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

Plays with Pearson: Breaking down Lockwood’s winner against Ohio State

The 
Michigan 
Daily 
sat 
down with Michigan coach Mel 
Pearson on Thursday and pulled 
out a hockey whiteboard.
Pearson 
drew 
up 
the 
intricacies of a play from last 
weekend’s 
matchup 
against 
then-No. 11 Ohio State that 
led to a Will Lockwood goal. 
He broke down 
where 
players 
went with the 
puck, what they 
were 
thinking 
with 
the 
play 
they made and 
how it all went 
down — with the 
X’s and O’s on a 
whiteboard.
The 
Daily 
deciphered 
the 
board 
and 
pieced 
together 
a 
series 
of 
drawings 
that 
represent what Pearson had to 
show.
Here’s what he drew up.
***
Friday, the Buckeyes tied the 
game with a power play goal 
midway through the second 
period. Momentum flipped then 
and Ohio State started pressing 
heavily against a stout Michigan 
defense. With four minutes left 
in the game, Lockwood took the 
puck off a rebound and scored 
a thrilling game-winning goal. 
The Wolverines went on to 
win the game, 3-2, due to the 
hustling efforts of Lockwood.
The Michigan Daily: Can 
you break down (senior forward 
Will Lockwood)’s game winner 
Friday?
Mel Pearson: Yes, Slaker 
shot it, so Will came in and 
came across like this. Slaker 
came in from behind him so he 
dropped the puck, and Slaker 
came in and basically took the 
shot.
Pearson: Will continued on 
this way, and the rebound came 
out to him. He took the one shot 
and followed it in. Puck came 

here, he actually took a second 
shot, and it came here. 
Pearson: So Will’s coming 
here, and he comes in and cuts 
across. This is his sort of path 
that he took, and yes Slaker just 
came in here and took the shot. 
And then actually (Slaker) goes 
to the net, but Will stayed with 
the puck. 
Pearson: That’s the biggest 
thing. 
After 
the 
shot 
was 
taken, he got the 
rebound. 
You 
teach guys to go 
to the net, and 
then the second 
one came to him. 
He’s 
fortunate 
it 
came 
here 
and then he’s so 
quick. He’s got 
such good speed 
and quick hands. 
When the goalie 
made the save, he was here, and 
Will just beat him back to the 
post.
Pearson: 
They 
had 
a 
defenseman 
here 
but 
the 
defenseman for some reason 
— this is how Ohio State and 
other teams play. They sort of 
hold in front. (The opposing 
player) didn’t go down to meet 
him here, and that gave Will 
actually, Will’s probably a few 
feet behind the goal line when 
he stuffed the puck in. So, this 
defenseman was taught not to 
go back down and get him, just 
sort of hold the post like this.
Pearson: Slaker’s coming in 
like this. Oh, yeah. Again, Will 
just comes in like this. He leaves 
the puck for Slaker coming 
down here. Slaker takes the 
wide shot, gets a rebound. It’s 
actually a good shot. Will, one 
rebound, continues on, second 
rebound, and then picks it up 
and jam it here. Then Slaker 
goes to the net here. Will’s so 
quick like I said, he just put in. 
TMD: Could he have made 
the open pass to Slaker at the 
net?
Pearson: He could have, but 
I think you sometimes make a 

decision, you don’t even look. 
Especially when he first got out 
here, I think his whole intention 
was to beat the goalie to the far 
post. A lot of 
times you can 
when that goalie 
has come out to 
play 
this 
shot 
and 
it 
comes 
right back, he’s 
so 
quick. 
If 
you’re fast like 
Will and quick, 
you 
can 
get 
around to that 
far post before 
the goalie can physically move 
there. That’s what happened on 
that play. And good goal scorers 
do that. You know, you see some 

guys get in there, come way 
out here like this and look for 
the pass. They don’t have the 
aggressive move to the net and 
Will 
has 
that, 
he likes to go 
to the net. He’s 
aggressive 
and 
he was rewarded 
for that on that 
play.
TMD: 
You 
talked 
about 
positioning 
of 
that defenseman, 
do you teach that 
differently?
Pearson: We do. We do so we 
would, a lot of times, if there’s 
a defenseman over here with 
Will, we tell them to go with 

him. The other guy holds. Some 
teams will actually go with 
them, and then when they get 
to a certain point, if they don’t 
have 
contact, 
they just let him 
go. 
This 
guy 
will try and pick 
him up. But the 
Buckeyes 
don’t 
normally do that, 
they’re just sort 
of playing off the 
post. Will didn’t 
come 
out 
far 
enough for this 
guy to challenge 
him, so his feet are behind the 
goal, his (stick) tip just wraps it 
around. But we teach a different 
(style). We’ll tell this guy to go 

after him and this guy just hold 
him for them. Look for anybody 
here. Sometimes like I said, if 
this guy’s too far ahead of him, 
then he’ll switch 
off, 
he’ll 
just 
come to the front 
of the net and let 
this D go. But 
you never want 
to leave this area 
here. You never 
want 
to 
leave 
that area. That’s 
a 
dangerous 
scoring position. 
Ohio State did 
that. They didn’t leave that 
area. Will just happened to 
be so quick that he beat him 
around the net.

MSU rivalry changing under Howard 

The Big Ten’s best rivalry 
returns on Saturday.
Over the previous decade, 
no two teams have flexed more 
dominance over the conference 
than Michigan and Michigan 
State. 
No 
team 
is 
more 
emphatically circled on the 
schedule for the Wolverines. 
No regular season game carries 
more meaning. No holds are 
barred.
Heading 
into 
the 
first 
iteration of this showdown on 
Jan. 5, there were a thousand 
question marks regarding the 
arrival of new coach Juwan 
Howard.
What was the rivalry going to 
look like under new leadership? 
How was Howard going to 
embrace the moment? Would 
he 
maintain 
composure 
or 
succumb to the grandness of 
the moment and the narrative 
written 
by 
two 
juggernaut 
programs up to that point?
In that early-January game, 
Howard answered many of 
the lingering questions … by 
receiving his first technical foul 
of the season.
After the referees missed 
a potential foul call on senior 
center Austin Davis following 
a drive to the hoop, Howard 
was livid at the lack of response 
from the officials. He stepped 

on the court, and the ref made 
a “T” with his hands, signaling 
a marked departure from the 
days of rivalry past.
In the previous Michigan era, 
former coach John Beilein was 
a resolute, composed figure on 
the sideline. The epitome of his 
program’s values.
On the other end of the 
sideline, 
Michigan 
State 
employed a more emotional 
firebrand to run its ship. Tom 
Izzo — the famed high-level 
game manager — argued and 
screamed 
at 
every 
available 
opportunity. In 
their demeanor, 
the two couldn’t 
be 
more 
different.
But Howard’s 
temperament 
on the sidelines 
is 
a 
marked 
departure from 
his predecessor.
“If there’s one thing I’m glad 
about Juwan, to be very blunt 
and honest with you, is John 
was so buttoned up that I look 
like a fool all the time,” Izzo said 
after his program’s win against 
the Wolverines. “And now both 
of us look like fools, it makes it 
an equal opportunity deal.”
Added Howard: “I’m going 
to back up my team for all 40 
minutes of the ball game. That 
possession, I had seen enough. 
I saw a lot of contact. … But 

unfortunately it wasn’t called, 
so I got a little beside myself. 
I’m an emotional guy, and I’m 
going to always fight for my 
players.’
Howard provided a glimpse 
— however small — into the new 
era of the rivalry. The technical, 
along with the new direction 
Howard is taking Michigan 
men’s basketball, are laying 
the foundation for a new, epic 
chapter in the showdown.
Playing with a newfound 
passion and emotion on the 
sidelines 
is 
one thing, but 
picking 
the 
players to help 
you write the 
narrative 
is 
arguably 
the 
more important 
element.
Under 
Beilein, 
the 
Spartans 
held the clear 
recruiting advantage year in 
and year out. When one top-
10 recruiting class fled to the 
NBA or graduated, another 
one quickly took its place. 
Beilein famously only sought 
the players that fit his system, 
often leading to less-than-elite 
groups of athletes.
But his ability to make more 
with less made the rivalry that 
much more exciting.
With 
Howard 
quickly 
amassing one of the Wolverines’ 
most highly-ranked recruiting 
classes in the last two decades, 
things are going to look a lot 
different when Michigan and 
Michigan State suit up in the 
future.
Poised and methodical versus 
athletic and emotional. It’s an 
oversimplification, sure, but an 
apt characterization of the two 
eras in Michigan basketball is 
beginning to form. And through 
the transition of these eras — 
one man and one program is 
here to stay.
“Juwan’s done a good job, 
done a great job there,” Izzo 
said after his first win against 
Howard. “So he will do a 
good job, but we’re not going 
anywhere. We’re not going 
anywhere.”

‘M’ hopes to find identity early

Carol 
Hutchins 
leaned 
forward in her seat, pausing 
before answering a question 
posed by one of the reporters 
clustered around her. The 
room’s attention rested on 
Michigan’s softball coach. Yet 
the words that hung on the wall 
behind her, displayed in white 
lettering 
and 
accentuated 
by a faded blue background, 
became hard to ignore.
The Team, The Team, The 
Team. 
Bo Schembechler’s famed 
phrase has grown synonymous 
with all facets of Michigan 
athletics, 
softball 
included. 
For Hutchins, it’s a rallying cry 
that merits echoing. 
Hutchins believes her team 
has the individual talent to be 
a top-16 seed come May. But 
reaching such a point requires 
more than individual success. 
With the 2020 season finally 
here, Hutchins is about to find 
out how quickly the group 
learns how to play together. 
“I like our group a lot,” 
Hutchins said. “And now we 
gotta learn how to go into battle 
together. And everybody needs 
to contribute. Contributions, 
some of them are pitching, 
some of them are getting 
key hits in big situations and 
sometimes it’s just as simple 
as being the one in the dugout 
who helps keep everybody up.”
The softball season, in a 
sense, is a battle. It’s grueling. 
It’s lengthy. And it requires 
more than pure talent to 
succeed. A team has to have 
a collective will to win and 
its hearts invested, a mantra 
Hutchins has attempted to 
instill within her players. 
“We’re trying to get our kids 
to understand that we need to 
be risk takers, and just go for 
things and not to be tentative,” 
Hutchins said. “We practice 
more 
aggressive 
things, 
aggressive style baserunning 
and we’re gonna have to be 
that team that just gets out 
there and gets after it. We have 
to figure out a way to do it all 

together, be together. That’s 
gonna be us.”
This playing style will be 
first put to the test on Friday, 
when the Wolverines kick 
off their five game season-
opening weekend in Tampa Bay 
at the USF-Wilson Demarini 
Tournament. 
Friday’s 
slate 
provides an opportunity for 
Michigan to shake off some 
expected 
rust 
— 
Georgia 
State and Illinois State, its 
two opponents, finished with 
a combined record of 26-79 a 
year ago.
For 
the 
Wolverines, 
shaking off the 
rust quickly is 
key to avoiding 
a repeat of the 
doldrums 
of 
last February, 
when 
a 
flat 
start 
dipped 
the 
program 
to a low point 
not 
seen 
since 
2001, 
the 
team leaving its first two 
tournaments under .500. 
The rest of the weekend 
schedule provides an uptick in 
competition. A game against 
No. 7 Florida, a perennial 
softball powerhouse coming 
off a College World Series 
appearance, looms on Saturday. 
While the Gators lost their top 
pitcher, Kelly Barnhil, and 
hitter, Amanda Lorenz, in the 
offseason, they still pose a 
formidable challenge.
So does host South Florida, 
a team that made it to the 
Tallahassee Regional in the 
NCAA Tournament a year ago. 

An early Sunday face-off with 
Fresno State, a middle-of-
the-pack group that returns a 
steady nucleus of players, caps 
off the weekend. 
“It’s going to be a learning 
curve,” 
Hutchins 
said 
of 
the 
early-season 
gameplay. 
“And I don’t know how this 
year’s gonna go, but I know 
one thing. As we evolve, as a 
coaching staff, we’re gonna 
assess every week what we can 
do to help (the players) achieve 
their goals.”
As 
for 
the 
players, at last 
Tuesday’s media 
day, they wore 
faces tired of the 
offseason 
and 
itching to return 
to 
competitive 
softball. 
Internally, 
it 
seems as if the 
page has long 
been 
flipped 
from 2019 to 2020. Now, with 
the season on the doorstep, 
this year’s book can finally 
begin to be written. 
What 
identity 
will 
this 
year’s Michigan team write? 
Is it a cohesive, aggressive unit 
like Hutchins envisions, one 
that embodies Schembechler’s 
words? Or is it something 
different, requiring perhaps 
a steeper learning curve than 
anticipated? 
The five-game slate this 
weekend 
won’t 
provide 
a 
definite answer — Hutchins 
admitted that could take until 
next month. But it will reveal 
at least a glimpse of clarity.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson sat down with The Daily to break down senior forward Will Lockwood’s game-winning goal against Ohio State on Friday.

He leaves the 
pick for Slaker 
coming down 
here.

Will has that, 
he likes to go 
to the net. He’s 
aggressive.

Will (was) 
so quick that 
he beat him 
around the net.

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Editor

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Juwan Howard is often more animated on the sideline than John Beilein was.

I’m going to 
back up my 
team for all 40 
minutes.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan softball team opens its season Friday against Georgia State.

Now we gotta 
learn how to 
go into battle 
together.

