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.