Thome Makes Grandpa John Proud with Critical Three-Point Shot
2/9/2018 1:20:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan women's basketball center Hallie Thome was trying to imagine the reaction of Grandpa John, watching at his winter home in Naples, Florida, as she made the first three-point shot of her career in game No. 98.
"My grandpa will be so proud," said Thome after Thursday night's (Feb. 8) 84-63 win over Northwestern. "He calls me after every game and says, 'You need to watch film. You have an open three.'"
She tells him: "I'm not shooting threes!"
Thome, who finished with 25 points, laughed at the thought of Grandpa insisting that she cast from behind the arc. She is a 6-foot-5 junior with some of the sweetest post moves around and is so hard to cover down low that she scored a trio of three-point plays the hard way -- by hitting the basket, getting fouled on the shot and making the free throw.
She had attempted two three-pointers last season and missed both. But now Thome is one-for-three on threes in her college career.
Thome not only hit that shot for her grandfather, John Thome, Sr., but for her Wolverine teammates who went wild. It was a shot they needed as the Wildcats were not going away, and trailed by just eight points before that trey went through the net with two seconds left on the shot clock and 8:14 remaining in the game. Michigan went on a 27-14 run the rest of the way beginning with Hallie's trey.
"We took off from there," said forward Jillian Dunston, who had 12 rebounds, seven points and five assists. "So, it was a really key shot."
It was a shot born from desperation.
"I heard it because our bench is outstanding at keeping us aware of the clock," said Thome. "They're screaming, 'Six! Five!' So, I said, 'You know what? My feet are set. Just shoot it.' It felt good when it left my hand, it really did."
I joked with her about becoming like Moritz Wagner, the 6-foot-11 post player for Michigan's men's team who drains treys, too.
"In my freshman year," said Thome, "his coach came in and said, 'Hallie, you need to teach him how to do post moves.' I said, 'If he can teach me how to shoot.'"
There was a much more likely three-point shooter who was the leading scorer in this game, though.
Katelynn Flaherty missed her first four treys in the first quarter, and went 9-for-12 the rest of the way to come one short of her school-record 10, hit earlier this season against Penn State. Her 36 points were two shy of her career best against Ohio State last season.
However, this story began with Grandpa John, and it shall end with Grandpa John. He lost his wife, Diane, last year, and Hallie Diane, named for her grandmother, calls him faithfully every night to talk basketball and life.
"I'm going to be excited to talk to him (Thursday night) because all he wants is an outside shot," said Thome. "So, I'm sure I'll have a text from him soon."
She glanced at her phone. Nothing yet.
While Hallie Thome put together three conventional three-point plays on Thursday night, it was the first three-pointer of her career that made her teammates, and surely her Grandpa John, happy.
What did it feel like to end the season's first two-game losing skid and get back on track?
"It feels great to be on the other side," Thome said while exhaling and smiling. "Coach (Barnes Arico) talked about getting your confidence back and having this win, and everyone was making shots -- I mean, Katelynn was unbelievable again. So, just to have confidence under our belts and continue on.
"It's just having a sense of urgency, like, we can lose. We put in the back of our heads that any night, any team can win and any team can lose. This win definitely helps us get our confidence back. … We can win against any team."
The No. 21 Wolverines (20-6, 9-4 Big Ten) got that feeling back, and Thome regained her free-throw shooting touch as well.
The three-point plays, on a night when she was 8-for-9 from the line, were mentioned.
"I got yelled at by my grandpa, Coach and a lot of people for missing foul shots in the last game," said Thome, a .750 free-throw shooter, who made only 2-of-6 in the previous loss at Rutgers. "So, it was definitely something I worked on during the week, making sure I had my touch and confidence back on the line.
"Katelynn's outstanding at finding me in the post. It's always nice to have a player who's looking out for you and getting you the ball. To have a player that can score like that, but is trying to get her teammates points, too, is just incredible for us."
Grandpa John, we are assuming, really enjoys watching Flaherty shoot. She has a school-record 381 three-pointers.
"I call him every night because my grandmother passed away this past year," said Hallie Diane. "So, him and I are really best friends every night, and I call to see what he's doing. He plays golf, and has had a little drought in the golf game. So, with my grandpa, it's, like, weird because the roles are reversed. I say, 'You've just got to have fun with it.' He's like, 'All right, Hallie.'
"So, I'll call him after the game, and I'm sure he'll have some critiques."
Grandpa John spends the summers back in their hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, before becoming a snowbird in Florida. For him, there is nothing like a night of watching Hallie Diane play with the Wolverines.
"He has watch parties and calls me to see what channel we're on so all his friends can come over," she said. "I'll get pictures of him when he's watching with people. So, it's fun. It's a good thing."
Against Northwestern, she hit what has long been Grandpa's dream shot.
"It was a critical shot," said Barnes Arico. "Hallie has such tremendous touch. She is really, really a good shooter. Her grandpa, every time he sees me, tells me how many threes she should be taking. So, when we do our practice shooting drills and she's at the three-point line, I'm like, 'Can you make these so we can make Grandpa proud?'
"It's definitely a shot that she can make, and we needed it tonight. And she was confident enough to take it. So, I was really proud of her for doing that."
Hallie Diane made Grandpa John proud, too. No doubt about it. The racket he and his friends at the "watch party" made when she swished that three-pointer probably could be heard all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
