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Encore performance: Nanoo
By Seth Klempner
Daily Sports Writer
Just as the Germans failed to learn from
Napoleon's mistakes when they attacked
Russia during the winter of 1942, the Michi-
gan hockey team failed to learn from its mis-
takes from the winter of 2000.
Last year, Michigan trounced Alaska-Fair-
banks 8-0 on Friday night of a two-game
series at Yost Ice Arena only to lose 5-2 on
Saturday night.
The Wolverines ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 3
should have
understood the MICHIGAN l
danger of
underestimating the Nanooks after a big win
at home, and they should have known the
visitors would be hungry for a win the next
night.
"We have to take tonight with a grain of
salt and they have to build on that for tomor-
iks steal spli
row night," Michigan coach Red Berenson
said after Friday night's 7-0 shutout, seem-
ingly reminding everyone of last year's
homestand against Alaska-Fairbanks.
Michigan was not able to retain that inten-
sity Saturday when it experienced deja vu.
After a dominant performance Friday night,
the Wolverines looked ill-prepared and hap-
hazard in a 3-1 loss.
"(We were a) little bit overconfident on
our part, (and they had been) embarrassed
on their part," Berenson said. "That was the
difference, but I didn't see our team as hun-
gry (Saturday night) and their team was hun-
grier."
Senior Craig Murray got the Wolverines
on the board Saturday night when he skated
in with the puck from the blue line, beating
two defenseman and slipping the puck
through the pads of the Nanooks' backup
goaltender, Lance Mayes. For a moment,
fans at Yost were expecting Michigan to take
control of the game and finish off Alaska-
Fairbanks for the weekend sweep.
But unlike Friday, the Nanooks would not
collapse after giving up the first goal.
Instead, they answered Michigan's goal less
than a minute later when Murray was
stripped of the puck at the Michigan blue
line. Alaska-Fairbanks forward Tom Herman
was hit with a centering pass which he one-
timed past Josh Blackburn.
The goal was the first allowed by Black-
burn on the weekend and the first he had
given up in more than 130 minutes of action.
The Nanooks seemed to gain the confidence
they needed, stripping Michigan of much-
needed momentum.
"We had been on a streak where we had
been fairly successful and I think we had a
false sense of where we were at" said Alas-
ka-Fairbanks assistant coach Travis MacMil-
lan. "I think some guys thought they could
show up, put their skates on and perform (last
night). And that's not the way life works. But
tonight, they came out onto the ice with the
attitude that they were going to work hard
and that was the biggest difference."
Michigan was not able to regain momen-
tum after three strong penalty kills early in
the second period and remained unfocused
on the ice. The Wolverines played with their
heads down all night and failed to make the
crisp passes that led to success on Friday.
"I thought our passing was horrendous;'
lamented Berenson after Saturday night's
loss. "When you're not sharp it shows up in
your passing. We gave the puck away so
many times. That's part of the game - when
you're not playing well it's poor passing,
poor shooting, poor execution."
With less than four minutes remaining in
the second period, Alaska-Fairbanks took its
first lead of the weekend. Senior captain
Bobby Andrews jammed a loose puck
See NANOOKS, Page 4B
from first-place icers
RYAN LEVENTHAL/Daily
John Shouneyla was part of a Michigan offense that exploded
on Friday but fizzled on Saturday against Alaska-Fairbanks.
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Back to
Fighting Illini trounce
bumbling Blue, 94-70
reality
By David Horn
Daily Sports Writer
CHAMPAIGN - The primary con-
cern for the Michigan basketball team as
it left Minneapolis last Wednesday was a
defensive one. How could the Golden
Gophers shoot almost 70 percent from
the field?
The Wolverines left Champaign asking
nearly the same question after a thorough
94-70 beating at the hands of Illinois.
What was done wrong on defense that
allows the Illini to break a 30-year old
Assembly Hall record by shooting 68
percent?
"We certainly
haven't played MICHIGAN 70
well defensively ILLINOIS 94
in the last two
games," said a
reserved Michigan coach Tommy Amak-
er. "I think they really exploited our
(lack of) size. They certainly wanted to
get the ball inside and they were very
successful with that. We thought our
only defense would be to try to pressure
the passer and make it difficult to throw
the ball inside. I think they did a great
job moving the ball side to side, and get-
ting it in there and they shot a very good
percentage."
Illinois center Robert Archibald and
forward Brian Cook were the aforemen-
tioned exploiters of Michigan's defense.
They shot a combined 14-of-20 from the
field, ending the game with 19 and 20
points, respectively. But their success
wasn't just a result of their ability to out-
muscle the undersized Wolverines down
low. All of the Illini post players showed
their versatility, contributing a combined
10 assists to the win.
"That's what they did a real good job
of," Michigan center Chris Young said.
"No matter which big guy was in the
game, they were all able to make that lob
pass inside to the other post guys who
were wide open most times."
Amaker's defensive approach on Sat-
urday was to exert intense man-to-man
pressure, but the Illini found a myriad of
ways to take advantage of that. Illinois
employed back-door cuts, alley-oops,
one-touch passing and high-post scoring
to avoid the trappings of Amaker's
scheme. Illinois point guard Frank
Williams, considered by many to be the
best player in the Big Ten, was the gear
that allowed the Illinois offensive
machine to turn. Williams contributed 14
points,-seven assists and four steals,
despite not starting the game due to his
tardiness that day.
Illinois coach Bill Self had been criti-
cizing his team's defensive toughness in
the wake of two straight road losses, but
it was really his offense - and its
blitzkrieg-like ball movement - that was
firing from all cylinders against the
Wolverines.
"We really did a great job of sharing
the ball," Archibald said. "They really
tried to pressure us and disrupt our
guards, and that really opened things up
inside for (Cook) and myself, and (fresh-
man) Nick (Smith) when he was in
there"
On the Wolverines' end, the offense
struggled. There were points in the sec-
ond half when Michigan was shooting
about 24 percent from the field com-
pared to Illinois' 75 percent. Without
significant minutes from point guard
Avery Queen, Michigan notched only
nine assists while Illinois racked up 28
on near-perfect ball movement. Junior
LaVell Blanchard led the Wolverines
with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Junior Gavin Groninger shot 3-of-10
from behind the 3-point line, ending the
game with 12 points.
Michigan's shot selection wasn't horri-
ble. Especially in the first half, many
long-range shots seemed to rim-out of
the unfriendly Assembly Hall baskets. In
the second half, the Wolverines improved
from a 30 percent first half to 45.5 per-
cent. The scoring margin in the second
half was just five points, and although
ordinarily a team like Illinois might take
its intensity down in a blowout and a
coach like Self might yank his top play-
ers off the court, Saturday's game was
hard-fought from beginning to end.
"We never stopped playing hard,"
Young said. "We never stopped battling
on loose balls. Until the final horn
sounded, we were constantly getting in
there and mixing it up.".
Wolverines lose
to Lions, fall to
1-5 in Big Ten
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Writer
STATE COLLEGE - The Michigan women's bas-
ketball team went into Penn State needing a milestone
game - a game that would put it back on track in the
Big Ten race.
But all the Wolverines got was a milestone from Penn
State star Kelly Mazzante.
Mazzante scored her 1,000th point - she hit that
mark faster than any other
player in Big Ten history - as MICHIGAN 65
Penn State used some hot
shootin'g to beat the Wolver- PENN STATE 78
ines, 78-65.
. The problems that have hampered Michigan through-
out the Big Ten season continued to pull it down the
conference standings.
"We have to try to stay as positive as we can,"
Michigan coach Sue Guevarasaid. "One practice at a
time to get this basketball team back in sync."
The Wolverines hung with the Lady Lions in the
early going thanks to the dominating play of center Jen
Smith inside, the 3-point shooting of guard Alayne
Ingram and the cold start by Mazzante. But with Michi-
gan up by five with 6:19 to go in the first, Penn State
went on a 13-1 run to take a 36-29 lead at halftime.
Michigan was again plagued by its inability to keep
the opposition from scoring at will. Penn State shot
57.7 percent from the field in the first half allong with-
seven 3-pointers, preventing Michigan from mounting a
comeback.
Even when Mazzante was not shooting the ball well
at certain points in the contest, other Lady Lions were
able to pick up the load, as they finished with five play-
ers in double figures.
"We seem to be the cure for everyone else's shooting
woes," Guevara said.
Michigan closed the deficit to five early in the sec-
ond half, but Mazzante put in a lay-up off a back-door
cut to give her 1000 career points, which caused Penn
State coach Rene Portland to call a time out to enable
the crowd of 7,448 at the Bryce Jordan Center to give
Mazzante a standing ovation. The momentum was too
much for Michigan to handle, as it never got within
seven for the rest of the game.
"We've got to.learn to come through in those situa-
tions (coming from behind)," said Smith, who was one
of Michigan's few bright spots, with a team-high 22
points. "Because that's the only way we are going to
come out with a win."
Michigan was also hampered by its inability to pro-
tect the ball - a theme that has been problematic for
the team all year. The Wolverines turned the ball over
19 times against Penn State, with 11 of those coming
when they were trying to come from behind in the sec-
ond half. On numerous occasions the Wplverines threw
the ball away while attempting to run a fast break or set
See LADY LIONS, Page 3B
LESLIE WARD/Daily
All Michigan could do to stop Robert Archibald was hold his jersey. Archibald scored
19 points as Illinois crushed Michigan, 94-70, on Saturday at Assembly Hall.
Ryals vaults gymnasts to victory over Huskies
By Matt Kramer
Daily Sports Writer
Looking nothing like the team that
stumbled to a third-place finish last
week at the Maui Invitational, the
No. 3 Michigan women's gymnastics
team found its confidence again and
easily handled visiting Northern Illi-
nois 194.90-186.60 in its first regular
season home meet.
Michigan gymnasts finished in the
top three in each of the four events.
Michigan (2-2) started out with a
solid team score of 48.4 on the vault,
including scores of 9.725 from Calli
Ryals, Kallie Steffes and Janessa
Greico. From there, the Wolverines
never looked back, as the Huskies
With sophomore Elise Ray sitting
out two of the four events with an
injury, fellow sophomore Ryals had
little trouble picking up the slack, as
her all-around score of 38.925 was
good enough for her first individual
all-around title.
"It was pretty exciting for me,"
Ryals said. "But it's especially good
for a team like us who is coming
back from a meet where we didn't
do so well to get some confidence
back ."
Along with winning the vault,
Ryals scored a personal best 9.9 on
the uneven bars to win her first ever
title in that event. The bars would
prove to be Michigan's finest event
as Ray's 9.875 and senior Amy
less than a 9.725.
The Huskies, meanwhile, had
numerous problems on the bars as
they staggered to a score of 44.725.
"Michigan is an awesome team,"
Northern Illinois coach Mark Sontag
said. "We knew coming in we were
going against a top-notch team and
that's exactly what they were."
Already cruising 97.55 to 91.50
after two events, Michigan faced its
most troubling event, the balance
beam. After falling five times on the
beam in Hawaii, the Wolverines
opened up yesterday's meet with
falls from Grieco and Steffes. But
things would get much better as
seniors Melissa Peterson and Shan-
non MacKenzie scored 9.775 and
of 48.45.
"I went up to Melissa after the
first two of them fell and told her
not to be affected by them and she
just looked at me, nodded, and then
got up there on the beam and was
able to turn things around," Michigan
coach BeV Plocki said.
Grieco then competed in the floor
exercise and started it off with a
bang as her 9.9 was the best routine
of the afternoon. Steffes' 9.875 and
Jodie Rosenberg's 9.85 led the
Wolverines to a 48.9 on the floor.
"It was really exciting to be out
there on the floor for the first time in
competition," Grieco said after sit-
ting out the floor exercise in Hawaii
with a shoulder injury. "I just did my
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