The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 — 7

DeJulius growing through sophomore season

After the Michigan men’s 
basketball team upset No. 16 
Michigan State on Saturday, 
77-68, a photograph started to 
pop up all over social media.
In it, as the jubilant Maize Rage 
in the background celebrates the 
Wolverines’ 
statement 
defeat 
of 
the 
Spartans, 
sophomore 
guard David DeJulius embraces 
Michigan coach Juwan Howard. 
DeJulius’ eyes are closed in 
some mixture of gratitude and 
exhaustion while Howard soaks 
up his surroundings in awe and 
relief. 
Both men pause amidst the 
triumphant chaos around them, 
each taking in the moment, 
stopping to acknowledge their 
appreciation for each other.
“I saw David walking, heading 
toward the tunnel to go walk to 
the locker room,” Howard said. “I 
looked over to my right, and I just 
recalled throughout the game 
that David had affected the game 
in a lot of ways.
“… David was a guy who 
gave us a big spark in the first 
half. I was just so proud of how 
he competed, and I wanted to 
acknowledge him, and let him 

know that, as a team and a coach, 
thank you for all the hard work. 
That hug was an embrace of — he 
knows it. I love him. That’s what 
that energy and what that hug 
meant.”
The shadow of Zavier Simpson 
is not an easy place to live. But 
that’s where David DeJulius has 
spent the last two years.
Watching. Learning. Growing. 
It wasn’t always easy.
“You 
might 
get 
a 
few 
minutes 
at 
a 
time, so you’re 
trying to make 
sure 
that 
you 
make a basket 
or 
something,” 
DeJulius 
said 
in 
November. 
“(It) was really, 
really rough for 
me (last year), 
because I really spent a lot of time 
devoting my life to basketball, so 
it was really tough not playing.”
But the star senior point 
guard’s remaining days in Ann 
Arbor are numbered, and the 
specter of graduation has served 
as a reminder of the fact that one 
day in the not-so-distant future, 
Michigan will need to replace 
Simpson.

This season has made one 
thing clear: David DeJulius will 
be key in doing that.
After 
a 
freshman 
season 
spent largely on the bench, in 
his sophomore season, DeJulius 
has shown his worth off it. He’s 
averaging a little over seven 
points and two rebounds and 
seeing around 20 minutes a 
game. When the team traveled 
to Lincoln to take on Nebraska 
without 
the 
suspended 
Simpson, 
DeJulius started 
and 
played 
34 
minutes. 
“To 
have 
a 
guy like David 
DeJulius 
step 
up and be more 
vocal, especially 
during 
times 
where the team 
was making a run, or we may 
have had a turnover, or we may 
have given up a shot, he came in,” 
Howard said after the Nebraska 
game. “At timeouts, holding guys 
accountable, 
holding 
himself 
accountable, it was good. It was 
good to see that.”
But even with Simpson in 
the lineup, DeJulius has been 
far from quiet. He’s had nine 

double-digit scoring nights this 
season, including a career-high 
14 against Oregon in December 
and — perhaps most excitingly 
for a kid out of Detroit — 10 on 
Saturday against Michigan State.
“David has been rock-solid 
all year,” Howard said Tuesday. 
“Yes, someone will look at the 
stats, look at the points. I don’t 
look at it from that point of view. I 
look at it as far as what he’s doing 
out there on the floor to help the 
team and affect the game in any 
kind of way to give us the best 
chance to win. 
“I recognize in practice each 
and every day that David has 
that approach. He comes in with 
the right attitude to work, to 
improve.”
It’s a conversation DeJulius 
and 
Howard 
have 
often, 
a 
conversation they had Monday. 
Before practice, DeJulius called 
Howard, saying “I’m all in. You 
can never ever second-guess or 
think that I’m not all-in.”
Howard’s response: “David, I 
have not once been afraid or have 
guessed or assumed that you’re 
not.”
As he gets more minutes, he’s 
growing more, playing better. 
He’s taking every chance to 
make sure he gives himself more 
chances. He’s getting his shot, 
and he’s running with it.
With energy like that, it’s 
looking more and more likely 
his chances aren’t going to be 
running out anytime soon.
“David hasn’t once walked in 
the door and not competed, has 
not came in practice and bring 
that effort and that attitude of 
how can he improve,” Howard 
said. “So, if he continues with that 
type of mindset, which I know he 
will, I just see years to come — he 
has two more years, and we have 
two more years to teach him and 
develop him — that I see some 
really great things happening 
for David at the University of 
Michigan, and I know a big goal 
of his is to play on the next level. 
“I would do everything I can to 
help him get to that dream.”

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Sophomore guard David DeJulius will be key once Michigan eventually has to replace senior Zavier Simpson.

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

Ciccolini out for year

Freshman 
forward 
Eric 
Ciccolini had shoulder surgery 
Monday and will miss the 
remainder 
of 
the 
season, 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson 
said Tuesday.
Pearson didn’t name the 
specific 
injury, 
but 
said 
Ciccolini came to Ann Arbor 
with it and has been playing 
through it all season. His 
shoulder has been subluxing 
— sliding in and out of socket, 
repeatedly 
dislocating 
— 
throughout 
the 
season, 
and it got to a point where 
continuing to play through it 
didn’t make sense.
“He was playing with it all 
year, and about a week and a 
half ago, it happened again in 
practice,” Pearson said. “Not a 
hit, just an innocent little play 
and it got to the point where 
it was hard for him to play. … 
He could’ve played the rest of 
the year and had it after the 
season, but then it gets into 
your recovery time for the 
following year, because it’s a 
six to eight-month recovery.”
Ciccolini played in 26 of 
28 games prior to his surgery 
and ranks seventh on the team 
in points with 11 total. His 
10 assists are second on the 
team.
“I think you just saw a little 
bit of the player that he’s 

going to be,” Pearson said. 
“Having to play with that all 
year was — I give him a ton of 
credit. The mental toughness 
to have to grind it out through 
that, I mean just not knowing 
when it’s going to slide out on 
you.”
The 
surgery 
had 
been 
scheduled 
“for 
a 
while”, 
Pearson 
said, 
but 
even 
as 
recently 
as 
this 
past 
weekend’s 
series 
against 
Wisconsin, Ciccolini wasn’t 
completely certain he’d opt 
to end his season early. But 
after discussing it with senior 
forward Will Lockwood and 
associate 
head 
coach 
Bill 
Muckalt, both of whom have 
undergone similar surgeries, 
Ciccolini decided to go ahead 
and fix the issue.
With the six to eight-month 
recovery, Ciccolini projects to 
be back on the ice around the 
time the Wolverines pick up 
practice in the fall.
“I 
think 
this 
weekend 
(against Wisconsin), you could 
tell a little bit, he just played 
without that fear or trepidation 
that it might happen again,” 
Pearson said. “He just played, 
because he already knew the 
date and there was nothing 
that was going to mess it up. I 
give him a lot of credit. When 
your shoulder pops out, it’s 
painful. It’s not fun. But he’ll 
be ready to go next year, that’s 
the main thing.”

ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Freshman Eric Ciccolini had shoulder surgery Monday, ending his season.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan seeks to replace pitchers

Last season, only one left-
handed pitcher beat No. 1 
UCLA.
His name is Tommy Henry, 
and he did it twice. 
Henry pitched 13 innings 
against the Bruins in two starts, 
one in March and one to send 
Michigan to the College World 
Series in June, allowing only 
four runs while striking out 16 
batters with his sharp fastball 
and elusive slider. These starts 
were a microcosm of his final 
campaign, during which the 
lanky left-hander pitched like 
a true ace and earned a 12-5 
record with a 3.27 ERA.
Henry was paramount to the 
Wolverines’ success in 2019. 
He and fellow starter Karl 
Kauffman combined to chew 
through over 250 innings in 
a season that entranced the 
college baseball world.
2019 was one of the most 
successful seasons in Michigan 
baseball history. But the dust 
has finally settled from that 
season, and the two workhorse 
pitchers the Wolverines rode 
to their duel with Vanderbilt 
in the College World Series no 
longer play in Ann Arbor. 
Kauffman 
and 
Henry’s 
absence begs the question: 
What comes next?
Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
made 
it 
clear 
that 
many 
starting rotation positions are 
in question, but the approach to 
filling them is not.
“The way we approach the 
roles is that you look at who 
your Friday night guy is, and 
you’re looking for consistency 
and a guy that can go out there 
and make a quality start,” 
Bakich said. “A guy who’s got 
the best chance to put up as 
many zeros as possible. A guy 
who’s got three pitches for 
strikes. After that it’s the next 
best version of that and the next 
best version of that.”
To some, the solution is that 
the next wave of pitchers who 
sat behind Kauffman and Henry 
need to rise to the occasion to 
fill the open roles — to step up 
in lieu of the duo’s departure. 

Bakich disagrees. 
“That (rise to the occasion) is 
exactly what we try not to say,” 
Bakich said. “This is something 
we stole from the Navy SEALS: 
‘We don’t rise to the occasion, 
we sink to the level of our 
training, and we just hope 
that the level of our training is 
higher than the occasion.’ ”
Junior starting pitcher Jeff 
Criswell is perhaps the best 
example of why the Wolverines 
prefer the latter mentality. The 
6-foot-4 
right-hander 
from 
Portage, Mich. has trained 
at one of the highest levels 
available to college baseball 
players; 
with 
Team 
USA. 
Having done so, he is the heir 
apparent to Henry.
“To have a Michigan baseball 
player go play for Team USA is 
pretty awesome,” Bakich said. 
“The confidence that he got 
from that, in addition to the 
confidence from pitching both 
as a starter and a reliever, is 
important. He was very valuable 
for us last year, and he has gone 
from being maybe more of a 
thrower as a freshman, to a true 
pitcher with three-plus pitches, 
to a guy who’s regarded as one 
of the best amongst his peers.
“We’re glad to have him, and 
we’re sure glad he’s pitching for 
us on Fridays.”
With Criswell expected to 
be the pitching staff’s ace this 
year, the question remains as 
to who will fall in behind him, 
and the answer is currently 

unknown.
“We feel like we’ve got 
some pretty good options in 
those two, three and four 
spots,” Bakich said. “That’s a 
competition that’s going on 
right now.”
Among 
those 
options 
is 
freshman 
Cam 
Weston, 
whom Criswell himself sees 
as impressive, and there are 
talented 
arms 
in 
redshirt 
sophomore Ben Dragani and 
redshirt 
freshman 
Steven 
Hajjar — both of whom seek to 
return strongly from injuries 
sustained last season. This 
is not to mention redshirt 
sophomore right-hander Isaiah 
Paige, who filled in many 
pitching roles last season, and 
junior right-hander Blake Beers 
whom Bakich cited as a player 
who could potentially play a 
prominent role this season.
The Wolverines may have 
only decided on one rotation 
spot heading into the week 
of their first game, but it is 
clear that they do not see their 
situation as dire. 
“I feel exactly the same 
heading into opening weekend 
now as I did last year,” Bakich 
said.
And for anyone who watched 
Tommy Henry pitch seven 
innings of two-run baseball 
against No.1 UCLA to send 
Michigan to the College World 
Series, that sounds much more 
like a signal of confidence than 
one of worry.

‘M’ falls to Iowa on Senior Night

Despite No. 2 heavyweight 
sophomore Mason Parris’ pin 
over No. 3 redshirt freshman 
Tony Cassioppi, the No. 22 
Michigan wrestling team (6-4 
overall, 5-2 Big Ten) fell to No. 1 
Iowa (11-0, 8-0), 27-9, on Senior 
Night.
Redshirt freshman Joey Silva 
secured one of two Michigan 
wins Saturday night, beating 
Iowa’s Paul Glynn, 7-5. Already 
down 3-0 heading into the 
second match of the night, Silva 
momentarily tied the dual at 3-3 
in team score. Glynn managed to 
tie up the match at 5-5 late, but 
an escape by Silva secured the 
win for the Wolverines.
“Joey 
did 
a 
great 
job 
throughout 
the 
match,” 
Michigan coach Sean Bormet 
said. “One thing is continuing to 
manage weight control. He did 
a really good job managing his 
weight in weigh-ins. It’s really 
all about managing that recovery 
piece. I saw some great things 
offensively for him and he did a 
really nice job on top.”
However, things became grim 
for the Wolverines after Silva’s 
win, as they dropped the next 
seven matchups. Five of those 
matchups 
were 
within 
four 
points, but the rankings favored 
Iowa in nearly every matchup.

Michigan came closest to 
another 
win 
when 
redshirt 
sophomore Jelani Embree faced 
off with Iowa’s Cash Wilcke. 
With a score of 3-2 in Wilcke’s 
favor late in the third period, he 
strayed to the edge of the mat. 
Embree attempted to wave him 
back into the circle, but even 
after receiving a stall warning, 
Wilcke remained near the edge 
of the mat.
“It was a situation where 
Jelani needed to have more 
match 
strategy 
and 
mat 
awareness,” Bormet said. “The 
Iowa 
wrestler 
was playing the 
edge a bit, and 
I’m not sure if 
Jelani realized 
the official had 
called the Iowa 
wrestler 
there 
for 
stalling 
when he was 
hanging 
and 
hovering around 
the edge of the 
mat. There were still 12 seconds 
left, and Jelani was walking back 
in trying to bait him to come into 
the center and he wasn’t coming 
back into the center.”
The 
headlining 
match 
of 
the night came last in the 
heavyweight category, as Parris 
faced off with Iowa’s Cassioppi. 
It began evenly matched, with 
Parris and Cassioppi gaining 

control over each other at 
different points. However, in 
the second period, Parris was 
able to pin Cassioppi to the 
mat in Michigan’s second win 
of the night, keeping himself 
undefeated on the season.
“It was a great confidence 
booster for me,” Parris said. 
“I went out there with a lot of 
confidence 
already. 
He 
was 
my last high school loss, so I 
definitely wanted some revenge 
with him. I just wanted to go out 
there and beat him.”
Parris’ 
vengeful 
win 
was 
ultimately 
in 
vain. Regardless 
of his score, the 
Wolverines’ 
previous 
shortcomings 
already put the 
dual out of reach. 
Still, 
against 
the 
best 
team 
in the country, 
Michigan’s 
wrestlers 
found an opportunity to test 
themselves.
“Every opportunity when you 
compete, you have to go into it 
to get better,” Bormet said. “We 
talk about how you wrestle a 
style where you’re constantly 
trying to get better and improve. 
You can do that even in a loss 
and you can not do that even in 
a win.”

ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan wrestling team fell short against Iowa on Senior Night, losing, 27-9, with just two wins between them.

QUINN NOLAN
For The Daily

You wrestle 
a style where 
you’re ... trying 
to get better.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior right-hander Jeff Criswell is a holdover from last year’s rotation.

JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer

I look at it as 
far as what he’s 
doing out there 
on the floor.

