ARTS
over the
YEARS
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2014
MARCH 12: Eight seed Michigan men’s
basketball wins the Big Ten Tournament, 71-56,
over No. 23 Wisconsin, its first non-vacated
conference tournament win.
APRIL 1: Michigan women’s basketball wins
its first ever title, beating Georgia Tech after
three overtimes in the championship of the
WNIT.
NOVEMBER 17: Michigan Field Hockey’s
run to the Final Four ends in a loss to No. 9
Maryland, its first loss since September.
FEBRUARY 29: The Wolverine men’s swimming
and diving team wins the Big Ten Championships,
an effort that included seven individual events
won across the four day competition.
MARCH 5: Michigan basketball’s winningest
two players, Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske, play
their final game in Ann Arbor in a 82-58 win over
Nebraska.
MARCH 13: Due to COVID-19, all sporting events
are cancelled, ending both winter and spring sports
seasons shockingly and prematurely.
2018
MARCH 17: Freshman guard Jordan Poole’s buzzer-
beater caps off a comeback against Houston, continuing
the momentum from a Big Ten Tournament title two
weeks prior in one of the most iconic shots of Wolverine
men’s basketball and leading to a run that ended in
the championship game of the NCAA Tournament in a
79-62 loss against No. 2 Villanova.
NOVEMBER 3: Michigan football caps off a 3 game
stretch of top-25 victories over No. 15 Wisconsin, No.
24 Michigan State and No. 14 Penn State, efforts that
eventuall resulted in a loss to No. 10 Ohio State, 62-39,
that ended all hopes of a playoff berth.
MAY 22: Former Michigan basketball player and
member of the Fab Five, Juwan Howard, is hired to
be the next head men’s basketball coach following
John Beilein’s departure to be the head coach of the
Cleveland Cavaliers.
JUNE 9: The Wolverines stun No. 1 UCLA, sending
Michigan baseball to its first Men’s College World
Series since 1984 where the team finished as the
runner-up to champion Vanderbilt.
NOVEMBER 30: Michigan football loses its eighth
straight rrivalry game against No. 1 Ohio State, 56-27.
SPORTS
over the
YEARS
2019
2020
2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Saturday, May 2, 2020 — 7A
Michigan advances to Sweet 16 on Jordan Poole buzzer-beating prayer
Somehow, some way.
His legs flailing each and every direction
and a defender square in his face, Jordan
Poole caught a pass on the right wing from
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-Rahkman
and
hoisted a prayer.
And as the ball found sweet nylon, the
prayer was granted — somehow, some way
— in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The freshman guard darted to the opposite
side of the court, greeted by the rest of
his jubialant team as they celebrated an
astonishing 64-63 win.
It was a miracle on the Great Plains the
likes of which will live in Michigan lore
right alongside the Trey Burke shot and the
Denard Robinson pass at Under the Lights
I.
“I was thirsty,” Poole told a swath of
reporters after the game. “Definitely
thirsty. Because I’ve been hitting shots
like that in practice all year. I just felt like I
always wanted to be in a situation like that
at the end in the game, and my teammates
constantly tell me that I’ve got ice in my
veins.
“I definitely dreamed about this a long
time. Actually, before I went out there on
there, I thought, ‘What if I hit this shot right
now as a freshman?’ ”
And that he did. On this stage. With
these implications. Somehow, some way,
the only player with the personality to
match the grand moment found the ball
with 0.8 seconds and a season teetering in
the balance.
Now Michigan will head to Los Angeles
next weekend to play its fourth Sweet
Sixteen game in six years on the back of
a monstrous defense and one lucky St.
Patrick’s Day heave.
“I don’t have any words for that one,”
said fifth-year senior Duncan Robinson.
“It’s incredible. That’s all I got.”
Somehow, some way.
For much of the game, though, there
appeared to be no way.
For the second consecutive game,
Michigan’s offense fell victim to offensive
lulls that threatened its survival in the
NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines went
to the first TV timeout once again without a
made field goal, this time trailing 6-1, having
missed their first seven shots including six
threes.
Robinson broke the seal nearly six
minutes in, nailing a deep three with a
hand in his face. He did it again on the next
possession, pumping up his bench on the
gallop back down the court.
That was the tone all night, on both sides
— a tough, physical street fight. It’s a style
Michigan has come to relish this season.
For all the talk about Cougars guard Rob
Gray offensively — coming off a 39-point
performance against San Diego State
— it was the defense on both ends that
controlled the game.
Gray, the alpha and omega of Houston’s
offense, couldn’t find his rhythm in the first
half, thanks to a swarming defensive effort
from Michigan guards Zavier Simpson and
Abdur-Rahkman. Gray finished with 23,
but on 8-of-22 shooting.
“We just tried to limit his threes, make
him score tough twos,” Abdur-Rahkman
said. “He made a lot of them, but that’s all
you can really do, is try to force him into
contested shots.”
On the flip side, a physical Houston
man defense held the Wolverines in check,
stifling Michigan’s pick-and-roll action
with athleticism, holding it so just 30
percent from the field. By the end of the
game, a dejected Wolverines bench thought
that would be the culprit of its dying season.
“They were down because we did some
things that aren’t winning basketball today
— just a few, but just enough,” said Michigan
coach John Beilein. “But credit Houston.
They made us make some of those plays.”
At half, the game was tied at 28, those
struggles leaving the game back where it
started, just with a few more bumps and
bruises.
And while the bumps and bruises didn’t
subside, the lid on the buckets slowly did.
Then, it was game on.
With 17 lead changes and 12 ties in total,
neither team took firm control until Gray
began to come to life midway through the
half. He scored eight of his team’s 10 points
at one point, nabbing a six point lead with
10:43 left on an inexplicably wide-open
three.
But the see-saw swung right back.
Michigan
fought
through
recurring
offensive demons, finishing the game with
just 36 percent shooting.
And it has more than just one fortuitous
bounce to thank for the escape.
Down 51-46 with just over five minutes
left, Matthews shot a 3-pointer off the back
of the rim. It careened high into the air and
through the hoop just as a Houston forward
was whistled for a foul. Teske made both
free throws, and suddenly a 51-46 game
became 51-51 in only a single possession.
The teams traded blows from there, with
the Cougars grabbing what seemed to be
the final lead with 44 seconds left on two
free-throws from forward Devin Davis.
But that wasn’t the last of Michigan’s
season. It just couldn’t be. There was a little
more than a strong breeze flowing through
Intrust Bank Arena on Saturday night.
Sophomore center Jon Teske could just feel
it.
“I actually told CJ (Baird), I didn’t think
we were gonna go home,” Teske said. “I felt
something special was going to happen and
I’m just glad he knocked that down. … It’s
something I will always remember.”
And in a wild back and forth affair, it
all came down to a howling freshman,
with the confidence to belt “Ham” — the
team’s nickname for Abdur-Rahkman —
with the season on the line. The call was
“Tennessee,” the same full-court inbound
play run to beat Maryland early in the
season as time expired. The senior caught
the pass at midcourt and then put his season
and career in the handwwwwwwws of
Poole, who answered the faith with one of
the most historic shots in program history.
“I knew they were not going to let me
shoot the ball. So I was looking for JP,”
Abdur-Rahkman said. “I knew he could
knock it down.
“Literally, he makes it all the time in
practice.”
And as the entire team piled on Poole
under the hoop, cheers reigned down from
the traveling Michigan crowd and band.
“It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.”
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Freshman guard Jordan Poole celebrates after hitting the game-winning shot over Houston that sent the Wolverines on to the Sweet 16
MAX MARCOVITCH
2018 Daily Sports Editor
The wins that shaped Michigan’s run
Behind every deep tournament
run are the wins that shaped the
team. It was no different for the
Michigan baseball team’s historic
– and, at times, improbable – run.
They don’t tell this team’s whole
story. Nothing could. But they’re a
good place to start. The Daily takes
a look back of some of this season’s
defining wins.
March 8 – Michigan 7, No. 2
UCLA 5
There’s a lot of talk in sports
about “statement wins.” That’s
what this was.
In a tough road environment
against then-No. 2 UCLA, which
spent most of the season as the
best team in the country, junior
left-hander Tommy Henry struck
out ten over six innings of two-run
baseball. Michigan scored four
runs in the first inning, tacking on
two in the third and one more in
the eighth for insurance.
This was the win that showed
a flash of what this team could
become, what they would become:
a national contender. In the face
and on the home turf of arguably
the
toughest
competition
the
Wolverines
faced
all
season,
Michigan dominated the game.
They never trailed.
It wasn’t the last time the two
teams met this season either.
May 23 – Michigan 5, Illinois 4
One strike away.
Team 153 was one strike away
from an early end to its season,
one strike away from not making
a postseason appearance at all, one
strike away from this magical run.
Luckily, sophomore designated
hitter Jordan Nwogu had other
ideas.
Michigan was down, 4-3, to
Illinois in the bottom of the ninth
inning. A loss to Ohio State the
day before meant that falling to
the Fighting Illini would send the
Wolverines home for good.
Nwogu stepped up to the plate
with two on and two out. With
Michigan’s season on the line, he
launched a two-run double to left
center, and the Wolverines walked
off with a 5-4 victory.
It was exactly the catalyst
they needed. Since that win, the
Wolverines have been hot. But
it’s more than that. That was the
win that introduced them to what
Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin
called their “playing personality”:
free and loose, having fun, and
playing to win – not just playing not
to lose.
“We saw the end of our season
right in front of us,” said senior first
baseman Jimmy Kerr during the
College World Series. “That kind
of made the whole team appreciate
every single game that we’ve had
together since then. And that’s kind
of the bigger picture. It’s not that
we’re playing in a Regional, Super
Regional, College World Series
championship; it’s just that we get
another game with each other.”
June 9 – Michigan 4, No. 1
UCLA 2
UCLA’s lineup was the best in
the country. No one had been able
to stop them all season. Michigan
had as good as lost the game
already.
Instead, the Wolverines pulled
out a 4-2 victory to head to the
College World Series.
Henry, sick with the flu and
pneumonia, and still recovering
from the biceps tendonitis that
rendered
him
inconsistent
throughout much of the second half
of the season, pitched seven innings
of two run-baseball — containing a
Bruins batting order that seemed
practically unstoppable.
Sound familiar?
The first time Michigan played
UCLA, it was just a flash of the
team they could be. Three months
later, they had gone even further.
June 15 – Michigan 5, Texas
Tech 3
The first time Michigan and
Texas Tech met, it was proof of
how far the Wolverines still had to
go to be an Omaha contender. They
were swept and outscored 29-10
over three games.
Three
months
later,
the
Wolverines
were
an
entirely
different team — their bats hot,
their pitchers cool and their
defense firing on all cylinders.
The Red Raiders provided the
perfect litmus test: had Michigan
really learned from its mistakes,
and could it really compete at the
highest stage in collegiate baseball?
The answer to both questions
was
an
emphatic
yes.
The
Wolverines got off to a quick start
as a sacrifice fly from junior right
fielder Jordan Brewer scored
Nwogu in the top of the first.
They tacked on three more in the
third as Kerr launched a two-RBI
triple down the right field line and
scored on a single from senior third
baseman Blake Nelson.
Texas Tech made it close,
scoring two runs in the bottom of
the third and adding another in the
bottom of the sixth, but Michigan
was unshaken. They added a run
in the top of the seventh when
sophomore center fielder Jesse
Franklin scored on an error for
insurance, then cruised to a 5-3
victory on the backs of solid
pitching from junior right-hander
Karl Kauffmann (7 innings, 8 hits, 3
runs) and sophomore right-hander
Jeff Criswell (two solid innings of
one-hit relief).
The Wolverines had made a
statement: they were more than
just a Cinderella team, and their
run amounted to more than just
luck.
Michigan, at long last, was a
national contender again.
Hutchins reacts to season cut short
In the middle of Thursday’s
practice,
Carol
Hutchins’s
phone rang.
It was Michigan Athletic
Director Warde Manuel.
Right away, Hutchins knew
the phone call wouldn’t be an
easy one.
She was cognizant of the
other
mandates
that
had
trickled in across the collegiate
landscape throughout the day
— the PAC-12 and ACC had both
cancelled all sporting events
until further notice. So when
Manuel called, Hutchins knew
what was coming.
Manuel’s words, a message
relayed from NCAA President
Mark Emmert, only confirmed
what had grown to be the
inevitable. Due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, all remaining
NCAA
winter
and
spring
championships were cancelled
— softball included.
Her players, in an act of
blissful ignorance, continued
practice as Hutchins digested
the news. It was her job to break
it to them. The news that this
would be their last gathering,
that their season was over 23
games in and at least 30 short.
She stopped practice and
pulled her team into their home
dugout, symbolically a place of
comfort and unity amidst the
trying times. A dugout that
Hutchins calls “her favorite
place in the world,” a dugout
those same players wouldn’t be
able to convene in as one ever
again.
It was an all-too fitting
place to cling to whatever last
semblance of normalcy was
left.
The team was ready for her.
And so Hutchins embarked
on what she described as the
hardest thing she’s ever had to
do as a coach.
“It’s just the worst day of
every coach’s career right now,
telling their student athletes
that they’re done,” Hutchins
told The Daily. “Probably the
hardest day is the last day of
the year and you close your last
game. But all 36 of my last days
have never compared to this.
“And it’s for every student
athlete in the country. Every
student athlete is affected, all
the support people. Even my
managers were crying. They’ve
worked so hard. Everybody’s in
this together. It’s really hard to
put in perspective. Today’s a
tragedy, in another day this will
be a new normal.”
For the seniors, the news
rung
especially
harrowing.
Two days before Saturday,
what was meant to be their
final home opener, their days
as collegiate athletes have been
cut short.
Outfielder
Haley
Hoogenraad, outfielder Thais
Gonzalez, infielder Madison
Uden and catcher Abby Skvarce
are finished donning the maize
and blue for Michigan softball.
“I just hugged them and told
them and that I was proud of
them,” Hutchins said. “They
were a great senior class. They
came a long way from being
freshmen and that’s ultimately
how you judge people. I’m very
proud of those four. They were
doing a great job leading us,
getting through our ups and
downs. I was really proud of
them and that’s all I can tell
them. My heart breaks most for
them.”
For the players, uncertainty
lies ahead. Hutchins doesn’t
know how much longer they
will be on campus. No one
knows much about anything
in a situation so fluid and
unparalleled. So, as Thursday’s
practice
culminated
and
the
news
reverberated
in
shockwaves,
the
team
did
all they could in such an
overwhelming moment — rely
on each other.
“I know my team will be
together,” Hutchins said. “I’m
most concerned for those kids
right now. What they need
more than anything is to be
with each other. We need to be
together, that’s what we can do
in times of grief.”
While
the
situation
is
unprecedented, Hutchins has
no doubt her team will handle
it with grace.
“Our kids are well-equipped.
They deal with adversity all
the time. They deal with loss,
they deal with failure. The
most important thing they’ve
learned is it’s not if you fall
down, it’s if you get up. Our kids
will get up.
“They’ll be strong.”
Managing
Sports
Editor
Ethan Sears also contributed to
the reporting of this story.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Wolverines made an improbable run to the national championship
ABBY SNYDER
2019 Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins details the pain of a cancelled season
JARED GREENSPAN
2020 Daily Sports Writer
It’s just the
worst day of
every coach’s
career