Kornacki: Protecting the Block M in Prime Time
12/6/2019 9:45:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This was the kind of game the Wolverines said they were savoring going into the season. They were hosting Syracuse in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge on ESPN.
This was a primetime women's basketball game, for sure.
But time was running out where victory was concerned. The University of Michigan was down by 10 points with 8:08 remaining to play.
However, right then and there they turned up the defense, picked up the offense and ended up with an 84-76 overtime victory Thursday night (Dec. 5) at Crisler Center.
Robbins scored a career-best 23 points to go with six boards
The No. 24 Wolverines (7-1) got back those 10 points to force the extra session, and then dominated that period, 13-5, to spark a joyous on-court celebration before cutting it short to shake hands with the Orange (4-4).
"The way that our kids battled back and fought when we were down and never quit, kept their composure and just played basketball," said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico, "it was way different than in that Notre Dame game two weeks ago (a 76-72 loss). I think we really had a lot more confidence. That was probably a great experience for us, and we beat a really great Syracuse team tonight.
"We all felt a belief that we were going to win the game."
And there were Maize and Blue heroes galore.
There was senior forward Kayla Robbins picking up her fourth foul with 8:37 remaining in regulation and going the distance without fouling out, scoring eight of her career-high 23 points after that.
"I just had to play hard no matter what," said Robbins. "I knew that if I fouled, there was going to be another great player coming in for me. It's going to be a different player stepping up every game for our team."
There was sophomore forward Naz Hillmon (16 points, seven rebounds) running the front of a defensive press that led to most of the five steals in overtime and a season-high 15 in the game.
There were senior guard Akienreh Johnson (13 points) matching Hillmon with four steals and junior forward Hailey Brown chipping in 12 points.
There was sophomore point guard Amy Dilk (8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) beating the Syracuse press time after time as the game's unsung hero.
"Amy Dilk was phenomenal," said Barnes Arico. "When you have to do it all 94 feet for 40 minutes, and she handled it with ease. She really was a pro tonight and handled it exceptionally well."
And so, after trailing by 10 with just over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Michigan closed it out with a 29-11 run in a brilliant 13 minutes.
With 1:05 remaining in OT and the lead at 10, Wolverine cheerleaders and fans began chanting, "LET'S GO BLUE!"
What a win. #goblue #family pic.twitter.com/tlA7fRNDkU
— Michigan Women's Basketball (@umichwbball) December 6, 2019
"I mean, it was incredible," said Barnes Arico, who was drenched with water bottles by her players in the locker room. "The crowd was incredible. I thought our bench was incredible. I mean, the players on the floor were obviously giving everything they had.
"But the whole environment. It was a late game (9 p.m. start) and we weren't sure who was going to turn out. But our fans, the people who are there all the time, didn't leave tonight, and they showed up tonight, and they were there for us, and we heard them down the stretch. We had (Wolverine men's) Coach (Juwan) Howard there and he never leaves. His staff is there and their families are there.
"It was just a special win for Michigan, and that's what we talked about in the locker room before the game: 'We want to do this for Michigan and protect the block M. ... Let's do it for our friends and family that are here.' So, it was a great fight."
Hillmon said of that crowd support with one minute to go: "Kayla said, 'It's not over.' So, we wanted to make sure we stayed locked in and that they didn't get any threes (Syracuse was 13-for-35 behind the arc but only six makes came after halftime) or and-ones. We were just locking in because we know the game isn't over until it's all zeros on the clock."
She has an insatiable desire to win.
Hillmon body-bumped Dilk after the first of five OT turnovers by Syracuse resulted from Michigan's backcourt trap, and then she body-bumped Johnson after Johnson made a steal, drove for a bucket and was fouled before hitting the free throw.
"That's our thing," Hillmon said with a wide smile. "That's what we do. We love those. Those are our energy boosters. That's how we get our energy back. We just bump (laughter)."
Her last body-bump was saved for Emma, the coach's 14-year-old daughter.
"She was running through and my daughter went to give her a chest-bump," said Barnes Arico, "and (slapping hands together) my daughter was as flat as a pancake, laying on the floor. It was quite funny."
Michigan, after shooting only 58 percent from the free throw line on 31 attempts in regulation, went 7-for-7 in OT.
"The overtime was incredible," said Barnes Arico. "We've been shooting a lot more free throws in practice because we really haven't been making them (.636 coming into the game from the line). I've been trying to go around and shoot with each one of them. ... I just think they were feeling really confident, and even though they had missed some earlier, we're working on it, and they came through down the stretch."
Michigan's backcourt trap forced five Syracuse turnovers in the extra frame
Defense down the stretch was really the difference in the game, though.
"We were able to turn it up," said Barnes Arico. "We did that press a lot last year with a deeper rotation, and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to sustain it for that long a period of time. But when we got down by 10, we knew we were going to have to turn it up, and you just saw the spark in Naz Hillmon, and Naz Hillmon come alive in front of the press, and nobody wants to face that. She has a 6(-foot-)7 wingspan and was really tough for their point guard.
"Just that effort and intensity against them down the stretch was incredible."
And so the primetime game they wanted became theirs in the win column.
"I think that it was our patience and our confidence in each other," said Hillmon. "Nobody was trying to take the hero shots. We really tried to pass the ball around and get it to the open people, take our time. We made the extra pass, took great cuts. It was just doing the little things that might not show up in the boxscore but definitely contributed to our win.
"It was the grit. We really dug in today, played as a team, and we knew we didn't want to leave the court without a win for our home crowd."
Robbins added, "In our last loss at home (to Notre Dame), we were just really upset about it, and we knew we had to adjust and say, 'Fourth quarter! Fourth quarter! We've got to finish out the game.' That's what we were saying to ourselves in the huddle the entire game.
"Protecting the block M was our main goal today."
Consider it protected -- in prime time, no less.
