The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 20, 2020 — 7
As it entered the locker room
at
halftime
Wednesday,
the
Michigan
women’s
basketball
team had to catch its breath.
The Wolverines just watched
Illinois guard Brandi Beasley
drive the length of the Crisler
Center floor in five seconds,
sinking a layup to give the
Fighting Illini — the No. 13 team
in the Big Ten — a one-point lead
entering the break. It was a fitting
end to a first half where Illinois
shot 56.7 percent, including an
electric 8-for-13 from three.
For Michigan to avoid an
embarrassing loss to the Big Ten’s
doormat, it would need to lock in
defensively.
The Wolverines did just that,
allowing just 17 points the entire
second half and running away
with an 80-59 victory.
“It
was
really
nice
that
we weren’t in a panic mode,”
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico said. “But I also thought
that we needed to be locked in
and focused. I said that we need
to defend, we need to lock in, we
need to focus. I was kind of on
them during one of the timeouts,
that we need to turn this up …
and I think they really took that
to heart and went back out there
and tried to do a better job on the
defensive end.”
From the beginning, the Illini
were on fire offensively. With 3:28
remaining in the first quarter,
they entered the first media
timeout with 21 points, 15 of which
came from their perfect 5-for-5
on 3-pointers. The Wolverines
hung around — largely thanks to
scoring from sophomore guard
Amy Dilk, senior guard Akienreh
Johnson and junior forward
Hailey Brown — but they couldn’t
keep up with Illinois defensively.
But the second half looked like
a completely different ballgame.
Suddenly,
Illinois’
shooters
couldn’t find any space. After
going underneath screens in the
first half to deny the inside, the
Wolverines’ defenders instead
went over the screens to close out
on shooters.
As a result, Illini guards Jeanae
Terry and Petra Holešínská —
who each went 2-for-3 from three
and scored eight points apiece
in the first half — were held to
a scoreless, 0-for-6 combined
second half. The rest of the
team followed suit, shooting an
abysmal 1-for-12 from beyond the
arc.
“They came out lights out
(early on), and our kids had to
realize that they couldn’t help off
the shooters,” Barnes Arico said.
“We had to take away space and
give up twos for threes at that
point and really deny the reversal
passes. … And then we did a great
job in the second half of not
allowing those threes.”
Meanwhile,
Michigan
maintained its level of scoring.
Sophomore forward Naz Hillmon
— who was limited by an upper-
body injury in Sunday’s loss at
Rutgers — contributed to this
effort, notching 12 second-half
points after a quiet start to the
game.
Alongside
Johnson’s
continued scoring and Dilk’s
passing, the Wolverines got back
to their lethal high-low attack
that was missing Sunday, best
exemplified by a well-worked
fourth-quarter
sequence
that
stretched their lead to nine.
“I remember it was after a
timeout, and (junior forward
Hailey Brown) threw me a pass I
had to get up and get,” Dilk said.
“And flash in the middle was open
the whole game, and (Johnson)
made the right read, she flashed in
and hit the high-low to Naz who
sealed the player off and hit that
huge bucket for us.”
That bucket, of course, didn’t
win Michigan the game. It made
up just two points in a 21-point
victory over an inferior opponent.
But
considering
how
the
Wolverines looked Sunday against
Rutgers, it’s definitely a positive
sign. It shows they’ve moved on
from their most disastrous outing
all season and are back to doing
what they’re expected to do.
Even if that’s just blowing out a
bottom-tier Big Ten team.
In
a
game
that
wasn’t
supposed to be much of a
challenge,
the
Michigan
women’s basketball team found
itself in an early scare.
Powered by a first quarter
in which it shot 11-for-16 from
the floor and 6-for-8 from
3-point range, Illinois led the
Wolverinesfor much of the first
half. Michigan didn’t take a lead
until 44 seconds
remaining in the
half, but a coast-
to-coast
layup
by
Fighting
Illini
guard
Brandi Beasley
as time expired
put
Illinois
back on top by
one
entering
halftime.
But that was
the last time Illinois led, as the
Wolverines (17-9 overall, 8-7
Big Ten) held off the Illini (11-
15, 2-13) for a 80-59 victory.
Early in the third quarter,
sophomore
forward
Naz
Hillmon — who scored just
three points in the first half —
got going. After suffering an
upper body injury in the Feb.
13 loss against Northwestern,
Hillmon
struggled
Sunday
against Rutgers, clearly less
than full strength. She scored
the Wolverines’ next six points
and finished with 15 points
and 10 rebounds, quelling any
concerns the injury would be a
lingering issue.
“She
didn’t
have
a
tremendous statline in the first
half, but just her presence out
there was great,” Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico said.
“And then second half, we tried
to go to her a little bit more and
she kind of got back into her
groove.”
The
Wolverines’
defense
stayed
strong
throughout
the
third
quarter.
Despite
giving up 42 points in the
first
half,
Michigan
didn’t
play
particularly
poorly
—
the Illini just kept making
improbable
shots.
Without
Illinois
knocking
down
an
uncharacteristically
high
percentage of those shots, the
Wolverines held the Illini to
just six points in the third
quarter.
“We decided ‘Let’s just take
the ball, get the ball out of their
hands,’ ” senior
guard Akienreh
Johnson
said.
“
‘Let’s
deny
the next pass.
Let’s mess up
their
offense,
get them a little
rattled so that
once they do get
that wide open
shot
they’re
shaken
up
so
much that they can’t make it.’ ”
Michigan took a nine-point
lead into the fourth quarter,
powered by eight third-quarter
points from Hillmon and six
from Johnson, who finished
with 22 points.
In the fourth quarter, the
Wolverines continued to score
at a pace Illinois couldn’t keep
up with, outscoring the Illini
23-11 in the quarter. Despite
a brief scrum between junior
forward Hailey Brown and
Illinois forward Ali Andrews
with three minutes remaining
in the game that resulted in
Brown
getting
disqualified,
Michigan
cruised
past
the
Illini.
After a hot Illinois start,
the
Wolverines
got
their
offense going — Johnson and
sophomore guard Amy Dilk led
the way with seven points each
— but the Illini continued to
knock down improbable shots,
including multiple 3-pointers
while heavily defended. They
led 28-24 after the first quarter,
backed
by
two
3-pointers
apiece
from
Andrews
and
guards Petra Holesínská and
Jeanae Terry.
But Andrews picked up her
second foul early in the second
quarter and had to sit, while
Holešínská
and
Terry
both
cooled down. After combining
for 20 points in the first half,
the trio scored just six the rest
of the way. Michigan, on the
other hand, got hot from deep,
knocking down 3-of-6 — two
from Brown, who scored 11
points in the first half.
“When
(Brown)
hits
3-pointers, it gives her the
confidence to play a little
harder, play on the defensive
end,” Johnson said. “We knew
that the next rotation they were
going to be out denying Hailey
or out denying shooters and we
were going to have an easy post
touch.”
It wasn’t easy from the
start, but a strong all-around
offensive
performance
and
a resurgent Hillmon led the
Wolverines to a comfortable
win.
Back to basics
Michigan easily beats Illinois, 80-59, behind full-strength Hillmon and 22 points from Johnson
A
lmost exactly three
months after Michigan
went to East Lansing in
November
and got shut
out, 3-0, by
Michigan
State, the
Wolverines
went back
to Munn Ice
Arena and
wrote a very
different
story.
They won,
5-1, and followed that win up with
a 4-1 win over the Spartans in
Detroit on Monday to complete
the sweep.
“We looked at the tape when
we played them here earlier this
year,” Michigan coach Mel Pear-
son said Friday night. “It’s like a
horror movie. We were so bad.
And nothing against them, but we
were just so bad, and we played so
much better (tonight).”
On Nov. 16 after Michigan lost
in East Lansing, the Wolverines
were six games into Big Ten play
and had only one point in the con-
ference standings. Before Michi-
gan got its first Big Ten win, it
went 0-6-1 through its first seven
conference games.
The picture for the Wolverines
couldn’t be more different now.
After starting out firmly in last
place in the Big Ten, Michigan is
now in third place and just three
points behind Penn State and
Minnesota, which are tied for the
lead. If — emphasis on if — the
Wolverines sweep Notre Dame
and Minnesota to close the regu-
lar season, they’ll win the Big Ten
regular season title.
In that first series against
Michigan State, Pearson saw his
team struggle in nearly every
aspect of the game. The Wolver-
ines blew a 3-1 lead on the Thurs-
day night to lose, 4-3, and couldn’t
put the puck past goaltender John
Lethemon on the Saturday.
Wednesday in the offices at
Yost Ice Arena, Pearson reeled off
a laundry list of things that went
wrong for Michigan in November.
“Just our overall compete
level,” Pearson said. “Our execu-
tion of passing and plays. I’m
maybe being overcritical, but
we’re so much better in those
areas now for the most part. …
Just our awareness, our alertness.
Just our compete level. Just our
execution. Skating. Breaking the
puck out.
“...We’re a lot different team.
We’re playing a lot better. But we
were way off early.”
Some of this resurgence has
been keyed by Michigan playing
with, for the most part, a healthy
lineup. Michigan had five play-
ers miss at least one game in the
12-game span between the begin-
ning of the season on Oct. 11 and
the second game against the Spar-
tans in November for a total of 11
man games lost to injury.
Three players have missed a
total of four games in the 18 games
since. Freshman forward Eric
Ciccolini has also been lost for the
rest of the season, but his 11 points
in 26 games is an easier loss to
absorb than, for example, senior
forward Jake Slaker, who has 23
points in 17 games since scoring
his first goal on Nov. 23.
But it isn’t just having healthy
players that’s enabled Michigan
to find success and turn things
completely around after getting
swept by Michigan State early in
the year.
The Wolverines spent months
working in practice to crisp things
up, and now that the offense has
started to come, the confidence
has followed.
It’s somewhat of a self-fulfilling
prophecy. When the puck isn’t
going in the net, your confidence
drops, and then your next shots
become even less likely to find
twine. The opposite is true when
a player is able to break out of a
slump and start lighting the lamp.
“I just think things are starting
to click,” sophomore defenseman
Nick Blankenburg said. “I think
we’re starting to figure out the
way we need to play, and I think
everyone’s playing to their style
and everyone’s doing what they
need to do to help the team win.”
And Michigan is also dem-
onstrating a full commitment to
team defense in a way it didn’t
always early in the year. In Mon-
day night’s win, the Wolverines
blocked 30 shots — nearly double
their average of 15.1 blocks per
game.
“It’s something that we’re
gonna have to do,” Blankenburg
said. “I think when all the guys are
putting their bodies on the line,
you’re gonna keep seeing those
games where we’re letting up
one goal, two goals. That’s what
we need is everybody to buy in to
keep blocking shots.”
At a basic level, blocking shots is
a simple box-score demonstration
of a team’s buy-in to the gameplan.
If players are putting their bod-
ies on the line to secure a win, it
probably means that team is fully
committed to the game plan and
willing to do what it takes to win.
When the Wolverines got shut
out on Nov. 16, they blocked just
three shots and 16 across the two
games.
This past weekend, they
blocked 42.
Things are a little different
now.
Johnson can be reached
at bajohn@umich.edu or on
Twitter @BaileyAJohnson_.
Bottom third of lineup produces
As freshman outfielder Clark
Elliot stood on first base with
one out in the top of the ninth
last Friday against then-No. 1
Vanderbilt,
fifth-year
senior
infielder
Matthew
Schmidt
walked from the on-deck circle
to the right-handed batter’s box
as the go-ahead run.
Two
pitches
later,
every
hitter’s favorite sound resonated
throughout Salt River Fields in
Scottsdale, Ariz. as Schmidt sent
a 1-1 fastball from Vanderbilt
junior right-hander Troy Brown
skyward, launching the ball over
the left field fence for his first
career home run.
“It was kind of a surreal
experience,” Schmidt said.
The Wolverines went on to
win their College World Series
rematch with Vanderbilt, 4-3, in
large part thanks to Schmidt’s
go-ahead blast.
Given that Schmidt hit in
the seven spot against the
Commodores,
the
long
ball
wasn’t
necessarily
expected.
It was indicative of the bottom
third of the lineup’s production
from the weekend.
“One through nine we can all
provide pop,” Schmidt said. “It
doesn’t really matter if it comes
from the three-hole or whatever
position you are in the lineup.
I think our team has a dynamic
like that. It doesn’t really matter
who it is, we can all provide pop
like that.”
Schmidt
contributed
two
RBI when he barrelled up Troy
Brown’s fastball, but this was far
from the only strong swing from
the bottom third of Michigan’s
lineup. In fact, the Wolverines’
seven, eight and nine hitters
accounted for nine of the 15 RBI
Michigan accrued in its four
games last weekend.
It is always helpful for a team’s
bottom third of the lineup to
contribute to the offense, but
Michigan’s
current
situation
makes it particularly important.
Much
of
the
Wolverines’
production from the 2019 season
— 129 RBI to be exact — left
the team when Jordan Brewer
and Jimmy Kerr went to the
minor leagues. And with junior
centerfielder Jesse Franklin —
the favorite to fill the cleanup
spot
—
currently
injured,
the Wolverines are certainly
thankful for any production
their bottom third can bring to
the table.
Aside from Schmidt, freshman
designated hitter and noted
power threat Jimmy Obertop is
another potential contributor.
The promising freshman flashed
his power stroke with a double
against the Commodores and has
repeatedly drawn praise from
teammates and coaches alike.
“I
made
the
mistake
of
shoving Jesse Franklin up in the
four-hole his freshman year —
probably not smart on my part to
put those kinds of expectations
on a young kid,” Michigan coach
Erik Bakich said. “We did that
again to Jimmy Obertop against
Vanderbilt in the fall game, put
him in the four-hole — that was a
nice four-strikeout game.”
Bakich’s self-deprecating tone
indicated that he doesn’t plan
on moving the young slugger far
away from his current place in
the eighth slot in the immediate
future. And as long as Obertop
occupies
the
bottom
third,
Bakich thinks he will have a
productive hitter in that slot.
“I like the fact that he’s got big
juice in his bat,” Bakich said. “He
can hit a double or extra-base hit
at any time, really put a charge
into a ball, very mature approach
for a young kid.”
While the seventh, eighth and
ninth slots are not where teams
expect to see the bulk of their
production, Michigan will take
offense from whatever source it
can.
After all, the cleanup hitter
isn’t always the one making the
walk to the batter’s box with the
game on the line.
A buy-in and a turnaround
BAILEY
JOHNSON
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson noted his team’s turnaround since November.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Fifth-year senior infielder Matthew Schmidt hit a go-ahead home run to pull Michigan past Vanderbilt last weekend.
JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer
JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer
BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Sophomore center Naz Hillmon put up 15 points and 10 rebounds, quelling any concerns about her injury.
Second half,
we tried to go
to (Hillmon) a
little bit more.