The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 — 11
Michigan dominated by Penn State’s
knockdown shooting and scoring
depth, 83-61
LINDSAY BUDIN
Daily Sports Writer
STATE COLLEGE — As Penn
State wing Seth Lundy released the
ball from 3-point range with four
minutes remaining in the first half,
the ball clinked against the rim,
ricocheting straight up in the air.
And as the ball descended, hitting
the rim once again, time seemed to
stand still. Every player on the court
fixated on one thing — whether the
Nittany Lions would get the favor-
able bounce.
And as the ball fatefully passed
through the net after multiple
bounces, it was the dagger that
pushed the momentum completely
out of reach for Michigan and in
Penn State’s favor with under four
minutes in the half.
With momentum swinging the
wrong way, the Wolverines (11-10
overall, 5-5 Big Ten) imploded, get-
ting trounced by the Nittany Lions
(14-7, 5-5), 83-61. After failing to
amass defensive authority and con-
tain Penn State’s strong shooting
early, Michigan fell into a hole too
deep to climb out of.
“I was like ‘ok please, please
bounce out, let’s get the rebound,’
” Michigan coach Juwan Howard
said. “And it stayed up there for like
three-and-a-half seconds — I was
counting — and then it bounced in.
… After that, they just went on a spi-
ral where they just were able to feed
from the energy from the crowd.”
Even before the spiral though,
the Nittany Lions came out as the
aggressor, knocking down shot
after shot as the Wolverines lacked
energy to offset the charge. Led
by guard Jalen Pickett, Penn State
displayed the dominance that
Michigan lacked, exploiting the
Wolverines’ defensive miscues to
maintain a lead.
As Pickett dominated, freshman
wing Jett Howard followed his
lead, going 7-for-8 in the first half to
rack up 18 points. Early on, the two
served as the overwhelming source
of production for both teams. But
towards the end of the half, after
the Jett-led Wolverines cut their
deficit to a single point, that source
waned. In the final five minutes
of play, Jett’s preeminence disap-
peared, attempting just one shot in
that timespan. On the other side,
Pickett — who tallied 17 points in
the half en route to a team-high 25
point performance — had a similar
occurrence, going scoreless in the
final eight minutes of the half.
However, the difference between
Michigan and Penn State was how
other players stepped up after Jett
and Pickett’s surges settled. While
the Wolverines remained stagnant
and unable to score without Jett’s
production as a crutch, the Nittany
Lions found their groove,
capitalizing
on
other
sources of scoring and
their knockdown 3-point
shooting.
“They were raining
three’s,” Jett said. “I feel
like they got in rhythm
and it’s hard to stop a
team that’s in rhythm
already … so it was
tough.”
Following a 1-for-4
shooting line from three
to start the game, Penn
State went 8-for-13 to fin-
ish the first half. After
that swing, it drastically grew its
lead to a 17-point chokehold at the
half, quickly shifting Michigan’s
deficit from manageable to out of
hand.
The Wolverines immediately
countered by attempting to neu-
tralize the 3-point blows with
triples of their own, but found
little success, going just 6-for-22
from behind the arc and all but
one coming from Jett. Even in the
face of their struggles, Michigan
continued to take that approach
instead of adapting, which proved
detrimental. Without junior cen-
ter Hunter Dickinson’s usual
prowess in the paint, the Wolver-
ines relied heavily on their shots
— which weren’t falling. Despite
that ineffectiveness, coming out
of the break, Michigan main-
tained that same strategy.
And just like in the first half, it
didn’t work.
“With the threes that were
being made and then also getting
points in the paint, we just didn’t
do a good job of stopping them,”
Juwan said. “… But I will also go
back and look in the mirror and
say it starts with me, that I can do
better.”
Without any effective defen-
sive adjustments and with Penn
State continuing its 3-point shoot-
ing clinic, the game fell complete-
ly out of reach for the Wolverines
just five minutes into the second
half. As Lundy knocked down a
dagger three — his third of the
second half — to balloon the lead
to 28 with the closest Michigan
defender nowhere in the vicinity
from him, everything came full
circle.
Lundy’s multi-bounce 3-point-
er late in the first half steered all
the momentum in Penn State’s
direction, and his uncontested
three early in the second half
pushed the Wolverines out of its
sight line.
And with that, Michigan never
re-emerged.
Sports
MEN’S BASKETBALL
No. 3 Michigan dominates longtime rival No. 11 Ohio State in home meet
MEGAN SMITH
For The Daily
Sierra Brooks, Naomi Mor-
rison and Natalie Wojcik led the
charge on Saturday for a No. 3
Michigan women’s gymnastics
team that was ready to rebound.
With the support of 8,515 fans,
the Wolverines (3-1 overall, 1-1
Big Ten) fed off the energy of
the second-largest home crowd
in history, ending the Buckeyes’
(7-1, 1-1) undefeated season and
securing its first Big Ten win of
the year, 197.975-196.350.
Michigan started strong on the
vault, earning a 49.575 and four
scores of 9.900 or better. Junior
Reyna Guggino began the night
with a 9.850, replacing junior
Jenna Mulligan compared to last
week’s lineup. Graduate student
Natalie Wojcik followed with
an uncharacteristic 9.800 after
stepping out of bounds on the
dismount, but senior Gabby Wil-
son re-centered the team with
a 9.900. However, it was junior
Naomi Morrison who took home
the event title with a score of
9.975 after a clean, high-ampli-
tude rotation and a stuck land-
ing. Senior Sierra Brooks scored a
9.950 after sticking the landing as
well, and graduate student Abby
Heiskell anchored the event with
a solid 9.900.
After a dominant vault per-
formance, it was clear that last
week’s loss would serve as a
learning experience for Michi-
gan, not a setback.
“Last week just wasn’t our
day,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki
said. “We could make a lot of
excuses for why we didn’t have
the energy but the reality is it’s
our job to manufacture the ener-
gy. If it doesn’t come naturally,
then we have to get it together.
“…I think sometimes that’s the
best thing that can happen to you
when you’re a team that has aspi-
rations to win a national cham-
pionship, because you learn that
lesson that you have to be very
intentional and not take anything
for granted.”
Michigan proved it had learned
from its mistakes on uneven bars.
Heiskell and Morrison led off
with a 9.875 and 9.850 respec-
tively, setting the stage for junior
Carly Bauman to tie a career-best
9.900. Brooks followed with an
additional 9.900 after a blind to
piked jaeger and a stuck landing.
Wojcik collected another event
title, earning a 9.950 after fin-
ishing her routine with a double
layout and flawless dismount.
Michigan scored a 49.475 on the
uneven bars, leading the Buck-
eyes 99.050-98.500 going into
the third rotation.
The
Wolverines’
struggles
continued on the beam, but some
much-needed improvements by
Brooks allowed the team to stay
on pace. In doing so, she bounced
back from recent struggles in her
back handspring layout.
“My coaches were very trans-
parent,” Brooks said. “They said,
‘We have so much confidence in
you doing this routine, regard-
less of your one layout or two
layouts, but we want you to raise
your confidence and get a good
beam hit under your belt because
we know you can hit it.’ So I did
that.”
Brooks’ confidence remained
steady, earning a 9.950 in the
fourth slot, improving her score
from the previous meet by over
half a point. Bauman began the
rotation with a 9.850, showcas-
ing a new pike gainer dismount.
Wilson wobbled a bit during her
routine, but compensated with a
perfectly stuck double tuck dis-
mount, earning a 9.800. Heiskell
notched a 9.125 after falling off
the beam, receiving her third-
lowest career score that would
be scratched. 2019 beam national
champion Wojcik anchored the
event with a near-flawless rou-
KATE HUA/Daily
tine, earning a season-high 9.975
and the event title. The Wolver-
ines held a solid 148.40-147.65
lead over the Buckeyes after
three events.
Michigan was composed head-
ing into the final rotation. Backed
by a meet-best 9.950 by Morrison,
the Wolverines proved why they
are first in the nation in the floor
exercise.
Senior Nicoletta Koulos led
the event with a dance-inspired
routine, earning a 9.875. Heiskell
performed her fan-favorite ABBA
mashup that scored a 9.925. Mor-
rison received her second event
title of the night after a solid per-
formance in the third slot, fol-
lowed by Brooks who secured the
all-around title with a 9.925 after
sticking the landing on a full-
twisting double back. Wilson
earned the fourth score of 9.900
on floor, capping off a successful
night for the Wolverines.
Through the support of Morri-
son and Brooks, Michigan found
the rebound it needed. Not only
did it correct the issues that led
to prior losses, but it also used
that success to pace a convincing
win.
No. 3 Michigan secured a multitude of high scores to beat rival No. 11 Ohio State.
Michigan blows out Minnesota, 77-41,
in bounce-back win
LYS GOLDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 13 Michigan women’s
basketball team trailed for just 52
seconds against Minnesota.
After
the
Golden
Gophers
scored
first,
the
Wolverines
responded with two points of
their own — taking charge from
there and never looking back. Fol-
lowing back-to-back conference
losses, Michigan (16-5 overall, 7-4
Big Ten) controlled the game for
almost all 40 minutes on Sunday to
get back in the win column, domi-
nating Minnesota (9-12, 2-8) by a
score of 77-41.
“I’m excited for our team to be
able to bounce back after a really
tough week, to be able to finish
it off here,” Michigan coach Kim
Barnes Arico said.
Bouncing back didn’t take much
against a young and floundering
Golden Gophers squad. Through
the first 20 minutes, they couldn’t
keep up with the Wolverines.
Entering the locker room at half-
time with a 34-23 lead, Michigan
looked to continue its 16-game
undefeated streak when leading at
the break — and it did just that.
With a 23-2 run in the second
half — highlighted by three tri-
ples combined from sophomore
guards Jordan Hobbs, Laila Phelia
and Greta Kampschroeder, along
with a crafty reverse layup from
graduate forward Emily Kiser —
Michigan furthered the dominant
performance that was on display
all day, putting the game away for
good in the third quarter.
Throughout
the
matchup,
Michigan
was
energetic
on
offense, moving off the ball more
effectively after falling stagnant
in Thursday’s loss to No. 10 Mary-
land. The Wolverines also suc-
cessfully attacked the basket all
day — dominating the battle in
the paint with 46 points to Min-
nesota’s 26.
“Something that we were really
trying to emphasize these last cou-
ple days at practice is moving off
the ball,” fifth-year wing Leigha
Brown said. “I think a lot of times,
especially these last few games,
we’ve been kind of just standing
around on offense.”
With just over a minute left in
the first quarter, Brown hit an
and-1 to tally her 1000th point in
maize and blue. Brown went on
to score 11 of Michigan’s first 19
points along with 20 total points
throughout the game, leading the
team’s offensive charge.
After hitting her signature pull-
up jumper in the first half, Brown
celebrated with an aura of ‘you
can’t guard me’ directed at the
Gophers defense. In fact, Minne-
sota failed to contain Brown — or
Phelia, who scored a team-high 22
points — throughout the matchup.
Phelia’s 3-pointer during the Wol-
verines’ third-quarter run forced
another Gophers timeout, extend-
ing Michigan’s lead to 46-28.
Despite standout performances
from Brown and Phelia, the Wol-
verines didn’t shoot very well —
below-average 25% from behind
the arc and 43% from the field.
However,
Michigan’s
staunch
defense forced the Gophers to
shoot even worse at 20% and 31%,
respectively.
“(I) definitely was happy with
our ability to hold them,” Barnes
Arico said. “This was (Minneso-
ta’s) lowest output of the season,
and that’s something that we
really take pride in.”
In the process of holding the
Gophers to a season-low point
total, the Wolverines grabbed 11
total steals, forcing 21 turnovers
and scoring a matching 21 points
off of them.
Early in the second quarter,
a pass intercepted by junior for-
ward Cameron Williams led to a
drained mid-range jumper from
Brown, putting Michigan up by
10 and forcing a Minnesota time-
out — a series that exemplified
Michigan’s strengths through-
out the game. On both ends of
the court, the Wolverines’ suc-
cess kept rolling.
They also played disciplined,
keeping
the
Gophers’
free
throw opportunities few and far
between. Michigan only allowed
Minnesota six shots from the
charity stripe, further reiterat-
ing the control that the Wolver-
ines held throughout the entire
matchup.
After suffering its first back-
to-back loss series of the sea-
son, Michigan dominated the
Gophers to right themselves
again. And in order to do so, the
Wolverines controlled the con-
test from opening whistle to
final buzzer.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Michigan earns first Big Ten win against Ohio State
The Michigan men’s gymnas-
tics team pulled off a hard-fought
victory over its archrival, Ohio
State, this Saturday for its first
Big Ten win of the season.
Across six events, the Wol-
verines (2-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten)
outscored the Buckeyes (0-1,
0-1) 409.200 – 404.000. After
a demanding meet on the road
the previous weekend, Michigan
coach Yuan Xiao spoke to the
Wolverines recovery process.
“We had a rough meet last
week,” Xiao said. “We competed
at (the) Rocky Mountain Open.
It’s a tough schedule … when we
came back we knew where we
needed to prepare physically and
mentally.”
If the Wolverines were feel-
ing some fatigue after going on
the road, they didn’t show it.
Sophomore Lais Najjar got the
meet started with a strong per-
formance on the
floor, earning a
5.2 difficulty score
and a 9.0 in execu-
tion for a com-
bined score of 14.2.
Freshman Landen
Blixt
took
first
place in the event
with 14.65.
Michigan main-
tained its overall
lead on the pom-
mel and rings but
Ohio State kept
it
close,
taking
first place in both
events.
Follow-
ing the vault, the
running score was
272.400 – 269.400
in Michigan’s favor. Sophomore
David Wolma helped keep the
Wolverines in front with a first-
place score of 14.75 — his career-
best.
From there it was all about
freshman Fred Richard. On the
parallel bars, Richard took first
place with an impressive score
of 14.85, and on the high bar the
freshman once again secured the
top spot, scoring 5.9 in difficulty
and 8.75 in execu-
tion.
Senior
Adam
Wooten competed
for the Wolverines
on the floor and
the high bar, help-
ing them outscore
the Buckeyes in
both events and
finishing
with
27.8 points.
Spirits
were
high in the Cliff
Keen Arena after
the final scores
were announced,
but Michigan said
it isn’t satisfied
yet.
“I’m
happy
for our performance today, I
think we have a lot more to give
though,” Wooten said. “I think
we have a lot more difficulty that
we can put into our routines and
I also think we have a lot more
execution. We can hit more sets,
we can do more flawless gymnas-
tics.”
Xiao echoed the sentiment
that his team has lofty goals.
“As usual we’re gonna take the
Big Ten championship seriously
… We are definitely a good team
to challenge (for) it.” Xiao said.
There is still plenty of time
before Michigan heads to Colum-
bus to contend for the Big Ten
Championship in March, but if
Saturday was any indication, this
team is hungry for opportunities
to prove itself. Judging by their
performance Saturday, the Wol-
verines have plenty of talent to
do that.
MEN’S GYMNASTICS
CONNOR O’LEARY HERRERAS
For The Daily
SARAH BOEKE/Daily
ANNA FUDER/Daily
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
Penn State’s electric 3-point shooting affair sunk
Michigan on Sunday.
Michigan women’s basketball achieved a rebound victory against Minnesota Sunday.
LILA TURNER/Daily
The No. 5 Michigan men’s gymnastics team recovered from a tough road trip against No. 3 Ohio State.