8 — Friday, February 7, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN ESCAPES PURDUE, 66-63, TO
CLIMB ABOVE .500 IN BIG TEN PLAY
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Dominick Sotokoff / Daily
THAT’LL
PUR-DO IT
Design by Jack Silberman
Nolan’s defense stands out in start
Maddie Nolan stood on the
court, lined up just outside the
center circle. For the first time
in the freshman’s career, she
waited for the tip-off from the
floor.
Her first start wasn’t an
expected,
predetermined
ordeal — she was told earlier
Thursday.
On Wednesday, sophomore
guard Danielle Rauch injured
her hand in practice, two weeks
after the starting position fell
in her lap when senior Kayla
Robbins tore her ACL.
With
just
seven
players
available
against
the
team
right above it in the standings,
Michigan — with the help of
Nolan — held its own Thursday
on the way to a 66-63 victory
over Purdue.
Nolan started the year on
the bench, seeing minutes late
in games when the margin
of victory for the Wolverines
was insurmountable. Against
lesser opponents, she wasn’t
flashy. Nolan made the plays
she needed to and did what she
was told. In close games, she
didn’t play.
“Nolan had a tremendous
high school career and then
she
suffered
a
significant
injury, and coming back from
that injury she wasn’t even
sure what she was going to be
able to do,” Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico said. “When
she got to Michigan this fall,
we weren’t sure what her
basketball career was going to
look like, and she’s really done
a tremendous job.”
But as the season progressed,
her work ethic in practice
earned her more and more
minutes. In the last couple of
games, Nolan has been one of
the first players off the bench.
Then,
on
Thursday,
she
played 28 minutes.
Locking down the defensive
end, Nolan refused to let the
Boilermakers get hot, even as
they targeted her. Just over a
minute in the game, she chased
down a shooter at the 3-point
line and smacked away the ball.
A
couple
minutes
later,
Purdue
looked
to
score
a
quick bucket after a defensive
rebound
left
most
of
the
Wolverines behind the play.
Senior guard Akienreh Johnson
and Nolan stood alone against
two Boilermakers and, upon
Johnson’s
direction,
Nolan
took on the driving Karissa
McLaughlin.
The
normally
easy layup barely made it above
McLaughlin’s head before it
was swatted away.
These two early plays set
the tone for the 5-foot-9 Nolan,
who finished the game with a
team high of four blocks. She
even rejected a shot from the
6-foot-4 Fatou Diagne.
“In
high
school,
you
obviously play against a lot of
smaller kids so I could block
some of them, but not here,”
Nolan said. “I don’t think I’ve
had four blocks in the whole of
practice. … I think I just knew
I needed to get defensive stops
and that was my mindset.”
Nolan also pulled her weight
on the glass, striking like a
snake when the ball fell from
the rims. Whether she was at
the 3-point arc defending the
shot, or bodying up a player on
the post, she found the ball.
“We need five people to
crash the defensive boards,
we need people to crash the
offensive boards,” Nolan said.
“I know I’m not necessarily the
biggest scorer, but I’m trying
to help the team in other ways,
like rebounding was what I
came in focused on.”
Nolan ended the game with
two points, six rebounds and
four blocks. She wasn’t flashy
and didn’t make much of an
offensive impact. But she found
ways to contribute when a team
suffering from injuries needed
her.
As the clock ticked down,
and Purdue worked its way into
the game, Barnes Arico trusted
Nolan. Her fight and her grit
were exactly what Michigan
needed to find a way out of the
game with a win.
‘M’ survives after nearly blowing lead
Seventeen
seconds.
Michigan’s ahead by three.
Purdue has the ball and one
last chance to force overtime.
Eight
seconds.
Boilermakers’
guard
Dominique Oden catches a
pass and drives along the
baseline.
Three seconds. Oden pops
up and turns to the wing,
looking to pass it out.
A
whistle.
The
referee
points to the baseline. Oden
stepped out of bounds. It
looks like the Wolverines (15-7
overall, 6-5 Big Ten) have
escaped with the win.
But it wasn’t over yet. The
inbound pass went through
sophomore
forward
Naz
Hillmon’s legs and out of
bounds. After a review, the
refs determined that Hillmon
had never touched the ball.
The Boilermakers (15-9, 6-6)
had one last shot at it.
After
the
inbound,
the
Purdue player heaved up a
three-quarter-court shot. It
fell short. Michigan survived,
66-63.
Even
before
Thursday’s
game started, Michigan knew
it wouldn’t be an easy night.
Sophomore
guard
Danielle
Rauch — who had been filling
in for injured senior forward
Kayla Robbins — was out with
a hand injury. This meant
freshman
guard
Maddie
Nolan, who averaged just 8.8
minutes per game entering
Thursday’s contest, would be
making her first career start.
Though
Nolan
didn’t
contribute
much
on
the
offensive end, she did help her
team on the glass, securing six
rebounds on the night. She also
added a surprising four blocks,
two of which came in the first
six minutes.
“I just try to take care of the
ball, just bring energy to the
floor,” Nolan said. “Obviously,
you guys have seen (Rauch)
just does a great job of getting
everyone hyped. She brings the
team together. She celebrates
everyone no matter what, so I
just tried to imitate that.”
Offensively, the Wolverines
hit their stride early. With the
Boilermakers crashing the paint
to defend sophomore forward
Naz Hillmon, the 3-point shot
was open for junior forward
Hailey Brown, who went 3-of-
4 from deep in the first half.
Senior guard Akienreh Johnson
followed suit, sinking a pair of
threes en route to a 12-point
first half.
“Everybody
that
watches
film on us — everyone in the
country — knows that we rely
on paint touches,” Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico said.
“ ... (But) when you can have
people knock down the outside
shot, it gives Naz at least a little
bit more space to be successful.”
That
high-low
attack
unleashed Hillmon, who, after
being held to just eight points
in the first half, doubled that
output in a third quarter where
her teammates struggled to
hit shots. With the defense
focusing on closing out on
threes, she had just enough
breathing room to carry the
Wolverines into the fourth
quarter with a six-point lead.
The separation turned out
to be crucial, as Michigan’s
shooting went cold in the
fourth.
Going
nearly
five
minutes without a field goal,
the Wolverines saw their lead
— which had been as high as
14 — dwindle down to one
point with under four minutes
remaining.
Barnes
Arico
called timeout and drew up a
play to free up Brown on the
perimeter. Brown drained the
three.
“I thought the shots (Brown)
made in the first half were
incredible,” Barnes Arico said.
“I thought she was open a lot
more than we found her in the
first half because I thought her
girl was doubling on Naz, and
we knew late that her girl was
doubling on Naz, so we wanted
to put her in some screening
action, and if we didn’t have
Naz we were gonna have her
wide open coming off of a
down screen.”
That shot — along with a
layup from Hillmon in the final
minute — ultimately sealed the
win. The game was ugly, and if
Rauch’s injury turns out to be
long term, life won’t get any
easier for Michigan moving
forward.
But
considering
the
circumstances entering today,
the team will take a win
however it can.
BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
I needed to get
defensive stops
and that was
my mindset.