Michigan carries tough defense, NCAA streak into Big Ten tourney

Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico knew from the start her team would be a work in progress, and while it has been, at times, a tough season, she said it’s been enjoyable to see the players’ progress.

The Wolverines (18-12, 9-9 Big Ten) finished in a three-way tie for sixth in the conference and enter this week’s Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis with a firstround bye. Because they defeated Penn State and Maryland, also 9-9 in the Big Ten, the Wolverines earned the tiebreaker and are the No. 6 seed.

Michigan will face either Minnesota (15-14) or Rutgers (8-23) in the second round on Thursday at approximately 9 p.m. The Wolverines swept Rutgers this season with a 56-50 win on the road on Jan. 21 and an 86-58 win in Ann Arbor on Feb. 10. Minnesota defeated Michigan, 82-66, on Jan. 9 in their only meeting.

Minnesota and Rutgers play late Wednesday night in a first-round matchup.

“We’ve got to try to play some great basketball this week,” Barnes Arico said on WTKA’s “Michigan Insider” radio show this week.

The Wolverines have made five straight NCAA Tournament appearances since winning the WNIT championship for the 20162017 season. They reached the second round last year and were an Elite 8 team in 2022 and made the Sweet 16 in 2021. In Charlie Creme’s latest bracketology for ESPN, the Wolverines are projected a No. 10 seed in the field of 68.

But first things first, and that’s the Big Ten Tournament, which Michigan enters as the league’s topranked scoring defense, yielding an average 63.2 points per game.

Michigan is coming off a win over Purdue in the final regular-season game in which Cameron Williams scored 18 points, her seventh double-digit scoring effort in conference play this season. The Wolverines’ top two scorers earned All-Big Ten honors this week. Junior guard Laila Phelia, who is averaging 16.0 points and 3.6 rebounds, earned All-Big Ten first team and guard Lauren Hansen, averaging 11.7 points, was voted AllBig Ten honorable mention.

“We knew we lost a lot from last year,” Barnes Arico said on the “Michigan Insider” show. “This year was going to be interesting (to see) how would our younger kids develop. We have been a work in progress since Day 1. This team has just been phenomenal. They’ve embraced the challenge, they’ve embraced the process of getting better. It’s been a fun year for me as a coach, a year where there are a lot of unknowns, but a year where there’s a lot of excitement because you see that growth and that improvement every day.”

This will be a homecoming for freshman Taylor Woodson, who grew up in Minnetonka, and won two state championships while attending Hopkins High School.