It’s tough to find anything about sophomore forward Naz Hillmon that hasn’t already been said.
Her teammates love her. Her coaches rave about her. Opposing coaches have nightmares about her. All of them have plenty to say.
And yet, she created even more to talk about on Sunday at Crisler Center. In Michigan’s 78-63 win over Iowa, the Wolverines’ most consistent player one-upped herself again, scoring 30 points on 14-for-19 shooting. She added 10 rebounds to secure her seventh double-double of the season. Even though fans have grown accustomed to seeing her dominate, Hillmon continues to find new ways to impress.
“To me, nobody has figured out how to defend her,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “I don’t know if she’s defendable. … She affects the game in many ways, she gets offensive rebounds when we need offensive rebounds, she gets defensive stops when we need a big defensive stop.”
Early on Sunday, it was just Naz being Naz. She opened up scoring with a driving layup. On the next possession, she scored again in the post. She didn’t need to do much else in the first quarter, when her teammates shot 7-for-10 from the field.
But in the second quarter, the Wolverines went cold. A team that couldn’t miss early on started the quarter 2-for-9, allowing the Hawkeyes to pull within six. Midway through the quarter, Michigan had gone nearly three minutes without a field goal.
Hillmon ended the drought rather emphatically. After senior guard Akienreh Johnson’s 3-pointer doinked off the rim, Hillmon pushed past an Iowa defender, grabbed the offensive rebound and sank the layup. She would score eight of the Wolverines’ 15 points that quarter.
“Their bigs worked very hard to try to get around me, sit behind me so I don’t turn,” Hillmon said. “They switched up their defense a lot, so I had to be very physical, try to get them as close to under the basket as I could because I know that they would have help or they have really good post defensive players.”
That physicality never wavered. As the game wore on, Hillmon continued to bully the Hawkeyes’ defenders, working inside for post buckets and five offensive rebounds.
Those numbers were even more crucial with Michigan’s other bigs in foul trouble. Junior forward Hailey Brown, who starts alongside Hillmon, picked up her third foul late in the second quarter. Early in the third, freshman center Izabel Varejão — normally the first big off the bench — picked up her fourth foul, putting even more pressure on Hillmon.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Hillmon has shown what she’s capable of multiple times this season, and on Sunday, she demonstrated what it looks like when she’s at her best.
“I think one of the greatest things about Naz is that she’s an incredible teammate and she’s really, truly unselfish,” Barnes Arico said. “So she’s having a hard time adjusting to this role of ‘Coach wants me to take 19 shots a game, that’s kind of out of my comfort zone.’ … (She’s) probably one of the greatest players — talents — that I’ve coached, but even a better teammate.”
So far this season, it’s been tough to find anyone who can truly match up with Hillmon when she gets going. She rolls over everyone that tries to guard her, and she never seems to run out of gas, punctuated by her 39 minutes played Sunday.
Based on her performance against Iowa, it looks like she can keep that up, even against the Big Ten’s best teams.