PORTS
michigandaity.com/sports
sportsdesk@umich.edu
THURSDAY
JANUARY 17, 2002
8A
__
Slow start kills
chances early
for Wolverines
By David Horn
Daily Sports Writer
Four minutes and 24 seconds into the first half of last
night's game against Northwestern, Michigan scored its
first points. Four minutes and 50 seconds into the sec-
ond half, the Wolverines
notched their first point after NORTHWESTERN 58
halftime. The slow start in each
half was one of many reasons MICHIGAN 54
Michigan (2-3 Big Ten, 6-8
overall) failed to defeat the Wildcats (1-3, 9-6) at home
for the second straight season, losing 58-54.
"Our start really doomed us," Michigan coach
Tommy Amaker said. "Getting in a hole against North-
western with the way that they play is a very tough,
uphill battle."
That style of play is a patient, methodical one, rely-
ing on ball control and backdoor passing. It is a style
that Northwestern coach Bill Carmody brought with
him from Princeton, and has employed with varying
success in the Big Ten.
But the backdoor scoring (which accounted for one-
third of the Wildcats' field goals) was just one thorn in
the Wolverines' side. Poor first-half shooting, timid,
even lackadaisical ball movement and foul trouble all
contributed to a poor showing that left the team with
three straight losses, and a lot of questions.
"If we dwell on this, that could prevent us from win-
nizig big games," senior tri-captain Leon Jones said.
"The whole team has to keep their head up and believe
that we can bounce back from this."
Whether the Wolverines can "bounce back" remains
to be seen. But Amaker's squad did show its resiliency
in the second half. It ended the first half down 31-19.
"I told our kids at halftime that we can't be tenta-
tive," Amaker said. "I thought we needed our energy
level shifted to a higher gear."
Michigan was down 35-19 in the midst of the sec-
ond-half scoring drought. Coming out of the first offi-
cials' timeout, freshman guard Dommanic Ingerson
missed a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. Junior for-
Northwestern slams
backdoor on Cagers
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Senior Chris Young scored just eight points in 34 minutes of
action and fouled out of the game with 3:47 to play.
ward LaVell Blanchard chased down the rebound, then
smartly drew a foul on a baseline runner. Blanchard
broke the ice by knocking down his free throws, then
led his team on a 9-0 run, scoring seven of those nine
points. He ended the game with 11 points and nine
rebounds.
Blanchard and the Wolverines kept the score close
from there, whittling the difference away to just one
point. But down 55-54 with 40 seconds left, Amaker
left the game up to his defense. Rather than fouling the
Wildcats (who are the worst free-throw shooting team
in the Big Ten) and forcing them to hit two shots on the
line, Amaker opted to allow the Wolverines' defense to
force a miss.
Unfortunately it could not, and with three seconds
left on the shot clock Verdran Vukusic found Jason
Burke for the Wildcats' seventh successful backdoor
pass of the game. Northwestern proceeded to foul
guard Avery Queen, who failed to convert the front half
of his one-and-one.
By Joe Smith
Daily Sports Editor
The Wolverines knew it was coming,
they just couldn't stop it.
Northwestern boasts an unorthodox,
Princeton-style offense that milks the
shot clock and utilizes numerous back-
door cuts.
The Wildcats put on a clinic last
night, scoring seven of their 21 field
goals (33 percent) on the back cut.
"There was just mental breakdowns
everywhere - on all our parts," senior
tri-captain Chris Young said.
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker
mentioned how difficult it was to simu-
late such an offense in practice, and
freshman Dommanic Ingerson said
Michigan just wasn't communicating
enough on the defensive end.
Those miscommunications trans-
ferred to the other end of the court, as
the Wolverines had 16 turnovers - the
stat that Amaker labeled the "most dis-
appointing."
The Wildcats made themselves at
home in Crisler Arena for the second
straight season. Michigan's two straight
home losses to Northwestern is the
longest streak of its kind since 1960,
when the Wolverines played their home
games at Yost Fieldhouse.
"This is a nice place to play"North-
western forward Tavaras Hardy said.
"Because the crowd isn't much of a
factor."
BURNING Up: After Amaker benched
Ingerson and Avery Queen for most of
the Illinois game on Saturday - play-
ing three and six minutes, respectively
- Amaker said the two guards had
"pretty good" performances coming
off the bench last night.
Ingerson, recovering from a 103-
degree temperature on Tuesday, scored
five points and dished three assists in
16 minutes, but said he was never in
long enough to get in a good rhythm.
Queen was tied for the team lead with
11 points in 25 minutes of action. He
shot 4-for-5 from the floor, including
three huge' 3-pointers that Amaker said
"gave us a chance to stay in the game."
Michigan's starting backcourt, Mike
Gotfredson and Gavin Groninger, had
zero points and zero assists, while
shooting 0-for-6 from the floor com-
bined.
YESTERDAY'S GAME
Northwestem (58)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A O0T A F PTS
Blake 38 411 0-0 1-4 1 1 10
Hardy 40 7-9 5413 441 3 1 19
Jennings 15 03 1-2 0-5 2 3 1
Drayton 39 3-8 2-2 0-4 3 3 8
Young 24 3-8 2-2 1-1 0 1 9
Vukusic 23 2-3 1-3 1-1 3 1 6
Long 11 1-3 0-00-0103
Burke 10 1-3 -0 0-1 0 1 2
Totals 200 21.48 1.1-22 7-28 1.311i 58
FG%:.438 FM .500 3-point FG: 5-22 227 (Blake 2-
7, Young 1-3, Vukusic 1-2, Long 1-3, Hardy 0-2, Jen-
nings 02, Drayton 0-2, Burke 0-1). Blocks: (Hardy).
Steas: 8 (Young 3, Blake 2, Drayton 2, Long).
Tumnovems: 6 (Blake, Hardy, Drayton, Young, Vukusic,
Burke). Technical fouls: none.
MICHIGAN (54)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Robinson 32 5-14 0-0 3-8 1 1 10
Blanchard 26 4-10 2-3 3.9 0 5 11
Young 34 3-5 2-3 2-9 3 5 8
Gotfredson 9 00 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Groninger 14 0-6 0-0 0-1 0 2 0
Jones 25 3-7 0-0 1-3 0 1 9
Queen 25 4-5 0.1 0-2 3 2 11
Bailey 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Ingerson - 16 1-4 2-2 0-1 3 0 5
Adeblyi 15 0-0 0-0 1-3 0 2 0
Totals 200 20-5 1 69 12-391018 54
FG%: .392. FT%: .667. 3-point FG: 8-22,_364 (Jones
3-4, Queen 3-4, Blanchard 1-4,2ngerson 1-4, Robin-
son 0-1, Groninger 0.5). Blocks:4(Young 2, Robin-
son, Adebiyi). Steals: 1 (Young). Turnovefs: 16
(Robinson 5, Groninger 2, Jones 2, Queen 2, Blan-
chard, Young, Gotfredson, Ingerson, Adebiyi). Techni-
cal fouls: none.
Northwestern ..........31 27 - 58
Michigan.............19 35 - 54
At: crisler Arena, Ann Arbor
Attendance: 10,884
I
Cuban- best *l
M', State to
duelwithou1t
a spectacle
By Seth Klempner
Daily Sports Writer
The last time the No. 8 Michigan
hockey team saw No. 6 Michigan State,
it was skating off a sheet of ice in front
of more than 70,000 fans in the middle
of a football stadium. At the time, both
teams were playing their first game of
the season and neither quite knew what
to expect from the other.
"This game brings out a whole new
level of play in both teams," assistant
coach Billy Powers said. "At the 'Cold
War,' people saw
the emotion and HOCKEY
the energy they Notebook
expect when these
teams play, but did-
n't see the talent. I think the game will
be much less sloppy and will be more
disciplined with the same emotional
high as in East Lansing."
While Saturday's game will not be a
record-breaking event, it may be even
more important for both teams. By win-
ning 3-2 over Ferris State, the Spartans
moved ahead of the Wolverines by two
points in the CCHA standings. A
Michigan win would create a tie for
Guevara decides to
simplify team defense
attraction
in the NBA
ast week, Dallas Mavericks
owner Mark Cuban made nation-
al headlines when he incurred a
$500,000F ine for disparaging remarks
he made about the quality of officiating
in the NBA.
Cuban - who has made a substantial
fortune in the corporate world - lashed
out at the NBA's director of officiating,
Ed Rush. According to Cuban, Rush is
so incompetent at what he does that .
Cuban "wouldn't hire him to manage a
Dairy Queen."
It wasn't enough that Cuban was
slapped with the largest single fine in
NBA history. The higher-ups at Dairy
Queen heard what he said and chal-
lenged the billionaire to actually manage
a metro Dallas Dairy Queen for a day, to
see if it is as easy as he made it out to be.
As most of you know, Cuban happily
accepted Dairy Queen's challenge and
worked behind the counter yesterday,
dispensing Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
Blizzards to wide-eyed 15-year-olds.
Predictably, the whole event was a
media circus, and just as predictably,
Cuban has received a storm of criticism
for his actions.
A number of people have comeput
and called Cuban just about eve y ame
in the book, with some of the mo
printable ones being "selfish",' a-
ture' and "naive." They can't be
that he would incur such an enor
fine, and they are even more tak
aback by his blase attitude -
dismissed the NBA's fine d!lapan
the wrist and matched the fine it
donation to charity (which iswhth
always does whenhe gets fine4),.
I have a differing opinionfronithe
Cuban-haters. Not only do I find the
idea of Cuban working at a Dairy
Queen to be hilarious, but I agreed with
his assessment of NBA officiating. Fur-
thermore, I think he's the best thing -
possibly the only good thing - that the
NBA has going for it right now
There was a time when I loved watch-
ing pro basketball. That was about 10
years ago, when a team scoring 100
points in a game wasn't cause for a
heart attack. It was back when guys who
were handed multi-million dollar con-
tracts could actually shoot, and when
overmatched high schoolers (read:
Tyson Chandler) attended college for a
few years before turming pro.
Those were the glory days. Over the
last 10 years, I watched the NBA
devolve into a league where 82-75
snoozers between (fill M Easten Con-
ference teams here) are written off to
"good defense."
I almost completely lost interest in
the NBA. But then, Cuban came along
and took over the Mavericks a few years
ago. He brought a cocky attitude and an
enthusiasm that had been missing from
the league for years. He also brought a
deep pocket and a willingness to spare
no expense to make once-moribund
Dallas a winner, and the proof is in the
pudding: The Mavericks advanced to
the second round of the playoffs last
year and look like a contender again this
year.
Pro basketball is fun again in Dallas,
and a big chunk of credit should go to
Cuban. Players seem to like playing for
him, and the fans in Dallas love him.
Cuban sits in the stands with the aver-
age, paying customers and cheers as
loudly as (or louder than) anybody else.
In an age where most owners sit in lux-
ury boxes and hold fans hostage for
new, publicly-funded arenas, Cuban is a
breath of fresh air. He's good for pro
basketball - no, he's great for pro bas-
ketball --and I hope he's around the
NBA for years.
And, if that doesn't work out, there's
always the lucrative world of ice cream,
right?
el
By Charles Paradis
Daily Sports Writer
After losing 78-65 at Penn State
this past Sunday, Michigan women's
basketball coach Sue Guevara joked
that the Wolverines were the cure for
all the shooting woes of their oppo-
nents. But when Michigan faces
than any other team in the confer-
ence.
Even against Minnesota's explo-
sive offense, Michigan is confident
heading into the game.
"I think every team we played we
could have won, but something was-
n't there and hopefully we can find
that (this time)," Smith said.
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Michigan could use some scoring help from freshman Michael Woodford on Saturday.
first place, with the Wolverines holding
the potential tiebreaker.
"There is obviously a lot more at
stake this time around," associate head
coach Mel Pearson said. "We are get-
ting down to the last part of the season.
We have played a lot more games now,
so we know a lot more about our team
and what their guys are capable of."
ON THE TOWN: What do 26 college-
aged bachelors do with their Friday
night off?
If they are members of the Michigan
hockey team, they go see Jerry Bruck-
heimer's new movie "BlackHawk
Down."
"The rest of the guys wanted to see
some girlie movie, but I stepped in and
said 'No, we are going to see "Black-
Hawk Down,"' and no one put up a
fight," freshman Michael Woodford said.
SPORTING GREEN: Michigan's elder
statesman, Kevin O'Malley, drove home
the importance of Saturday's game to
Michigan players off the ice.
Former Michigan center Mike Com-
rie - who centers a line between two
Michigan State alumni in Shawn Hor-
coff and Anson Carter on the Edmonton
Oilers - called to tell his former class-
mate, O'Malley, that he has to wear a
Michigan State shirt if the team loses.
Since Comrie joined the Oilers in mid-
season last year, Michigan has not beat-
en Michigan State. _
Want to write for Daily Sports?
Mass Meetings will be held at
420 Maynard on Jan. 22, 24
and 28 at 8 p.m.
Minnesota tonight, the
Wolverines will take on
an opponent with no
offensive woes at all.
To try to slow down
the Minnesota offense -
which is ranked third in
the Big Ten - Michigan
will get back to basics
and change its defensive
scheme to a simpler strat-
egy. Michigan has used
various defenses during
MINNEAPOLIS
Who: Michigan (1-5 Big
Ten, 11-6 overall) vs. Min-
nesota (2-2, 12-3)
When: 8 p.m.
Latest: At 1-5 in the Big
Ten, the Wolverines need a
big performance on the
road from their defense to
get back on track.
According to Gue-
vara, one win will not
make the team's prob-
lems. The key for
Michigan this weekend
is to manage turnovers
and rebounds.
"Those are two areas
of mistakes that we have
to cut down on. Now if
we can cut down on
those and win a game,
that is wonderful," Gue-
S
U
This Weekend in
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the season, including different zone
looks, man-to-man and a full court
press at times. The Wolverines'
defensive scheme was complex, but
Guevara will simplify the strategy to
just two or three defenses to help the
team get back on track.
"I have to change (the defense)
up," Guevara said. "I think we're
going to have to go strictly with one
zone and man-to-man."
Earlier this season, Michigan was
dominating teams in rebounding,
both offensively and defensively. But
the Wolverines have seen their
rebounding margin drop steadily to
just 2.7 more boards than their oppo-
nents per game. More importantly,
Michigan has allowed its opponents
to get second-chance shots off from
the offensive glass - something it
cannot allow.
"I know I really need to concen-
trate on boxing out this time, pushing
them back, making contact to get
rebounds," Michigan center Jennifer
Smith said.'
Minnesota has defensive woes of
its own. The Golden Gophers are
giving up 79 points per game in Big
Ten play, which is four more points
vara said. "If we cut those down and
we lose, it is still a step. But maybe
instead of taking two steps, you only
take one."
* I
Men's and Women's
Track & Field
Sat., January 19
Red Simmons
Invitational
Field Events - 9:30 a.m.
Track Events - Noon
U-M Track Building
Free NIKE water bottles to
the first 200 fans!
Admission is $4 for adults;
$2 for children and senior citizens.
U-M students admitted for free
with valid ID!
Men's Gymnastics
Sat., January 19
Michigan vs. Minnesota
7:30 p.m.
Cliff Keen Arena j
Admission is $4 for adults;
$2 for children and senior citizens.
U-M students admitted for free
with valid ID!
Tennis
Sat. January 19
01
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Heather Oesterle needs to provide her
team with a lift off the bench.
Arun Gopal can be reached at
agopal@umich.edu.
U I
Women's
U-M vs. Western Michigan
10 a.m.
Men's
FREE DELIVERY
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6, $5.00 OFF
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I