“One of Dad’s friends called me after my commitment and basically said, ‘You’re a Spartan!’ ” Robbins recalls. “He assumed because he heard Michigan that I was going to MSU. Until he realized I was playing in the maize and blue, then he finally called my dad and was so confused. But he was happy for me.”
While Kevin’s friend took some time to adjust to Kayla representing the Wolverines on the court, Kevin quickly jumped on the bandwagon.
The Daily looks at three big takeaways from the Wolverines' defeat in East Lansing.
Missed opportunities characterized the Michigan women’s basketball team’s (19-10 overall, 10-6 Big Ten) 74-64 loss to Michigan State (18-9, 8-8) Sunday afternoon — the Wolverines’ first defeat in eight games.
A quick glance at Thursday’s stats shows the balance of this squad. Freshman forward Naz Hillmon led her team in scoring with 21 points, but Munger, senior center Hallie Thome and Church hit double figures too. And junior forward Kayla Robbins and sophomore forward Hailey Brown also played key roles.
The bad luck and late-game struggles that had plagued the Michigan women’s basketball team (19-9 overall, 10-6 Big Ten) at the beginning of Big Ten play, was nowhere to be seen during their 88-76 victory over Rutgers (18-8 overall, 10-5) on Thursday night.
It’s hard to believe that, just four short weeks ago, the Michigan women’s basketball team suffered a loss to Michigan State that put its tournament hopes on life support. Just two weeks later, freshman point guard Amy Dilk went down with an ankle injury, and the Wolverines’ slim odds became even slimmer on paper.
But, just as they have shown time and time again this season, Michigan has found a way to win. On the heels of six straight victories, the Wolverines finds themselves in the mix of the Big Ten and the NCAA Tournament picture.
There comes a time in every team’s season, no matter the sport, when it finds itself in a make-or-break situation.
That time has finally arrived for the Michigan women’s basketball team
With just under 30 seconds remaining in Michigan’s 67-58 win over Indiana, Kim Barnes Arico pulled senior center Hallie Thome out of the game. As Thome took a seat on the bench, her coach approached her.
“Did you get it?” Barnes Arico asked.
With 30 seconds on the clock and Indiana pushing the ball, the Hoosiers looked poised to cut into the Michigan women’s basketball team’s 63-58 lead. But then Nicole Munger stepped in. Literally.
There are few things that can be the difference between winning or losing a basketball game. The Michigan women’s basketball team has one of them down: bench play.
“The way that they’ve been able to play has been the difference between us being successful, and early on in league play, us not being successful,” said Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico after the team’s 67-61 win over Nebraska on Thursday.