Solid defense not enough in Michigan’s loss against Buckeyes

Coincidentally, the Wolverines’ 48 points on the game also marked a season-low number of points. Friday’s contest turned into a defensive struggle, and as Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said, the difference was just a couple more shots made.

The two teams are almost polar opposites in terms of their Big Ten rankings. Michigan came with the second-best scoring defense and Ohio State with the second-best scoring offense. Since those statistics were so glaring, it’s not a surprise that the game was a low-scoring affair.

Following Michigan’s strong defensive effort in the first round of the Tournament — holding Illinois to just 53 points — Michigan had a similar effort on Friday. But the Wolverines tallied 68 points against the Fighting Illini, which was the difference.

The Buckeyes have a two-headed offensive attack in senior guard Samantha Prahalis and junior guard Tayler Hill. The duo averages 41 points per game and Michigan was able to hold them to just 30 points.

“When you’re dealing with Prahalis and you’re dealing with Tayler Hill, you don’t know what you’re wishing for,” Borseth said. “If you think you want to get this, they take that. You think they want to take that, they get this. We were trying everything we could to concentrate on those two kids, and from that point just hope they miss shots and rebound.”

Along with limiting the duo of Prahalis and Hill, the Wolverines also held Ohio State to 38.3 percent from the field, eight points lower than the Buckeyes’ season average. Michigan couldn’t take advantage of that, shooting 34.5 percent from the field, itself.

All season, opposing coaches who’ve played the Wolverines have commented on the ferocity of the defense. Specifically, junior guard Jenny Ryan who has averaged three steals per game. Michigan was able to tally 21 turnovers on Friday against the Buckeyes. Ohio State coach Jim Foster agreed with those sentiments.

“I think the tempo of their offense has a lot to do with their defense,” Foster said. “They want the score low. They want to eat the clock on both ends of the floor. You have to be patient and you have to grind. They want it to be a grind game and you’ve got to be able to get your hands dirty.”

The Buckeyes did get their hands dirty defensively, forcing 17 Michigan turnovers. Along with the close amount of turnovers, Michigan’s ability to slow the pace limited Ohio State — one of the better transition teams in the conference — to just 10 points off of turnovers and six points in transition.

Since the Buckeyes boast a small lineup for Big Ten standards, Borseth played a taller lineup to try to give Michigan an advantage. Junior guards Nya Jordan and Kate Thompson both saw extended roles, as they are two of the Wolverines biggest guards.

Brenae Harris, a 5-foot-10 freshman guard, came off the bench late in the second half and gave Michigan a boost defensively. Borseth has said all year that Harris is one of the Wolverines’ best defenders, and it showed on Friday.

After Harris checked in with 10:34 left in the second half, Michigan went on a 10-0 run to cut Ohio State’s deficit to just six. It might have just been a coincidence, but Harris allowed Michigan a different defensive look around the perimeter.

“(Harris) is fast, she’s quick, she can pressure the ball handlers,” Ryan said. “She’s a spark out there and it helped to have bench players that can provide a spark. The bench players help give us a run and that’s what Brenae did for us.”

But even with the solid defensive effort over the entire weekend, the Wolverines still aren’t satisfied, no matter how they played in the loss. When Ryan was asked about the strong defensive effort she said, “It’s a feel good thing, but since we lost we kind of have the feeling of, ‘Was it enough?’ “

It wasn’t enough on Friday, but whether Michigan plays in the WNIT or NCAA Tournament, the defense will continue to be important.