Kornacki: Teaching Moment for Wolverines After Loss to Notre Dame

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Athletic competition is all about measuring yourself against your best opponents.

And that's why the No. 22 University of Michigan women's basketball team -- which lost, 83-63, Wednesday night (Nov. 29) to No. 3 Notre Dame -- can gain something from this defeat.

The Fighting Irish had one player, 5-foot-8 junior guard Arike Ogunbowale, who basically could not be stopped. She made 65 percent of her shots to total 32 points, scoring inside, outside and on the fast break.

She nearly totaled as much as the top two Wolverine scorers. Center Hallie Thome scored 24 and point guard Katelynn Flaherty, under constant double-teaming, managed almost exactly half of her scoring average with 13 points.

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico could not find a way to stop Ogunbowale, who is on watch lists for three national player of the year awards. But when the game was over, the coach knew she could utilize what had happened as a teaching moment.

"Arike Ogunbowale was terrific for them," said Barnes Arico, "and every time we seemed to make a run, she'd hit a dagger against us.

"But we showed some growth in terms of taking care of the ball and fighting late in the game. We're a team that's going to improve as the season progresses, and Hailey Brown and Deja Church are freshmen who we put into this kind of environment. It was an incredible opportunity for them. Notre Dame is an experienced team, and they had an opportunity to compete against some of the best players in the country, and I think that's going to help them get better as the season progresses."

The coach was asked to expand on how that experience can bring improvement.

"It lets them recognize that this is the level (and) this is the pressure," said Barnes Arico. "And I don't mean self-induced pressure. I mean the pressure they feel when they're being defended. I mean the pressure they feel when they have to handle the ball -- the pressure they feel when their shot is contested.

"When they are going against Notre Dame, they are going against the best in the country. That helps them have an understanding of, 'OK, every day, this is how I'm going to be defended. This is, every day, how I have to defend the best player in the country.' And I kind of put that challenge out to some of our kids after the game. … Today, they got a taste of one of the best players in the country in Arike. Now, how can we defend that? And who's going to make that their mission? Who's going to join Jillie (Jillian Dunston) on the crusade of being the best defender in the country? Because we need more than Jillie to do that."

Barnes Arico recalled Dunston accepting a similar challenge after Nebraska's Jessica Shepard had 35 points and 20 rebounds in a 93-81 win over Michigan in 2016. The coach asked for someone to accept the challenge of stopping Shepard the next time, and noted that Dunston stepped up. Shepard had four points and six rebounds in the next meeting with the Cornhuskers the following season, and the Wolverines won a blowout in Lincoln.

The coach added, "So, it opens their eyes to: 'This is the challenge. What do I have to do to help my team to be better?'"

Barnes Arico said this loss to Notre Dame (7-0) will enable her players to find what their role and their challenge is with this team.

Michigan (4-2) had a 74-49 loss at No. 5 Louisville two weeks ago, and was doomed to defeat by 23 turnovers. Barnes Arico found an obvious challenge for her team in that game, and there was marked improvement in that area against the Irish. The Wolverines had only nine turnovers -- two fewer than Notre Dame.

"We were terrific in the first half," said Barnes Arico. "We had one (turnover) in the first half and that is what kept the game fairly close (43-34, in favor of the Irish). …This was a good sign for me because now I know that people are doing that. This was the fewest turnovers we've had on the year against a real quality opponent."

Katelynn Flaherty was held to 13 points against Notre Dame on Wednesday night, but she dished out eight assists with a single turnover, a vast improvement from a two-assist, four-turnover performance against Louisville.

She will continue focusing on "valuing" the ball, but noted that an emphasis will need to be placed on rebounding after losing the battle of the boards, 42-28, to a much bigger opponent.

"If we can just improve on the block-out," said Barnes Arico. "They were probably stronger and more athletic, faster to the ball. So, we've got to be smarter and block out and be able to get the rebounds that way."

She added that taking care of the ball and getting rebounding position and technique down will enable Michigan "to compete against the top teams" down the road.

Flaherty is a first-year point guard, and it will take time for the school's career scoring leader and her teammates to develop the precise timing required. But Flaherty had several nice passes against Notre Dame and finished with a great ratio of eight assists to one turnover -- a huge improvement from the two assists and four turnovers against Louisville.

"That really showed growth in her game," said Barnes Arico. "She made some great passes at times -- really great passes."

The coach said the next challenge for the team is quick, crisp passes beginning with Flaherty when she is double-teamed. That will enable them to find the player left open as a result of the double-teaming.

Juniors Thome and Nicole Munger, a first-year starter at guard, realized there were positives to take from the defeat.

"I think we realized we can really hang with anyone if we do the little things and don't get mentally fatigued as the game goes on," said Thome. "And I know I need to rebound more and do more defensively."

While well over her 16.6 scoring average, Thome was well under her 7.2 rebounding average with just four against the Irish.

Thome added that constantly having to be aware of Ogunbowale led to that "mental fatigue" that sapped the team. She said denying the ball to high-scoring players is essential to avoiding that.

Tiring mentally contributed to eight second-half turnovers.

"It's about mentally putting together 40 minutes of being sharp with the ball and strong with the ball," said Munger, "and not giving them easy points. When they got the turnovers, they were able to get layups. That's when they got on their big run."

Problems were identified in the game. The proper corrections were touched upon, too.

Now it is time for Barnes Arico, the Big Ten Coach of the Year last season, and her staff to assure that progress comes from those realizations.