The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, January 31, 2020 — 7

Franz Wagner does what Michigan needs most

If 
Franz 
Wagner 
proved 
one thing in the first half of the 
Wolverines’ Big Ten slate, it’s that he 
doesn’t shy away from big moments.
For 
the 
Michigan 
men’s 
basketball team, Tuesday’s game 
against Nebraska was one of those 
moments. With senior point guard 
Zavier 
Simpson 
(suspension) 
and junior forward Isaiah Livers 
(injury) unavailable, the Wolverines 
were without two main sources of 
offense as they limped into Lincoln 
with a 0-5 road record.
Riding the program’s longest 
losing streak in five years, it 
appeared the perfect storm was 
brewing — one that would bring a 
loss with the potential to impact 
Selection Sunday in all the wrong 
ways.
Instead, Michigan overcame the 
absences and road environment, 
ending its drought with a 79-68 win.
While junior guard Eli Brooks 
scored a game-high 20 points, it was 
Wagner’s aggressiveness that stood 
out most. The freshman wing took 
a team-high 15 shots in 25 minutes, 
scored 18 points, tied his season-
high with eight rebounds and added 
three steals.
What’s more important, though, 
is how he reached that statline. 
Before Tuesday, more than half of 
Wagner’s shots against conference 
opponents came from beyond 
the arc. Michigan coach Juwan 
Howard is relentless in encouraging 
his players to let it go when they’re 
open, but there also seemed to 
be times when the 6-foot-9, long-
armed Wagner could be taking 
advantage of matchups in other 
ways.
Against the Cornhuskers, he was 
more than a spot-up shooter. And 
when the Wolverines needed him 
to do it all, that’s exactly what he 
did. The Daily took a closer look:
While Wagner’s height and 
length give him a physical upper-
hand in most one-on-one matchups, 
they’re perhaps most valuable on 
the open floor. Against a Nebraska 
team that posed few intimidating 

size 
matchups, 
Wagner 
took 
advantage.
His long arms allow him to 
disrupt a scoring opportunity and 
turn it into one of his own. His ball-
handling made the difference after 
the initial steal, particularly the left-
handed push dribble and behind-
the-back move. Because both moves 
came in stride, he got to the rim and 
finished through contact with his 
off hand. Few players on the court 
can do all that in one fell swoop.
By now, Wagner has made a 
name for himself within the Big 
Ten as a 3-point shooter. But when 
Michigan needed him to make 
a difference in the interior on 
Tuesday, he delivered.
Offensively, 
the 
team 
used 
his size to solve Nebraska’s zone 
defense. By keeping senior center 
Jon Teske on the block, the 
Wolverines made the Cornhuskers 
commit at least one defender to the 
post. That opened space for Wagner 
to remain at the free throw line, 
waiting for a chance to slip into a 
gap as the zone shifted in response 
to perimeter passes.
With six minutes left in the 
second half, Brooks’ pump fake 
toward the post creates one of those 
gaps. Wagner, then, needs only one 
dribble to get to the rim and finish 
strong.

Wagner 
made 
his 
interior 
presence felt on defense, too. 
Knowing Teske would hedge hard 
on ball screens, he adjusted his off-
ball defensive position accordingly.
By shifting into the paint, 
Wagner was able to help on 
Teske’s assignment in case the 
hedger couldn’t recover in time. 
His defensive IQ kicked in, as 
he straddled the line between 
committing to Teske’s assignment 
and remaining close enough to 
his own man to defend any cross-
court skip pass.
Sure enough, Teske couldn’t 
recover in time, giving Nebraska 
a chance to take advantage. But 
when Kevin Cross left his feet for 
what he thought would be an open 
layup, Wagner was there to protect 
the rim.
Above 
all 
else, 
Wagner’s 
versatility defined his effectiveness 
on Tuesday. Because of his ability 
to score at all three levels, Howard 
can play him alongside a true 
center like senior Austin Davis 
and sophomore forward Brandon 
Johns Jr., who often works out of 
the post.
With each of them on the floor, 
Wagner’s scoring chances come in 
bunches when defenses collapse. 
With 13 minutes left in the game, 
he was left wide open on the 

perimeter when Johns’ post touch 
draws four Cornhuskers into the 
paint.
Wagner makes his way to the 
top of the key once he notices the 
defensive collapse, which creates 
an easier passing angle for Johns’ 
kickout. Nobody is within eight 
feet of Wagner when he catches it, 
and he promptly buries the three.
With Livers on the shelf for 
the foreseeable future, Wagner’s 
evolving offensive game could help 
pull Michigan out of the Big Ten’s 
bottom half. To do that, though, 
the Wolverines need the multi-
dimensional version of Wagner 
— not the spot-up shooter who’s 
made just five of his last 26 3-point 
attempts.
“Franz is a high-IQ basketball 
player,” 
Howard 
said. 
“He 
knows that we need his offensive 
leadership. He knows that we need 
his offensive talent. And today, he 
did a really good job of mixing in 
both by attacking the basket and 
making outside shots.”
On Tuesday, Wagner showed 
what his offensive game looks 
like when the puzzle pieces are 
put together. If those pieces can 
remain intact once Simpson and 
Livers return, Michigan’s offense 
could very well peak at the right 
time.

‘M’ freshmen looking 
to replace senior class

The Michigan softball team is 
aware it has big shoes to fill. 
Five seniors from last year’s 
team — each one a key cog in 
the lineup and a vital presence 
in the locker room — are gone. A 
class that coach Carol Hutchins 
often endorses as one of the best 
she’s ever had graduated in May, 
leaving behind sizeable holes. 
There’s no blueprint when it 
comes to potential replacements. 
Second baseman Faith Canfield 
was All-Big Ten first team with 
a .404 batting average, while 
outfielder Natalie Peters and 
first baseman Alex Sobczak 
were members of the All-Big 
Ten second team. Sobczak and 
catcher Katie Alexander shared 
the team lead with 10 home runs, 
and infielder Mackenzie Nemitz 
drove in 31 runs while drawing 
35 starts as the designated player. 
Still, it’s apparent that the 
current 
Wolverines 
firmly 
believe in the group of players 
they 
have. 
At 
Tuesday’s 
Media 
Day, 
players 
spoke 
with 
unwavering 
confidence, 
seemingly unfazed by the roster 
turnover. 
“Obviously, we had some 
great, great girls that graduated,” 
sophomore pitcher Alex Storako 
said. “But I think being a part 
of 
Michigan 
softball, 
we’re 
always going to have key players 
stepping in. It’s just a matter of 
getting that chance, and a lot of 
girls are ready to finally get that 
chance. We’re all very talented, 
and I’m very excited to see that 
all of the pieces finally fit into the 
puzzle.”
The first piece of the puzzle 
is putting together a batting 
order, 
and 
with 
just 
four 
starters returning, there are an 
abundance of open spots. 
“We’re 
going 
to 
try 
to 
find the best nine that play 
together,” Hutchins said. “But 

it’s competitive. And I like that 
because the competitors are the 
ones that will win the positions. 
Competition makes you better.”
As to which players will claim 
the contested starting roles, 
Hutchins maintained nothing 
is set in stone, conceding that 
a consistent lineup cannot be 
ironed out until everyone is 
given ample opportunities in 
real game play. She noted junior 
infielder Taylor Bump, senior 
outfielder 
Thais 
Gonzalez, 
sophomore 
infielder 
Morgan 
Overaitis and freshman infielder 
Julia Jimenez as several players 
who have impressed thus far.
“Players that need to step up 
in their positions have stepped 
up,” 
senior 
third 
baseman 
Madison Uden said. “Maybe 
there was a bit of pressure in the 
fall, but now it feels good. Where 
we need to fill gaps, we’re filling 
those gaps.”
Stepping up in terms of 
providing offensive production 
is, then again, only half the task. 
The leadership voids left by the 
seniors are also substantial. 
Uden is the only returning 
captain, 
with 
fellow 
2019 
captains Canfield and Alexander 
having graduated.
In response, Hutchins has 
implemented a new leadership 
scheme, 
deviating 
from 
the 
traditional 
route 
of 
naming 
captains in favor of a more 
community-oriented alternative.
Throughout the offseason, 
the team worked with a Navy 
SEAL 
program. 
Upon 
the 
program’s completion, SEALs 
identified the strongest leaders. 
The group — Bump, Gonzalez, 
Uden 
and 
junior 
shortstop 
Natalia Rodriguez — operate 
under the title of the “leadership 
council” and meet regularly with 
Hutchins for debriefing sessions. 

EVANSTON 
— 
Welsh-
Ryan Arena exploded, again. 
The Wolverines’ work on the 
offensive end quickly forgotten, 
the Wildcats answered in a 
resounding, soul sucking move.
It was a torturous pattern 
in 
Thursday 
night’s 
81-73 
loss to No. 23 Northwestern 
(18-3 overall, 8-2 Big Ten) 
for 
the 
Michigan 
women’s 
basketball team (13-7, 4-5). 
The Wolverines continuously 
found themselves in a five-to-
six point hole, occasionally 
poking their heads up and 
snagging a lead, but every time 
they fought back the Wildcats 
hammered them back down. 
Early in the first quarter, 
though, the match seemed 
on its way for a repeat of 
Michigan’s last match against 
a ranked opponent. 
Michigan’s 
starting 
lineup could barely handle 
defending senior Abbie Wolf. 
Northwestern’s 
switches 
off the ball left sophomore 
guard Amy Dilk, and at times 
sophomore 
guard 
Danielle 
Rauch, on the much larger 
center. There were easy shots 
for her, until Michigan coach 
Kim Barnes Arico made a quick 
switch by putting her own 
center in — freshman Izabel 
Varejão.
Her introduction stopped 
the bleeding on the inside, 
while also offering an offensive 
spark. She gave the Wolverines 
its first true sign of offense 
in the first quarter, scoring a 
quick four points and gathering 
another assist.
“Our best is when we’re 
playing zone with our hands 
up,” Dilk said. “(Varejão), she’s 
the biggest one on the court 
with her wingspan and I think 
tonight she finally realized ‘if 
I play with my hands up I’m 
gonna get tips,’ and she did 
a great job of that. Our two 
guards up top were doing a 
great job of that. It was making 
them change the angles of 

passes which slowed them 
down just a half second.”
Unfortunately, she could do 
nothing to help the emergence 
of 
the 
Wildcats’ 
outside 
shooters. Senior Abi Scheid 
drained two threes, and after 
the 
second 
Barnes 
Arico 
was livid — the shooter was 
Varejão’s to close out on, but 
she didn’t.
At the end of the first 
quarter, it looked like the game 
would go down as another 
culmination of turnovers and 
poor defending of the 3-point 
line for Michigan. It committed 
eight turnovers in the first 
quarter, Northwestern shot 60 
percent from three.
A fiery Barnes Arico leaned 
into her players in between 
quarters, 
but 
the 
results 
were elusive for the first five 
minutes of the second quarter. 
“We were just definitely 
trying to pick each other 
up,” sophomore forward Naz 
Hillmon said. “And talking 
about how we still have the 
opportunity to get out there 
and hustle, and play really hard 
and we all need to focus in and 
make sure that we’re playing 
hard from start to finish.”
Added Barnes Arico: “We 
need to regroup, we had just 
talked about it in the locker 
room, we just need to regroup 
and we just need to settle in 
and we gotta chip away. And I 
thought we did, I thought our 
focus after that first quarter 
was really good and we were 
able to regroup and make it a 
game down the stretch.”
And then, down 30-21 with 
five minutes to go in the half, 
Varejão came back in.
The 
offense 
opened 
up, 
and the defense locked down. 
A 14-6 run ensued, giving 
Michigan its first lead of the 
game with 1:04 left in the half 
after freshman guard Michelle 
Sidor stole the ball and Varejão 
drained a layup.
“I thought our post really 
could take advantage of them 
and that’s why we went with 
that big lineup of (Varejão), 

(senior forward) Hailey Brown 
and Naz Hillmon,” Barnes 
Arico said. “I thought that 
really helped take advantage 
of the inside and I thought 
(Hillmon) did a really great job 
inside as well.”
After forcing a bad buzzer-

beater shot from Northwestern 
to end the half, the bench — 
and Barnes Arico — erupted, 
ending the quarter on a much 
different note than the last one.
Neck and neck for most of 
the third quarter, Michigan let 
the Wildcats pull away for a 
quick six-point lead at the end 
of the quarter. They wouldn’t 
look back, and the distance was 
stretched in the fourth quarter.
Wolf couldn’t be defended 
and neither could junior guard 
Lindsey Pulliam, who pulled up 
for jumpers from every corner 
of the court. She muscled Sidor 
under the basket, made corner 
threes and drained fadeaways 
all over.
Unlike the first quarter, 
it 
wasn’t 
the 
Wolverines’ 
mistakes 
that 
gave 
Northwestern the lead. It was 
two unstoppable players.

EVANSTON — Down nine 
midway through the second 
quarter, and with sloppy play 
preventing any sort of rhythm, 
the Michigan women’s basketball 
team needed a spark.
Amy Dilk had been at the 
forefront of the Wolverines’ ugly 
first quarter. After turning the 
ball over twice in the first two 
minutes of the game, it looked 
like it might be a lost night for 
the sophomore guard. But rather 
than letting her work out the 
kinks on the court, Michigan 
coach Kim Barnes Arico took 
her out four minutes into the 
game and talked to her. And the 
message resonated.
“She knows I can put more 
effort than what I’m putting in,” 
Dilk said. “I need to be more 
dialed in from the start and that’s 
obviously on me. Basically I just 
need to play harder.”
With 6:21 left in the second 
quarter, Dilk saw her chance to be 
that spark. She poked the ball out 
of Northwestern guard Lindsey 
Pulliam’s hands at the 3-point 

line, and as it was rolling out of 
bounds, Dilk dove to the floor to 
save it. The Wolverines called a 
timeout to keep possession, and 
despite the nine-point deficit, 
they were fired up.
“I think I owed it to my team 
to get some hustle plays, and I 
think I got some tonight,” Dilk 
said. “Obviously, when any of our 
teammates dive on the floor, it 
brings the momentum and energy 
up on the bench, on the court. 
So, just being able to do that and 
bringing the momentum up was 
huge for us.”
While 
Michigan’s 
play 
improved out of the timeout, 
it couldn’t overcome its first-
quarter struggles, leading to an 
81-73 loss.
But Dilk wouldn’t let the 
Wolverines go down so easily. 
At the top of a 2-3 zone, she 
continued to give the Wildcats 
trouble, deflecting passes and 
forcing Northwestern to reset its 
offense and settle for tough shots. 
She logged three steals in the 
quarter.
Offensively, she settled down. 
While the Wildcats continued 
to press, Dilk didn’t try to force 

passes 
upcourt 
to 
avoid 
it. 
Instead, she trusted her ability 
as a ball handler and only passed 
the ball when she was stifled by 
Northwestern defenders.
As Dilk’s play improved, so 
did Michigan’s. But in the end, it 
wasn’t enough. After her steal, the 
Wolverines grabbed a one-point 
lead with a 16-6 run — during 
which Dilk scored four points and 
assisted on the go-ahead basket 
— but they couldn’t extend it any 
further, leaving the door open for 
the Wildcats.
“I thought that she just started 
to … really take care of the ball a 
lot better and handle pressure 
a lot better,” Barnes Arico said. 
“She also moved extremely well 
without the ball and was making 
some cuts and … making herself 
available and finish plays around 
the rim.”
In the third quarter, Dilk 
showed no signs of slowing down. 
She continued to give the Wildcats 
problems 
defensively, 
and 
offensively, she only improved. 
When Dilk is at her best, she 
is driving with confidence and 
going up strong, qualities on full 
display Thursday night. 
But the Wolverines struggled 
from the floor in the third — 
shooting just 4-of-14 and missing 
layups and open 3-pointers — and 
Northwestern got hot, shooting 
over 
50 
percent. 
Dilk 
gave 
Michigan much-needed baskets 
and kept them in the game, 
scoring eight of her 15 points in 
the third, and the Wolverines 
led with 2:36 left. Though, the 
Wildcats ended the quarter on a 
9-2 run, and there wasn’t much 
Dilk could do to keep the game 
from slipping away. 
“She’s such a great passer that 
as soon as you bring through two 
or three at her, she’s dropping 
it off to me, or dropping it off to 
(freshman center Izabel Varejão),” 
sophomore forward Naz Hillmon 
said. “She’s very unselfish, but it 
does help us a lot when she’s able 
to get into the paint and get those 
buckets.”
Dilk got those buckets, but the 
rest of the Wolverines couldn’t 
follow suit.

Wildcats, everywhere

Wolverines unable to contain Northwestern stars, drop game in Evanston, 81-73, to go below .500 in Big Ten play

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Freshman wing Franz Wagner made more plays off the dribble on Tuesday against Nebraska in a 79-68 win.

SOFTBALL

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

Read more online at 
MichiganDaily.com

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer

EMMA MATI/Daily
Sophomore forward Naz Hillmon scored 27 points but it wasn’t enough as Michigan fell to Northwestern, 81-73.

