The city of Detroit is known for its toughness and grit, attributes the Going To Work Pistons and Dan Campbell’s kneecap-biting Lions have embodied.
The Michigan women’s basketball team adopted that same mentality at Wayne State Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon in the blowout 93-54 win over the No. 18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The No. 14 Michigan Wolverines exacted revenge on a team that knocked them out of the Round of 32 six months ago.
After the win, Michigan leaped up to No. 6 in the AP Poll, the first time the program is ranked this highly since February of 2022. Head coach Kim Barnes Arico was proud of her team for the tough win, where the Wolverines out-rebounded the Fighting Irish (50-28) and outscored them on turnovers (22-18), fast break points (18-11) and bench points (38-2).
“I thought our team came out ready to play,” Barnes Arico said after the win. “We had talked about being in the city of Detroit, in our city and our state, and what the city of Detroit stands for. Blue-collar, hard-working, grit, toughness, every professional team in this city has that toughness and physicality about it, so we wanted to go out and establish ourselves on the defensive end. We pride ourselves on being a hardworking team and we wanted to show that tonight.”
“Hard-nosed team. Coach Kim is one of the best coaches in the country, they’re top in the Big Ten, so we knew what to expect playing them a couple of months ago,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “I think they’re a really great team … the way they play, they play with a ton of heart, they’re very disciplined.”
This was a team win, with eight players scoring seven points or more for the Wolverines. But if you had to pick one player who stood out in the dominant win, it was a familiar face. After being named to the All-Big Ten second team last season, sophomore forward Olivia Olson led all scorers with 20 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two assists.
Olson, who always defers to complimenting her teammates in media availabilities, had revenge on her mind.
“I think we just showed that we weren’t going to back down, and the game last year in the NCAA Tournament left a bad taste on our mouths, and so we wanted our get-back,” Olson said. “This was one of our goals to beat Notre Dame this year, I think it took everybody, all 14 of us plus the coaches to really lock in.”
This is an incredibly hard to team to guard, with Olson scoring from all three levels, Syla Swords launching threes and Mila Holloway leading the offensive orchestra like an experienced maestro in transition.
But that talented trio wasn’t the only reason Michigan won. Brooke Quarles Daniels grabbing 10 rebounds while slowing down one of the top guards in the country coming off a 44-point game in Hannah Hidalgo, Bucknell transfer Ashley Sofilkanich battled inside and was a big reason Michigan won points in the paint (50-26), and senior Alyssa Crockett scored seven important points while battling inside.
“Everyone on our team can score, and I think that’s one of our best assets of the versatility of our team,” Olson said. “You see it 1-14, everyone can do something and everyone can buy into their role, we’re such a selfless team.”
That bench unit is what can elevate this Michigan team from good to great: UCLA transfer Kendall Dudley, sophomore standout Te’yala Delfosse, and freshman McKenzie Mathurin combined for 25 points in the victory.
Barnes Arico has coached at Michigan since the Obama administration (2012-13) and in that decade-plus span, she can’t think of a team that has the depth this group has.
“They just got to continue to get better every day in practice and really try to test that group in front of them,” she said. “I think when you go to the bench with those three, like, wow, that’s something at Michigan that I haven’t had in my time here; the ability to really go that deep to the bench and feel like you’re not losing anything.”
This Michigan team isn’t going to sneak up on anybody. The Wolverines were picked third by the coaches in the Big Ten preseason rankings, with Olson and Swords being named to the All-Big Ten team. Expectations come with a sophomore class that made more than a few standout plays last season.
But the Wolverines aren’t shying away from those expectations in the slightest, and showing out in this non-conference test shows just what this team is capable of.
“Now it’s an expectation for us to get this done, it’s an expectation to win this game, it’s an expectation to make it to the tournament and Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, that’s our goals,” Olson said. “Just continuing to work every day, that’s what you want.”
Michigan doesn’t have much time to rest, as the Wolverines return to Ann Arbor to host Binghamton (Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. on B1G+) before a date with the No. 1 team in the country in UConn at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday (8 p.m. on FOX). This is the second season in a row Michigan will face the No. 1 team in the country before Big Ten play, and this gritty squad is not afraid of another big test.
“They’re fearless,” Barnes Arico said. “You have to love that as a coach … they’re embracing these opportunities and they’re just built a little different.”