Michigan
20 Students across Michigan compete in 2024 poetry out loud state finals
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LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – Michigan Humanities held the 2024 Poetry Out Loud state finals in Lansing where 20 high school students from communities all around the state of Michigan to compete for their shot to head to the national finals.
All contestants had to recite works that they memorized from an anthology of more than 1,000 classic and contemporary poems.
“Today is really about giving students a safe place to uplift to their voices and their stories poetry breeds empathy and it gives us a chance to not feel quite so alone.” said Jennifer Rupp, the president and CEO of Michigan Humanities. “It lets us learn about other people’s stories and Journeys that lets us explore our emotions. And so today is really all about giving students that voice that they might not feel that they have in other places.”
The winner of the state finals will receive 1,000 dollars as a cash reward and will compete in the National Finals that will be held from April.30 through May. 2, where there is a total of 50,000 dollars in awards and school and organization stipends, including a 20,000 dollar award for the national champion.
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Michigan
Visit to Nebraska is perfect time for Michigan to shake shooting slump
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ANN ARBOR — Against Nebraska, Michigan will likely need to shoot well in order to rebound.
The Wolverines, who control their own destiny in the Big Ten men’s basketball title race, play in Lincoln on Monday night (8:01 p.m. ET, FS1) aiming to do something they haven’t had to in four weeks: bounce back from a loss.
It would be a great time to break out of their recent shooting slump.
Michigan is shooting just under 30 percent from 3 over its last nine games. Head coach Dusty May isn’t happy about the trend but wants his players to keep firing if the shots come from passes out of the paint.
Nebraska’s zone defense allows a ton of 3-pointers. Close to half of opponent’s field goals against Nebraska have been 3s; per kenpom.com, only 16 of the 364 teams in the country have allowed a higher percentage of 3s.
Can Michigan take advantage? Nimari Burnett has been a consistent catch-and-shoot threat. Tre Donaldson is at 40 percent from deep on the season but has looked out of sync the past few games. Fellow guards Rubin Jones and Roddy Gayle Jr. have been cold from deep all year. Gayle has missed 22 of his last 23 3-point attempts and is passing up some open looks.
For the most part this season, 3-point shooting has determined how teams have fared against Nebraska. The Cornhuskers (17-10, 7-9) lost at Penn State on Wednesday 89-72 but have still won five of their last seven to join the NCAA Tournament bubble. ESPN lists them as one of the last four byes.
Brice Williams, a 6-foot-7 wing averaging 19.4 points per game, is an All-Big Ten candidate. He gets to the foul line often and converts at 90 percent. Forward Juwan Gary is at 13.3 points per game. Both players are in their fifth season and sixth year of college; they’re physically mature and have been through plenty of Big Ten battles.
Connor Essegian, a Wisconsin transfer, is averaging 10.8 points per game off the bench while shooting 40 percent from 3 on 160 attempts. Sam Hoiberg, the son of head coach Fred, has started the last eight games at point guard. He is a pass-first, second, and third-type player.
Berke Buyuktuncel is Nebraska’s leading rebounder whose contributions, according to his coach, go beyond the stat sheet. The 6-foot-10 center who transferred from UCLA has missed the last three games with a sprained ankle; Hoiberg suggested he’d be back for Michigan, though perhaps on a minutes restriction.
Pinnacle Bank Arena is an underrated environment but not particularly unkind to visitors this season. Nebraska has already lost there to Rutgers, USC, and Maryland. The Wolverines (20-6, 12-3) are 6-2 in Big Ten road games.
Their six-game win streak ended on Friday night at home against Michigan State 75-62. “We’re a half-game out of first place in the Big Ten in mid-February,” May said after. “There’s no time to hang our heads and mope and feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to unify and figure out a way to get better tomorrow, take care of our bodies, and get our edge back.”
Michigan’s players who spoke after the game echoed that sentiment. Because Michigan faces Michigan State again — in what could be an epic regular-season finale — the Wolverines don’t need any assistance to win the Big Ten.
“Everything we want is still ahead of us, but gotta go game by game,” Michigan forward Danny Wolf said. “And now on to Nebraska.”
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Michigan
Ranking the final five Michigan Basketball games by importance to regaining the Big Ten lead
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The weekend started off rough for Michigan Wolverines fans, as they watched Michigan State beat the Wolverines by double-digits at Crisler Center. It was the Wolverines’ first loss in a month — and their first at home all season — and it was the most costly of the season with the Spartans taking sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
Now with five games to go, Michigan is a half-game out of the top spot. The Wolverines need a strong performance down the stretch to regain the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and/or share the Big Ten regular season title. Today, we rank each game in order of importance.
No. 5 – Michigan vs Rutgers, 2/27 @ 9 p.m.
The Scarlet Knights have had an underwhelming season after bringing in two five-star freshmen — they are below .500 and have won just four of their last 10. These two teams saw each other earlier in the month, as Rutgers was without star freshman Dylan Harper. Still, the Scarlet Knights hung around, with Michigan only winning by three. There are no excuses to this game with what is at stake and having it be at Crisler Center.
No. 4 – Michigan vs Illinois, 3/2 @ 3:45 p.m.
Illinois has been in a free fall the last few weeks, losing six of its last 10 and recently getting blown out by Wisconsin and Michigan State. Right now, the Illini are at risk of being a bubble team if they can’t turn the corner soon. It’ll be a race to 80 points, as Illinois is 1-5 this season when allowing that many points.
No. 3 – Michigan @ Nebraska, 2/24 @ 8 p.m.
Coming off the loss to Michigan State, the Wolverines need to bounce back, and Lincoln is one of the most difficult places to play in the country. The Huskers are on the bubble, so a win over Michigan may be the difference between them making the tournament or not.
No. 2 – Michigan vs Maryland, 3/5 @ 6:30 p.m.
It feels a little disrespectful to have this game at No. 2, given they have won 10 of their last 12, but we all know what is coming at the top of this list. Maryland’s starting lineup averages more than 10 points per game, including Derik Queen and Julian Reese, who nearly average a double-double apiece. Pair them with two of the best three-point shooters in the country, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Seton Miguel, and you have a team that still has hopes of a Big Ten crown of their own.
No. 1 – Michigan @ Michigan State, 3/9 @ noon ET
No other game will be as important as this one. Michigan State was able to come into Ann Arbor to earn the top spot this past weekend, but it won just the battle, not the war. While the Spartans have one less game remaining than Michigan, their schedule is tougher. They go to Maryland next, host Wisconsin, and then head to Iowa before finishing the season against Michigan. The Wolverines are still very much in play at earning sole possession of that top spot, and there is just something about this game that makes it feel like it could lead to that scenario.
Michigan
Louisville Blasts Western Michigan in Home Opener
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Making a triumphant return to Jim Patterson Stadium for their first home game of the 2024 season, the Louisville baseball program kicked off their weekend series vs. Western Michigan in style, winning 14-3 via seven-inning run-rule on Saturday.
The Cardinals (3-1) plate their most runs in a home opener since putting up 19 against Eastern Kentucky back on Feb. 22, 2017. They also move to 8-1 against the Mustangs (0-5) under head coach Dan McDonnell despite trailing the overall series 9-22.
Louisville exploded at the plate, collecting 18 base hits and seven extra base hits, with six Cardinals logging multi-hit days. They were led by a spectacular performance from true freshman Tague Davis (4-4, HR, 5 RBI), who drove in UofL’s first home run of the 2025 season.
Both Lucas Moore (2-5, 2 RBI, 2B) and Zion Rose (2-3, 2 RBI, 2 2B, BB) also had multi-RBI and multi-hit afternoons; while Alex Alicea (3-3, 2B, BB), Matt Klein (2-3, RBI, 2B, BB) and Jake Munroe (2-4, BB) joined Davis, Moore and Rose in the latter category.
Louisville was quick to strike against Western Michigan, putting up a quartet of runs in the opening frame. Klein and Davis each struck RBI singles, Munroe drew a bases loaded walk, and King collected a sacrifice fly.
After Rose hit a sac fly of his own in the second, the Cardinals’ bats exploded with a seven-spot in the fourth inning. Davis blasted a three-run homer, Moore struck a two-run single, Rose hit an RBI double, and Garret Pike (1-2, RBI. BB) added Louisville’s third sac fly of the game. Add in an RBI single by Davis in the fifth, Louisville plated 13 unanswered runs.
On top of the onslaught of runs, right-hander Patrick Forbes (5.0 IP, 9 K, 2 H) delivered another masterful start on the mound. Of the 16 batters faced in his five-inning start, he allowed only two of them to reach base.
The bullpen did run into a little bit of trouble in the sixth against Western Michigan. Right-hander Alex Gay (0.1 IP, 1 K, 2 BB, 1 H, 3 ER) was the first reliever inserted, allowed an RBI single, and was on the hook for a pair of RBI singles given up by lefty Casen Murphy (1.2 IP, 3 H) after his early hook.
That would be the only adversity faced by the Cardinals. George Baker (1-1, RBI, 2B) added an insurance RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, then Murphy tossed a scoreless seventh to clinch the run-rule win.
Next up for Louisville, they’ll continue their weekend series against Western Michigan with game two. First pitch is slated for Sunday, Feb. 13 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 970 WGTK.
(Photo via Chris Jones – Imagn Images)
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You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X and @mattmcgavic.bsky.social on Bluesky
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