[Ed-Ace: Big win gets a big bump with no football today.]

For a program that has been good or very good in each of coach Kim Barnes Arico’s nine seasons, the Michigan Women have had precious few Big Wins (™).  Oh, they’ve won some big games - they’ve made the postseason every year since she arrived, made the NIT semis in two seasons and won it outright in a third.  It’s just not possible to get 179 wins without some wins being bigger than others.  But she’s never quite had a Program Defining Win, at least as Michigan coach.

They’ve had chances.  They haven’t converted them.  Not quite.

This year’s version of Notre Dame is several notches below the Death Star level that they reached over the last ten years.  Muffett McGraw has retired, replaced by longtime assistant Niele Ivey.  Most of the truly elite talent that led the Irish to a National Championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish in 2019 are in the WNBA.  There is still talent, however, lots of it, but the Irish are clearly in the midst of a transition.  A win over Notre Dame in its current, somewhat depleted state, probably doesn’t rise to the level of Program Defining.  But boy, it’s awfully close. 

Call it a Nearly Program Defining Win.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the recap.]

*

It started, as it sometimes does for a talented, youngish team on the road (empty gym or not), poorly.  Notre Dame isn’t packed with WNBA draft picks, but they’re very well-coached, they’re physical, they’ve played in big games, and unlike Michigan’s previous two opponents, they can at least match up at every position.

And they did, at least at the start.  The Irish came out in a zone, double- and triple-teaming Naz Hillmon with or without the ball, and Michigan struggled to attack it.  Going to the first media timeout, Michigan was down four and had looked stagnant on offense, either forcing it inside to Hillmon, who had aiready turned it over three times by forcing play into double-teams, or standing around the perimeter before taking a low-percentage shot or turning it over.  It was at that moment that KBA turned the right knob.

Coming out of the timeout, Michigan flipped Hillmon for Maddie Nolan, and the pace immediately picked up.  Michigan was now forced to get opportunities by pushing transition and ball movement, and while ND would score the next three to go up 15-8, the game had changed.  Hillmon came back at the 3-minute mark, and Michigan scored the next seven, including a three by Nolan on the first possession of the second quarter to tie it up.  The teams would trade baskets for a bit, until a 9-0 run put Michigan up 33-25 with 3 minutes left in the half, and despite the smallish margin Michigan seemed in control.  ND would close to two at halftime, and to one several times in the second half, but they’d never lead again.  Every time they’d close the gap, someone - Naz, Hailey Brown, Leigha Brown, or Maddie Freaking Nolan - would get a hoop, or block a layup, or grab a huge defensive rebound to stanch the wound.

The fourth quarter was essentially an extended chokehold. A 7-2 run, a 6-0 run, and before you knew it, Michigan was up 10 with three minutes left, and KBA had A Nearly Program Defining Win.

*

So how did they do it?  What changed after the first five minutes?

Pace and ball movement.  Amy Dilk was pushing the ball on every possession; some were fast breaks, but most were simply a matter of moving the ball juuuust a bit quicker.  ND seemed to struggle to get set in half-court defense, enough that Naz was getting more one-on-one opportunities, even against a zone, and when the zone had time in the half-court to collapse on her the jumpers were open.

Turnovers - a problem for this team even in the best of times - were much less of a problem for the vast majority of this game.  Four turnovers in the first five minutes, and four more in the last few minutes when the game was in hand…but only seven in the middle thirty minutes, which is probably one of the best TO per minute performance stretches in KBA’s tenure.

Perimeter defense was outstanding from beginning to end.  I’ve written before - KBA likes to instill the “hardest working team in america” ethic, and it was true this night.  Every player, up to and including Naz Hillmon, was busting their ass out to the three point line.  By game’s end, ND looked tired and frustrated.  Expect that to be an ongoing result this season.

More basketbullets:

• Amy Dilk played her best game of the young season, despite only scoring six points.  The box score says she had 7 assists, but it seemed more than that - she had any number of NHL assists, getting the pass that led to someone else’s assist.
• Leigha Brown is about as good a pure scorer as KBA has had in her tenure.  Katelyn Flaherty was an incredible shooter and could light things up.  And Naz is a great all-around player.  But Leigha Brown can score just about any way you can imagine.  Pull-up jumpers with range out to the three-point line, dribble-drives, post moves, and a mastery of the lost of art of the midrange jumper.  Just a dizzying variety of ways to score, and a great sense of when to use them.
• Someone described Hailey Brown as a Swiss Army Knife, and boy is that apt.  Hailey played yet another superb game, getting three HUGE three-pointers among her 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 rebounds, 2 steals…the box score says she only played 36 minutes, but she seemed to be on the court making plays for all 40.
• AK returned after missing the Oakland game and seemed limited but gutted out 12 points in 24 minutes.  She was also tasked with chasing ND thug Dara Mabrey and limited her to 12 annoying points despite getting elbowed and grabbed and moving-screened constantly.  Clearly the spiritual leader of this team.
• Naz…oh, Naz.  Coming off games of 26 and 35 points, one might think that her 20 were a letdown, but this game was in some ways more impressive.  She got those 20 against a defense geared almost entirely toward denying her the ball, then forcing her to hit free throws…which she did.  Not one of those 20 points or 11 boards came easy.
• My earlier questions about where minutes would go once things got tight were answered emphatically; KBA essentially shortened the rotation to seven, with only Nolan and Rauch coming off the bench for meaningful minutes.  Michelle Sidor and Elise Stuck (the only frosh to play) each played less than a minute to end the first quarter.  One thing i noticed - despite the ACC network pumping up the ND recruiting class, the ND frosh don’t appear to be nearly as athletic as the Michigan frosh who didn’t even get on the court. Again - the talent level is just.  So.  High.

The schedule this season just gets weirder and weirder…was about to write that the ladies are off until 12/19, but they’ve added Wright State this Sunday and Butler on 12/9.  BTN+, here we come.