The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 — 11
Sports

Michigan dominates in-state rival Michigan State, 70-55

In its last four games, the No. 
17 Michigan women’s basketball 
team has alternated wins and 
losses. Returning home to Crisler 
Center with over 10,000 fans in 
attendance for the second straight 
game — a program first — the 
Wolverines were looking to build 
off their win at Purdue in a bid to 
start a new trend.
And behind double-figure scor-
ing from four players, Michigan 
(15-3 overall, 5-2 Big Ten) pulled 
away in the second quarter to 
handle rival Michigan State (10-8, 
2-5), 70-55.
Despite Michigan’s slow start 
from the field in the first quar-
ter, its defense held the Spartans 
to just 11 points — their lowest 
first-quarter total of the season. 
The Wolverines forced nine turn-
overs, setting up their offense in 
transition by converting those 
opportunities into nine of their 14 
first-quarter points.
“I think that’s something that 
we’ve really been pretty success-
ful at so far this season, is being 
able to turn people over,” fifth-
year senior wing Leigha Brown 
said. “And then I think that leads 
to easy looks in transition, espe-
cially (with) defenses that really 
pack you in the paint like MSU 
does.”
Throughout the game, Michi-

gan’s defense not only forced 22 
Spartan turnovers, but also held 
them to an abysmal shooting clip 
of 15.8% from beyond the arc.
Following a quick four points 
from Michigan State out of the 
break, the Wolverines needed to 
respond. 3-pointers from sopho-
more guard Laila Phelia and 
senior guard Maddie Nolan put 
them back on top, but Michigan 
needed something more in order 
to pull away.
And Brown provided it.
Following 
another 
Spartan 
turnover, Brown drove up the 
court, pulling up at the top of the 
key. Withstanding contact from a 
Michigan State defender, Brown 
elevated to sink the shot and draw 
the foul, sending the Crisler Cen-
ter crowd into a roar. And a few 
minutes later with just two sec-
onds left in the quarter, Brown 
sank a shot that sent Michigan 
into the break with momentum 
and an eight-point lead.
For a moment, however, it 
looked like the Wolverines would 
once again fall victim to third-
quarter offensive issues, com-
mitting two early turnovers and 
struggling with the Spartan press.
But for only the second time in 
the last five games — and second 
straight game — Michigan out-
scored its opponent in the third 
quarter, a trend that it hopes to 
sustain. The Wolverines’ aggres-
sion on offense picked up, draw-
ing more fouls and opportunities 

at the free throw line. Those fouls 
forced two Spartans into foul 
trouble with four apiece, relegat-
ing both of them to the bench and 
helping Michigan solidify control.
“(In the second half) I thought 
we needed to be more aggressive 
and try to get to the rim and get 

stops on defense,” Michigan coach 
Kim Barnes Arico said. “Because 
if we got stops on defense, I felt 
like we were able to get out and 
transition and really get downhill 
against them. And I thought that 
was a really big turning point for 
us not to have to handle their pres-

sure all the time, get stops and 
draw fouls.”
On the defensive end, soph-
omore 
guard 
Jordan 
Hobbs 
stepped up, drawing a charge — 
Michigan’s third out of four of the 
game — and pumping her arms 
in celebration. On the subsequent 

JULIANNE YOON/Daily

possession, Hobbs sank a 3-point-
er to eventually take a comfort-
able 12-point lead into the fourth.
That lead was a result of the 
Wolverines turning around their 
third-quarter misfortunes from 
games past. 
“Third quarters have been a 
huge emphasis in the locker room 
coming out,” graduate forward 
Emily Kiser said. “Earlier on in 
the season, those weren’t our best 
quarters. In the Purdue game that 
we just played, that was huge to 
just come out (and that) started on 
the defensive side. Because when 
we get stops, they couldn’t press 
(and) we can kind of go in transi-
tion, which I think was huge. And 
then I think we cleaned up bet-
ter on the boards this time which 
helped that run start.”
Despite 
surrendering 
12 
offensive rebounds in the game, 
Michigan 
only 
allowed 
two 
second-chance points, and out-
rebounded Michigan State 18-16 
in the second half. Throughout 
the entire fourth quarter, the 
Spartans weren’t able to make a 
dent in Michigan’s lead. The Wol-
verines’ offense did what it had to 
do to keep the lead and win, but its 
defense — which surrendered its 
fewest points in conference play 
thus far — carried them to victory 
down the stretch.
With the win, Michigan defeat-
ed its in-state rival and built upon 
its last victory, sparking what it 
hopes will be a winning pattern.

Michigan overcomes sloppy play to beat 
Northwestern, 85-78

Freshman wing Jett Howard 
had one word to describe the 
Michigan men’s basketball team’s 
win over Northwestern: resilient.
And that resilience was cru-
cial to counteract sloppy play 
and poor decision making as the 
Wolverines (10-7 overall, 4-2 Big 
Ten) struggled to assert their 
dominance. The sloppiness kept 
them from pulling away until 
late in the second half, eventually 
defeating Northwestern (12-5, 
3-3), 85-78. Behind a season-high 
18 turnovers, Michigan allowed 
the Wildcats to claw their way 
back into the game after the 
Wolverines’ hot start. But when 
Michigan needed to, it cleaned up 
its act.
“I thought we put ourselves in 
position on the road to get one, 
which isn’t easy,” Northwestern 
coach Chris Collins said. “Our 
guys did a really good job of doing 
that, but Michigan made more 
plays than us, they made more 
shots and they did the things that 
were worthy of winning today.”
Although the Wolverines shot 
well early to build a double-dig-
it lead, their sloppiness shone 
through. Lazy crosscourt passes 
provided Northwestern several 
additional 
opportunities, 
and 
midway through the first half 
the Wildcats started to find their 
groove on offense. As Northwest-
ern started heating up, Michigan 
went cold, shooting just 1-for-9 
from behind the arc to finish the 
first half. 
The Wolverines have excelled 
in controlling the ball and limit-
ing turnovers so far this season, 
ranking fourth in the country 
with just 9.4 turnovers per game. 
But on Sunday that wasn’t the 

case, conceding nine turnovers in 
the first half alone.
“Having 18 turnovers, it’s not 
all because of the freshman,” 
Michigan coach Juwan Howard 
said. “But those mistakes that 
we’re making, hopefully by the 
end of the year we won’t make the 
same mistakes. But we’ve done a 
really good job overall of taking 
care of the basketball up until 
tonight.” 
Just as Michigan bounced back 
from Thursday’s loss, it bounced 
back from an uncharacteristical-
ly sloppy half. Doing that wasn’t 
convoluted, it just took resilience.
“I think we’re just resilient,” 
Jett said. “We understand basket-
ball is just a game of runs. If we 
lay down and we’re not resilient, 
we wouldn’t have the outcome 
that we wanted.” 
Coming out of the break, Mich-
igan still displayed some of that 
same carelessness. It allowed 
offensive rebounds and second-
chance plays to Northwestern 
while continuing to dish out poor 
passes. But it also showed the 
resilience Jett described. 
While turnovers continued to 
plague the Wolverines, they found 
some consistency on the offensive 
end, which kept them neck-and-
neck with the Wildcats. As the 
offense started to run smoothly, 
Michigan made amends, dishing 
out bullets instead of slow, rain-
bow-esque lobs.
“That was self-inflicted,” Jett 
said. “… We weren’t smart in the 
first half. Second half, we still 
had turnovers but were a little 
smarter. … We just had to adjust 
because in our offense the guy 
on the wing has to get the ball to 
create and start to play. So they 
understood that and did a good 
job of defending that.” 
Michigan may not have totally 
eliminated the turnovers, but it 

made adjustments and found 
ways to counteract them. Name-
ly, it leaned on a potent and self-
less offense. The Wolverines 
also exerted more aggression on 
the glass, collecting nine offen-
sive boards in the second half, 
a complete turnaround after a 
measly two in the first.
Fueled 
by 
junior 
center 
Hunter Dickinson and fresh-
man forward Tarris Reed Jr.’s 
intensity in that facet, Michi-
gan began to build momentum. 
As the Wolverines’ play started 
to click back into place and they 
strung defensive stops together, 
Michigan began to play more 
like its usual self, taking care of 
the ball.
“In the past games, one of the 
things we learned when we lost 
was we weren’t aggressive and 
we weren’t assertive towards 
the end of the game,” Jett said. 
“Just understanding that and 
making that adjustment worked 
out for us, and I feel like we 
should do that every time now 
since we’re already battle tested 
with that.” 
With just under eight min-
utes 
left, 
that 
aggression 
appeared effective in getting 
the Wolverines back on track. 
Dickinson intercepted a North-
western pass, and Michigan for 
once capitalized on a turnover 
instead of committing one. 
The steal led to a transition 
3-pointer by graduate guard 
Joey Baker, who sank the dag-
ger to give the Wolverines a 
seven point advantage — one 
that never wavered. 
While errant passes and 
unforced turnovers dictated 
the trajectory of the game early, 
Michigan overcame it, display-
ing its ability to take lessons 
from previous losses and use it 
to grow.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

TAYLOR DANIELS
Daily Sports Writer

Buy-in mentality backs up Erik 
Portillo’s excellence

JOHN TONDORA
Daily Sports Writer

The scene was different less 
than 24 hours ago.
“It’s unacceptable. It’s embar-
rassing honestly,” junior defen-
seman 
Jacob 
Truscott 
said 
Friday. 
“We can’t play like that. Ever,” 
sophomore 
forward 
Mackie 
Samoskevich said Saturday. 
“I just think we gotta be bet-
ter all around,” graduate for-
ward Nolan Moyle said Friday.
On Friday night, the Michigan 
hockey team suffered its first 
five-goal home loss since 1999 
in a 7-2 trouncing to Ohio State. 
The Wolverines appeared asleep 
at the wheel, missing defensive 
assignments, skipping poorly 
timed breakout passes and ced-
ing 52 shots directly onto the 
shoulders of junior goaltender 
Erik Portillo. 
Though the final score was 
lopsided, Portillo’s efforts Fri-
day nonetheless saved an ugly 
game from devolving into a 
crime scene. Nevertheless, his 
effort fell to the wayside.
Yet before the earth could 
complete a full rotation, the 
Wolverines walked away with a 
4-2 victory — not just because of 
Portillo, but the guys in front of 
him.
In Friday’s postgame press 
conference, Naurato and his 
players spoke of “buy in” and the 

need to approach each and every 
game with a survivalist mentali-
ty. Evidently absent in game one, 
Saturday’s contest presented a 
flipped script. 
Suddenly, 
missed 
assign-
ments became finished checks, 
poor breakouts became oppor-
tunistic chances and Michigan’s 
defensive efforts allowed Por-
tillo’s performance to resonate 
into a victory. 
The Wolverines came to play 
with a new buy-in mentality.
“Kids get Christmas tickets to 
come watch us play,” freshman 
forward Rutger McGroarty said. 
“Christmas presents to come 
watch us play. We can’t take this 
for granted and we gotta do it for 
the guy next to us.”
The most important team-
mate may not be the ones next 
to McGroarty and Michigan 
though, but the one behind them. 
With this invigorated mentality 
came a style of play and support 
system that represented how 
important Portillo is to his team. 
Just like Friday, he came up with 
numerous meaningful saves. But 
this time, the team around him 
translated those into a win.
“We trust him in there,” 
Samoskevich said. “Whenever 
he makes a big, big save, we get 
up on the bench and it definitely 
gives us energy and he’s a rock 
back there. We trust him. We 
love him back there and (he’s) 
definitely a leader on the team 
too.”

The Wolverines came to 
play. Not only for the benefit of 
those who found tickets under 
their Christmas tree, but for 
Portillo. With a combined 18 
blocked shots, Michigan’s buy-
in resonated throughout the 
contest. Ohio State’s 52 shots 
Friday shrunk to a more man-
ageable 39. 
Portillo’s 
performance 
never wavered throughout the 
weekend. What changed was 
the five guys on the ice out in 
front of him. Portillo made the 
same big saves on Friday that 
came on Saturday, yet without 
the same resounding impact. 
This time though, those saves 
shine through and made all the 
difference.
A difference, that was only 
possible through the support 
of others. In critical moments, 
Michigan’s “buy-in” style of 
play alleviated Portillo and 
shifted the narrative.
“We have to survive and 
when your back is against the 
wall, it really shows true char-
acter when those guys step in,” 
Naurato said. “Luke Hughes, 
he flipped six pucks 20 feet in 
the air at the end of the game 
just to get it out versus going 
for the empty net — that’s win-
ning hockey.”
Portillo 
played 
winning 
hockey all weekend. It only 
translated to the win column 
when the Wolverines decided 
to join him.

ICE HOCKEY

KATE HUA/Daily

LINDSAY BUDIN
Daily Sports Writer

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

