The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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56 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2023 M ichigan kicked off its Decem- ber slate of games with wins over Northwestern and Miami to keep the train rolling amid a dominant 9-0 start to the season. However, a cold dose of reality would lurk around the corner for the Wol- verines. U-M, which had risen to No. 14 nation- ally, suffered its first loss of the season to upset-minded Toledo at home by a score of 71-68 on Dec. 8. It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Rockets and one that did not sit well with the Michigan women heading into a nine-day layoff before their next game. "We didn't show up ready enough to play so I mean, you go home with those thoughts and you're not really happy with them," graduate forward Emily Kiser told The Michigan Daily. "But you gotta move on. Unfortunately, we have a long break now, which is never fun. But you know, next one." It took 10 games for the Wolverines to experience a loss. "Toledo is a really solid, experienced team that jumped on us early," Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. "We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole that we couldn't recover from." Chasing perfection and achieving it on a night-to-night basis are two separate things, and borderline impossible in col- lege athletics. A non-conference loss is unlikely to hurt long term, but there are plenty of lessons to learn heading into the new year and the Big Ten season. "We're gonna lose games, and it's gonna be how we respond to losing games," Barnes Arico said. "I think there's going to be a lot of things that we can really dis- sect from [the Toledo game] that we can get better at moving forward." "One through 15, everyone needs to get better," Kiser said. "Myself, [sophomore guard] Laila [Phelia], everybody. Even the people who weren't playing because we can use the bench as much as possible. So [it's] good and bad as we gotta sit on this loss for a week, but we can focus on us." The 19th-ranked Wolverines re- sponded with a 77-49 victory over Ap- palachian State on Dec. 17 followed by a convincing 76-68 upset win against No. 6 North Carolina in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 20. U-M jumped out to a school-re- cord 35 first-quarter points (a 35-20 lead) and never trailed in the contest. ❏ MICHIGAN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL U-M Stung By Toledo, Takes Down No. 6 UNC 2022-23 MICHIGAN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 9 Delaware State W, 83-30 Nov. 11 St. Francis (Pa.) W, 91-36 Nov. 16 Western Michigan W, 99-67 Nov. 20 at Fairfield W, 69-53 Nov. 25 vs. Air Force^ W, 68-48 Nov. 26 vs. South Florida^ W, 63-58 Nov. 27 No. 21 Baylor^ W, 84-75 Dec. 1 at Miami (Fla.)% W, 76-64 Dec. 4 Northwestern* W, 77-66 Dec. 8 Toledo L, 71-68 Dec. 17 Appalachian State W, 77-49 Dec. 20 vs. North Carolina$ W, 76-68 Dec. 28 at Nebraska* (BTN) 7 p.m. Dec. 31 at Ohio State* (BTN) 1 p.m. Jan. 3 Penn State* (B1G+) 1 p.m. Jan. 7 Iowa* (FOX) 4:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Purdue* (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Jan. 14 Michigan State* (B1G+) 2 p.m. Jan. 19 at Rutgers* (BTN) 8:30 p.m. Jan. 23 Indiana* (BTN) 8 p.m. Jan. 26 at Maryland* (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at Minnesota* (B1G+) 2 p.m. Feb. 2 Illinois* (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at Michigan State* (B1G+) 3 p.m. Feb. 12 Nebraska* (B1G+) 1 p.m. Feb. 16 at Indiana* (BTN) 8:30 p.m. Feb. 20 Ohio State* (FS1) 7 p.m. Feb. 23 Rutgers* (B1G+) 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at Wisconsin* (BTN/B1G+) 2 p.m. Mar. 1-5 Big Ten Tournament+ TBD ^ Gulf Coast Showcase at Estero, Fla.; % ACC/ Big Ten Challenge; * Big Ten Conference game; $ Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte, N.C.; + at Minneapolis U-M head coach Kim Barnes Arico's squad jumped out to a 9-0 record and No. 14 ranking before taking its first loss in a tight contest with Toledo, 71-68. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS