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February 14, 2020 - Image 7

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, February 14, 2020 — 7A

Michigan, down to essentially
six players, was still in it.
Sophomore
forward
Naz
Hillmon was out with an upper
body injury suffered in the first
quarter. Freshman guard Maddie
Nolan tallied her fifth foul early in
the fourth quarter. Senior guard
Akienreh Johnson was battered
and bruised. Freshman center
Izabel Varejão hopped on one foot
to the bench before coming back
on.
And yet, the Wolverines were
still in it against the No. 19 team
in the country, Northwestern.
Somehow, some way, they had
limped their way into a tight
fourth quarter, the win within
reach.
Down by three with a minute
left on the clock, the Wolverines
got the stop they needed. Now,
they had to devise a play to draw
level with the Wildcats. Varejão’s
mishandled pass blew it up,
though, and freshman guard
Michelle Sidor’s rushed shot
painfully bounced on both sides
of the rim.
The win slipped away, and
despite the fight, Northwestern
(21-3 overall, 11-2 Big Ten) beat
Michigan (16-8, 7-6), 66-60.
“When you lose a player like
Naz, everybody needs to do a
little bit more,” Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico said. “I think
we tried to do that, but I think
our freshmen kind of got exposed
a little bit. They were freshmen
and I think the other team was
really experienced and their
experience wore on our young
kids. Especially late, especially in
the third quarter.”
A hush fell on Crisler Center
back in the first quarter as
Hillmon, Michigan’s star, lay
curled on the court, clutching
her shoulder after colliding with
another player going for a loose
ball.

“I think it pissed us off. For
sure it pissed me off because we
were getting hacked,” Johnson
said. “We just have to respond.
We’re not the only team in the
world that this has happened to.
… We don’t make excuses. Each
person that goes down is another
opportunity for somebody to
step up and to come and play for
them.”
Shortly after Hillmon left the
game, her replacement — Varejão
— put the Wolverines in even
further trouble by picking up
two quick fouls. They were now
down to two viable post players,
junior forward Hailey Brown and
sophomore forward Emily Kiser,
the latter of whom has rarely
played big minutes in big games.
Northwestern fought through
its own personnel issues, with
four players quickly racking up
two fouls, including its most
potent weapon in guard Lindsey
Pulliam — who put up 32 points
by herself in the last meeting.
At halftime, things looked
up for the Wolverines. Hillmon
ended the second quarter on
the court, the Wildcats’ offense
couldn’t find any success and
Johnson was stepping up, making
a series of improbable shots.
Michigan went to break up, 35-30.
“We did a great job of getting
them all in foul trouble in the first
half,” Barnes Arico said. “That
really helped us when they’re in
foul trouble.”
The second half was a different
story for the Wildcats. Guard
Sydney Wood, who averages 4.3
points per game, caught fire and
scored 10 in the third quarter
alone.
Forward
Abi
Scheid,
another thorn in the Wolverines’
side from their last meeting, also
found success out of the gate with
nine points.
“When we lost Naz and we were
in some foul trouble we had to go
to zone and that gave them a little
more flexibility to move around in
that zone,” Barnes Arico said. “I

thought that allowed them, too, to
be more aggressive.”
Meanwhile, Michigan couldn’t
get its offense rolling due to a
plague of turnovers, including
two pivotal ones late in the third
quarter that gave Northwestern a
wide open layup and 3-pointer to
take a four-point lead.
“I thought we got tired a little
bit and we didn’t have anybody to
really go to when our point guard
needed a rest and she played a lot
of minutes for us,” Barnes Arico
said. “Some of our turnovers in
that third quarter, we gave up
a big third quarter, led to easy
buckets for them.”
Midway through the fourth
quarter, though, the Wolverines
were still in it. Johnson drove
down the court, hitting a big
layup that roused a dormant
Crisler Center and brought them
within three.
And then the Wolverines,
swaying, missed their last-ditch
shot and fell, coming oh-so-close.

Lindsey Pulliam is nothing
short of explosive.
Entering
Thursday
night’s
game, the Northwestern guard
was second in the Big Ten in
scoring, averaging 19.7 points per
game. In the Michigan women’s
basketball team’s Jan. 30 loss to the
Wildcats, Pulliam scored a season-
high 32 points, 22 of which came in
the second half. She almost single-
handedly delivered the Wolverines
an eight-point loss.
Over the two weeks since
that
loss,
Michigan’s
biggest
challenge in preparing for the
rematch was how to contain her.
Without Pulliam’s dominance, the
Wolverines felt that they could pull
off their biggest win of the season.
From the start of Thursday’s
game, the gameplan for defending
Pulliam was clear: Don’t let
her touch the ball. When she
gets the ball, she doesn’t need

much room to score — she can
knock down fadeaway jumpers
from almost anywhere on the
court. In the loss two weeks ago,
Michigan rarely let her get much
separation, but she didn’t need
it. She constantly knocked down
improbable fadeaways to prevent
the Wolverines from cutting into
Northwestern’s second-half lead.
Senior
guard
Akienreh
Johnson, tasked with defending
Pulliam on Thursday, was all over
the place to keep the ball out of her
hands. Any time Pulliam came to
the top of the arc to receive a hand-
off from the point guard, Johnson
did whatever she could to get a
hand in and deflect the ball away.
Many of the Wildcats’ possessions
ended without Pulliam getting a
touch.
“I studied her style of play for
I think a week before this game
… and one thing that I realized
is when she gets the ball, either
she’s gonna score it or she’s gonna
draw a foul,” Johnson said. “So my
intention this entire game, I didn’t
care if I scored one single point, I
was just keeping the ball out of her
hands and making sure she wasn’t
scoring.”
When she did get the ball,
Michigan sent a double-team at
her, often a forward. A second,
bigger player coming at Pulliam
threw her off just enough that
she couldn’t knock down that
fadeaway. She finished with just
four points — none in the second
half — on 1-for-10 shooting.
“I thought Akienreh Johnson
did a fabulous job on (Pulliam),”
Michigan
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico said. “I thought she was
outstanding on her and really
frustrated her early to the point
that she kind of went away.”
But while Johnson shut down
Pulliam, Northwestern still won,
66-60, because the Wolverines’
offense struggled to generate
anything in the second half. After
shooting over 50 percent in the
first half, Michigan shot under 35

percent in the second. It turned
the ball over 12 times in the second
half, compared to just six in the
first. The Wolverines couldn’t
overcome the loss of sophomore
forward Naz Hillmon — their
leading scorer — who went down
with an upper body injury three
minutes into the game.
Michigan
held
it
together
without her early on, in large
part to Johnson’s six first quarter
points, and she returned early in
the second. But midway through
the third quarter, Hillmon came
out after aggravating her injury
and didn’t return.
And her second absence took a
toll on the Wolverines’ offense.
Playing the final four minutes
of the third quarter without
her, Michigan committed four
turnovers and the Wildcats went
on a 15-6 run to end the quarter,
turning a 3-point Wolverines lead
into a 6-point deficit.
In the fourth quarter, Michigan
clawed its way back, tying the
game with three minutes to go, but
it was the Wolverines’ defense that
got them back in it — they forced
Northwestern to shoot 25 percent
in the quarter.
Michigan’s offense couldn’t get
anything going despite its strong
defense. The Wolverines often had
to take low-percentage shots, and
when they did score, it came late
in the shot clock. After tying the
game, they didn’t score again, and
only scored 11 total points in the
quarter.
“We got stagnant a little bit
at
times
because
(Hillmon)
dominates the ball so much,”
Barnes Arico said. “(Freshman
center Izabel Varejão) tried to
do that but she’s also a freshman
trying to do what Naz has done and
I think she had really good spurts,
but she didn’t sustain the level that
Naz can play at.”
Johnson did her part on Pulliam,
but an unfortunate injury and a
sluggish offense cost Michigan a
game it easily could have won.

Bested and bruised

Naz Hillmon goes down with injury as Michigan drops game to Northwestern in final seconds, 66-60

Wolverines exploit fast break in win

Franz Wagner wasn’t going to
wait for anybody — not his fellow
Wolverines and certainly not the
backtracking Wildcats standing
in his way.
Having gathered the defensive
rebound on one end, Wagner
bobbed and weaved his way
down to the other. As a final act,
the freshman forward delicately
ushered the ball off the glass
and in while absorbing contact.
With the possibility of a three-
point play upcoming, Wagner
strolled off, puffing his chest out
and gesturing to the Michigan
bench, the Wolverines leading
by 21 points.
The sequence was just one of a
slew of fast break opportunities
enjoyed
by
the
Wolverines
during Wednesday’s 79-54 rout
of the Wildcats. Whether it was
a rim-rattling dunk by junior
forward Isaiah Livers or a wide-
open 3-pointer from junior guard
Eli Brooks, Michigan carved
up
Northwestern’s transition
defense. By the end of the night,
the Wolverines had scored 17
fast break points — their highest
tally since playing Iowa State in
late November.
While it’s easy to point to the
fact that the lowly Wildcats —
currently sitting in last place in
the Big Ten with a 1-12 conference
record — sit at 162nd in adjusted
defensive efficiency according to
KenPom, Wednesday night was

a refreshing reminder of how
potent Michigan can be on the
break.
To
this
point,
despite
Michigan coach Juwan Howard’s
fundamental
insistence
on
pushing the pace, Michigan
hasn’t quite been able to meet
those
expectations,
ranking
107th in possessions per game.
As shifty as the Wolverines’
guards are — namely senior
Zavier Simpson and sophomore
David DeJulius — Michigan’s
transition
offense
was
undoubtedly
hampered
by
Livers’
nine-
game absence.
With
the
victory
over
Northwestern,
the Wolverines
have
now
reached
double-digit
fast
break
points in ten
games,
Livers
played in all but
two of them.
His willingness to run the
floor and quick burst opens
up lanes for Michigan’s ball-
handlers and gives them just
another dynamic outlet to drop
the ball off to.
“When
I
was
watching,
sometimes it was sticky,” Livers
said. “Coach Howard talked
about the ball sticking. I feel like
when I’m out there, I mean yeah,
I try and get my shot because
coach Howard tells me to be

aggressive but also, I’m going to
move the ball. When I’m at the
top, I’m trying to orchestrate, I
try to swing the ball to Eli for a
three, get it to (Simpson) going
downhill.”
Against the Wildcats, Livers’s
presence was not only felt
but heard. Disregarding any
recollection of his recently-
injured groin, Livers spread
his wings to flush home two
monstrous dunks off transition
feeds
from
Simpson
and
DeJulius.
“Every time I run down the
middle, Dave is always giving it
back to me,” Livers said. “So I
already knew. Let me run a little
bit and see what (Northwestern
forward Pete) Nance was going
to
do.
He
shadowed
more
towards Eli. I was there in my
takeoff zone and went up off one.
It’s exciting to get two dunks to
finish a game without getting
hurt.”
The uptick in fast break
opportunities for the Wolverines
also stemmed from an increased
workload for DeJulius when
Simpson got in foul trouble.
DeJulius, one of the quicker
players on the team, accrued
seven assists in 21 minutes
as Michigan’s floor general,
with
five
of
them coming in
transition.
“I’m naturally a

scorer,” DeJulius
said. “But that’s
not really what I
care about. I just
care about doing
whatever it takes
for the team. Just
to see that I got
seven assists. To
see guys get Isaiah the ball and
he gets a dunk and he gets to
yell, or me kick the ball to Cole
(Bajema) and he gets a three. …
That feels good to me.”
It
might’ve
come
against
Northwestern,
but
the
rare
acumen the Wolverines showed
on the fast break is definitely a
welcome sight.
For better or for worse, expect
to see some more high-flying
dunks from Livers and more
flexing from Wagner.

Allan makes her presence known

Lou Allan wasted no time in
Friday’s season opener. With
two outs in the bottom of the
first inning, the junior third
baseman fired a ball deep into
the right of center field and
took off.
It
was
the
Wolverines’
first hit of the season and —
after another big swing from
sophomore infielder Morgan
Overaitis — she scored the first
run.
But for Allan, it represented
another first: The first time in
her career that she’s been able
to play in Michigan softball’s
opening weekend. She spent
most of last season in the
dugout, recovering from a knee
injury.
“I
thought
she
attacked
(the injury),” Michigan coach
Carol
Hutchins
said.
“She
couldn’t
control
the
fact
that she was hurt, she was
highly
disappointed,
she’d
fought through injury in her
freshman year. I think it’s
underestimated
how
much
this can affect a kid who works
all year and lifts weights all
summer — you know, they put
everything into this and it gets
taken from them in a heartbeat.
“I
was
really
impressed

with how she responded to it,
because all you can do is attack
it. And she really did.”
Hutchins
said
she
can’t
even remember how Allan
was playing before the injury.
But it’s clear she’s leaps and
bounds ahead of where she was
at the end of last season. She’s
stronger, her mobility is better
and she’s faster. A couple
months ago, it was unclear
whether she’d
be
mobile
enough to play
defensively,
but in January,
Allan turned a
corner.
This
weekend,
she
started
every
game on first
base, and she
showed
the
impact she can make in the
infield.
“She’s got a good glove, got
a good bat — I mean, what
can you say?” Overaitis said.
“She brings a little toughness
to the infield. She had a great
weekend defensively. She had
a lot of shots hit at her, so I
think she’s a strong leader in
the infield.”
But Allan’s biggest impact
was at the plate. Last season,
Allan got five hits in 19 at-bats.

This year, she’s starting third
in the lineup. And within this
past
weekend
alone,
she’s
already matched last year’s
hits in just 16 at-bats.
In the season opener, she
swung for a home run and a
double, registering two RBI in
the process. Against Florida
the next day, she hit another
homer and a single, picking up
two more RBI.
Despite
the
power in her bat,
there
are
still
places she needs
to
improve,
as
she went 0-for-
4 on the last day
of the weekend.
On
the
field,
Hutchins wants
her to get more
mobile
and
quicker on the
first step. But, for now, it looks
like third in the batting order
is exactly where Allan needs
to be.
“She is our most powerful
hitter, but that doesn’t mean
she’ll hit the most home runs,”
Hutchins said. “We need to be
able to hit through the middle
of the order. We need our RBIs.
Do I think she can do it? I
think she can do it. I think they
can all do it. It’s just a matter of
whether they do it.”

LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior third baseman Lou Allan played in Michigan’s opening weekend for the first time in her college career.

I was really
impressed
with how she
responded to it.

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Isaiah Livers helped lead Michigan’s fast break in Wednesday’s win.

CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer

I was there in
my takeoff zone
and went off
one.

JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Akienreh Johnson played strong defense on Lindsey Pulliam in Michigan’s loss.

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