The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, February 26, 2020 — 7A

Mann, Mayotte working to fix habits

After practice ended Monday 
at Yost Ice Arena, after most of 
the team and the coaching staff 
had retreated up the stairs to the 
locker room, Strauss Mann and 
Kris Mayotte — and a handful of 
forwards — were still on the ice.
The sophomore goaltender 
and his position coach had a 
conversation at the far end of 
the ice before moving to the net 
at the near end. While Mann got 
settled in the crease, Mayotte 
explained what he wanted from 
the forwards he’d chosen to help 
with the drill.
Two steps to pick up speed, 
a quick catch of the pass and a 
speedy release on the shot, either 
shooting short side as Mann 
moved from left to right to the 
near post or pulling the puck to 
the backhand to go for the far 
post. 
In many ways, it mirrored the 
goal Notre Dame forward Cam 
Morrison scored on Mann to 
make the score 2-0 on Saturday 
— a game that ended in a 3-0 
loss for Michigan. Morrison flew 
down the left wing, waited just 
long enough for Mann to bite and 
roofed a shot short side, popping 
the lid off Mann’s water bottle in 
the process.
“It’s really the only situation 
that he’s kinda faced this year 
that he doesn’t have a real 
in-depth plan on how he wants 

to play it, or at least a plan that 
he’s really comfortable with,” 
Mayotte said Tuesday. “We’ve 
talked about essentially the 
situation when Morrison scored, 
we’ve talked about that specific 
situation a couple different times 
this year and finally — I think 
he was like, ‘Aw, well, how often 
does it happen?’ But after that 
one he’s like, ‘Well, we need to 
figure this out and come up with 
a plan.’ ”
It was at least the fourth goal 
Mann has given up in essentially 
the same situation this season. 
Mayotte recalled similar goals 
against Minnesota in November, 
Penn State in January and 
Wisconsin earlier this month. 
Mann and Mayotte share a 
similar goaltending philosophy 
— neither likes to work on 
specific situations week-to-week 
unless it’s truly necessary.
But, after Morrison’s goal, 
Mann decided he’d given up 
goals in that situation one too 
many times. Before practice 
Monday, he met with Mayotte to 
figure out a new plan. The two 
bounced ideas off each other, 
came up with a few things to try 
after practice and took the ice 
ready to solve it.
“My job is to know his game 
well, but he’s the one that 
ultimately has to execute it, so 
the plan has to be comfortable 
for him, not for me,” Mayotte 
said. “ … It’s just bouncing ideas 
off, going through the mental 

reps and then the physical and 
seeing what feels right.”
When making adjustments 
in the middle of the season — 
especially a season like Mann 
is having, as he is currently 
ranked sixth in the nation in save 
percentage at .934 — Mayotte 
knows he has to be careful. 
Change too many things, and 
it could throw the goaltender 
out of the fundamentals and the 
rhythm that have brought him 
success throughout the year.
But with Mayotte’s focus on 
fundamentals and fixing bad 
habits only when it becomes 
absolutely necessary, he can find 
the balance.
“I’m a big believer that at this 
level, you have a lot of goalies 
who can stop pucks,” Mayotte 
said. “It’s making sure that 
they’re consistent. Helping them 
be consistent. They put in the 
work.”
Added Mann: “In season in 
general, for goalies, you try to 
look at things that need to be 
fixed but maybe not go into the 
deeper stuff. Like, if there’s 
something in the pre-scout of 
another team or just a bad habit 
you’re getting into, then you 
might try to fix that, but nothing 
too technical or about changing 
your whole game until after 
season.”
As Mayotte explained it, the 
situation Mann kept finding 
himself in is tricky due to the 
number of options the skater has 
with the puck. But with just a bit 
of work Monday after practice, 
Mayotte and Mann feel they’ve 
figured out a plan and fixed the 
habit without making changes 
that are too dramatic.
“It’s hard, because you’re 
trying to cover the whole dang 
thing,” Mayotte said. “When 
(the skater has) the puck all the 
way out (there), it makes the net 
more like eight feet wide rather 
than six because you have to get 
outside your posts to stay square.
“It’s a tough one, but we’re 
working on it. I think we came 
up with a plan.”

‘M’ youth shines against Spartans

Standing at the podium in 
front of TV cameras and a gaggle 
of reporters, Michigan State 
coach Suzy Merchant stared 
emptily into the background. 
Her team just lost to Michigan, 
getting swept for the first time 
since 2015, and Merchant was 
looking for an answer.
“This was sort of a step 
backwards 
for 
(sophomore 
forward 
Kayla 
Belles 
and 
freshman 
forward 
Taiyier 
Parks),” Merchant said. “I think 
those two kids are very young, 
first year kids. … I’m proud of 
how they’ve developed, but you 
can also see their youth on a 
night like this. They can have 
some slippage.”
The two combined for 23 
minutes and three points.
Twenty 
minutes 
earlier, 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico beamed behind the same 
podium, counting out on her 
fingers the names of the five 
players who finished Sunday’s 
65-57 victory over the Spartans.
“Who’s going to be the next 
man up?” Barnes Arico said. 
“And Maddie Nolan rotated 
onto 
(Spartan 
guard 
Taryn 
McCutcheon) 
and 
Michelle 
Sidor took Maddie’s matchup 
and those are two freshmen. So 
we’re just talking about a lot of 
young kids who just came in, on 
the road, in a rivalry game, when 
the other team went back up and 
took the lead, and were able to 
win the game down the stretch.
“If you say Maddie Nolan, 
Michelle Sidor, Izabel Varejão, 
Naz Hillmon and Amy Dilk, 
that’s three freshmen and two 
sophomores.”
Barnes Arico finished her 
sentence with an emphatic, 
“Yeah!” and a fist pump, her 
smile nearly splitting her face.
With senior guard Akienreh 
Johnson and junior forward 
Hailey Brown out with injury, 
the three freshmen — Nolan, 
Sidor and Varejão — combined 

for 63 minutes and 13 points.
Since 
Nolan’s 
emergency 
call up to the starting rotation 
in early February, she’s been a 
stalwart defender and has found 
a way to contribute to the team 
in any way imaginable, whether 
it be blocks, assists or rebounds.
In her first 21 games as a 
Wolverine, Nolan played 6.33 
minutes per game. In the last 
six games, she’s 
played 
30.33 
minutes 
per 
game 
— 
only 
costing the team 
once, 
when 
she fouled out 
against then-No. 
19 Northwestern 
on Feb. 13.
Sidor, 
meanwhile, has 
emerged 
from 
a slump to start the Big Ten 
season. In part due to injuries, 
she’s earned Barnes Arico’s 
trust to play in big moments 
and be an offensive spark for 
Michigan.
Varejão has had her own 
rough 
patches, 
and 
her 
continuous foul troubles detract 
from her potential as a day-in, 
day-out double-double threat.
“I told Izabel the last couple of 
days,” Barnes Arico said. “ ‘You 
are getting a double-double. 
I’m feeling it, today is your day 

Iz. We need your toughness, 
we need your strength, today is 
your day for that double-double.’ 
And darn she was pretty close, 
if she wasn’t in foul trouble so 
much, she probably would have 
gotten it.”
When she sets foot on the 
court with Brown or sophomore 
forward 
Naz 
Hillmon, 
her 
offensive talent is immediately 
noticeable. 
Varejão, in the 
last 
couple 
of 
weeks, 
finally 
became 
the 
bench 
threat 
Barnes 
Arico 
has needed all 
season. 
When 
she gets on the 
court 
opposing 
defenses 
are 
immediately 
thrown off-center, leading to 
bursts of scoring.
So Sunday, when Johnson 
and Brown fouled out and 
the 
Wolverines’ 
youth 
was 
thrust into the most hostile 
environment 
Michigan 
has 
faced all year, they were ready. 
The three had hit their stride.
Instead 
of 
leaving 
their 
coach standing on the podium, 
blaming youth and talking about 
what could have been, they left 
her beaming and dreaming of 
what’s to come.

UConn exposes Michigan’s flaws

Four games. Three losses. 
Two weekends. One opponent. 
Through the last 14 days, the 
Michigan baseball team has 
grown familiar with UConn. 
The 
Huskies 
weren’t 
the 
toughest opponent it faced in 
that time. It wasn’t even the best 
team the Wolverines played 
— that title is reserved for the 
likes of Vanderbilt and Arizona 
State. But there’s something 
special about UConn, the only 
one to find success against 
Michigan, with a win on Feb. 
16, followed by a 2-1 series win 
last weekend.
UConn, having made the 
regional 
tournament 
three 
of the last four years, acts as 
somewhat of a measuring stick 
for 
Michigan. 
Wolverines’ 
coach Erik Bakich preaches 
that if you want to be the best, 
you have to play the best.
But in a weekend series that 
could have solidified Michigan’s 
early-season prowess against 
a successful northern program 
that the Wolverines have aimed 
to emulate in the past few 
seasons, they fell flat. 
It’s not that the Huskies’ 
strengths exploited all of the 
Wolverines’ weaknesses. It’s 
the simple fact that everything 
Michigan did wrong over the 
weekend, UConn did right. 
Whether 
it 
was 
the 
production from the bullpen 
or stringing consistent quality 
at-bats together or gaining 
momentum at the right time, 
whenever Michigan faltered, 
the 
Huskies 
made 
exactly 
the right moves to exploit its 
mistakes. 
“They just are solid in all 
phases,” Bakich said. “They 
have good starting pitching. 
They have bullpen matchup 
guys that can come in and throw 
multiple pitches from the right 
and left side. They have speed 
and power in their lineup.”
Michigan utilized a total of 
eight bullpen pitchers in the 
series. Freshman left-hander 
Jacob 
Denner 
— 
the 
only 
Wolverine to earn a win — 
pitched four innings, amassing 

just two strikeouts as he closed 
out a blowout win on Saturday.
“Definitely the first and 
third day weren’t what we 
wanted,” Denner said. “But I 
really think we showed what 
we could do on day two from a 
hitting standpoint and from a 
pitching standpoint as well.”
In Friday’s game, freshman 
right-hander Cam Weston and 
senior left-hander Ben Keizer 
combined for four innings, six 
hits and two earned runs out of 
the bullpen. While this would 
normally be a 
solid 
outing, 
the Wolverines 
did not perform 
well enough to 
cling to the lead 
that 
starter 
Jeff 
Criswell 
left 
behind. 
Each 
pitcher 
performed in a 
similar capacity 
in a relief effort 
on Sunday, earning comparable 
stat lines and the same result — 
a loss.
UConn’s bullpen, meanwhile, 
was able to sustain leads and 
allow its offense time to climb 
out of deficits.
“We let some innings get 
away from us,” Bakich said. 
“That was uncharacteristic — 
we usually have a very reliable 
and capable bullpen.”
Inconsistent bullpen pitching 
coupled with a lack of consistent 
offensive production spelled 
doom for the Wolverines. Over 
the course of the series, out of 

a total of 100 at-bats, Michigan 
hitters struck out 36 times. In 
the two losses, the Wolverines 
racked up 17 and 13 strikeouts, 
respectively. 
“We need to do a better job 
hitting good pitches with less 
than two strikes and battling 
with two strikes,” Bakich said. 
UConn’s strikeout count on 
the 
weekend? 
Twenty-four. 
That 12 strikeout difference 
between the two teams is four 
full innings of hitters, potential 
base 
runners 
and 
hopeful 
scorers. 
These 

strikeout 
numbers — an 
average 
of 
12 
per 
game 
in 
the 
three-game 
series 
against 
the 
Huskies 
— are a slight 
increase 
from 
the 
numbers 
from the opening 
weekend, 
where 
the 
team 
averaged just under 10 per 
game. 
UConn 
did 
not 
exploit 
this 
weakness, 
but 
rather 
capitalized on Michigan’s self-
inflicted harm. The Huskies 
simply did everything right that 
Michigan did wrong.
“Even though UConn is a very 
good club and has historically 
been a good club, a consistent 
regional team,” Bakich said. 
“I thought the lack of success 
this weekend is us pointing the 
thumb at some of our lack of 
execution, and that is really it.”

Wolverines see pitching struggles 

During the second game of 
the Gamecock Invitational, Alex 
Storako stepped onto the mound 
in hopes of leading Michigan past 
Iowa State.
Replacing junior left-hander 
Megan Beaubien, in the top of the 
seventh with the score tied at one, 
the sophomore right-hander came 
in for a relief effort.
Getting into her normal groove, 
Storako allowed a sacrifice bunt 
and struck out the next batter. 
But that groove was short-lived.
Storako walked the next batter 
and her pinch-runner stole second 
allowing an extra run to score 
on a single batter later. With two 
runners crossing home, the score 
was 3-1 for Iowa State. Things 
seemingly couldn’t get much worse 
for the Wolverines, until Storako 
walked the next batter and allowed 
for a double down the left-field line, 
scoring two more runs.
Eventually, 
Michigan 
coach 
Carol Hutchins pulled Storako for 
freshman right-hander Chandler 
Dennis — the first time this season 
Michigan has pitched three of its 
pitchers in one game. It was also 
Dennis’s collegiate debut.
“I think collectively as a team 
we weren’t at our A-game,” Storako 
said. “I just think that we came 
back from South Carolina with a 

lot of things to work on and I know 
that we’re really getting at those 
things and we want to get better 
for the next weekend coming up.”
Over the past two weekends, 
Michigan’s pitching has been lights 
out. This weekend, that wasn’t the 
case. Ultimately, pitching dug holes 
for Michigan that it couldn’t climb 
out of as it dropped three of four 
games on the weekend.
Even 
Beaubien, 
Michigan’s 
typically reliable ace, contributed 
to the struggles. She started 
against Iowa State and struggled. 
While she had seven strikeouts and 
allowed two runs on four hits in six 
innings, facing Liberty her stats 
told a different story. She allowed 
one run on two hits pitching only a 
part of the final inning.
“We just gave up too much,” 
Hutchins said. “And whole ball 
over whole plate doesn’t usually 
work out very well. And it didn’t. 
Video shows that those pitches that 
they hit out at very untimely times 
were just right there and well hit, 
well swung. But you know what’s 
done is done. This is our first day to 
get back and work a little bit on our 
spin and work on our movement, 
and really more than anything 
work on our mindset.”
While its pitching struggled this 
weekend, Michigan understands 
the importance of full team 
competition. 
This 
weekend, 
pitching struggled tremendously, 

and it put pressure on the offense 
to produce — another thing the 
Wolverines struggled with.
“I think our offense, we always 
are striving to kind of support 
our pitchers so kind of give her 
a cushion so we don’t put all the 
pressure just on her,” sophomore 
catcher Hannah Carson said. “So I 
think when there were hits here in 
there off of Chandler we were just 
thinking we need to start stringing 
our hits together, we need to start 
connecting with the ball so we can 
help all our pitchers out.”
Next weekend, the Wolverines 
play in the Judi Garman Classis 
tournament. 
It 
features 
the 
toughest teams Michigan may 
face in its nonconference slate, 
including 
No. 
2 
Washington, 
No. 3 Texas and No. 25 Texas 
Tech. Michigan will need to look 
toward sorting out its pitching 
struggles before facing some of the 
best power-hitting teams in the 
country.
“We can only do what we do,” 
Hutchins said. “We’ll need to 
pitch, throw pitches to beat, not 
throw pitches to not get hit. And 
the mindset of our pitchers has to 
be one pitch focus and throw every 
pitch to beat the hitter. We need 
to just throw with confidence, 
knowing that mistakes will get hit 
and we just gotta trust that (the 
pitchers) part of the game is to keep 
us in the game.”

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Freshman guard Michelle Sidor is part of Michigan’s growing youth movement.

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Strauss Mann has worked with Kris Mayotte on his positioning this week.

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan’s bullpen struggled in the Wolverines’ series loss against UConn.

LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Writer

ABBIE TELGENHOF
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore right-hander Alex Storako struggled out of relief at the Gamecock Invitational, where Michigan went 1-3.

A lot of young 
kids ... were 
able to win the 
game.

We need to 
do a better job 
hitting good 
pitches.

