Jaedan Brown rebounds, feeding off 
energy in win against Kristina Novak

JACK TIRSCH
For The Daily

Jaedan Brown closed out the 
first set of her singles match 
against No. 19 Oklahoma State’s 
Kristina Novak with an emphat-
ic ace, adorning her serve with a 
yell towards the crowd. 
The junior was dominant 
in her match, defeating Novak 
in straight sets by the score of 
6-2, 6-1. Brown tallied another 
singles win against an oppo-
nent from a ranked team while 
improving her individual record 
to 3-1 on Saturday. 
After an agonizing loss in 
her singles match last weekend 
amid a Michigan victory over 
the Cowgirls, Brown came out 
with a different mindset for the 
rematch. She looked to sharpen 

the fundamentals in her game to 
rebound from the loss. She was 
promoted to No. 1 singles this 
weekend in a rematch between 
the two teams. 
“I think I went in really 
loose,” Brown said. “Coming 
off of a big win against them 
last week helped me take all 
the pressure off, so I was just 
swinging and hitting it really 
well. The energy was great.”
Michigan fed off of the ener-
gy from the crowd at the Varsity 
Tennis Center and maintained 
the competitive atmosphere as 
crowd chants rained down over 
the Wolverines. Brown clearly 
absorbed the vibrancy through-
out her match, generating great 
momentum in her favor. 
“When you have your team-
mates around you constantly 
encouraging you, that makes it a 

lot easier,” Brown said. 
Brown preserved this live-
liness throughout her match 
with a powerful shot down the 
line to break Novak and secure 
a commanding 5-2 lead in the 
first set. Brown continued her 
strong level of play into the 
second set by breaking Novak’s 
serve yet again, this time with 
a deep cross-court shot to take 
a commanding 3-0 lead. 
“You can’t give up when 
knowing 
that 
(opponents) 
aren’t 
going 
to 
give 
you 
errors,” Brown said. “I felt like 
my serve was pretty on today. 
I also mixed it up using my 
slice a couple of times, com-
ing into the net, just to throw 
them off.” 
Steamrolling her way to vic-
tory, Brown held nearly every 
serve and broke most of the 
opposing serving opportuni-
ties. Consistency was key for 
Brown as she only conceded 
three games to Novak’s effort. 
Brown continuously moved 
Novak around the court by 
utilizing both her backhand 
and forehand shots, as well 
as coming up to the net when 
necessary. 
Brown was also able to use 
her teammate Kari Miller’s 
match 
against 
Novak 
last 
weekend to her advantage, 
trying to replicate how her 
teammate emerged victorious. 
“I was just trying to take 
what Kari did,” Brown said. 
“She had a successful week-
end last time against (Novak), 
so I just tried to take what she 
said about her and what the 
coaches said and treat it as a 
new match.”
Jaedan Brown’s effort was 
essential en route to Michi-
gan’s 6-1 win over Oklahoma 
State, capturing victories in 
back-to-back meetings against 
the Cowgirls.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

‘A scary sight’: Hunter Dickinson delivers against Ohio State

JACK GLANVILLE
Daily Sports Editor

Up just five points with 13 min-
utes left, junior center Hunter 
Dickinson caught the ball in the 
high post while turning to face up 
Ohio State center Felix Okpara — 
no double team in sight. Sweeping 
the ball low to his left hand, Dick-
inson dribbled left. Bumped once 
off of Okpara, almost to the low 
block. Bumped twice off of Okpa-
ra, at the rim. Dickinson layed it 
up and in.
Sauntering down the floor, he 
celebrated with an arm stretched 
downward and a hand parallel 
with the hardwood. His message 
was clear:
The 6-foot-11 Okpara was too 
small.
Dickinson notched a signature 
performance — finishing with 26 
points and 11 rebounds — against 
the Buckeyes at Crisler Center on 
Sunday. That performance was, in 
part, due to Dickinson’s ability to 
exploit mismatches in the post.
“Hunter recognizes, as well 
as his teammates, when the big 
fella had it going on the inside,” 

Michigan coach Juwan Howard 
said. “We had to continue to keep 
feeding him the ball. I’ll never for-
get, on a timeout, Terrance Wil-
liams was like, ‘Let’s keep going 
to Hunter.’ And I said, ‘You know 
what, I agree. We’re going to keep 
going to Hunter.’ ”
Matched up with either Okpa-
ra or forward Zed Key, Dickin-
son handled both of Ohio State’s 
defensive 
options 
with 
ease. 
Okpara proved too skinny, and 
Dickinson simply went through 
him. Key proved too short at 
6-foot-8, and the towering 7-foot-
1 Dickinson went over him — 
unleashing a barrage of hook 
shots that the forward never had 
a chance of contesting.
“(Dickinson) 
reads 
the 
defense,” Howard said. “When 
he’s not doubled, he’s going to 
make his move one-on-one. If he 
gets doubled, he’s going to throw 
the ball out.”
That ability to read the defense 
made Dickinson’s performance 
against the Buckeyes so impres-
sive. Staying calm under pressure 
and demonstrating a knack for 
making the right plays, Dickinson 
remained poised throughout the 

contest. That showed as he played 
all but four minutes yet finished 
with only one turnover. And the 
way he facilitated the Wolverines’ 
offense from the post made that 
statistic all the more impressive.
That ability to facilitate was 
on display when, with seven min-
utes left, freshman guard Dug 

McDaniel fed Dickinson in the 
high post. Turning to survey the 
court, Dickinson found himself 
in a familiar position. This time, 
instead of releasing a mid-range 
jumper or taking his defender off 
the bounce, he zipped a skip pass 
to graduate guard Joey Baker 
in the opposite corner. Baker 

knocked down the three, giving 
Michigan a 12-point cushion with 
the momentum-boosting shot.
“There were times late in the 
second half when (Dickinson) 
had a chance to go one-on-one, 
but he still was throwing it out 
to the perimeter,” Howard said. 
“That’s just the nature of being an 

JULIANNE YOON/Daily

unselfish player, wanting to make 
the right play. That just gives a lot 
of credit to the kind of competitor 
that Hunter is, but he’s also dialed 
into team, team, team.”
Just two minutes later Dick-
inson flashed that unselfishness 
again, throwing an almost iden-
tical pass, this time to sopho-
more guard Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin 
missed the wide-open 3-pointer, 
but it was the right pass and the 
right shot — textbook basketball.
“When a guy like Hunter plays 
his best it’s a scary sight,” Bufkin 
said. “It’s always huge for us when 
he plays great.”
After failing to effectively lead 
a younger Michigan squad early 
in the year, Dickinson is turning 
a corner. Sure, he still averages 
18.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per 
game, but only recently — against 
Northwestern and Ohio State — 
has he put together the perfor-
mances that Michigan needs to 
make a tournament push and flip 
the script on its lackluster season.
At his best, Dickinson is one of 
college basketball’s elites. One of 
the Big Ten’s bonafide stars. And 
Sunday against Ohio State, one 
scary sight, indeed.

Michigan serves revenge to 
Harvard at home

KENDALL MCCASKILL
Daily Sports Writer

Following the No. 4 Michigan 
men’s tennis team’s loss in the 
doubles point against the Harvard 
men’s tennis team, the Wolverines 
found themselves in an unfamiliar 
place.
Looking to redeem their 4-3 
loss from last season against No. 
18 Harvard and its subsequent 
defeat in doubles play, Michigan 
was ravenous for the win. But its 
appetite was only satiated when 
it clinched a home win over the 
Crimson.
“Especially early in the season, 
it’s huge for us against a team like 
Harvard,” fifth-year Patrick Malo-
ney said. “We lost 4-3 to them last 
year, so we kind of came into that 
match looking for revenge, losing 
the doubles point even added on to 
that and made it even tougher.
Maloney and senior Ondrej Sty-
ler entered the court as an unde-
feated doubles pairing hoping 
to continue their five-set streak. 
Instead, aces and tough serve-
receive from Harvard startled the 
pair, losing both their match and 
the team’s double’s point, the lat-
ter for the first time all season.
“We didn’t play well. At all,” 
Michigan coach Adam Steinberg 
said. “It was the worst doubles 
we’ve played all year and the guys 
know it.” 
Based on their last meeting’s 
performance and without the 
cushion of doubles point, Michi-
gan knew it needed to show 
improvement given their point 
deficit.
It did just that.
By extending their rallies and 
aggressive singles play, Michigan 
put itself back into the competi-
tion. The Wolverines entered 
into three-set matches in four 
out-of-six of their singles. Junior 
Jacob Bickersteth dropped the 

first set against Harvard’s Mark 
Ktiri, but with great determina-
tion to avenge his losses against 
the Crimson, he pushed for a third 
set. With crafty line shots and 
continued grit from Bickersteth, 
he secured the match for the Wol-
verines.
“Sometimes it’s a hard les-
son but it’s one that we needed,” 
Steinberg said. “I told them that 
after the doubles, listen ‘you’re 
7-0, you’ve won every doubles 
point, but now you’re going to be 
challenged, and they did great.’ ”
Fifth-year Andrew Fenty simi-
larly served up his revenge follow-
ing his singles loss in his meeting 
last year with Harvard. Fenty 
quelled out his opponent with 
quickness, winning the match 
6-4, 6-1, giving another win to the 
Wolverines.
“It was a character win today,” 

Steinberg said. “We have to find 
ways to win when we lose dou-
bles point too. They can lean on 
it just like this, and think hey, 
we’ve done it before against a 
really good team.”
Despite the adversity Michi-
gan faced early in the match it 
was able to take command of the 
match, fueled by the team’s grit 
and determination to take back 
the win.
“Getting dug into that hole 
early on but it tested us mentally 
and physically,” Maloney said. 
“And we’ll look back into this 
match a couple of months from 
now and be happy it happened.”
As the Wolverines continue 
their undefeated campaign in 
the weeks to come, they will 
need to lead with the same 
mentality they used to secure 
revenge over Harvard.

MEN’S TENNIS

Michigan upsets field to win Big Ten Match Play title

Ranked eighth out of nine 
teams in the field, the Michigan 
men’s golf team entered the Big 
Ten Match Play Championship 
with a slim chance of winning. 
Playing at the Hammock Beach 
Ocean Course in Florida, the 
Wolverines faced a steep uphill 
climb, with matches against No. 7 
Penn State, No. 2 Michigan State, 
No. 3 Indiana and No. 1 North-
western. 
Led by a clutch performance 
from sophomore Hunter Thom-
son, Michigan stunned the com-
petition, knocking off each of the 
top three seeds to win its first Big 
Ten Match Play title since 2014.
Play 
began 
Friday 
morn-
ing against Penn State but was 
delayed due to weather, result-
ing in the match being reduced to 
nine holes. Following the resump-
tion of play, Penn State’s James 
Allen put the Nittany Lions ahead 

with a comfortable 3-and-1 win 
over Michigan junior Jude Kim. 
The Wolverines fought back, 
however, erasing the deficit as 
Thomson and junior Will Ander-
son both grinded out late-match 
comebacks. Thomson won his 
match while Anderson tied his.
A halved point between junior 
Ben Hoagland and Penn State’s 
Morgan Lofland left the overall 
score at 2-2, putting Michigan’s 
fate in the hands of sophomore 
Yuqi Liu. He stepped up in a big 
way, winning a narrow 1-up match 
that came down to the wire and 
advancing his team to the next 
round.
After a short turnaround, the 
Wolverines took on rival Michi-
gan State, ranked second in the 
field. Michigan got off to a hot 
start behind Thomson, who domi-
nated 6-and-4. Andersen added to 
the momentum as he cruised to 
victory, 4-and-3. 
Needing one more point to 
clinch the win over the Spartans, 
Kim found himself down three 

with only seven holes to play. He 
turned the tide at the right time, 
winning six holes in a row to claim 
a point to upset Michigan State 
3.5-1.5.
“Anytime you play Michigan 
State, obviously, we get their best 
and they get our best,” Michigan 
coach Zach Barlow said. “It was 
nice to finally come out on top this 
time. … The guys were fired up 
for it and honestly we just played 
really good golf.”
Semifinal play against Indiana 
saw more polar scoring across 
the board, with no ties. Kim and 
Liu both lost, but Anderson and 
Hoagland grabbed crucial wins 
to keep the Wolverines in conten-
tion. With the score sitting at an 
even 2-2, the outcome of the match 
fell on Thomson’s shoulders.
Although only a sophomore, 
Thomson is Michigan’s highest-
ranked player and led the team 
in scoring average last year as a 
freshman. He had his hands full 
against the Hoosiers, winning 
two of the last three holes and 

still needing a huge putt on the 
last hole to close out his opponent. 
Reliably, Thomson held his nerve, 
finding the bottom of the hole and 
winning 1-up to send his team to 
the finals.
With a Big Ten Match Play title 
on the line, Northwestern await-
ed Michigan on Saturday after-
noon. Despite having played three 
rounds in the last 36 hours, the 
Wolverines put their heads down 
and jumped out to a lead behind 
wins from Liu and Kim, who 
redeemed their semifinal defeats. 
Unsurprisingly, the Wildcats 
didn’t go quietly. Anderson and 
Hoagland’s matches both came 
down to the final hole but neither 
came out on top. Northwestern’s 
late comeback brought the score 
to 2-2, once again putting Thom-
son in the spotlight as he squared 
up against the Wildcats’ James 
Imai.
The final match went back and 
forth. Thomson and Imai traded 
blows across the front nine, with 
neither ever leading by more 

than a hole. The match was all 
square heading into the turn, and 
remained unchanged until the 
15th hole, when Thomson took 
the lead with three holes to play. 
He demonstrated solid compo-
sure, staving off Imai on holes 16 
and 17 before sinking a must-have 
putt on 18 to win the champion-
ship for the Wolverines.
“(Thomson’s) ranking hasn’t 
quite caught up to who he truly 
is yet,” Barlow said. “He’s got a 
lot of big time tournaments, a 
lot of big time years ahead for 
Michigan. … For it to come down 
to that and especially a putt, he’s 
worked on putting so much lately 
it’s crazy.”
Thomson is currently ranked 
309th in college golf. And yet, he 
won all four of his matches this 
weekend and propelled his team 
to victory. His underdog status is 
mirrored by the Wolverines and 
their low ranking coming into 
this weekend.
Michigan’s underdog status 
doesn’t come as a surprise consid-

ering its best performance last fall 
was a third-out-of-13 finish at the 
Island Resort Invitational in Sep-
tember. They played consistently 
lukewarm golf throughout the 
fall, leading many to believe the 
same would remain true in 2023.
“It was a total team effort,” 
Barlow said. “We have worked so 
hard this offseason. … They got 
stronger and everything from lift-
ing to cardio to their short game, 
they’ve really put in the work this 
offseason, and I couldn’t be more 
proud.”
Evidently, the Wolverines have 
more potential than was thought 
prior to this weekend. They domi-
nated MSU and earned gritty 
wins over Penn State and North-
western to win a title that few 
people foresaw them claiming.
Though the consistency of 
Michigan’s play remains to be 
seen, this weekend definitively 
proves that it has both the fire-
power and the mental strength 
needed to win against heavily-
favored opponents.

MEN’S GOLF

PETER HAGAN
For The Daily

ANNA FUDER/Daily
RILEY NIEBOER/Daily

MEN’S BASKETBALL

 10 — Wednesday, February 8, 2023
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports

