The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1513253
42 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2024 BY ANTHONY BROOME L ast season, the Wolverines suffered a heartbreaking home-court loss to the Toledo Rockets in nonconference play. This year, revenge was on their minds with another date looming on Dec. 6. But first, the maize and blue squad had to find a way to get past Harvard on Dec. 2. Using a 22-7 third quarter against the Crimson, Michigan walked out of Cambridge with an 80-66 vic- tory. Down two points at the half, U-M had to rally to grab a victory in the non- conference road tilt. "We got rattled on someone else's home court," head coach Kim Barnes Arico said after beating the Crim- son. "We have to learn to finish games through. It wasn't over when we were up 20 — you have to continue to play." Michigan wants to be able to impose its will early on, but rally and counter- punch if it cannot get out to a hot start "Our identity is definitely to go out there and compete and punch first," ju- nior guard Greta Kampschroeder said. "If we don't do that in the first half, our goal is always to come out in the second half and do that." Digging a hole like that is what led to the loss against Toledo last year, and Michigan was on high alert after the setback. "They are a really solid, experienced team that jumped on us early," Barnes Arico said last season after the loss. "We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole that we weren't able to recover from." On Dec. 6 at a sold-out Savage Arena in Toledo, the Wolverines were looking for revenge. Instead, Michigan suffered a humbling defeat, 69-46, that led to more questions than answers. "They punched us from the begin- ning, and that allowed the crowd to get into it, which definitely didn't help our momentum at all," junior guard Jordan Hobbs said, via The Michigan Daily. "It was a great environment to be in, and Coach said before the game, 'You dream of playing in these types of environ- ments.' Unfortunately, it just didn't go our way, and we couldn't quiet them." Michigan ended the first quarter trailing 15-12 before being outscored 23-7 in the second frame to go down 38-19 at halftime. " To l e d o wa s awe so m e to n i g h t ," Barnes Arico said. "I knew they had a great team returning, and they had 10 days off to prepare for us. … They just really took away the paint. They scored and didn't allow us to get any transition. They did a great job packing the paint and taking charges." "It's a wake-up call for us," Hobbs said. "… We wanted to get them back for last year, and it didn't really go our way. … But we're so optimistic about the future. We know the talent that we have, and we're not going to hang our heads too much. "We're going to take this as a learn- ing opportunity. … We have to come out every single game better and play to our abilities. We've been undermining ourselves a little bit." U-M followed it up with an 84-48 victory in its Big Ten opener at Illinois on Dec. 10, led by Hobbs' career-high 22 points, and will close out the non- conference slate versus Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 16, at the Jumpman Invitational vs. Florida on Dec. 20 and a home game with Florida A&M on Dec. 22. The full Big Ten schedule kicks in on Dec. 30 against Ohio State at Crisler Center. ❏ ❱ WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Michigan Learns Rough Lesson In Another Loss To Toledo Junior guard Laila Phelia led Michigan with 16 points, but the Wolverines lost 69-46 at Toledo Dec. 6. Michigan's record stood at 9-2 after a 84-48 win over Illinois in its Big Ten opener Dec. 10. PHOTO COURTESY TOLEDO ATHLETICS 2023-24 MICHIGAN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time/TV Nov. 2 Saginaw Valley State (exhib.) W, 95-41 Nov. 6 Purdue Fort Wayne W, 80-61 Nov. 14 Oakland W, 80-39 Nov. 18 Middle Tennessee* W, 63-49 Nov. 19 South Dakota* W, 70-52 Nov. 20 Ole Miss* L, 60-49 Nov. 24 Eastern Michigan W, 80-44 Nov. 29 S. Illinois Edwardsville W, 103-59 Dec. 2 at Harvard W, 80-66 Dec. 6 at Toledo L, 69-46 Dec. 10 at Illinois W, 84-48 Dec. 16 Miami (Ohio) 11 a.m./B1G+ Dec. 20 Florida# 6:30 p.m./ESPN2 Dec. 22 Florida A&M 2 p.m./B1G+ Dec. 30 Ohio State 12 p.m./FOX Jan. 4 at Indiana 7 p.m./BTN Jan. 9 Minnesota 8 p.m./BTN Jan. 13 Wisconsin 2 p.m./B1G+ Jan. 17 at Nebraska 8 p.m./B1G+ Jan. 21 at Rutgers 2 p.m./B1G+ Jan. 24 Maryland 7 p.m./B1G+ Jan. 27 at Michigan State 12 p.m./B1G+ Jan. 31 Illinois 7 p.m./B1G+ Feb. 3 at Penn State 6 p.m./BTN Feb. 6 Nebraska 7 p.m./B1G+ Feb. 10 Rutgers 2 p.m./BTN Feb. 15 at Iowa 8 p.m./Peacock Feb. 18 Michigan State 12 p.m./BTN Feb. 24 at Northwestern 2 p.m./B1G+ Feb. 28 at Ohio State 7 p.m./Peacock March 3 Purdue 7 p.m./FS1 Mar. 6-10 Big Ten Tournament^ TBA/BTN *Battle 4 Atlantis, Nassau, Bahamas, #Jumpman Invita- tional in Charlotte, N.C., ^ at Target Center, Minneapolis