The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
March 9, 2020 — 3B
COLLEGE PARK — Franz
Wagner played the first eight
minutes
of
Sunday’s
game
against Maryland aggressively
and efficiently.
The freshman scored five
quick points, notched a steal
and was leading the surging
Wolverines. Then, the lanky
forward was called for his
second foul attempting to swat
a ball down low. The minute
that second whistle sounded,
Wagner
secured
himself
a
comfy chair on the bench. His
first half minutes were done.
From there, the Terrapins
showed why they were the top
dogs — or turtles, rather — en
route to clinching a share of
the Big Ten regular season
title. Using a combination of
outside
shooting,
offensive
fluidity and a dislodging of
the Wolverines’ defense, No.
9 Maryland (24-7 overall, 14-6
Big Ten) dismantled Michigan
(19-12, 10-10), 83-70.
Following
Wagner’s
benching,
the
first
half
displayed Maryland’s ceiling
and Michigan’s basement.
“I think that kind of changed
the momentum of the game,
to be honest,” Wagner said.
“I thought we were there for
those eight minutes … which is
especially frustrating because
I thought those two fouls came
because I was there, I was ready
to help. And we were flying
around the way we wanted on
defense and that was definitely
frustrating, but guys told me to
keep playing and keep my head
up and get ready for the second
half, and I think I did that.”
The
Terrapins
came
as
advertised. Open 3-pointers
were drilled with ease, and the
offense was firing off crowd-
hyping play one right after the
other. Maryland had its way
with the Wolverines’ defensive
miscues, and it showed on
the scoreboard as well as the
highlight reel.
The Terrapins’ offense was
a steady steamroller, refusing
to bow to even Michigan’s best
efforts. Maryland racked up a
cool 1.37 points per possession
in the first half and accentuated
the first 20 minutes with a
variety of big plays.
For instance, late in the first
half, following an ill-advised
hook shot from senior guard
Zavier Simpson, the Terrapins
ran the ball in transition and
found the cutting forward
Jalen Smith, who hammered
the ball home with authority.
The place went nuts.
A
few
possessions
later,
Maryland
guard
Anthony
Cowan scored on back-to-back
possessions. Again, the crowd
roared, former Terrapin star
Bruno Fernando flexing on the
sidelines, fired up by the senior
guard’s performance.
The only offensive bright
spot for the Wolverines came
from sophomore guard David
DeJulius, who put up 13 points
in the first half and was the only
one who seemed to remember
how to shoot a basketball. He
finished with a team-high 20
points in the strong shooting
performance.
“Just doing all I can do,”
DeJulius said. “Just being a
leader, coming out there, being
a playmaker, being aggressive
out there on both ends of the
floor, guarding, it’s just kind
of doing everything this team
needs. It’s just kind of coming
in and having a positive plus-
minus.”
Outside of DeJulius, it’s
clear the offense hobbled early
following Wagner’s fouls. With
him on the bench, Michigan
stagnated while Maryland beat
its offensive drum steadily
through the half.
“We
were
scrambling,”
Michigan
coach
Juwan
Howard said. “Franz, he’s a
big part of our team. Not only
on the defensive end but on the
offensive end with his outside
shooting, his length. The way
he attacks the basket with
force.
“As you’ve seen, in the
beginning of the second half
when Franz was in the game,
he just started to give us
that offensive punch that we
needed.
Unfortunately,
you
can’t control those types of
situations in the game where
you’re hoping that you had all
hands on deck, guys not in foul
trouble, but it happens. We
truly missed him in the first
half.”
The first-half exclamation
point came from a buzzer
beating 3-pointer from Smith
whose lanky frame resembled
an exclamation point itself
standing
at
center
court
following the make. With the
three, Smith made it a 41-28
lead at the break.
The second half continued
along
much
of
the
same
trajectory,
albeit
with
Michigan finding a lot more
life in between the orange
circumference of the hoop
— due in part to Wagner’s
reappearance. The Wolverines
began
drilling
shots
—
highlighted by Wagner and
Simpson — and managed to
pull the game within three.
The
defense
showed
a
bit
more
life
as
well,
characterizing a much better
half of basketball holistically
for Michigan.
But
the
Wolverines
just
couldn’t
get
stops.
Their
defense continues to be a thorn
in the side of the team, planting
a firm roadblock on the path to
big wins.
“They scored 83 points,”
Wagner said. “It’s definitely a
problem. Again, 3-point shots.
Like I said last time, I don’t
think we played bad defense all
game, but I think we had two
or three stretches where we let
them get going, and that hurt
us down the stretch.”
Despite
pulling
within
three though, the Wolverines
coughed
up
a
few
dead
possessions giving Maryland
the breathing room it needed
to maintain a solid lead. From
there, the Terrapins did nearly
everything
right
to
keep
Michigan at arm’s length.
In the end, whether it be
Wagner’s fouls or a struggling
defense, all the Wolverines
could do was stand and watch
as Maryland celebrated its Big
Ten title right in their faces.
Now, Michigan retreats to
Ann Arbor to lick its wounds
ahead
of
the
impending
tournament season and pray
that Wagner doesn’t catch
early fouls in the future.
COLLEGE PARK — It has
been a big year for David
DeJulius.
After a difficult freshman
season struggling for playing
time and riding the bench behind
senior guard Zavier Simpson,
DeJulius has grown by leaps and
bounds in his sophomore year.
He’s played significant minutes
in every game this season and
has proven himself a reliable
piece of Michigan’s backcourt,
averaging seven points and three
rebounds a game.
His performance at Maryland
on Sunday was proof positive of
how far he’s come. He delievered
20
points,
a
defensive
rebound
and
a steal in 20
minutes.
It
was a stat line
DeJulius could
only
have
dreamed of a
year ago today:
He was the only
Wolverine
to
top 20 points
against
the
Terrapins in an 83-70 loss.
“I just said, ‘To hell with
it, I’m going in aggressive,’ ”
DeJulius said. “I don’t have
anything to lose at this point, so
I might as well come in and give
the team all I can in all phases on
the floor.”
With junior guard Eli Brooks
and junior forward Isaiah Livers
playing unusually quiet, only
scoring six points apiece on the
day, most of the spark on offense
came from DeJulius, be it from
a drained 3-pointer or a quick
screen pass on the outside.
It was a boost Michigan sorely
needed, especially as it struggled
to score early on. DeJulius’
points were a big part of what
helped the Wolverines stay in
the game for as long as they did.
“Big lift, especially in the
first half, when we struggled to
score,” Michigan coach Juwan
Howard said. “There were some
possessions when the ball wasn’t
going in, wasn’t getting anything
to the basket, and then David
came in. Which is his role, and
he’s embraced his role of being a
guy who can come in and bring
some energy.
“He’s another guy who can
be an attacker on the floor and
another guy who can make some
decision-making for us when he
has the ball in his hands. When
the ball was in David’s hands,
good things happened.”
Against a Maryland team
that had a size advantage of
at least a few inches at every
position, DeJulius
caught on early
to
Maryland’s
switches
and
attacked
them
effectively
throughout
the
game,
an
adjustment
many
of his teammates
didn’t make until
halftime.
“He’s
a
very
confident
player,”
associate head coach Phil Martelli
told The Daily. “He attacked the
switching, which is where I think
we got in trouble a little bit. That lull
in the first half, that was because we
didn’t attack their switching. David
did a very good job of going at that.”
DeJulius’s
performance
in
College Park is a testament to his
growth. At the time his team needs
him most, he’s giving it exactly what
it’s missing. But more than that,
DeJulius is coming into his own as
a player. The blow to his confidence
he suffered with that year on the
bench is long gone — just take it
from him.
“This
is
good
for
my
confidence,” DeJulius said. “I’m
just going for it going into the
postseason. I’m just going to
continue to build off of this.”
Shell shocked
DeJulius scores 20, but Michigan falls short, dropping regular-season finale to Maryland, 83-70
Johnny Beecher’s work pays off
Johnny
Beecher
brought
his stick up over his shoulder
and slammed it to the ice in
frustration.
The
freshman
forward,
sprung on a breakaway thanks
to a pass from graduate transfer
forward Jacob Hayhurst, had cut
to the front of the net and tried
to send the puck five-hole on his
backhand past Michigan State
goaltender John Lethemon. It
was late in the second period of
Friday’s game, and Beecher was
looking for his second goal of the
night.
But Lethemon got down in
his butterfly to make the save,
and as Beecher watched him
make the stop, he became visibly
frustrated. Beecher’s goal earlier
in the game was his first since
scoring two goals on Jan. 17 at
Penn State — but it wasn’t the
kind of flashy goal Beecher has
demonstrated a tendency toward
this year.
The puck had simply bounced
off his skate and into the net after
Hayhurst tipped a long-range
shot from senior defenseman
Luke Martin.
“I had an ugly one last night,”
Beecher said Saturday. “Tried
to get the monkey off my back a
little bit, off my foot.”
Saturday
night,
Beecher
flipped the script. He scored
again — his ninth goal of the
season — in dramatic, highlight-
reel fashion, helping propel
Michigan to a 3-0 win over the
Spartans.
After
forward
Mitchell
Lewandowski’s shot sailed wide
of the Wolverines’ net, Beecher
skated over to the side boards
to collect the puck. He began to
move the puck up the ice, as he
would in any normal breakout
from the defensive zone.
There wasn’t a clear option to
pass to, and as Beecher moved
through the neutral zone, he
started to pick up speed. Then he
picked up a little more and then a
little more.
He met two Michigan State
skaters on the entry to the
offensive
zone,
and
neither
Lewandowski nor defenseman
Dennis
Cesana
could
do
anything to slow him down.
Beecher wove between the
two, cut across the top of the
right circle and headed down the
slot in front of Lethemon with
a full head of steam. In many
ways, his approach as he got
close to Lethemon mirrored the
breakaway attempt from Friday
night that Lethemon saved.
This time, Beecher wasn’t able
to get a shot off. He considered
shooting five-hole again but
ended up coming around left side
of the net without taking a shot
— with the puck still on his stick.
“Just keep going after it,”
Beecher said. “... Unfortunately,
I lost it. But at the end of the day
you just gotta keep putting the
puck on the net and hope it goes
in.”
As Beecher swung around
the top of the left circle, he saw
Hayhurst providing a screen
in front of Lethemon. Three
quick steps later and — without
warning — Beecher fired a shot
that slipped between Lethemon’s
left pad and the goal post.
The goal put Michigan ahead
2-0 over the Spartans, and with
how stingy the Wolverines’
defense had been all series, it
started to look like two goals
might be an insurmountable hill
for Michigan State to climb.
“Obviously, Johnny Beecher’s
goal is a big goal,” Michigan
coach Mel Pearson said. “From
that point on, I thought we were
in good control.”
Dramatic goals like Beecher’s
on
Saturday
are
frequently
lucky,
spur-of-the-moment
occurrences that kind of come
out of nowhere. But for Beecher,
the goal represented a season’s
worth of work on that kind of
shot — and a bit of inspiration
from Connor McDavid, who is
currently second in the NHL
with 95 points this season.
“That’s kind of been a shot I’ve
been trying to pull off the whole
season,” Beecher said. “Coach
Pearson actually sent me a clip,
I want to say it was about three
or four days ago. I think it was
McDavid. He kind of wrapped
around the top of the circle and
he kind of let the same shot go.
He had seen me try and do it
a couple times before and just
tried to give me a little bit of an
idea.”
And instead of slamming his
stick on the ice in frustration,
as he’d done the night before,
Beecher balled up his right
fist and punched the ice in
celebration
before
flinging
himself into the glass in front of
him as his teammates swarmed
around him to continue the
celebration.
As he skated back toward the
bench for fist bumps from the
rest of the Wolverines, Beecher
brought his left fist up to his
head and hit it against his helmet
— a celebration that’s become
common throughout the season.
Sophomore forward Garrett Van
Wyhe says it represents the team
putting their hard hats on and
going to work.
Saturday, Beecher went to
work nearly 200 feet from where
he eventually scored what’s
arguably the most impressive
goal of his Michigan career.
It paid off.
Wolverines split weekend series
This weekend, the No. 16
Michigan softball team had two
chances to assert itself and prove
its fortitude. The first was against
No. 1 UCLA (22-1). The second
pitted the team against No. 22
UCF (18-5). In both matchups, the
Wolverines fell short.
The losses came at 2-0 and 3-2,
respectively — each the result
of Michigan’s (15-8) continued
problem generating runs when it
counts.
“I would say our offense right
now is not doing its part — at all,”
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
said.
On
paper,
the
Wolverines
actually out-hit UCLA and UCF by
a combined total of eight hits to six.
And counting its other two games
at the UCLA/LBSU Invitational,
with a 5-1 win over Cal State
Fullerton (14-9) and a 2-1 win over
Boston University (12-6), Michigan
had 11 more hits than its opponents
on the weekend.
So finding a single hit wasn’t
the Wolverines’ problem. It was
stringing them together.
“But I’d just say we’re not
getting the timely hits that we
need to,” sophomore left fielder
Lexie Blair said. “I’d say most of
our losses from this weekend,
especially against UCLA and UCF,
it was just timely hitting for both
opponents that we just couldn’t
come up with. We couldn’t come
up with stringing any hits together
and getting any runs across.”
This was evident over the
course of the invitational. Out of
Michigan’s 23 hits on the weekend,
13 of them came as the only hit in
the inning.
With runners on base, the
Wolverines
didn’t
fare
much
better. They stranded 24 runners
over the course of four games, with
a high of nine against Cal State
Fullerton.
Blair
didn’t
attribute
the
struggles to Michigan’s physical
capabilities, nor did she credit
them to the prowess of the
Wolverines’ opponents. To her, it
was the team’s mental outlook in
scoring situations that held it back.
“It’s easy to get way ahead of
yourself and try to focus on the
outcome,” Blair said. “Which, for
our team, being outcome oriented
doesn’t always grant you success.”
Senior center fielder Haley
Hoogenraad
echoed
Blair’s
sentiment by preaching Michigan’s
mantra of “one pitch focus.”
“I think we just have to focus
on the same thing we were trying
to focus on the entire time,”
Hoogenraad said. “You can only
control what you can control. We
struggled with that a little bit so I
think that we need to do a better
job of focusing on one pitch that we
can control at a time.”
Despite
poor
offensive
performance, the Wolverines took
two of four games on the weekend
and remained close against some
of the top teams in the country.
They held UCLA, a squad that
averages 7.74 runs per game, to just
two runs. And UCF was held to one
run until the bottom of the eighth
inning.
In each of Michigan’s wins, it
held its opponent to just three hits
and one run. In those victories, the
Wolverines’ opponents reached
base just 12 times in total.
The reason: pitching.
“Defense is led by the pitching,”
Hutchins said. “When the pitchers
are on, it makes our defense a lot
easier. … I think our pitchers have
set a really good tone, but our
defense and offense need to pick
up on it.”
Michigan stands less than
a week away from its opening
weekend in Ann Arbor. To find
success, it will need to hold on to
its pitching prowess and overhaul
its offensive performance.
But the Wolverines won’t spend
their time worrying about it. In
fact, Hutchins wants them to do
the exact opposite.
“We have to just go up there
and swing,” Hutchins said. “Not
worry about anything. Not worry
whether it’s the right pitch. Not
worry whether we miss.
“That will help our swing get
back to where we’re capable of.”
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Freshman forward Johnny Beecher scored a highlight-reel goal Saturday.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Editor
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
The Michigan softball team went 2-2 at the UCLA/LBSU Invitational with losses to both of the ranked teams it faced.
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Editor
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Sophomore guard David DeJulius scored 20 points in Michigan’s loss.
I just said, “To
hell with it,
I’m going in
aggressive.”