a motor to the
basketball tonight and that was
great to see.”
This game came at just the right
time for Michigan. Wisconsin is
one of the weakest teams in the
Big Ten, allowing the Wolverines
to gain some confidence and pick
up their first conference road win.
Michigan readies for Garza rematch
On Dec. 6, Iowa center Luka
Garza marched into Ann Arbor
and dropped 44 points.
Forty. Four.
Perhaps
even
more
astounding, though, was that
his team lost — by double digits.
Regardless of the outcome,
there is no chance Michigan
men’s basketball coach Juwan
Howard is happy with letting
any human being score 44
points on his team.
So that leads to one big
question heading into Friday’s
match against the Hawkeyes:
Should the Wolverines continue
their
defensive
strategy
of
maintaining
one-on-one
matchups, or is it time to
double the post and one of the
nation’s most prolific scorers?
That description is not an
overstatement — Garza sits as
the NCAA’s sixth-leading scorer
with 22.3 points per game.
For
now,
it
seems
that
Michigan will look to maintain
its defensive scheme — involving
guarding the low post one-on-
one — and to trust the strength
of its big men on defense to limit
Garza in the points column.
For
many
teams
across
the nation, thinking of a way
to effectively prepare for a
6-foot-11 elite scorer may leave
coaches
and
players
alike
scratching their head. But for
the
Wolverines,
with
their
plethora of big-bodied centers,
the task falls on the shoulders of
its scout team. Junior forward
Jaron Faulds, in particular.
“We got Jaron Faulds playing
Luka
Garza,”
junior
walk-
on forward C.J. Baird said.
“Jaron’s really good at taking
his time and getting in good
positioning, so we’re hoping
that’s a good imitation of Garza.
Cause Garza’s elite at getting
his body, getting position in
the post and scoring, so we’re
trying to imitate that as best we
can, but honestly, it’s hard. He’s,
I don’t know, number six scorer
in the country. So it’ll be a good
challenge for us.”
How effective Faulds will
be at this game of impressions
will unfold on Friday in Iowa
City.
Faulds’
impersonation,
combined with the defensive
capabilities of senior center Jon
Teske, sophomore center Colin
Castleton and senior center
Austin Davis as well as how
many fouls these players will
commit against the shifty Garza
will dictate whether or not
Garza will have another career
night down low.
So far this season, early foul
trouble and hacking opponents
down
low
has
been
the
Wolverines’ defensive “MO.” In
no game was this emphasized
further than the most loss on
the road against Minnesota.
The team committed 19 fouls,
emphasized by four by Teske,
and let Golden Gophers center
Daniel Oturu drop 30 points.
Baird insists that fouling
has been a focus for the team,
defensively, as well as one-on-
one situations, given the team’s
defensive sets.
“Guarding
one-on-one
without fouling is probably one
of the hardest things to do in
basketball, and I’d say, in my
opinion, in the post as well,
it’s probably one of the hardest
things to do in basketball,”
Baird said. “But there are some
things that you can do with,
technique-wise, that you can
say look at this technique, this
will help you in this situation.
Or make sure you keep your
foot planted here and stay down
on a second jumper so you’re
not fouling. There are a lot of
stuff that goes with technique,
especially in the one on one
defense, that you can improve
upon rather than just saying,
‘Be better.’ ”
And if the technique doesn’t
work, it sounds like Howard
is relatively fine letting Garza
getting
those
touches
and
points in the paint. As long as
that plan of attack ends in a
victory.
After Michigan’s last game
against Iowa, Howard sat down
at the podium, stat sheet in
hand, and visibly revealed his
shock at what he was reading.
The first-year coach was floored
by the opposing offense and
joked about his role in the affair.
“Second-chance
points,”
Howard responded when asked
what shocked him. “(Garza)
had 27 second-chance points,
and then points in the paint,
56. I was like, ‘Wow!’ That’s on
the coach, man. I did a horrible
job.”
Joking or not, Friday’s game
will be as credible an indicator
as any of whether Howard’s
defensive gameplan is reliable,
or makes as brazen of a
comment as his own as to the
state of his coaching.
Wojcik leads comeback
As Evianna Roberson climbed
onto the beam, she received the
full attention of all in attendance at
Crisler Center. Her performance
was the last of the meet, and with
a perfect score, she would force a
tie between her No. 17 Washington
and the No. 6 Michigan women’s
gymnastics teams.
The lead margin throughout the
first two rotations of last Friday’s
meet
had
been
consistently
microscopic in favor of the
Wolverines. But Michigan ran
into trouble in its third rotation,
the beam, allowing the Huskies
to move into first place and
Texas Woman’s
University
to
make up ground.
“Quite
honestly
I
was
very
disappointed,
very
disappointed
with
beam,”
Michigan coach
Bev Plocki said.
“... We still have a
lot of work to do.”
The half-point deduction from
sophomore Natalie Wojcik’s fall
was symptomatic of an event
performed at a lower quality than
the vault and bars. A team score of
48.100 on beam was nearly a full
point lower than that of any other
event.
The onus fell on the Wolverines’
floor gymnasts to reclaim the lead,
and while not all were aware of
the score, the necessity of ending
on a high note after a subpar beam
was unanimously felt.
“Bev had us circle up and she
was like, ‘Let’s do floor like we’re
on a mission,’ ” freshman Gabby
Wilson said.
Plocki encouraged her team to
control its own destiny.
“My mindset is never really
anything to do with the other
team,” Plocki said. “My mindset
is we need to entertain this crowd,
and we need to rock and roll here
on floor.”
That’s exactly what Michigan
did. It was the only squad that
posted more than 49 points on
floor, led by a 9.900 from Wojcik;
after handing over the lead on
beam, she helped engineer the
effort to reclaim
it.
“It was good to
kind of reset and
look at floor as a
new opportunity,
and try not to
let beam affect
what happened,”
Wojcik said. “I
knew I had to
keep going, push
forward
and
finish
out
the
meet strong.”
Roberson could not achieve
perfection, leaving the Wolverines
with a comeback victory. But for
Plocki, not all wins are created
equal.
“When you’re satisfied, you’re
done, because somebody is doing
better,” Plocki said. “This team
is capable of being a 49.5 on any
event. And so you can see where
we still have room to improve.”
Lambert focuses on improving defensive habits
Jimmy Lambert remained
on the ice.
Long finished was practice,
players had come in, completed
their drills and left thereafer.
Long gone were the coaches,
who hurried off the ice to prep
for the Michigan hockey team’s
upcoming matchup.
But the sophomore forward
was far from done.
He worked on shooting,
rifling shots into the empty
net. When he ran out of pucks,
he collected them back up, and
went again. And again. And
again. Sometimes he’d spend
up to 30 extra minutes on the
ice, just firing the puck on
target.
If you look at Lambert’s
numbers, it’s clear why he’s
putting in extra time.
He only has one goal this
season, and he scored it almost
three months ago. With just
four total points, he’s tied for
eighth on the team. Last year,
he led the freshman class
with 11. His name hasn’t been
featured on the scoresheet
since assisting on an empty net
goal against Wisconsin on Dec.
1.
Lambert’s
offensive
statistics are emblematic of
how the first half of the season
went for the Wolverines: rough.
“Obviously the puck hasn’t
gone in as much as I’d hoped,”
Lambert said. “But when it
doesn’t go in the net you’ve got
to contribute in other ways.”
And that’s exactly what he’s
done.
During
the
middle
of
November, Lambert switched
positions from
right wing to
center.
While
not a transition
he’d
been
anticipating,
the
Michigan
coaches
made
sure
their
forwards
were prepared
to
play
in
whatever
role
the team called
upon them to play. Despite this
expectation, having the trust
of the coaches to fill a gap in
the lineup gave Lambert the
confidence boost he’d been in
search of.
With a new role and a
scoring slump, he decided to
focus on the aspects of his
game he could control. His
backchecking and forechecking
habits, faceoffs and ability to
set up opportunities for his
teammates.
“I think I made a lot of
improvements in my game
defensively,” Lambert said. “I
think I’ve done a good job in
the D-zone winning draws. I
recently played on the penalty
kill. Think it’s been good,
really the only thing that could
go a little better is scoring
some goals.”
Last weekend
at then-No. 14
Notre
Dame,
with
the
Wolverines
leaving
a
prominent
penalty
killer
in
Dakota
Raabe
home
in Ann Arbor,
Lambert
saw
significant
ice
time on the man
disadvantage.
Prior
to
the
Great Lakes Invitational (GLI),
he’d seen little to no time
killing penalties. But in South
Bend, he fit in seamlessly on
the unit. He was getting his
stick in passing lanes, taking
away angles, even blocking
shots.
In the circle, he’s been
averaging just over 50 percent
on faceoffs with 68 won and 66
lost. Some of Lambert’s success
on faceoffs can be credited to
a new strategy Michigan has
been using since the GLI —
watching their opponents take
draws.
“It’s always good when you
can have a little bit of an edge
on the opponent,” Lambert
said. “Being able to watch all
four of their centers, and the
guys that go in when they get
kicked out. Just being able to
know what they do. It’s really
good for us to have a plan going
into each faceoff.”
This weekend, as Lambert
and his teammates turn their
attention towards the sixth-
ranked
Nittany
Lions,
his
defensive improvements will
be beneficial.
Penn
State’s
offense
is
tied for second in the NCAA,
averaging 4.00 goals per game
while the Wolverines sit at
44th with an average of 2.32.
While
Michigan’s
scoring
numbers, much like Lambert’s,
aren’t overly promising, the
team’s defense is solid.
Allowing just 2.05 goals per
game on average, Michigan’s
defense is ranked fifth. With
that in mind, the key to this
pivotal series for both Lambert
and the Wolverines will be
what they do without the
puck — with Lambert noting
that the most crucial aspect
of the weekend is to play solid
defense.
“One
way
to
keep
the
number-one scoring team off
the scoresheet is by playing
offense ourselves,” Lambert
said. “And keeping them in
their own end. If we can be
heavy on them in the forecheck
and get pucks in deep and just
be relentless all night, I think
we should have a pretty good
weekend.”
Coming off a weekend road
sweep of the Fighting Irish
that catapulted it out of last
place in the Big Ten Conference
standings, Michigan has an
opportunity to prove itself. Its
success will depend largely on
Lambert and the rest of the
team to make strong defensive
plays, especially if the offensive
woes of the first half creep in.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Natalie Wojcik helped Michigan to a win over Washington last weekend..
JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer
This team is
capable of being
a 49.5 on any
event.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Sophomore forward Jimmy Lambert has been working to improve on his defense going into this weekend’s series.
MOLLY SHEA
Daily Sports Writer
I think I
made a lot of
improvements
in my game.
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Iowa center Luka Garza scored 44 points on Michigan in December.
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Editor
JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer
EMMA MATI/Daily
Sophomore guard Amy Dilk scored 12 points with six rebounds as Michigan beat Wisconsin on Thursday night.