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.

