The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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