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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.