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Monday, February 11, 2019
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Sweep Victory
Wolverines secure first series sweep since October, snagging much-needed wins over Michigan State.
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CAMPUS LIFE
University community reflects on large classes Students, professors, GSIs address overcrowded office hours, course resources MAX KUANG/Daily
Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, signs copies of her new book “Fascism: A Warning” at the Michigan Theater Friday.
Former Secretary of State shares thoughts on current political era Madeleine Albright, LSA professor Juan Cole discuss history of global politics CALLIE TEITELBAUM Daily Staff Reporter
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke Friday in a packed Michigan Theater about her book “Fascism: A Warning.” History professor Juan Cole, known for his work in Middle Eastern and South Asian
studies, led a discussion focused on the rise of modern fascism, Albright’s experience as State Department head and Albright’s thoughts on world politics today. Albright’s book focuses on the history of fascism, its role in the 20th century and the dangers of extreme nationalism currently seen around the world. Albright
discussed her understanding of fascism as outlined in her book. “(Fascism) is when there is a set of anger going on and the leader comes along and decides to identify himself with one group, some nationalist group, at the expense of the minority,” Albright said. “When there are problems, what you try
to have are leaders that try to find common interests and try to figure out how to mend the bridge. A fascist leader is somebody that exacerbates those conditions.”
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LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporter
This semester, LSA sophomore Grace Miller is enrolled in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 281, a higherlevel computer science class that introduces students to data structures and algorithms. This course is the fourth EECS class Miller has taken at the University and has a much smaller enrollment than the other introductory computer science class, EECS 183. Like many students in projectbased computer science courses, Miller relies on office hour help to complete assignments. EECS courses are taught by professors and Graduate Student Instructors
as well as Instructional Aides, upper-level undergraduates who have succeeded in past EECS classes. Miller said limited staff and long wait times on the “queue,” a virtual line that tells students how long they have to wait to have their questions answered, often make the process time-consuming and frustrating. “Last week I waited in the queue for three hours without getting help,” Miller said. “If there are a lot of people, they’ll have to help everyone at once so then you can’t ask specific questions, or you are waiting in this line for a really long time. I know they want to help you, but they really don’t have the capacity to sometimes.” See CLASSES, Page 2
Annual KSA culture show enlightens, Activists DEI event fight local educates audience on Korean values at Rackham
ANN ARBOR
problems of racism
Groups in Washtenaw County help in the fight against racial inequality ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter
Over the past few months, anti-racism activists within One Community and the Poor People’s Campaign have been working to combat racial inequality in Washtenaw County. County Commissioner Felicia Brabec, chair of the board’s Ways and Means Committee, is working with with One Community to implement a plan of action working both internally and externally. “What we’re doing is we’re looking first internally, make sure our house is in order first,” Brabec said. “So we’re looking at everything from ‘What’s the makeup of our boards and commissions? How do we hire folks and how do we promote folks? Where do we post jobs What’s the language that we’re using in jobs for each department?’” One Community is made up of court and county administrators, racial analysts, public defenders and health department workers. Brabec said she and One Community work to educate people about racial inequities within local government.
ACADEMICS
Campus group hosts various performances emphasizing recognition, representation MELANIE TAYLOR Daily Staff Reporter
Around 550 University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor residents filled Mendelssohn Theatre Saturday night for the Korean Student Association’s annual Culture Show, an exhibition of Korean culture with performances from singing to martial arts. This year’s theme for the show was “Find Your Seoulmate.” Culture Show Co-Chair Ciara Timban, a Public Health junior, said the show was a long time in the making. “We’ve been working on this since probably the summer,” Timban said. “This is one of our biggest events of the year.” University student groups relating to Korean cultural
practices performed at the Culture Show under the umbrella organization KSA. KSA’s primary objective forthe show was to display Korean values and practices to an audience who may not be familiar with them. “(What) I want people to take away is a sense of representation and recognition, being able to recognize people who are also passionate about Korean culture if they themselves are KoreanAmerican or Asian-American,” Timban said. “I love just being able to see a little bit of the representation of diversity that exists on campus. I feel like a lot of the time, people forget that there are a lot of diverse, different cultures and even within Korean cultures, a lot of diversity between modern Korean culture and more traditional things too.”
The show began with the South Korean national anthem and the performances followed, each exhibiting Korean culture through a different medium. Pharmacy senior Angela Chen, an audience member, told The Daily after the show that she enjoyed the diversity of performance. “I’m personally not involved in anything cultural on campus, so it’s cool to see what other people are doing with their time,” Chen said. The first performance was by Sinaboro, a traditional Asian drumming group at the University. One of the percussionists, LSA junior Kariana Alvarado, said the group was eager to have an audience for their work. “This is the first performance for our whole group,” Alvarado
said. “We train and teach the pieces the fall semester and then everyone gets to perform for the first time in the KSA Culture Show. This is our debut as a full ensemble. This is our first stage and we try to pump it up like, ‘Alright, guys. We’re going to do well.’ That’s why we like to do the KSA show.” Traditional performances were juxtaposed against more modern acts such as K-pop dancing, rapping and a parody of popular Korean drama “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim,” recorded and performed by KSA members that was played in-between live acts.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
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shines light on inclusivity
Damon Williams, author, leads conversation on higher education diversity LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporter
On Friday afternoon, about 30 Rackham students and post-doctoral fellows attended a conversation about student-led diversity initiatives and inclusivity with Damon Williams, author and chief catalyst for Strategic Diversity Leadership & Social Innovation. The conversation took place during the Rackham Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Symposium, which included a panel of student diversity leaders and a keynote address delivered by Williams. The symposium aimed to create a sense of community among DEI leaders and highlight the work Rackham students are doing to make the school more inclusive and accepting. The event was also run by the Professional Development DEI Certificate Program, which began in 2017 and prepares Rackham students to become engaged with DEI work once they are in the workforce.
MAX KUANG/Daily
Korean-American rapper Dumbfoundead performs at Find Your Seoulmate, the Korean Student Association Culture Night, at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater Saturday night.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 69 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
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Editorial Staff CARTER FOX/Daily Engineering sophomore Taylor Murray, who is also a Student Docent at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, sketches a sculpture during a Drawing in the Galleries event at the UMMA Saturday afternoon.
CLASSES From Page 1A Across the country, a surge in the number of college students pursuing computer science degrees reflects the strong job market for students interested in the field and the growing demand for employees with computer science skills. With 1,390 declared undergraduate majors in Winter 2017, Computer Science is the most popular major in the College of Engineering and the second most popular by enrollment out of all schools at the University. Introductory EECS courses, along with other large classes like Chemistry 210 and Math 115, often have three or four lecture sections and more than 1,000 students enrolled in one semester. Math 115, an introductory calculus course, was the largest LSA class by enrollment in Fall 2018 with 1,592 students, according to University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen. This semester, EECS 183 runs five lecture sections and 24 lab groups Sudoku Syndication ranging from 15-20 students each.
With such large classes primarily offering new material to first and second year students, the University offers various resources — such as the Science Learning Center study groups and Math Lab walk-in tutoring services — to help students acclimate to college-level STEM courses. Yet some students find that these resources, along with EECS office hours, are often in such high demand that their resources are stretched thin. Joe Salvatore, director of the SLC, said between 60 to 70 percent of students in Chem 210, the first level of organic chemistry, look to the SLC for help with studying for exams. Salvatore said with more than 3,200 students using the study groups each term, it can be difficult to physically find the space to help the growing number of students that request the SLC’s services. “One of the challenges on campus right now is a space crunch,” Salvatore said. “There’s building going on, but as renovations and buildings (construction) occur it takes classrooms and spaces offline, so that can be a challenge
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for us because our spaces utilize it can be difficult to help all the classrooms on Central Campus. students he wants to when there Just being able to find enough space are only around four to six IAs per at the time when students want office hours session. “The ideal situation is we’d be to meet in study groups or have tutoring appointments can be a able to hire more and more staff, but we’re limited by the University challenge.” Students and Instructional Aides because depending on how many in EECS courses expressed similar students are enrolled in the class, concerns about the number of we can only have up to a certain students their extra help resources number of IAs actually work for the have to accommodate. While EECS course,” Jammalamadaka said. “So classes take place in buildings we’re limited by the University in around Central Campus, the EECS that regard. But I think the one real department runs office hours in change that would help office hours the Duderstadt Center on North is something that we tell students Campus. Though the four floors is that starting a project early helps of the Duderstadt offer various the students a lot and come to office spaces for office hour help, Vineet hours earlier.” Broekhuizen confirmed Jammalamadaka, Engineering senior and Instructional Aide for Jammalamadaka’s statement in EECS 183, said the limited number regards to courses in LSA. She said of Instructional Aides in the room there is no official policy on the at a given time can be challenging number of Instructional Aides per when project deadlines are coming class for the College of Engineering, however. up. Although EECS Instructional “You don’t really feel the class size as much as during the day Aides urge students to come to office because we interact with students hours when the projects are first in labs and our office hours, so we released, some students find they http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ usually never feel the full force of are still waiting in the queue for a 1,000 students, thankfully,” long time despite being weeks Jammalamadaka said. “We away from the project deadline. really feel it near the end LSA sophomore Vikram Mathew, of a project deadline, when who is currently enrolled in students need help and they’re EECS 281, said he went to office stuck on something and the hours the day the project was office hour queue gets up to announced and the day after, but 50 people deep and there’s found it overcrowded and busy. “I expected pretty small office only six of us there, so it’s like a tug of war between helping hours, and I was sitting on the each student for as long as we floor,” Mathew said. “It was very can versus getting to as many packed. It’s a limitation of (the department’s) resource. Some students as possible.” Jammalamadaka said people want them to get more being an Instructional Aide GSIs, really expand the queues and engaging with students out.” in office hours gives him the opportunity to have a direct Read more at impact on whether they choose MichiganDaily.com to pursue computer science in the future. Even so, he noted
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Becoming her again
Monday, February 11, 2019— 3A
It’s okay not to have the fold ASHLEY KIM MiC Blogger
This piece, “Becoming her again”, is a photography sequence project that refers to the journey of being taken out of my comfort zone at the University of Michigan (being a person of color, being in a new environment, etc) and using the reminders of home and my personal nature to keep me grounded.
A book that I still clearly remember from middle school is The Fold by An Na. It tells a story of a Korean American girl, having conflicted feelings about her monolid eyes where her plastic surgery-addict aunt is pushing her to get the crease surgery. Basically, this surgery gives you “the fold”, as the title of the novel gives away, creating a crease on the upper eyelid. It may be hackneyed, and a totally overdone topic. The whole #monolid self-love movements on Instagram, and articles like “The Beauty of Monolids” by Allure or “22 Gorgeous Girls with Monolids” by Buzzfeed are everywhere on the Internet. In 2016, a Korean drama called Goblin was aired on TV, and it created a social boom, as it was one of the first of very few mainstream drama series with a mono-lidded leading actress. Things have changed a lot. Now, the World Wide Web is a treasure trove full of self-love for monolid eyes, and the key words peppered in every
The Instagram Brown Girl This is a callout post for the CurryQueen-With-Flowers-In-Her-Hair brand of brown girls that flood Instagram and Twitter timelines everywhere. If you don’t know what I’m talking about:
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
SWATHI KOMARIVELLI “Off the Record” Blogger
Indian-American culture is still fairly new in its development. There have been waves of immigration, but the largest wave of Indian-Americans has been the current youth generation. But representations of our culture go between mooching off of Black culture while simultaneously being an anti-Black culture (I’m looking at you, NAV) and this: taking the pretty~ bindis, lehengas and saris and sprinkling it here and there to add some dimension to an individual personality to gain social capital by feeding into the farremoved image of exotic and pretty culture that many white Americans might assume of Indian-American culture. Now, a quick disclaimer: I don’t see an issue in South Asian girls generally taking pride in their culture. The clothes and jewelry, as Sruthi said, are art. But when it’s a pattern where the only time the culture is talked about is when it makes you look pretty, or when it makes you seem like an Exotic Girl Who is Not Like The Other Girls… what’s the point? What are you actually constructively contributing to the culture if that’s the only thing you post? Is this all that there is to Indian culture? Even when thinking about this, there are parts of me that wonder if I’m being too harsh on other brown girls. I don’t personally partake in it, but for others, maybe it’s their way of embracing their culture. But if that’s the case, why are there no other ways of embracing our culture? Why do we place value of what we show the most on what’s most liked by a general audience? And in an era where social justice is more popular, it’s also often framed as a radical act.
Culture is an amalgamation of stories, shared experiences, traditions, and fashion. I know that Indian and general South Asian culture has more to it than just jewelry and pretty clothes because the culture I come from is steeped in generations of stories and unique experiences. Essentializing displays of Indian culture to solely its fashion is more harmful because ultimately, you’re costuming a culture to remove the ethnic specificity of what it actually is. I’m not even going to explain what Indian or South Asian culture “is,” because that could be the topic of an anthropological dissertation. There is an inherent denial of children who come from immigrant families of how well they know their cultures. It’s unrealistic to believe that as South AsianAmericans who are children of immigrants, we know our culture and our ethnicity the same way that our parents do. We’ll never know our countries or traditional culture the way that a native born person would… but that’s okay. I promise you, it will be fine. It’s absolutely possible to celebrate our more unique cultures in more constructive ways. There are still amazing ways of celebrating a diasporic culture. You can learn the language of your heritage, celebrate the history of ancestors, and engage in traditions that bring a sense of cultural pride in a country like the US (for example, this is what folks in Michigan Sahana and the IASA do through dance). Holistically, another way to phrase what I’m saying: What makes you different from the white people who pick and choose parts of Indian culture to make themselves look prettier or edgier at Coachella? They do it so their Instagram likes will go up and they’ll seem worldly beautiful. What’s our reason?
beauty article –– gorgeous, beautiful –– seem transformative to see mono-lidded Asian women praised and represented. So why do Asian girls still, and constantly, strive for that crease? The magnitude of the Asian eyes vanity is actually greater than we think. Young Korean girls like me grow up in a community where we are surrounded by taunts and cries of dissatisfaction: “Your eyes are so slanted”, “Your eyes are not suitable for makeup looks”, “You should get the double eyelid surgery as soon as you’re old enough”. Nowadays, those sayings have changed to something remotely better… or have they? “Your eyes are pretty for a mono-lidded Asian.” Westernization is still ever so prominent in the cold, unforgiving media of the unattainable beauty standards, and K-pop idols are still flashing their elfin, anime-like appearances for the world to see and approve. I, too, was once under the pressure of the aesthetics-by-knife craze in the midst of ambivalent teen angst. All my friends around
me were getting the double eyelid surgery as soon as they turned 18, and this made me fluctuate between two modes of hating my monolids and loving them. I tried many beauty products such as the eyelid glue and tape to create what the Westernized media covets and screams out to be socially acceptable - big, round, perfectly creased double eyelids. I look into the mirror. I rub my face and stare at my reflection, where I see a pair of wide, smooth, almond-shaped monolid eyes. People say eyes are the ultimate literal portal to decide beauty standards, but why get the inferiority complex simply based on what the world may prefer? There’s no point in being self-deprecating. I realized I was focusing on what I didn’t have rather than knowing what I do have. It’s time to embrace my Asian features and reconcile that there are so many types of beauty and ways to be myself. It’s okay to flip the world the middle finger - I am my own kind of beautiful. I now embrace the single-lidded, dark brown windows of the soul. Beautiful.
The Things You Told Me
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN
MEENAKSHI SEETHARAMAN MiC Columnist
In a stern but gentle voice, you told me the world wouldn’t see me like the white children. Things were changing, you said, but I had to face reality. And I didn’t believe you. Until the day I saw my name being torn apart on a school whiteboard. “Mean-akshi,” they wrote, as the grace of my given name, Meenakshi, seemed nonexistent. It was my fourth grade teacher who laughed along with them. You looked at me with saddened eyes, and told me to shorten my name to “Meena.” It was easier to pronounce and seemed more Western. You came to support me in my extracurriculars, dressed in your traditional Indian salwars, but my friends pointed it out. “They look like clown pants!” exclaimed a girl I knew. I told you to stop coming and I could see the disappointment in your face. You didn’t understand why I refused to embrace you in front of my friends. You cooked me different meals every day; sambars and dals, delicacies of my culture, but I threw them away. You knew because I couldn’t tell you what you packed for me. And so you began making me “American” food. You wanted me to fit in, even though I was push-
ing you away. You used to talk to me in our mother tongue, Tamil. I felt like such an alien, speaking a language that seemed so guttural and hideous. Why couldn’t we speak an elegant language? Like French or Spanish? So you stopped, and I slowly forgot the language. I saw the look in your eyes every time I didn’t understand what you were saying. My peers began to accept me the more I pushed you away, so like the naive teen I was, I did just that. But now I know you were right. I will never be like the other children. The world will always see me as Indian, but that’s not a bad thing at all. My name is beautiful, you and dad named me after my grandmother. Your salwars make you look radiant and fierce, and your food is filled with flavor and love. Tamil is an ancient language with history and vibrance, something I shouldn’t be ashamed of. Mom, you were right. Thank you for supporting me in all my extra-curricular activities. Thank you for cooking me various different types of food to keep me healthy and strong. Thank you for teaching me the lessons your own parents taught you about our history. Mom, I’ll never get those years back. But I want our culture to be a part of our future.
Call Me By My (American) Name MONICA KIM MiC Columnist
Sometime last year, my friends and I were chatting, and somehow—I don’t remember how—I had mentioned that my name, Monica, is not the name I was born with. A (white) friend asked me what it was, and I responded that the name I was born with—my Korean name—is Yejoo. He opened his mouth, tried to pronounce it, and asked me what it meant. I shrugged and said I didn’t know and that it probably meant a grassy field, or something. Currently, I know now that that’s not actually what it means. I’ve had to ask my mom multiple times now because for some reason the meaning of my name immediately slips from the recesses of my mind. It means something simple: bright all over. I remember during this conversation, I felt comfortable talking about my name. It was
unlike another time, in another place, when I had felt differently. — When I was sixteen, my parents and I were able to obtain American citizenship. I skipped half a day of school to go to a government building with my parents and to swear on a Bible and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance, like I had to do every morning at school. A month later, I was back in another nondescript government building to get my first name officially, legally, changed from Yejoo to Monica. I had been going by Monica since elementary school. My grandmother had given me this name, and out of convenience, I had used it for nearly all my life in America, only going by Yejoo for my family members. In middle school, I felt especially insecure about it. I had just moved a year before in fifth grade. As the new kid, I already stuck out. Most people had been living here their whole
lives and were still friends with their friends from kindergarten. Meanwhile, I had spent two and a half years of my life in South Korea and moved two times previously within New Jersey. When my Korean name was called on the first day of the school year, I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment as the teacher mispronounced it and I saw my fellow students smirk. A beat later, I would stammer, asking the teacher to call me by my American name, Monica. The same mortifying situation would happen again and again when there was a substitute teacher. I would feel embarrassment all over again for not having a name like Sarah, Jessica or Kate. Sometimes, when my white peers would ask me my Korean name, it was not out of curiosity; when I would tell them, they would repeat it back to me, but exaggerate it so they were saying Yeeeeeeeeejoo instead of Yejoo.
In eighth grade, I requested to have my name appear as Monica in the school system, rather than Yejoo. Eventually, it got done. Despite on attendance sheets I was still Yejoo Kim, I now had a note next to my name that stated, “Prefers to go by Monica.” — Names can indicate who we are to other people often in a way that might undermine us or put us at a disadvantage. Take, for example, workplace discrimination. Numerous studies show anti-Black racism in hiring has not changed since 1989 and anti-Latinx racism in hiring has only decreased slightly since then. That was thirty years ago. That was the year The Little Mermaid came out and the year Taylor Swift was born. In one study, researchers created resumes for Black and Asian applicants, some of which included information that clearly marked their racial identity, while others were “whitened,” such
as by having an Americanized name. They found 25% of Black candidates and 21% of Asian candidates received callbacks if they had whitened resumes, while only 10% of Black candidates and 11.5% of Asian candidates did if they included racial/ethnic details. If a person of color has an “ethnic” sounding name, there is a likely chance they may not be asked for an interview. In fact, it’s a pretty high one: companies are more than twice as likely to call back minority applicants with whitened resumes for interviews. Going by my American name was a way to protect myself from embarrassment and insecurity and mockery. And though it wasn’t my intention then, it can also protect me from potential discrimination from employers. It’s no coincidence that I legally changed my name from Yejoo to Monica around the time that I felt most insecure about my dual identities and wanted to
emphasize my “Americanness.” Now that I feel more comfortable about navigating my identity as a Korean-American, I sometimes think about the possibility of having everyone call me by my Korean name instead of just my family—a thought born out of a recent desire to feel more “Korean,” But, it’s just a thought, and for now, I still go by Monica. My Korean name hasn’t been completely erased from its existence. It still sits there, in legal documentation. Legally, my name is Monica Yejoo Kim. It’s ironic, in a way, because Koreans don’t have middle names. While my Korean name has been relegated to the backseat, and while most of the people who know me know me as Monica, my Korean name still exists, as long as my family still calls me Yejoo, and as long as I still remember the name I was born with. So, call me by my American name. But, know I have a Korean one, too.
Opinion
4A — Monday, February 11, 2019
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FROM THE DAILY
Encourage clarity for the felony disclosure policy
O
n Feb. 4, the University of Michigan announced a new policy requiring employees to disclose current felony charges and convictions within a week of the charge or conviction occurring after Feb. 1. If an employee fails to report the charge or conviction, they could face potential consequences, including the loss of their job. The University’s Human Resources office will review employees’ situations on a “case-by-case” basis to determine if any action needs to be taken against the employee. While the process itself appears reasonable on its face, there are unclear portions of the language and process that could lead to unfair treatment of an employee who may or may not have committed a crime. To remedy this, the University should implement an amended policy with clear language and a transparent process that ensures a fair and comprehensive process for employees. The University has a clear duty to protect its students. However, the language of the policy is vague and prevents affected employees from being fully informed about the policy. For employees, this means that there is no clear understanding about what the consequences for reporting a felony are. Additionally, there is not a clear timeline establishing when an employee will hear from Human Resources. For example, the policy includes the ill-defined phrase “timely manner,” referring to when employees will be notified about the determination Human Resources has made. No timeline is put in place for employees, making it nearly impossible for them to plan for their future if the University chooses to take some form of action against them. If an employee is terminated, they will have no plan to fall back on. This could be detrimental to the financial well-being of the employee. The University could easily put a timeline in place to create a more comprehensive process for employees. The policy also states that “temporary measures” could be taken, such as moving the employee to an alternate work location. This portion of the policy can provide immense difficulties for employees, especially student employees who may not have a vehicle to take them to an off-campus location. It also calls into question what will happen to students if a professor, for example, is charged or convicted of a felony. Would that class still be taught during Human Resources’ review of the professor? While it makes sense that the University would put some sort of temporary measure in place
to protect students, these measures need to be more clearly defined for the sake of both employees and students. Lastly, the policy states that the University will “conduct a review of the disclosure and make an individualized assessment, consistent with business necessity.” Here, the phrase “business necessity” is unclear. What is a business necessity? How does the University evaluate the connection between “business necessity” and the alleged crimes of the employee? Amending the language of the policy to clarify these questions will allow employees to understand the basis on which their cases will be evaluated. In addition to the language, the process itself is unclear. The University should clarify how they will assess charges, and furthermore give the process of submitting charges and convictions some kind of interface so that employees have a more detailed point of reference. If an employee gets charged with or convicted of a felony, they are asked to fill out an online form. Once this form is submitted, the situation will be evaluated by Human Resources on a “case-by-case” basis. It is unclear if the employee is able to explain their situation to Human Resources in person. When students violate the community standards set by their housing contracts, they go through disciplinary action that usually involves several University employees. This gives students numerous opportunities to explain the situation face-to-face. Shouldn’t employees be afforded the same abilitytoexplaintheircircumstances, especially in a situation when
employment can be terminated? The process should include interactions between Human Resource staff and employees charged with or convicted of a felony to allow for open communication about the process and provide an opportunity for the employee to explain their situation in person. The vagueness of the process and criteria is a point of concern. The way the process is currently structured allows for an uncomfortable level of leeway on the part of the administration to apply the policy in a way that doesn’t align with its stated intention — to keep students safe. One could imagine a situation in which a University employee would be terminated to avoid potential backlash, even if the employee is acquitted. According to Michigan Incident Crime Reporting, 37 percent of felony crimes end up being cleared. However, an employee might find themselves without a position at the University because they were charged with a crime they did not actually commit. While it is important to keep students safe, a standard of fairness must be used to protect the rights of employees. Protecting students clearly must be a priority for the University and this policy is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, the guidelines for whether action should be taken in a given case require that the University act in good faith in every instance. An amended policy that is more specific about what kinds of cases qualify as posing a danger to students will minimize the chance of abuse and give employees much-needed peace of mind.
DANA PIERANGELI | COLUMN
After the shutdown, is compromise possible?
T
he longest shutdown in the history of the United States has finally come to a close, bringing a prosperous period of compromise and camaraderie to the government. Wait, that’s not right. This is the Trump era we’re talking about. Let’s start again. The longest shutdown in the history of the United States has finally come to a close, and now there might be another one. The government has been temporarily reopened, but President Trump has declared if an agreement is not reached in three weeks, he will either shut the government down again or declare a national emergency to bypass Congress with his wall scheme. The Congressional Democrats are not willing to fund an ineffective and costly wall, but have agreed to work on a deal to strengthen border security, in contingency with Trump’s wishes. Yet Trump is committed to his pet project, unwilling to compromise even when his own supporters are suffering from the government shutdown. There wasn’t even enough Republican support to pass Trump’s wall plan. Democrats and Republicans alike were in a frenzy trying to come up with a plan to end the government
shutdown, despite no further ideas about the wall. Even Trump’s supporters are fed up with all the disagreements. The Washington Post found that many of his followers, while still are in support of border security, find the government shutdown too high of a cost and mostly blame Trump for that. They sympathize with the thousands of government workers who are going without pay and are angry at Trump for putting his fruitless agenda ahead of the well-being of his citizens. In this time of uncertainty, Trump needs to focus on what is important: serving the people. And he can’t do that if the government is shut down, not paying health workers, environmental protection workers, air traffic controllers — everyday people who depend on their government salary to provide food for the table and services for the public. About 420,000 critical government employees were working without pay. About 380,000 non-critical government employees were sent home without pay during the shutdown, and 50,000 were called back to work without pay. Many were forced to look for parttime jobs in this time of crisis. In solidarity with these workers, more
than 100 Congress members either rejected pay or donated their salaries, and are pushing for legislations that would dock congressional pay during shutdowns. While this is of course admirable and does benefit many people, it still does not alleviate the situation of other government workers. The only way to do that is to reopen the government and come to diplomatic solutions to the current issues. We haven’t had a divided government since the end of the Obama adminstration, which means the government is no longer used to working with much pushback. A Republican-led House, Senate and executive branch weren’t exactly in dire need of major compromises. Don’t get me wrong, Democrats taking back the House and reinstating a split Congress is definitely a good thing. With equilibrium reestablished in Congress, the checks and balances system can be restored. But it’s only effective if Trump understands that he now needs to compromise. He can’t shut down the government every time there’s a disagreement.
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L
Welcome to the sex recession
ying on my freshman dorm room floor, my hallmates and I share our latest matches on Tinder. We compare our similar options, read out loud our ridiculous conversations and laugh about our feelings of loneliness. None of us had any intention of meeting up with our matches because that would be too risky and scary. This was our new game. We swiped for a few hours, received a small ego boost and would go on with our day. We were putting ourselves out there without actually having to deal with rejection or in-person consequences. So if we weren’t meeting up with people from Tinder, where were we meeting people? It seemed like my few friends who entered college in long-term relationships kept finding new relationships (possible serial monogamy) and the rest of us had a small amount of random drunk hookups at parties each semester. We weren’t meeting anyone great and the hookups alone were always described as bad or unrememberable from either our blurry state of mind or lack of intimacy. Ever since the beginning of college, there has been this clear message: We are in the age of hookup culture. Whether it is good or bad it is happening and typical in college students’ lives. I, and those around me, still seem to be active on apps like Tinder and Grindr. We speak casually about sex and about the fact that we have been with multiple sexual partners. But with the varied amounts of casual sex, we are still actively trying to find someone to be intimate with, passionate about and to have some kind of commitment with. This week, in my psychology seminar on emerging adulthood, we were discussing the varied experiences young adults have with love and dating. We read this past December’s cover story of The
Atlantic, where Kate Julian dives deep into what she calls the “sex recession,” the current climate where people are having less sex despite increased access to birth control, education, technology, porn, masturbation and a variety of other resources. I felt so relieved to find that there was language and terminology for something myself and so many other young people are experiencing. This hookup culture dominative narrative is not real for everyone who is supposedly participating in it. We may be having casual sex but not as often as portrayed in the media or the way we want it to seem to those in our lives. Hookup culture has positively destigmatized the use of online dating apps and sex outside of committed relationships and marriage. But who is to say this kind of sex is enjoyable? Participating in casual onenight hookups is not always what it is cracked up to be. There are some factors that can create an unenjoyable sex experience. For instance, when both parties are drunk, they are trying to recreate what they viewed in porn or they lack the information about what the other person likes. In addition, women already have a difficult time enjoying the pleasures of sex when they are focusing on the way their body looks. In the current age of social media, where people are posting only the best possibly photoshopped images of themselves, individuals have to fight images of unattainable perfection in the bedroom. Also, this image of perfection is seen in porn, for the ways bodies are supposed to look and react. The sexual activities may look enjoyable for the porn stars in the film but in real life they are not always that way. The definition of hooking up is vastly different for every person.
It can range from little sexual activities, such as foreplay, to going all the way. I’m curious where this hookup culture is perpetuated. I think probably from a combination of social media, movies, TV, music and porn. Also, dating apps have power in reinforcing hookup culture. They make money from ads that people swipe through while using their application. So, people are swiping on these dating apps for hours and not actually meeting anyone. But they continue to use the apps because it seems like this is the only way they can find the possibility of a sexual or romantic connection in our culture. By viewing these advertisements while swiping, they are participating in mindless consumerism that keeps these applications in business. Recently, some new dating applications like Hinge and Bumble have been created for users to get into relationships by encouraging people to meet face-to-face and get off the app. But in my experience, there are fewer people on these apps and they are still looking for casual sex without really getting to know you. So, seeing that we are in a sex recession and having less good sex, I think we should be trying to challenge the narrative and norms of hookup culture and actually try to get to know the people we are giving pleasure too. I’m not saying you have to be monogamous, but being with someone and learning who they are and what they like will probably lead to better experiences. Don’t let the fear of rejection stop you from putting yourself out there because, whether it be online or in person, anything you experience will help you grow in real life.
Ellery Rosenzweig can be reached at erosenz@umich.edu
MILES STEPHENSON | COLUMN
A
New media, the solution to sensationalism
s a journalist, I often think about the best way to get stories and information to people. I try to lead with curiosity over sensationalism, and I try to posit two opposing ideas equally when I speak to someone who has come to a different conclusion. Recently, however, traditional media has been criticized for pushing agendas at the expense of honest inquiry. Last month, major broadcast companies took a 20 second snippet of a one hour video from an incident at the Lincoln Memorial and adjudicated a group of teenage boys from Covington Catholic High School as racists for ostensibly mocking the drumming and singing of Nathan Phillips, a Native American military veteran. Not long after, the full video surfaced showing that indeed it was Phillips who approached the group of boys and acted as the aggressor, banging a drum in their faces as he ploughed through the crowd. On “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg said “many people admitted they made snap judgments before these other facts came in.” What America witnessed in the Lincoln Memorial incident was the sensationalist reporting that old media lends itself to. From this incident, and many others we have seen recently, we are witnessing an emergent media revolution. This change comes at a time when the podcast and other long-form, more deliberate and contemplative content alleviates the pitfalls of politically-biased mouthpieces that rush to judgment and disseminate inaccurate reporting to attract views or push agendas. Six corporations control 90 percent of the media in the United States, so it’s no surprise that it can sometimes appear to a viewer that they are being fed a specific viewpoint of the world. The preponderant cable and network news organizations all have an undeniable bias, their claims of objectivity notwithstanding. Consumers are guilty as well, as our tendencies towards intellectual safe zones leave us wading into the same political pool that our parents, or other life influences, first threw us into until we begin to actively seek out information that confirms our own biases. One viewer sees the Covington student Nick Sandmann in his red “Make America Great Again” hat and knows him to be the face of bigotry, and another sees an aggressive adult drumming in the face of a boy who doesn’t know what to do about the crowd and recording
iPhones encircling him. The major shortcoming of sensationalist media is that these dialogues are not unfolding in a controlled setting with two respectful speakers. They are spilling out in the comment sections of videos uploaded for clicks and views and in traditional media talk shows. These talk shows or news commentary shows have become so predictable in their format that you can essentially guess every word to come out of the speakers’ mouths before they open them. First, they invite a guest on with the weakest, most radical argument from the opposing political side. Then the host, often a hyperarticulate or at least aggressively assertive and persuasive talking head, proceeds to lambast them on national television with ad hominems, and attempts to use this vanquished nematode as the standard for the entire political left or right. At the end of the segment, before a commercial break about the Super Bowl, the host looks at the camera with a smirk that says, “See? This is what they are all like. So you should see the folly in their ideas and join us!” What does this accomplish? Nothing besides a couple moments of polemic entertainment at the cost of increased political polarization. No important issue dissected, no bridge built to a better dialogue and no bipartisan solution. Unfortunately, this is the kind of carnage that skyrockets ratings, attracts advertisers and inflates network staff salaries. It seems this everlasting cycle has ensnared American media producers and consumers in two opposing echo chambers and muddied the aisle, preventing anyone from making their way across. Or perhaps not. Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist and philosopher of the intellectual dark web, discusses this phenomenon as an issue of bandwidth. Talk shows and panels supply their guests only a few minutes before commercial breaks to hash out complex and controversial ideas. This shortage of time dilutes the conversation and incentivizes speakers and guests to be quick-witted and contentious — but not necessarily intellectually honest. The solution to this seems to be the long-form discussion, now accessed through podcasts. In these conversations, thinkers can sit for hours, broker criticism, concede points from their opponents and discuss at length issues like the dogmatic elements
of religion, the issue of free speech on college campuses or what to do about the dispossessed of developing civilizations. This development occured because of a new technology that allows impromptu conversations to unfold in front of millions across the world, their auditory format allowing consumers to engage with the content during found time (while they’re walking their dog, driving to work or doing the dishes). Here, complex issues are given a wide pasture to roam. No pyrotechnics, no chyron-driven “gotchas,” just people addressing issues in a thoughtful way. An American media ecosystem that once believed your message had to be quick and flashy to get views is now learning that podcast luminaries like Joe Rogan, Hila and Ethan Klein, Dave Rubin and Sam Harris are orbited by crowds in the millions, eager to hear voices from nearly every industry. Paleontologists, heavyweight boxing champions, neuroscientists, philosophers, activists and Navy SEALS — this diverse field of professionals can offer the average consumer an insight into some of the most novel and fascinating ideas anywhere on the planet. As much as they are places to philosophize, these podcasts also handle everyday, headline issues and can tease out the truth more thoughtfully and sensitively than a 90 second panel of loudmouth pundits. In the new media format, the Lincoln Memorial incident could have been analyzed at length and evidenced with the full video in proper context. Perhaps the host would have watched the entire video during the podcast and commented moment-bymoment about the evolution of the conflict. Perhaps the high school boys wouldn’t have received death threats and viewers would have noticed other radical groups at the memorial who were actually shouting hateful language. Any approach other than the impulsive and inaccurate commentary that was spewed by our leading media outlets would have been preferable. These new media thinkers, their more considerate format and the technology they use to reach audiences might be just what we need to receive and process information more responsibly in the modern world.
Miles Stephenson can be reached at mvsteph@umich.edu
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Monday, February 11, 2019 — 5A
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
TV REVIEW
From the Sundance Film Fest: Day six in paradise SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer
PRIME VIDEO
Drama in ‘White Dragon’ to make the mystery itself as intriguing as it should be. However, Simm and his Hong Kong-ese counterpart Anthony Wong (“Internal Affairs”), who plays a Hong Kong ex-cop named David Chen are solid performers, enough to make the show engaging. Both are cerebral, introverted yet emotional characters, convincingly distrusting of each other yet bound by Jonah’s wife’s biggest secret. There’s also a backdrop of corruption within government and big business that complicate the case and perhaps play a big role in it itself. It isn’t quite explored enough in the early episodes, but there is always a danger of the various factions and storylines becoming too convoluted (which usually happens when the screenwriters get a bit too far up into their own … ). David’s daughter Lau (Katie Leung, “One Child”), a budding activist, is a convincing link between the family drama and the more grandiose aspects of the story. Leung’s performance accurately reflects the particular brand of bitterness that teenagers possess while avoiding the trap of overdoing the “bitter teenager” act. As I mentioned before, it’s hard to mess up shooting in Hong Kong. To the cinematographers’ credit here, they don’t. While almost a cliché at this point,
SAYAN GHOSH
Daily New Media Editor
Hong Kong is a cinematographer’s dream. Intoxicatingly busy and naturally beholden to beautiful landscapes, there’s always material to work with. It’s just the director’s job to pick out what to focus on. From classic Wong Kar Wai films to more recent Western ones, the city has always been a favored backdrop to moody, evocative stories. Why not try a murder mystery? In the ITV show, “White Dragon,” (now hosted by Amazon Prime) British university professor Jonah Mulray (John Simm, “Life on Mars”) discovers his wife has been killed in a car accident halfway across the world in Hong Kong. He travels there to identify the body, but quickly figures out that his wife’s real life was more complicated than it seems. A businesswoman who split her time between London and Hong Kong, it seems her life was also split into two vastly different realms. From then on, it’s a familiar story. Jonah, along with an (extremely) unlikely accomplice, tries to prove that his wife was actually murdered by some unsavory actors. The other mysterious figures that drop in and out of the narrative aren’t quite developed enough
Classifieds
‘White Dragon’ Series Premiere Prime Video Streaming Now
the neon extravaganzas and vistas the city contains are a perfect backdrop for a story of international intrigue and mystery. Jonah’s stature and plight feel appropriately small in the skyscraper maze, mirroring his desire to know what happened to his wife compared to the larger forces that appear to be at work. “White Dragon” is probably compelling enough to grab your attention for the span of eight, relatively short episodes. But it treads on relatively welltrodden ground, and does not contain any stand-out elements or performances that make it a must watch.
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Release Date: Monday, February 11, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Org. whose product is measured in barrels 5 Pillar of Islam involving travel 9 School near Windsor Castle 13 Hugs-and-kisses symbols 14 Pacific island host of two “Survivor” seasons 15 Medical image 16 Analogy words 17 Modern John Hancock 19 Epithet never actually used by Jimmy Cagney 21 Angsty music genre 22 LAX posting 23 Elect (to) 24 Dressed down 28 Songwriter Porter 30 Frightening 31 Red wine choice 33 Fairy tale baddie 34 Be victorious 35 Was in debt to 36 WWII naval threat 38 Picnic invaders 39 Grass roll 40 Shopping complex 41 Go by, as time 43 They’re planted in snow while skiing 45 Civil rights icon Parks 46 Largest living bird 47 Emails a dupe to 48 Couture initials 51 Tapped-off cigar remnant 52 Hours for cuppas 54 Cord cutters’ reception aids 58 Air filter acronym 59 __ hop: gym dance 60 Infatuation 61 “I’ll take care of that” 62 Log splitters 63 Spade of handbags 64 Education support gps.
DOWN 1 Nitrous __ 2 Theorize 3 *Grade-boosting option 4 Crotchety oldster 5 Attacks 6 Got off a horse 7 XKE, for short 8 *Singer’s spouse who co-wrote “Ring of Fire” 9 Raves about 10 Play about Capote 11 Rowing tool 12 TV scientist whose show has won 19 Emmys 14 *Chess situation that forces a draw 18 Love, to Luigi 20 “Carpe diem” initials 24 Game Gear creator 25 Typical mortgage requirement, and what ends each answer to a starred clue 26 Gives off 27 Closely packed 29 Out-of-date
30 Deceives 31 Meno __: not as fast, in music 32 Furry C-3PO worshipers 37 “Eww!” 38 Small batteries 40 Somewhat wet 42 Nowhere to be found 44 Practical jokes 47 __ and desist 49 Vintage photo tone
50 Exams for aspiring judges, briefly 52 Item listed above “u-bolt” in a hardware glossary? 53 Blue-roofed eatery 54 Airport safety org. 55 __ populi: popular opinion 56 Blackjack half 57 Gun lobby org.
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Question: What goes great with your morning coffee?
Answer: michigandaily.com By Joe Deeney ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/11/19
Things have quieted down a bit in Park Cit y. The streets are not as crowded, a little less hectic. The hoards of Sundancegoers have dwindled to a meager smattering of people. With the decline in the temporar y inf lux of the town’s population, the screenings are less packed. The celebrit y g uests have made their appearances, and some have already traveled back to the warm cocoon of Holly wood, with a few critics trailing behind. The makeshif t studios where entertainment publications hosted exclusive parties have been broken down and emptied out. The downtown area starts to slowly resemble a ghost town, but one that maintains an unusual calmness. With only four days lef t, I’ve passed the midpoint of the festival. While the nonstop watching and writing about the f ilms I see have exhausted my brain cells and made me a tad restless, I’ve g rown comfortable with the screening routine. Enough time has passed where the procedure before for ever y screening has become prett y simple and standard. Outside the theater, I enter a white tent, open up my jacket and backpack for the securit y g uards and ask one of the volunteers, all of whom are dressed in puff y purple Kenneth Cole jackets, to direct me to a waiting line. Once inside, a volunteer scans my press pass and stamps my hand. Sitting in the middle of the most middle row is absolutely key for a prime viewing experience. If I miss lunch, I’ll g rab a small popcorn and an apple — will my stomach ever forg ive me for what I’ve done to it? Before the projector starts up, a volunteer makes a brief introduction of the f ilm and its running time. The lights then dim. Some stragglers make their way to their seats. A recap of the previous day at the festival plays before launching into a rapid-f ire slideshow set to a tribal drum beat of images and words that express the mission of Sundance: Experiment. Challenge. Question. Break.
‘Big Adolescence’:
Time
Sundance loves comingof-age stories. From the critical and commercial smash of 2006’s, “Little Miss Sunshine,” to the 2015 Grand Jur y Prize and Audience Award winner, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” the festival can’t get enough of supporting movies that center around the awkward and endlessly relatable lives of teenagers. But how, then, does a coming-of-age f ilm identif y itself among the crowded slate of projects like it? With his hilarious and heartfelt Linklater-ian feature debut “Big Time Adolescence,” writer-director Jason Orley (“The Intern”) might have an idea. While it may not be a total game-changer for youthoriented cinema, “Big Time Adolescence” benef its from the intoxicating charisma of its t wo leads and a strong script f illed with punchy one-liners and smart, sharp dialog ue. The f ilm’s opening voiceover, narrated by the protagonist Mo (Griff in Gluck, “American Vandal”), admittedly doesn’t inspire much conf idence, being that it’s a ver y common, overused device used in coming-ofage f ilms that prioritizes
exposition over simply showing the action on its own (see: the 2013 Sundance favorite “The Spectacular Now”). Luckily, it’s the only time during the entire f ilm where it occurs, dedicating the rest of the stor y to the kinetic relationship bet ween Mo and his sister’s college dropout stoner ex-boy friend Zeke (Pete Davidson, “Set It Up”). The t wo have a friendship like any other: They g rab burgers together, drive around town, shop for snacks and booze and talk about their romantic lives. The only difference is that Mo is still in high school, while Zeke is skating through his 20s with a carefree aimlessness. Mo prefers spending more time at Zeke’s bachelor pad than with kids his own age, a habit that irks Mo’s concerned dad Reuben (a wonderf ul Jon Cr yer, “Two and a Half Men”). When Mo’s social climber classmate Stacey (Thomas Barbusca, “Searching ”) propositions to start a drug-and-alcohol-dealing business at the popular high school senior parties, Mo asks Zeke, a former high school part y king, for help. This situation leads the t wo friends on a hysterical journey of self-discover y and inevitably, a dramatic unraveling of sorts. Though Griff in Gluck does a fantastic job, Pete Davidson is the real star of the show, delivering a career-def ining performance for a role that was made for him. Exercising the witt y, obser vational humor from his time as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” Davidson continues to justif y why he’s one of the brightest and most entertaining comedians to g race the screen and the stage in a long while. With ever y setup to a joke, Davidson always manages to come prepared with a satisf ying payoff, either in the form of a goof y facial expression or a snarky, g utbusting quip. It’s hard not to recog nize the obvious parallels bet ween Davidson’s character and his real-life persona — they both smoke weed on a daily basis and have a wickedly v ulgar sense of humor. Even his Hillar y Clinton tattoo and love for “Call Me By Your Name” w underkind Timothée Chalamet are referenced at one point. But what’s most fascinating about this blurring of worlds is how Davidson’s heavily publicized image almost color in the existential conf licts Zeke faces. He brings a pathos to Zeke’s lack of ambition that t wists the lonely stoner archet y pe into something more melancholic and meditative. Zeke isn’t just drif ting through the abyss of young adulthood, but rather navigating through the sadness of being unable to escape the days of high school, when life was simpler, responsibilities were less serious and the f uture less daunting. Though Gluck and Davidson carr y the stor y quite nicely and effectively, there are a few faults in “Big Time Adolescence” that prevent it from being a truly remarkable f ilm. These f laws rest mostly with the main female characters, Mo’s love interest, Sophie (Oona Laurence, “The Beg uiled”), and Zeke’s g irlfriend, Holly (Sydney Sweeney, “Under the Silver Lake”). Both actresses do their best in squeezing some dimension out of their halfbaked roles, but Holly’s relegation to a sexualized spectacle and Sophie’s use of sarcasm as a way of f lirting feel a little old-hat and overdone. Considering
the surprising number of female-led coming-of-age f ilms at this year’s Sundance, it’s a bummer that “Big Time Adolescence” can’t seem to match the complexit y of its male characters with its female characters. Still, these imperfections aren’t as glaring as they seem. Zeke and Mo don’t always get away with the dumb hijinks they f ind themselves in, which sometimes involve both Holly and Sophie. By facing up to the consequences of their actions, Zeke and Mo learn that their unconventional friendship can only last for so long before it collapses onto itself. In the end, “Big Time Adolescence” comes out victorious as a loose yet sturdy hangout comedy that spins some thoughtf ul, clever commentar y on the absurd highs and lifealtering lows of adolescence.
‘Sweetheart’: Sur vival movies are bent on one end goal: seeking a way back to the world from which we came. Af ter being marooned far away from civilization, the main character of a sur vival movie — usually the only character in the stor y, unless you’re counting f lashbacks or hallucinations of their loved ones — is forced to f ight their way through the dangerous unpredictabilit y of nature, either by sea (“Life of Pi,” “Adrif t”) or by land (“Cast Away,” “Lost”). J.D. Dillard’s small but terrif ying creature feature “Sweetheart” explores both scenarios, but differentiates itself from other sur vival narratives by examining the real malevolent forces that bring unwanted terror to our daily lives. Beg inning in the unknown depths of the ocean, “Sweetheart” opens on Jenn (a ferocious Kiersey Clemons, “Hearts Beat Loud”), a young woman washed ashore on a deserted island af ter what seemed like a shipwreck. She’s quick to see that no one else is there, with the exception of her t wo friends — one on the verge of death, the other already dead. The horror doesn’t stop there. Af ter discovering a few items lef t behind by previous sur vivors, Jenn beg ins to trace the mysterious source responsible for their disappearance. In what is quite possibly one of the most mag nif icent antagonist reveals I’ve seen in a thriller, she realizes the cause comes from a menacing water monster that feasts on its prey at night. As Jenn scrambles to protect herself while f inding a way off the island, “Sweetheart” deepens into a stomach-churning slowburn. The f ilm’s constant switching bet ween day and night is a classic yet somehow perfect way to build suspense, involving us in Jenn’s agony and helplessness but g iving us enough room to breathe in bet ween. Clemons’s f ierce physical performance also anchors the nearly silent f irst act from drowning into a total bore. Known for more light-hearted comedies like “Dope” and “Neighbors 2: Sororit y R ising,” Clemons and her remarkable abilit y to swing from terrif ied and trapped to def iant and robust proves that she’s no one trick pony. At a certain point, though, it’s hard to tell where “Sweetheart” is going and what point it’s tr ying to make that hasn’t already been expressed in other f ilms of the ilk.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Arts
6A — Monday, February 11 , 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DAILY WORLD MUSIC COLUMN
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
On the power of Stromae & From the Sundance Film his fundamental cynicism Fest: The final few flicks SAYAN GHOSH
Daily World Music Columnist
At this point I’m convinced that everyone who took French in high school knows the lyrics to a Stromae song by heart. Maybe I’m way off the mark, but my anecdotal evidence suggests that “Papaoutai” and “Tous Les Mêmes” are universally known and beloved. Whether or not that’s true, Belgian artist Stromae’s 2013 album Racine Carrée (Square Root) is a great choice for budding Francophones. Stromae had already broken through the world of Francophone music and even internationally by the time Racine Carrée was released. His 2009 song “Alors on Danse,” (“So We Dance”), a nihilistic dance anthem (that was way ahead of its time in terms of subject matter) reached the top of several European charts and was eventually remixed by Kanye West. Racine Carrée contains more of the formula that made “Alors on Danse” so powerful. It’s filled with disillusionment and disappointment with family, relationships and technolog y. It’s fundamentally cynical. Yet the musical inf luences that Stromae channels and combines are playful and sugary as (name your European continental pop
group here). “Papaoutai,” the album’s biggest hit, is an emotional plea to his father, who died in the Rwandan Genocide early in his son’s life. The track starts out with a tone of resignation before transitioning to one of frenetic, desperate anger. Stromae snarls,
I don’t think that Stromae wants to chide us for enjoying his work at all.
“Tout le monde sait comment on fait les bébés/ Mais personne sait comment on fait des papas” (“Everyone knows how to make babies/ but no one knows how to make papas”). The track is built on a layer of piano rolls you would expect to hear in a house track in a Brussels nightclub and rhythms inf luenced by the African music that Stromae mentions he grew up on. In an interview with The Guardian, Stromae states, “Hip hop, pop, dance – the
common point is melancholy. That’s international, and I like this word because it’s not only about sadness or happiness – it’s both at the same time. And that’s human and that’s life.” Stromae’s best work on Racine Carrée embodies this to a T. I’m reminded of one of the biggest hits of the century so far: “Hey Ya” by Outkast, in which André 3000 chides his audience, “Y’all don’t want to hear me, you just want to dance.” “Hey Ya” is also fundamentally a song about disillusionment and relationships. It just also happens to be one of the catchiest songs ever made. However, I don’t think that Stromae wants to chide us for enjoying his work at all. The experiences he details are extremely personal and might not apply to everyone, but the emotions themselves are universal. In the music video for “Formidable” (“Wonderful”), he stumbles drunkenly around the streets of Brussels, airing out his regrets and heartbreak over a recently ended relationship. The autotune on his voice makes him end up resembling the voice and spirit of his countryman Jacques Brel in the tear-jerking “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (“Do not leave me”) with all its throaty, rolled “r”s. Everyone’s been there before. What’s a better way to become closer than to sing and dance about it.
CONCERT REVIEW
Spending a night with The RFD Boys, who aren’t going to slow down any time soon MADELEINE GANNON Daily Arts Writer
Hot off their performance at the 42nd annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival hosted by local NGO and music club, The Ark, The RFD Boys lost no steam with another fantastic live performance. Between The Ark’s intimate concert space and The RFD Boys’s laid-back, authentic country vibe, I felt more like I was sitting in a casual bar in southern West Virginia than a respectable music club in downtown Ann Arbor. Most of that is due to the band’s personal brand of magic; with both the nature of their music and their easy rapport with the audience in between songs, The RFD Boys almost completely eliminate any perceived distance between themselves and the audience. Complete with a red mailbox leaning awkwardly off to the side of the stage inviting patrons to submit their requests, the entire experience was comfortable, easy and warm. The band took a quick stroll down memory lane, opening up
the first half of their set with “Leavin’ the Ozarks,” a song they fondly remarked was one of their first ever written. Between songs, the band took some time to reminisce, having come up on an impressive milestone: The group has 50 years of performance under their belt, with no intentions of slowing down anytime soon. “Leavin’ the Ozarks” remembered the familiar yearning to break free and find your own path, as the band sang “every mile I travel is a mile from our past.” The song took on an interesting double meaning as The RFD Boys played on their home turf at this long-awaited milestone while singing, leaving the past behind. “Blues Stay Away From Me,” “She’s Gone, Gone, Gone” and “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town” were the perfect blend of soulful blues and foot-stomping folk to warm up with on a blisteringly cold Friday night. “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town” in particular highlighted the skills of new addition Dan Roehrig on g uitar (and occasionally on mandolin). Then, the banjo and fiddle took
up a duet in “Turkey in the Straw,” showcasing (another newbie) David Mosher’s jawdropping fiddle playing skills. Mosher took a turn on lead vocals with his rendition of a country classic, “She’s Gone, Gone, Gone,” while Roehrig ’s own heartfelt singing got some much-appreciated spotlight in “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town.” As a girl with some country roots herself in West Virginia, The RFD Boys’ cover of Johnny Cash’s “Sea of Heartbreak” was perhaps the highlight of the night. The RFD Boys are an underrated gem hidden away in the Midwest. Combining old-style, traditional blues and country while maintaining a fresh edge to every performance, the band capitalized on the electricity live performance lends to the rootsy energ y of folk and blues. And while most of the audience were of Ann Arbor’s older crowd, the RFD Boys maintain their relevance with their dedication to their craft. And for anyone who considers themselves a folk and country fan, The RFD Boys, above all, feel like “home.”
THE RFD BOYS
SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer
worthwhile.
‘Honey Boy’: The last few days of Sundance are an overwhelming, delirious mix of exhilaration and exhaustion. In between attending the final screenings of the festival and being holed up in a coffee shop writing reviews for hours, I spent my remaining time in Park City at a wonderfully animated panel with Desiree Akhavan, the winner of last year’s Grand Jury Prize for “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” and Nisha Ganatra, the director of the Mindy Kalingpenned comedy “Late Night.” The conversation between Akhavan and Ganatra was better than I could’ve expected. Along with going off on hilarious tangents and spilling tea on people they’ve worked with, they each discussed their backgrounds studying film at NYU Tisch, directing TV and movies, how they’ve grown as artists from their previous projects and the challenges of making lowbudget productions. Although meeting Akhavan and Ganatra after the panel was one of the many great moments during the festival, my packed showing of “Honey Boy” was just as unforgettable. The star of the show Noah Jupe and the director Alma Ha’rel (“Bombay Beach”) were in attendance as were other famous folks like Kiersey Clemons (“Hearts Beat Loud”), Tessa Thompson (“Thor: Ragnarok”), Damien Chazelle (“First Man”) and Millicent Simmonds (“A Quiet Place”). During the postscreening Q&A, out stepped “Honey Boy” writer and actor Shia Labeouf, and naturally, the crowd greeted him with rapturous applause. Equipped with a green ushanka, Labeouf entertained the audience with his lovable weirdo personality, unspooling a series of streamof-consciousness reflections with a disarming gentleness about working through his demons while making “Honey Boy.” As the Q&A grew more emotional, Jupe leaned his head on Ha’rel’s shoulder, a loving sight to behold, while she discussed her own experiences with having an alcoholic father. One might think there’s an air of manipulative, uncomfortable performativity with sentimental moments like these, but judging from the film itself, which you’ll read my thoughts about below, nothing felt more authentic. My final, sold-out screening of the festival, “Late Night,” was similarly ecstatic, despite no celebrities in attendance. Though the comedy itself was a tad underwhelming, the audience’s engaged reactions — lots of laughing, especially during one early scene when Mindy Kaling’s character gets hit with a bag of garbage — made the whole experience
Writing about the past traumas that continue to haunt us is perhaps the best and most accessible way to overcome them. But trying to perform our traumas? That’s a whole other kind of transcendent catharsis. This is the heady goal actor-writerprovocateur Shia Labeouf (“Nymphomaniac”) attempts to achieve — exceptionally so, if I might add — in the script for his trippy, brilliant meta memoir “Honey Boy.” Directed with sharp sensitivity by Alma Ha’rel (“Bombay Beach”), “Honey Boy” operates as both a harrowing tale of child abuse and PTSD and a psychological and emotional deep dive into Labeouf’s psyche. Like a buried, bruised memory come to life, “Honey Boy” is as unabashedly raw in its depiction of troublesome father-son dynamics as it is vibrant in its fantastic performances. Some might find it difficult to watch the physical mistreatment Labeouf endured as a child, but almost everyone can relate to the feeling of immense pressure our parents put on us to fulfill the grand ideal life that they never had the opportunity to live through themselves. That feeling is no more actualized than in the title of the film itself, which stems from an endearing nickname Labeouf’s father gave him while raising Labeouf in a Hollywood motel to support his burgeoning career as a young TV star on Disney Channel’s “Even Stevens.” Blending fiction and reality, “Honey Boy” cements Labeouf’s relationship with his father as the foundation of its premise, but projects it through characters with different names. Standing in for Shia’s persona is Otis Lort (played by both Noah Jupe, “Suburbicon” and Lucas Hedges, “Boy Erased”), a successful young actor who uses his craft to channel his creative spirit and mask the loneliness of his dismal environment at home. And standing in for Shia’s father is James Lort (played with magnificence by Labeouf himself ), a recovering alcoholic rodeo clown who simultaneously praises and envies his son’s newfound fame. The inner turmoil wrestling inside Shia — oops, I mean Otis — is distilled beautifully in the film’s phenomenal long-take opener, where an older Otis, strapped into a harness, is thrust backward during an explosion stunt on what looks like a set of a “Transformers” sequel. It becomes immediately clear what Labeouf and Ha’rel (and Hedges, for that matter) are trying to convey in this one scene: You can’t escape the pain of the past and its overwhelming pull. After
running into the law over drunken misconduct, Otis is sent to rehab and encouraged by his therapist (Laura San Giacomo, “Sex, Lies and Videotape”) to revisit his childhood and explore his suppressed anger. From there, the film shifts back and forth between two time periods in Otis’s life: the older Otis struggles with deep-seated, unaddressed frustrations while the younger Otis grapples with quiet resentment toward his father. Within its therapeutic narrative, “Honey Boy” injects these two concurrent storylines with a compelling amount of tenderness and vulnerability provided by the main cast. In the limited screen time he’s given, Hedges, reliably mesmerizing as ever, elevates his character’s blunt mannerisms and unhinged personality into more than just a solid Shia Labeouf caricature. Labeouf is transfixing as James, latching onto the empathetic nerve of his father’s own internal troubles with a surprising amount of depth. It takes so much courage to portray the person who basically is the cause of all of your anguish. But of the three, Jupe shines the most. The up-and-coming British actor delivers a marvelously mature and soulful performance, taking challenging material and executing it as if he’s been in the business for decades. Along with his turn in “A Quiet Place,” Jupe has secured his status as a star in the making with “Honey Boy.” Though the performances alone are enthralling, “Honey Boy” is definitely not without its flaws. There’s a sweet albeit lazy and inconsequential subplot involving a sex worker named Little Q (enigmatic musician FKA Twigs in her feature debut), who acts as a sort of surrogate mother character for young Otis. Even though her brief friendship with Otis is touching in parts, the lack of substance brought to her character and their dynamic as a whole wears down the infectiously scrappy pacing of “Honey Boy.” The same goes for Tom (Clifton Collins Jr., “The Mule”), a man hired by an agency to accompany Otis on social excursions when James proves to be unavailable. While his character is given much more emotional weight than Q’s, Tom’s presence in the film doesn’t make much of a lasting impression. With that said, “Honey Boy” is an exemplary Capital-D Drama whose intense impact will linger long after the credits roll. Consider this Shia Labeouf’s magical return to the spotlight, as we finally get to understand the fragmented, complex mind behind the chaotic, much-publicized image we’re so used to seeing.
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MICHIGAN DEFEATS MSU, 5-2, WINS DUEL IN THE D
dazzling in LOCKWOOD FINDS HIS STRIDE “He had a couple of good looks tonight, so good for him,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson on Saturday. “He’s a really good hockey player and I’m glad for him. I’m DETROIT — This time two happy for him that after all he’s years ago, then-freshman forward been through the first couple years Will Lockwood was still recovering and not being able to play in the from a disclocated shoulder when Frozen Four last year that he’s rehe won his first “Duel in the D” ally playing well for us.” In Friday night’s 5-3 win over with the Michigan hockey team. While he notched one assist in that the Spartans, Lockwood scored his game, it was clear that he wasn’t sixth goal in seven games and addback to the level he was before the ed two assists for his second-highest point total in a single game this injury. This time last year, a shoulder season. In addition to those points, injury at the World Juniors tour- he tested Michigan State goaltennament ended Lockwood’s season der Drew DeRidder with quite a in January, just as he was getting few ‘Grade-A’ scoring chances. And on Saturday, he added anback into a rhythm. He was forced to watch from the stands as his other goal to his weekend total and team kicked off an eight-game win again created chances nearly every streak that catapulted the Wolver- time he was on the ice. “He’s our most dynamic player ines to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and eventually the Fro- up front by far,” Pearson said Friday night. “He’s having his best zen Four. Two injuries year. You can see it. You can see the to the same speed, you can see the quickness, shoulder you can see the creativity. i n He’s playing hard and he’s an
Bailey Johnson Daily Sports Writer
Design by Jack Silberman Alec Cohen / Daily
two d i f f e rent seasons cut both of those campaigns short. Now, Lockwood is doing everything he can to lead Michigan back to where it was last year. This time, he’s not watching it happen from the stands. “It was tough, definitely,” Lockwood said Oct. 17 of not playing in the Frozen Four. “I mean, you ask any guy, it’s gonna be tough to be in the stands and not to be on the ice with your team.” This weekend, Lockwood tallied two goals and two assists in a series sweep over Michigan State. For the third time in his career, the Wolverines hoisted the ‘Iron D’ trophy after a 5-2 win on Saturday. But this time, he was a full participant in the victory.
exciting play-
er.” Lockwood’s ability to be dynamic and create scoring chances has played a large role in his recent success, but his willingness to get to what to Pearson calls the “gritty area” of the ice is even more important. Both goals this weekend came on tip-ins in front of the net as he was battling for position. Friday, freshman defenseman Jack Summers fired a slapshot from the left point that Lockwood got a stick on to redirect into the net. It was a heads-up, skilled play — exactly what Pearson wants to see in that area of the ice. Saturday night, another shot found Lockwood just in front of DeRidder. This time, it came from sophomore defenseman Quinn
Hughes while the Wolverines were on the power play. Junior forward Nick Pastujov tried to shoot the puck himself, but Lockwood collected it and sent the puck between Pastujov’s legs and past DeRidder. Just as Pearson always preaches, getting to the “gritty area” resulted in rewards for his team. And he especially likes to see that grittiness from Lockwood now that he’s fully healthy and back in form. “This year, he came back from the shoulder, took him a while to get going and now he’s going,” Pearson said. “Once the puck starts going in the net, then your confidence just takes off. He’s going to hard ice. He’s just not coming down and making fancy plays but he’s getting to that hard ice and rebounds, tip-ins.” Pearson’s system is predicated on getting pucks to the net
and having players in that hard ice in front of the goaltender to clean up rebounds and create scoring opportunities. And Lockwood’s willingness to work in that hard area of the ice has paid off. “Just getting to the net has been something that I’ve been focusing on,” Lockwood said Saturday. “We’ve got a lot of good players on the ice and they’re doing a great job with the puck and getting it to the net. Just being opportunistic these past couple of games.” Fighting for pucks in front of the net isn’t the flashiest way to play. Forwards tend to want to create dazzling plays up the center of the ice or score from the wing to show off the strength of their shot. But it works, and Lockwood — fully healthy down the stretch for the first time at Michigan — is reaping the benefits.
INSIDE SPORTSMONDAY AUSTIN DAVIS’ JOURNEY FROM ONSTED TO ANN ARBOR See Page 2B
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2B — February 11, 2019
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SportsMonday Column: One blinking stoplight
T
he village of Onsted does not have a lot. It doesn’t have more than 1,000 residents, and it doesn’t have a Meijer (or a Walmart, or a Whole Foods, or probably any store where most people would choose to go grocery shopping). It most definitely does not have its own LANEY exit on the BYLER highway, or really even an exit near it at all, and just is not a convenient drive unless you’re taking US-12. But Onsted does have a stoplight, and John Beilein knows all about it. “I grew up in farmlands. You go in (to Onsted) and there’s probably one stoplight — now, it’s a blinking light I think in Onsted… I don’t even know if we had a light,” Beilein told The Daily. “We might have had one light in my hometown, too.” As someone who comes from a place that has two whole stoplights, I want to stress how a small number of stoplights in a town can build character. And Onsted, with its one blinking stoplight, has followed suit, as the historical little village about an hour away from Ann Arbor is where Austin Davis calls home. A redshirt junior for the Michigan men’s basketball team, Davis is only the 14th player from Lenawee County — not just Onsted, but the entire county — to play Division I basketball. He was carried to Michigan by a standout career built in Onsted, the same place where he used to go “downtown” to get a haircut in a barbershop while listening to old-timers talk and where his mom, Marsha, is the principal of an elementary school. With these traits in mind, you can imagine the crisp contrast that separates Onsted High
E
School from the University of Michigan or even the village of Onsted from Ann Arbor. The social difference is stark; the physical difference is actually laughable. “That was really quite the shock when I came here, just the amount of people and how different it just was,” Davis said. “But I always really loved (Onsted), everybody always knew what was going on. If you had a good team, it didn’t matter what sport it was, men’s sports, women’s sports, didn’t matter. “… But, honestly, living in the city — and this might sound stupid — it’s not seeing the woods. Growing up at our house in Onsted, we have like three acres but it’s right on the edge of a huge forest. We have big crop fields and agriculture fields surrounding us. You see deer, turkeys, all kinds of wildlife all the time. It’s just a shock, going from that.” It’s true. North Campus’ one trail through the woods near the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and Nichols Arb, though both very nicely kept and wonderful walks in the fall, is nothing compared to the cornfields and dense woods that dominate parts of Michigan. Of course, Davis made the adjustment to deal with these differences. He leaned on his teammates, and he’s dealing with the change in scenery (for now). Coming from a Class B school with a graduating class of 86 people makes these adjustments hard enough, but adapting to the academic end of that can be even harder. Some smaller public schools in the state of Michigan don’t offer a wide variety of classes, or AP classes at all. My high school, which played Onsted in multiple sports, didn’t offer any math
classes beyond Algebra II unless you count physics or consumer’s math, which is where we learned how to do our taxes (which is arguably more important than the Pythagorean theory — theorem? — but definitely not a good enough prep course for the hell that is Michigan Math). But, luckily for Davis, Onsted’s lone blinking stoplight prepped him for that adjustment, too. “We had a few AP classes. We actually had a really good math teacher, his name was Mr. Gemalsky. I took every class he offered. I just really enjoyed going to class and learning from
It really was a shock and it took a lot to get used to.
him and we had a lot of teachers like that. That didn’t necessarily go to places like Michigan, but really tried to push people to be their best. “We definitely were lucky to have that. I know a lot of the really small schools didn’t have stuff like that, so we were lucky and fortunate to have that.” Beilein and Davis were both aware of the jump he would have to make. They knew it would take an adjustment, going from a village to a Division I school. They knew it back in his junior year of high school. They went with it anyway. “If he’s got the passion and he wants to come here, it’s a no
brainer,” Beilein said. “He’s a brilliant high school student, he really fit, I felt, and he really dedicated himself… And so when we offered him the scholarship, it was with the idea that he would redshirt for a year. And that’s how it all happened because he basically told me at the time, ‘Coach, if you ever offer me a scholarship to the University of Michigan, I’m coming.’” And he did. Four years later, Davis, a star basketball kid from a little village in Michigan, is a redshirt junior who has two years of eligibility left. He’s majoring in movement science, and he wants to be a physical therapist one day
He really fit, I felt, and he really dedicated himself.
— maybe in a town with a little more greenery than Ann Arbor and fewer people. He mostly finds himself at his hometown for his little sister’s volleyball games in the fall, or his little brother’s basketball games in the winter. When he goes, he talks to to his old coach and family, and to those same old-timers he chatted up in the barbershop where he used to get his hair cut. He’s a local celebrity. He’s sixfoot-10, so there’s no doubt he’s a little hard to ignore. But it’s mostly because he made history for a random town southwest of Ann Arbor. Not bad for someone who comes from a little village with one blinking stoplight.
Byler can be reached at dbyler@umich.edu and on Twitter @laneybyler. She hopes you come to the White Pigeon fair.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Redshirt sophomore forward Austin Davis grew up in Onsted, a small town in southeastern Michigan, before coming to Ann Arbor to play for the Wolverines.
Just another Michigan-Wisconsin duel
than Happ grabbed the collar of his jersey, brought it to his face and clenched it with his teeth. His head slumped, his hands covered his neck as he shuffled to the end of the Wisconsin handshake line. John Beilein approached Happ, and the two embraced JACOB as good SHAMES sportspeople do. But while Happ’s frustration was obvious, for the Michigan men’s basketball coach, it was an embrace of relief. “Ethan Happ said to me after the game, I hope to see you again this season. No, Ethan, I don’t want to see you again the rest of my life,” Beilein recalled after his team dispatched Happ’s Badgers, 61-52, on Saturday. “This guy was absolutely incredible.” Beilein, by nature, never has anything but positive things to say about upcoming foes, no matter their caliber. But the praises he offered Wisconsin on Friday afternoon ran far deeper than the typical platitudes about playing hard and having experience. “Wisconsin, right now, is playing as good as anybody in the country. They could beat anybody in the country. Quote me on that,” Beilein said. “ … The names are different, it’s the exact same (as the) teams that were winning championships over and over again. “Look at their stats and our stats overall and we’re doing the same thing. They might foul a little bit more than us, but we don’t go to the foul line a lot. Everything’s almost virtually the same, the lines are. It’s called winning basketball. You don’t turn it over, you make your foul
shots, you don’t foul people, you don’t give up threes. It’s winning basketball.” Wisconsin basketball is as much an institution as the university itself. The championship-winning Badger teams of yesteryear slowed the game down to a crawl, played disciplined defense, ran efficient offense predicated on outside shooting and often revolved around a transcendent superstar. This year’s outfit is no different. In the past, Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes and Josh Gasser orbited around Frank Kaminsky with Bo Ryan roaming the sideline. Now, it’s Happ in the middle of it all, scoring points and pinging passes to Brad Davison, Nate Reuvers and D’Mitrik Trice while Greg Gard looks on. It was winning basketball then, and it still is now. Wisconsin handed Michigan its first loss on Jan. 19, in a game that was close all the way through, until the Badgers finally ground the Wolverines into a fine powder down the stretch. Michigan ran into an immovable object that day — a team with an identity that refused to change for any opponent, no matter if that opponent was 17-0. “People don’t lose here because it’s the Kohl Center,” Beilein said then. “They lose here because of the style of play that Wisconsin plays. They don’t beat themselves, and they’re just tough to play. … We say, ‘We don’t want to play Wisconsin, cause they’re so good.” Beilein was just 5-17 in his career against the Badgers entering Saturday. But his relief after the game didn’t just come from getting his sixth. It also seemed to come from doing so against the Wolverines’ mirror image. Beilein’s compliments for Wisconsin on Friday match the team, program and identity he’s spent the last 12 years cultivating in Ann Arbor. What
I just felt like there was more that I left out on the table.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Wisconsin forward Ethan Happ was frustrated after Michigan beat Wisconsin, 61-52, avenging a loss three weeks ago by playing a style similar to the Badgers.
Michigan takes pride in — mistake-free offense and smart but hard-nosed defense — are the same things the Badgers value. It makes sense, then, that Saturday’s rematch was so similar to the teams’ meeting in Madison. Baskets were difficult to come by. The pace was slow — almost torturously so at times. For most of the second half, the margin never crept above five points. In short, it looked like a Michigan-Wisconsin basketball game. “We hit big shots down the stretch and they didn’t last time, and it kind of flipped around,” Davison said. “They’re a very good team, very well-coached and play very well defensively. So it’s kind of just two juggernauts going at it.” Except for the result, the Wolverines barely changed anything from the first meeting. Happ, who averages 18 points per game, almost demands to be double-teamed in the low post. But that’s just not what Michigan does. Junior center Jon Teske played Happ straight
up, and after a hot start, going 7-for-10 with 14 points in the first half, he hit just two shots the rest of the way, saddled with foul trouble. “They really just gave him one-on-one and let him go at Teske,” Davison said. “(Junior guard Zavier) Simpson’s obviously very good at raiding and digging and they would do that every once in a while, but they pretty much let him go one-onone.” Depending on who the Badgers had on the court, the Wolverines sent the occasional double. But for most of the game, they allowed Happ to get his, and if he did, so be it. They refused to allow Wisconsin’s shooters open looks out of the doubleteam. The Badgers hit just four 3-pointers. Happ isn’t just his graceful footwork or silky touch on his
hook shot, though — his dribbling and passing ability put him in his own league among big men. But by single-teaming Happ, Michigan took his playmaking out of the equation: he had one assist against five turnovers dealing with Teske’s size and Simpson’s pressure. “If he catches it in the post, it’s very easy for him to score there,” Teske said. “You gotta push, deny him outside and just try to make him dribble and he’s gonna keep coming at you, keep coming at you, he’s gonna dribble, dribble, dribble. So you just gotta play him, wall him up. He’s gonna spin baseline, he’s gonna get his hooks, he’s gonna score a few.” Michigan’s defense of Happ was just a microcosm of its plan to defeat Wisconsin. The Wolverines ensured the game would be played on their terms, the
Wisconsin, right now, is playing as good as anybody.
opposite of the first matchup. They made one of the most unique players in college basketball one-dimensional — at least as one-dimensional as possible. And they caused Happ to stand in the Crisler Center tunnel, speaking to reporters and rueing opportunities he failed to take advantage of. “It was kinda what I expected, which was Teske one-on-one, and then a lot of digging and helping,” Happ said. “Teske did a nice job chesting up, but again, I just felt like there was more that I left out on the table that I wish I could get back.” But Happ’s body language after his final, meaningless heave smacked off the backboard was perhaps more telling. It was a look of multifaceted frustration: from missed chances, yes, but from losing in such a fashion to a team so reminiscent of his — but on this day, simply better. Shames can be reached at jacosham@umich.edu or on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
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February 11, 2019— 3B
As expected
In season’s opening weekend, Michigan wins three and drops two in Florida, its defense buoyed by Haley Hoonengraad LILY FRIEDMAN Daily Sports Writer
Going into the sixth inning against South Florida, the No. 19 Michigan softball team needed a spark. The Wolverines, 1-2 on the weekend thus far, led the unranked Bulls 2-1, only scoring in one of the first five innings. Michigan’s offense hadn’t fared much better in the first three games, with the Wolverines scoring only one run against No. 7 Arizona, none against No. 5 Florida and five runs total. The team pitched solid innings, caught essential fly balls and played tight defense, but scoring wins games, and Michigan wasn’t. And then the sixth inning hit. Batting in four runs in addition to a and a grand slam in the final two innings, the Wolverines hit their stride offensively, notching a 10-1 win in their fourth game of the season. In the USF Opening Weekend Invitational, Michigan went 3-2, beating North Carolina State 4-3, South Florida 10-1 and Illinois State 11-4 but dropping games against Arizona and Florida, 2-1 and 6-0, respectively. Despite maintaining strong defense throughout most of the tournament, the team’s offense fluctuated, starting slow and building up to strong, high-scoring wins to end the weekend. Though Michigan started the tournament with a win against the Wolfpack, the team’s close game showed an offensive weakness for the Wolverines, who trailed 3-1 after the fourth inning and barely edged a win with three RBI in the fifth inning. Without power hits, that trend continued through Saturday morning in Michigan’s losses to Arizona and Florida. Regardless, the Wolverines stand by their style of play, even
with the hopes of an occasional power hit. “I think we like consistency,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “Whether we hit it over the fence or not, I want to see us air it out at times, especially when it’s in hitter’s counts.” Despite the offensive lag, the Wolverines saw that power hit from senior second baseman Faith Canfield, who hit a grand slam against South Florida to energize the team’s offense before a decisive win over Illinois State. Canfield’s leadership, along with that of other upperclassmen, set a good example for young hitters like freshman outfielder Lexie Blair, who tallied seven hits on the weekend. “Anything to help my team to be a spark plug, that’s my main
thing,” Blair said. “One of my goals for me is to find any way to get on base.” Even with highs and lows at the plate, Michigan’s steadfast defense anchored the team, most notably on the mound in freshman pitcher Alex Storako’s regular-season debut. Storako split time with sophomore pitcher Meghan Beaubien, and both performed well, allowing 1.13 and 1.06 WHIPs, respectively. Hutchins noted that Storako will be a force in the lineup going forward, surpassing sophomore Sarah Schaefer as the second pitcher. “(Schaefer) needs to improve to get herself into the rotation,” Hutchins said. “... The firstweekend timing is tough. I thought we got better as the weekend went, and that’s all I can ask.”
LANE KIZZIAH Daily Sports Writer
Already down 1-0 to No. 7 Arizona in the bottom of the first inning and facing a basesloaded jam, the pressure was on for the No. 19 Michigan softball team. As the Wildcats’ Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza sent the ball all the way back to the wall, that lead seemed all but certain to drastically increase. But just as it looked like the Wolverines were going to face a five-run deficit, junior outfielder Haley Hoogenraad jumped up to grab the ball, calling an end to the inning and blocking Arizona from potentially gaining a substantial lead. While Michigan didn’t win, strong defensive plays like that by Hoogenraad were
instrumental to the success of the team all weekend, as she made several important catches in each game. “Haley Hoogenraad plays one heck of an outfield and she makes some great plays,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “She does a great job for us. We just ask for everybody to do their part and if you’re in the outfield, if you can touch the ball, catch it. She’s done a great job for us over the years and she’s done nothing but get better and better.” Added Hoogenraad: “We played pretty well over the weekend. I think we had a lot of really good plays and a lot of really smart plays. Our defense again looks like it’s going to be really strong.” In the bottom of the fifth
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior outfielder Haley Hoonengraad’s defense was instrumental in Michigan’s first five games of the season, in which which the Wolverines went 3-2.
Charles Matthews makes the difference for ‘M’ THEO MACKIE
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wolverines top Lions
Daily Sports Writer
CONNOR BRENNAN
Three weeks ago in Madison, Michigan’s undefeated season lay in the balance of a one-point game with seven minutes to play. That time, the Wolverines’ offense wilted, scoring just 10 points over the remainder of the gane and falling, 64-54, at the hands of the Badgers. So on Saturday afternoon against the same opponent, when Michigan was faced with a near-identical situation up one with 7:13 to go, the question became how it would avoid a repeat of the final score. But just as soon as the predicament had manifested itself, Charles Matthews — one of the biggest culprits in the Wolverines’ loss last month with three turnovers, two fouls and just two field goals in the second half — provided a solution. Midway through the second half, Wisconsin’s offense started clicking for the first time all afternoon, demanding that someone on Michigan answer the call — a situation that would normally call for sophomore guard Jordan Poole or freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis to take over. But as those two combined to go 5-for-20 from the field, Matthews put the kind of stamp on the game that, for him, has been restricted to the defensive end for the better part of the past two years. It’s what Michigan coach John Beilein envisioned for Matthews when he transferred from Kentucky three years ago as highly-touted, former fivestar recruit. But as consistent as his defensive impact has been, Matthews’ offense has only grazed the expectations set by those lofty high school accolades. “I never doubted myself,”
Hailey Brown couldn’t miss. The sophomore forward was hitting three-pointers of varying difficulty, from all over the floor. Within a span of five minutes, Brown single-handedly turned Sunday’s game on its head in the second quarter — from a ninepoint deficit to a one-point lead for the Wolverines by the end of the half. Catalyzed by Brown’s performance, the Michigan women’s basketball team (16-9 overall, 7-6 Big Ten) escaped State College with 66-62 win over Penn State (10-13, 3-9). The beginning of the game could not have gone much worse for the Wolverines. Without freshman point guard Amy Dilk, sidelined with a knee injury, turnovers plagued Michigan’s offense. “We were a little short-handed,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “And with the quick turnaround, it was difficult to prepare someone to take over that role at the point guard position. I thought you saw that today with the pressure we faced early on.” Penn State’s 12-point run finally ended in the closing seconds of the first quarter with Brown’s first three-pointer and a put-back layup from junior forward Kayla Robbins. Still, the Wolverines, having committed eight turnovers in the first quarter, trailed by four. Michigan’s dismal offensive performance continued into the second frame. Senior center Hallie Thome had an especially disapointing performance in the first two quarters. She failed to make a single bucket, missing all 11 of her shots from the field. Thome also had two consecutive shots blocked downlow by Penn State’s Lauren Ebo. And on the ensuing possession, the Lady Lions capitalized with an open three to push the lead to nine. Dilk’s absence clearly put a dent into the Wolverines’ rotation, as a trio of seldom-played freshman — Danielle Rauch, Ariel Young and Emily Kiser — entered the game
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews went 7-for-8 with 14 points in the last 11 minutes of Saturday’s game.
Matthews said. “I understand as a player you go through those times. It’s going to be more times in my career when I have bad games. I have a lot of basketball left in me. I never got discouraged and continued to shoot my way out of it, any bad moment.” The game’s defining moment will be Matthews winding the shot clock down with 30 seconds to go and a five-point lead, daring Wisconsin to stop him before hitting a stepback, fadeaway jumper to seal an eventual 61-52 win. That, though, was merely a culmination of the preceding 11 minutes, in which Matthews went 7-of-8 from the field, scored 14 points and fell three points short of single-handedly outscoring the Badgers. “With most players, it’s very contagious,” Beilein said. “Just make a shot, and all of a sudden, you say, ‘Man, I got it. I got it going.’ Make two, ‘I got it going.’ You miss two or three in the row, it’s really hard to make the fourth, fifth, sixth.
I never get discouraged and continued to shoot.
There’s no magic in that either. He made shots and then all of a sudden, he made more shots.” The stretch began with 11:22 to play, when Matthews — who had scored just four points over the game’s first 29 minutes — answered a Kobe King jumper with a driving layup. As Wisconsin responded with baskets on its next two possessions, so too did Matthews, keeping the Badgers at arm’s length as they threatened to take their first lead of the second half. Matthews’ baskets came during a stretch when none of his teammates could find bottom, finishing a combined 2-for-10 over the final 14 minutes. It’s a reversal of roles for Matthews, who often frustrates in these moments — as he did in that loss in Madison — stifling Michigan’s offense with ambitious mid-range jumpers and poor decision making. “It’s definitely a huge boost being able to have a guy like Charles go against — utilize his mismatch,” Poole said.
“Especially when he gets going, being able to give it to a guy in the post when he’s able to go to his go-to shot and knock it down is definitely huge.” This time, though, it was his teammates providing the frustration. With three minutes to play and Michigan holding a tenuous three-point lead, Poole and junior point guard Zavier Simpson jacked up a pair of contested threes on consecutive possession, sending an irritated Beilein’s hands into the air with each miss. But when Matthews caught the ball at the top of the arc amidst a twominute scoring drought with a 1:30 to play, that frustration quickly disappeared. He drove to his right, pulled up over Nate Reuvers and let go. And for the sixth time in ten minutes, the ball swished through the net. So when he pulled up for that jumper a minute later with a chance to ice the game, the expectation was — for once — that it would fall through. And as it had all afternoon, it did.
He made shots and then all of a sudden, he made more.
inning, another smart play came from Hoogenraad when she dove in the right field to make the catch and secure an out with two on base for Arizona. “I think I had a couple of good catches that really helped keep us in the game,” Hoogenraad said. “The one later in the game, when there were runners on first and second, kept them from potentially scoring. Those are important.” An aggressive outfield is nothing new for the Wolverines, a team known for their strong defense. Michigan had the third highest fielding percentage in the NCAA last season behind Oklahoma and Florida. This weekend, the outfield was anchored by veteran juniors Hoogenraad and Thais Gonzalez. The group was rounded out by Lexie Blair, a freshman who proved very useful on both sides of the game. Blair came out of this weekend with a perfect fielding percentage as well as four runs, just one run behind the team leader, senior Faith Canfield. “Defensively, I think I did pretty well,” Blair said. “I felt really comfortable out there, especially having two upperclassmen lead me and mentor me the whole weekend.” Despite their solid performance this weekend, the outfielders hope their defensive play will only improve as the season continues. “Collectively, I would say there were some hiccups in between each game,” Blair said. “With it being the first weekend, I think we did pretty well, especially from practicing indoor and coming here, being on a bigger stage and being outside. We did pretty well, but there are definitely things we can work on.”
in relief. Still, the Wolverines managed to stay in the lead by one in the first half as a result of Brown’s prolific shooting performance and two late free throws from Church, overcoming 13 first-half turnovers. “I couldn’t even believe we were up by one,” Barnes Arico said. “Just watching the game it was like holy cow, we’re up. That’s the difference threes make instead of twos.” Out of the break, Thome found freshman forward Naz Hillmon on the block for an easy layup. Shortly after, Penn State’s Taniya Page hit an off-balance floater and the back-and-forth nature of the second half was beginning to take shape. “Hailey came in at the beginning of the week and said ‘Coach, I’m just playing like myself right now, I’m in a little bit of a funk and need to get out of it,’ ” Barnes Arico said. “She spent a lot of time last year in the gym, getting up shots with (assistant) coach (Melanie Moore) and that’s what she did again this week. She played incredible. She really helped us to victory today.” A three from the corner and a tough floater from the Lady Lions’ Siyeh Frazier gave them a threepoint lead with just under four minutes to go. For her 18th and 19th points, Hillmon responded with a sweet spin move in the paint and a tough hook shot. Tied at 62, Munger gave the Wolverines the advantage for good, pulling up from the foul line and hitting a jumper as the shot clock expired. Munger then hit two free throws to ensure the Wolverines secured their fourth consecutive win. “That was one of the most exciting locker rooms I’ve been in after the game,” Barnes Arico said. “We had to have different people step up. Even if it’s only one play, those plays can be the difference in a close game. I think we saw that today. I think the kids have a little bit of confidence right now. We’re all about February. February is our month.”
SportsMonday
4B — February 11, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
With 5-2 win, ‘M’ completes sweep of Spartans Michigan’s first sweep, JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT — More than just the “Iron D” trophy was on the line when the Michigan hockey team took the ice on Saturday. Coming into the annual “Duel in the D” against Michigan State, just five points separated the Wolverines — who are deadlocked with Minnesota for second place — from last place in the Big Ten standings. With Ohio State 11 points ahead in the conference standings, and the battle for a firstround bye effectively over, homeice in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament is on the line with each game. Coming off a 5-3 win on Friday night at Yost Ice Arena against Michigan State, Michigan looked to complete its first conference series sweep of season. And, with the game still in the balance minutes into the third period, freshman forward Nolan Moyle collected the puck along the rightside boards. He sprinted up the right wing with no one to beat but Michigan State goaltender Drew DeRidder. As he curled in toward the slot, the freshman went forehand, backhand and fired into the top of the net to push the Michigan’s lead to 3-0. The goal from Moyle would prove to be the difference maker for the Wolverines, who went on to win, 5-2. The opening minutes of Saturday night’s contest featured back and forth play with both teams gauging each another. Sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes helped ignite the offense when he collected a loose puck that was heading toward the blue line and out of Michigan’s offensive zone. Hughes gathered the puck, skated up the left-side boards and curled in towards the net. He found sophomore forward Dakota Raabe, who was crashing the net as the play developed. Raabe’s one timer from the top of the crease gave the Wolverines a
1-0 lead, 5:30 into the first period. Michigan State struggled to get into their offensive sets early on. After generating a few chances, their momentum was halted by a penalty on forward Tommy Apap for boarding. And seconds into the power play for Michigan, the Wolverines extended their lead to 2-0. Hughes launched the puck towards the net. It hit junior forward Nick Pastujov in front of the crease. Junior forward Will Lockwood then crashed the net and fired the loose puck past DeRidder. The second goal gave Michigan the momentum for the remainder of the period and into the first intermission. The Spartans came out in the second period with a more concerted offensive attack, challenging freshman goaltender Strauss Mann early on. Forward Patrick Khodorenkdo drew in two Wolverine defenders as he floated towards the right faceoff circle. He laid off the puck across to forward Taro Hirose who was one-on-one with Mann. Hirose took a stride towards the net and fired a shot five-hole on
Mann who came up with the save to preserve the two-goal lead. Despite some defensive miscues in the second period, Mann’s performance in net sustained the two-goal lead heading into the third period. “I can’t say enough about our goaltender Strauss Mann,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “I thought he stood tall tonight and maybe didn’t have too many saves, but he had some great saves on some of their top players and I think he was a real difference in the hockey game.” Minutes into the final period, Moyle provided Michigan with a three-goal cushion on his breakaway goal, increasing the lead to 3-0. But the Spartans weren’t dead yet. A goal from forward Mitchell Lewandowski from a rebound off Mann’s stick cut into the lead, 3-1, with just under seven minutes remaining in the game. Less than three minutes later, the Spartans would get another one back. Defenseman Jerad Rosburg weaved entered the offensive zone, weaving through the defense and into the
slot. He laid the puck across to Lewandowski to make the game a one-goal contest, 3-2. “When the first one went in, I was nervous then,” Pearson said. “Second one goes in and you have to stay positive. You have to keep your bench calm and positive and I think that’s the biggest thing. I knew we were in a dogfight.” The comeback fell short for Michigan State, though. Redshirt sophomore Luke Morgan and freshman Nolan Moyle scored empty net goals in the final two minutes to push the lead to 5-2. For the third consecutive season now, the Wolverines are taking home the “Iron D” trophy. But more importantly for Michigan, it now sits alone in second place, three points ahead of third-place Minnesota. “It was a huge weekend for the team,” Pearson said. “A big weekend. Anytime you play Michigan State it’s a huge weekend but with the implications of the Big Ten standings and everything, I thought it was a huge weekend for our team. Now, we get to enjoy it, maybe on the bus ride home, but Tuesday we get right back at it against Notre Dame.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman forward Garrett Van Wyhe helped Michigan to a dominating win over Michigan State on Saturday.
Wolverines exact revenge, top Wisconsin 62-51 ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
It was ugly as ugly gets, and Michigan will take it just fine. When Wisconsin comes to town, there isn’t any other option. And, as the ball found Zavier Simpson at the top of the arc with just over three minutes to go, the Wolverines up by three and a chance to put the Badgers away materializing, it seemed they had managed to beat Wisconsin at its own game. Then, the shot clanked off the rim. That scene replayed throughout the second half of Saturday’s game — Michigan finding an open three and being unable to convert, the Badgers hanging on as a result. Finally though, with 1:28 to go, it was Charles Matthews finding nylon, not from 3-point range, but his usual spot on the right block, giving the Wolverines a five-point lead. A minute later, time winding and the crowd at its crescendo, it was Matthews again, bouncing a few feet in front of the free throw line and nailing another jumper, extending the lead to seven. It would prove decisive as No. 7 Michigan (22-2 overall, 11-2 Big Ten) found its way to a 61-52 win over No. 19 Wisconsin (17-7, 9-4). “This is who I believe — what I envisioned for (Matthews) when he came here,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “And there’s been times in the games that he’s not sure what he should do. Should he shoot it? Should he take it to the basket? Should he pass it? … In this second half, he had a great mix of making those decisions.” Three weeks ago in Madison, the Badgers handed the Wolverines their first loss of the year, fans storming the
and its implications
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team earned its first sweep of Big Ten play.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
If playing goaltenders Hayden Lavigne on Friday and Strauss Mann on Saturday guaranteed wins, Michigan coach Mel Pearson would run with it, no doubts in his mind. Since Oct. 25-26 against St. Lawrence, it’s become evident that Michigan has struggled to close a weekend. Fans knew it. Pearson knew it. Michael Pastujov even admitted it. “We struggle on Saturdays,” Pastujov noted. After that series, Michigan has failed to sweep a series until last weekend against Michigan State, when the Wolverines completed their first Big Ten weekend series — exorcizing demons built throughout a string of ties and losses. Their record for Saturday games up until that point? Two wins, six losses and two ties that ended in losses. “Yeah that was absolutely huge,” said junior forward Will Lockwood on Saturday’s win. “We’ve been getting a lot of Friday wins previous to that and to finally get over that hump was huge for our team. I think it’s great for our team and was well-deserved.” The turnaround didn’t come out of nowhere. Pearson saw the struggles and knew something needed to be done. He needed to make changes. “We’ve gotta clean some things up and we have to be better tomorrow,” Pearson said Friday. “I just told the team tonight that, you know what, enjoy it, but when you leave the rink tonight, this game’s over. This game’s over. So when you go downstairs and your friends or family or someone tells you, ‘Oh, great game,’ just tell them, ‘you know what, thank you, but we have to be better.’ ” The first change he queued up was switching goaltenders. “We’ll probably make that decision tomorrow,” Pearson said Friday on Saturday’s goaltending. “At this point, it’s open. I think Hayden’s played well but we’ve gotta find a way to win that Saturday game. We’ve gotta break this, ‘win Friday and not do as well Saturday.’ ” Lavigne had earned the starting job coming back from break. When the team needed his best in big games, he delivered. But the consistency in goaltending wavered on the second leg of a back-to-back series. In turn, Mann saw time in the net in the worst situations. But after Mann displayed lockdown performances every time he was put in relief, Pearson started to entertain the idea of switching goalies on the backend of weekend series. “He’s gone in a backup role but he played extremely well,” Pearson said. “He only gave up one goal in four periods last couple weeks in a mopped-up role, and we had do something to change the Saturday funk. “And it’s not all on him, it’s not all on Hayden Lavigne. But sometimes we need a change, and sometimes coaches don’t want to change.” The difference between wants and needs is something the coaching staff recognized during the game preparation. All season, Pearson wanted the team to buy in and play hard-nose, hustle defense. The team didn’t realize they needed
it until they came to grasp that changes needed to be made. For sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes, he had to come to terms with it after his weak performance against Penn State on Jan. 26 — in which he committed several costly turnovers that directly led to opposing goals. “First you have to own it,” Pearson said. “I think that’s the first thing is you have to own it to be able to move forward and make changes.” Since then, Hughes and the rest of defensemen made strides in order to rectify the defensive lapses that sporadically occurred. Even amongst forwards, that defensive mentality carried over. Against the Spartans, the team made changes that the fourth line — consisting of Nolan Moyle, Garrett Van Wyhe and Dakota Raabe — made earlier in the season. They worked harder, skated faster and put their nose to the ground to make plays. “(The fourth line) play the right way,” Pearson said. “They’re not maybe your offensive stars, but they accept how they need to play. And I think that was a big key.” Another key were changes made to the power play. In the Minnesota series, Michigan drew 10 power plays. It converted none of them. To reverse their inability to convert the man-advantage, the Wolverines made changes to their special teams. After the series against the Golden Gophers, the first improvement they made was to get the puck around faster. Getting defensemen out of position was a key factor to power plays, and junior Jake Slaker noted the team needed to move the puck faster to do just that. Against the Spartans, Michigan saw those changes pay off. “We made some changes,” Pearson said. “We didn’t get, I think, anything from it, but we had some good looks. But we just — I thought they looked much better. But we have to continue to work on that and be a threat and that’ll really help our game.” With the changes at hand, the Wolverines pulled out the broom for the second time this season. And it was an opportune time. The sweep put Michigan solely in second place in the Big Ten with 30 points. With only six points separating second place from second-to-last place, a single bad week can cost a team home advantage in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. “Every win is huge at this point in the season,” Moyle said. “And I think this weekend can really turn around our season and we just need to continue to ride this wave.” Added Pearson: “We’ve got five games left now and we have to grind it out. But this should give us some confidence and we’ve got a, like I said, short turnaround. “I can’t stress enough how important this weekend was. I think we’re up on State six points now with a game in hand. That’s huge this time of year. It’s hard to make up points because everybody’s playing the same teams. Everybody is playing each other. Someone’s gonna win, someone’s gonna lose, so it’s important if you can string a sweep together.”
To finally get over that hump was great for our team.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior center Jon Teske scored 17 points with 12 rebounds and slowed Ethan Happ to help Michigan win on Saturday.
court as players filed out, backs turned. Michigan didn’t forget. “People storming the court, we don’t like that,” Beilein said. “... It’s not like, ‘Wow, they’re storming the court on us?’ No, it’s like, ‘No, we don’t like that situation.’ Our kids were pretty fired up about playing, because they haven’t lost much.” For much of Saturday’s rematch, the first game seemed to be on repeat. Only, the Wolverines were in front. The score was deadlocked at 27 going into halftime and stayed that way for nearly three minutes, the second half’s first review happening before its first bucket. It was emblematic of the game — a slow, unyielding stretch in which neither team played well and yet you couldn’t look away. Without a single 3-pointer falling for Michigan in the second half, Matthews held the
People storming the court, we don’t like that.
key to Michigan’s offense. The redshirt junior hit midrange shots, got to the rim and even found junior center Jon Teske for an and-one layup by spinning a pass around Nate Reuvers’ back. He finished with 18 points, 16 in the second half, on 9-of-15 shooting. “He was able to get his shots,” said sophomore guard Jordan Poole. “Just being aggressive. Picking his spots and (taking) the shots you know he’s confident in making and being able to knock them down down the stretch was huge for us today.” Michigan had three weeks to find an answer for Ethan Happ, who dominated with 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists when the Badgers toppled the Wolverines in Madison. Early on, it seemed nothing had changed. The fifth-year senior scored eight of Wisconsin’s first 10 points, going at, under and around Teske down low,
finding repeated success. After Happ picked up his third foul to start the second half, leading to a stretch on the bench, things shifted. Happ shot just 2-of-9 from the field over the final 20 minutes as Teske took the upper hand in the matchup on both ends, finishing with 17 points and 12 rebounds. “The whole idea was, guard him without bad fouls,” Beilein said. “Well I think he guarded him about as physical as he could guard him in the second half.” When the game ended, Happ found Beilein on the court, telling the coach he hopes to see him again this season. “No Ethan,” Beilein said, recounting the story, “I don’t want to see you again the rest of my life.” In 12 seasons at Michigan, Beilein had beaten Wisconsin all of five times before Saturday. He’ll happily take the sixth.
The whole idea was, guard him without bad fouls.