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.