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Sports
Friday, February 28, 2020 — 7

Thursday
afternoon,
the Michigan hockey team
departed for Minneapolis to
embark on a challenging yet
crucial weekend series.
The
Wolverines
are
searching
for
critical
conference points to help them
surge up the standings and
potentially get home ice for
the opening round of the Big
Ten Tournament.
Before the recent home
series against Notre Dame, it
seemed likely that Michigan
would host the first round.
The Wolverines were riding
the momentum of a hot second
half of the season, in which
they’d won 26 of 30 points. But
getting swept by the Fighting
Irish
slowed
down
their
strides.
Now, they need a successful
weekend against a surging
Minnesota team that’s playing
for the regular season title to
right the ship.
“It’s a challenge,” Michigan
coach Mel Pearson said. “We
didn’t do ourselves any favors
this past weekend, and we
put ourselves in a tougher
spot than we could’ve been.
Absolutely. But that’s on us
and that’s sports.”
Through
the
looming
challenge,
though,
lies
a
similar
situation.
In
both
of the last two seasons, the
Wolverines entered the final
weekend of regular season
conference play looking for
key points to secure home ice
for the tournament.
In
Pearson’s
first
year
Michigan thrived with its back
against the wall, sweeping
the nation’s top-ranked Notre
Dame team in a home-and-
home series to make its way
back to Yost Ice Arena for
the tournament. But in the
same spot last season, the
Wolverines lost two overtime
road games to Wisconsin and
fell short of what they needed
to host.
“It’s just like a mindset
going
in,”
senior
forward
Will
Lockwood
said.
“We
know Minnesota is going to
be coming out hot because
they’re playing for a chance
to win the Big Ten regular
season. We gotta match that
intensity and bring a little bit
more. That’s been the word
around the room, understand
what they’re playing for and
what we’re playing for is more
important to us.”
Since
the
conference
tournament was created in
2014, home teams have lost in
the opening round just twice.

From prior experience, the
Wolverines are aware of what
a difference home ice can
make in the first round.
Playing at home two seasons
ago, Michigan made it out of
the opening round against the
Badgers. Last year in the first
round, the team’s season came
to an end in Minneapolis. With
little chance of an at large bid
to the NCAA Tournament, a
first-round loss would end this
season as well.
“It’s
a
night
and
day
different experience, playing
at home and playing on the
road,” senior forward Nick
Pastujov said, comparing the
past two tournaments. “We
just got to make sure we do
everything we can to come
back here.”
Pearson
is
a
little
less
certain
of
the
advantage
of
playing
at
home.
He
mentioned it should generally
be a sizable advantage but that
hasn’t really panned out this
season for the Wolverines —
their home and road records
are balanced, 7-7-2 and 6-6-1,
respectively. Regardless, his
preference is clear.
“If you asked me right now,
would you rather have home
ice playing somebody or have
to go on the road and play
somebody, I’d say, ‘Hey, I’d
rather be at home,’ ” Pearson
said.
“Even
though
we’re
undefeated on the road in the
second half of the year.”
There’s a bit of circularity
to Michigan’s position. The
Wolverines want home ice for
the tournament and to get it
they must thrive this weekend
— on the road. The recent road
success Pearson alluded to is
something
Michigan
plans
to rely on this weekend in its
fight to win home ice. But it’s
also what the team hopes to
fall back on if they don’t return
to Ann Arbor.
In
other
words,
if
the
Wolverines
can
continue
with the road success they’ve
had, everything they want to
accomplish this season — a run
in the Big Ten Tournament
and a spot in the NCAA
Tournament — is still on the
table. And it all starts with the
trip this weekend, in a similar
situation as before.
“It’s going to be tough going
into Minnesota,” Pearson said.
“They’re playing for a league
championship.
They’ve
got
a lot on the line. So we just
have to get back to our game,
understand that we’ve played
extremely well this second
half, we’ve played extremely
well on the road in the second
half of the season, and we’ve
won in Minnesota before.”

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior forward Will Lockwood knows the importance of home ice.

A familiar spot for ‘M’

After poor weekend, Carol Hutchins looks for an offensive turnaround

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly
what
plagued
the
Michigan
softball team’s offense at last
weekend’s Gamecock Invitational.
Despite coming in undefeated,
the Wolverines limped home with
a 1-3 record on the tournament,
scoring more than one run just
once in four games.
It’s hard to know exactly
why, but Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins has some ideas.
Their
swings
lacked
connection. They lost focus on
the one-pitch mindset. They got
anxious when they were behind
the count. The technical flaws
Hutchins saw last weekend go on,

but she pointed to one overarching
answer: They got cocky.
“Without
being
able
to
articulate it, I often say that
winning can make you soft,”
Hutchins said. “And they had won
a bunch in a row, and I don’t think
they expected it to be difficult.
Which is the only expectation I
think you should ever have.”
The Wolverines’ offense didn’t
produce and they left South
Carolina with a total of seven runs
over four games.
Michigan will have to make
mental and physical adjustments
going into this weekend’s Judi
Garman Classic in Los Angeles.
The Wolverines will face their
highest-ranked competitors of
the non-conference slate: No. 2

Washington, No. 3 Texas and No.
25 Texas Tech.
Michigan has pulled out wins
against ranked teams before. On
Mar. 1 last year, the Wolverines
took down UCLA — No. 2 in
the country at the time — in the
Bruins’ first and only loss until
Apr. 12. Two days later, they
edged out No. 5 Washington, 4-2.
Earlier this month, they blew out
No. 7 Florida in a sixth-inning run
rule.
But, with the notable exception
of this year’s game against the
Gators, most of those ranked
match-ups were won on the backs
of pitchers. The combination of
sophomore
right-hander
Alex
Storako and junior left-hander
Meghan Beaubien have frequently

kept the Wolverines in the game
while the offense struggled.
As Hutchins has said time and
again, it’s the pitcher’s job to pick
up the slack when the batters
aren’t producing. But the reverse
is also true.
When
Michigan’s
pitching
staff struggled last weekend, the
offense wasn’t there to lift them
up.
This weekend, it seems unlikely
Beaubien and Storako will be able
to keep powerhouse teams like
Washington scoreless, no matter
how on-point their games are.
Out of 16 games thus far, the
Huskies have been held below
five runs just three times. While
the Longhorns lack that level of
consistency, they’ve won 11 out

of their 18 games with runs in the
double digits. So far this season,
the Wolverines haven’t been able
to reach that level offensively,
averaging just above four runs a
game.
A huge portion of the disparity
comes from power hitting. Texas
has 13 home runs so far. Texas
Tech, 12. The Huskies, 18.
Michigan has just 6.
In Hutchins’ eye, it’s not
that the team lacks power. It’s a
problem of pitch selection.
“When you swing at crap you
usually hit it crappy,” Hutchins
said. “(Last weekend) they swung
and we didn’t swing at very many
good pitches. And we took a lot of
pitches, we took a lot of strikes.”
Over the past month, there

have been small glimpses of
the power the Wolverines are
capable of. Facing Florida on Feb.
8, Michigan fired off two homers
and four doubles, totaling six RBI,
en route to a 11-2 win.
While Michigan is ranked
No. 13 and boasts a 10-3 record,
to compete at the next level, the
Wolverines are gong to need
more. Specifically, they’re going
to need to channel the power they
found against the Gators and the
confidence at the plate they found
in a 10-game win streak.
It’s not a question of whether
Michigan has the offense to
compete against these ranked
opponents.
It’s a question of whether it can
turn it on.

LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer

Second half run propels Michigan past Penn State

Amy Dilk stood at the top of
the 3-point arc one minute into
the second half and surveyed her
options.
The sophomore guard tried to
swing a pass to junior forward
Hailey Brown, but Penn State
guard Shay Hagans read it from
the start. She quickly jumped the
pass and took it the other way for
a layup to put the Nittany Lions up
by two. It was the first time they led
since the first minute of the game.
Michigan quickly rebounded.
Two minutes later, the game
now tied, senior guard Akienreh
Johnson took a charge, and on the
subsequent offensive possession,
found a cutting Dilk on an easy
give-and-go to take a two-point
lead. The Wolverines (19-9 overall,
10-7 Big Ten) proceeded to go on a
33-7 run over the next 10 minutes
to defeat the Nittany Lions (7-21,

1-16), 80-66, on Thursday.
“I thought we took care of the
ball a lot better in the second half,”
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico
said. “I thought we found each
other and made some extra passes.
We had 24 assists on the night, so I
think once we relaxed and settled
in, and were able to figure out
what they were trying to do on the
defensive end, we were able to be a
lot more successful.”
Heading into the contest, the
Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament
chances looked strong, and the
win wouldn’t do much to improve
them. But a loss to a Penn State
team at the bottom of the Big Ten
could have been detrimental,
and halfway through the game, it
looked like Michigan could cough
up what should have been an easy
win.
In
the
first
quarter,
the
Wolverines took a 10-point lead
on the back of three 3-pointers.
Guard Niyeh Frazier was the only

player who could get into a rhythm
for the Nittany Lions — she scored
seven without missing a shot,
while the rest of the team shot just
25 percent. Through one quarter,
the game was as advertised — an
easy night for Michigan and a
chance for a tune-up before the
postseason.
The second quarter told a
different story. Michigan’s half-
court offense struggled greatly,
providing Penn State with ample
opportunity to get back in the
game. The Wolverines committed
11 turnovers in the second quarter
alone.
While the Nittany Lions shot
just 35 percent in the quarter, the
extra opportunities they got from
Michigan’s
turnovers
allowed
them to cut the deficit to three by
halftime, led by 10 from Frazier.
The
Wolverines
struggled
to
score when they couldn’t get out
in transition, and finished with
just 10 points in the quarter — six

from sophomore forward Naz
Hillmon. What started out looking
like a comfortable win became
one Michigan had to grind out to
prevent a bad loss.
Halftime gave the Wolverines
a chance to regroup, and they
responded. Despite the slow start
that allowed Penn State to take a
lead, Michigan’s ball security and
passing in the second half was
much better than it had been in
the first. The Wolverines came out
motivated, clearly aware of how
devastating a loss would be.
“We had to figure out how to
handle the double post of Naz, and
Amy’s being pressured 94 feet,
where’s she getting her pressure
releases from,” Barnes Arico said.
“So those were some adjustments
that we tried to talk about at
halftime to help Naz and Amy out
of those situations.”
In
the
second
half,
the
Wolverines turned the ball over
just five times, while quick passing
allowed them to get easy baskets in
the half-court offense. Hillmon led
the way, scoring 14 of her 26 points,
while freshman guard Maddie
Nolan added 10, including back-
to-back 3-pointers in the third
quarter that extended the lead
from eight to 14.
“I really tried to run the floor
today,” Hillmon said. “That’s one
of my strong suits, getting the ball
up and down the floor and getting
easy paint touches.”
Because of a sloppy first half,
Michigan couldn’t relax in a game
that shouldn’t have been much of a
challenge. Instead, it had to buckle
down and correct its mistakes
to avoid what could have been a
crushing blow to its postseason
chances.
It wasn’t always easy. But the
Wolverines survived.

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Sophomore forward Naz Hillmon scored 26 points with eight rebounds to help Michigan past Penn State.

JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer

Wolverines look to bounce back in California

Last June, the Wolverines filed
out of the first-base dugout down
into the annals of TD Ameritrade
Stadium as the entire Vanderbilt
baseball program jumped and
hugged
around
the
pitcher’s
mound.
The Commodores had just won
the decisive third game to become
national champions. Michigan left
Omaha one game short of glory.
In
recovering
from
a
disappointing end to what was
otherwise a positive season, the
2020 Wolverines decided to use
the narrow gap between their 2019
campaign and a College World
Series as motivation.
“We were one win away from
being alone on the top of the
mountain,” Michigan coach Erik
Bakich said. “So we reduced that
‘one more’ to one more day of
training, one more inning better,
one more pitch better. And then
obviously the things we do in here
is just one more repetition, one
more weight lifting session, one
more meeting, one more rep.
“We just needed to be one
percent better to be the final team.”
Over the course of the offseason,
Bakich sought to do everything in
his power to prepare his team to
return to Omaha and be one game
better when they arrive.
If
the
Wolverines’
No.
9
preseason ranking and the relative
weakness of the Big Ten left any
questions as to whether Michigan
would face any adversity, the tough
out-of-conference schedule that

Bakich set for his team has already
started to answer it.
On
opening
weekend,
the
Wolverines took on two top-five
teams in then-No. 1 Vanderbilt and
then-No. 3 Arizona State and two
impressive programs in Cal Poly
and UConn.
Michigan came out of that
week looking like a team that was
ready to be on top of the mountain.
The Wolverines went 3-1 on the
weekend, leaving the two best
hitters in college baseball, Arizona
State junior first basemen Spencer
Torkelson and Vanderbilt junior
third baseman Austin Martin,
hitless in wins against each of their
respective teams. The only loss on
the weekend was against UConn
in a game in which the Wolverines

reached so deep into their bullpen
the loss appeared meaningless.
Apparently, though, it was a sign
of things to come.
Michigan played the Huskies
three more times last weekend,
losing the series and seeing its first
piece of adversity.
“I think the difference was just
our level of compete,” Michigan
junior shortstop Jack Blomgren
said after Sunday’s 9-2 loss. “They
attacked us early and came on hot,
and we didn’t really answer until
later on in the game. So overall, they
competed harder than us today.”
Michigan can’t expect to be
one game better this June if it
continues to allow talented teams
to outcompete it.
The efforts in the UConn series

left a sour taste in many players’
mouths, but thanks to Bakich’s
scheduling, the Wolverines have
the opportunity to reverse this
trend almost immediately.
This weekend, Michigan plays
three more games against Cal Poly,
heads up and down California to
take on Stanford and California
in single games and then goes to
Pepperdine for a three-game series.
While none of these programs
are currently ranked, they are
all highly-esteemed and highly-
talented — fully capable of beating
the fifth-ranked Wolverines.
To leave the next 10 days still
looking like they can be one game
better than last year, Michigan will
need to respond to last weekend’s
adversity.

JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan baseball team saw its first adversity last weekend, dropping three of four games against UConn.

SOFTBALL