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.”