ctbePlfirbigwx DuiIS SPORTS AY Sports desk: 763-2459 sportsdesk@umich.edu SECTION B f t i ...' e' ... s e t i 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. } I i3 I 4 s i 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 ,.x_ ..a.... -, b ...w...a.. .,, s - -,, z . ....: :