Thursday
January 22,2004
sports.michigandaily.com
sports@michigandaily.com
PORTS
5A
. .......... . ...
Simply
offensive
Second half swoon
does in Wolverines
Horton, Sims escape
serious ankle injuries
By Dan Rosen
Daily Sports Writer
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - Michigan matched
Wisconsin basket for basket for 28
minutes in one of the toughest envi-
ronments in the Big Ten.
Unfortunately, the two teams
played 40.
The Badgers benefited from their
unsung heroes,
who sparked a
20-5 second-half
run to defeat the Wolverines 74-63
last night in front of a sold-out
crowd at the Kohl Center. Michigan
(1-3 Big Ten, 10-5 overall) has now
lost three straight and is tied for
ninth in the Big Ten with Ohio
State.
The Wolverines shot and rebound-
ed the ball well from the outset and
had a 43-40 lead with 15:57 remain-
ing. Then, Wisconsin took over in
the paint. To make matters worse,
Michigan was unable to drive to the
basket as it previously had.
After Wisconsin junior Clayton
Hanson hit his fourth three-pointer
of the game with 12:26 to go, the
Wolverines made just four shots in
the next 10 minutes. The Badgers
continued their hot shooting,
increasing their lead to 15 on anoth-
er Hanson three with 5:41 to go.
"I just wanted to come in and be
solid defensively," Hanson said.
"And I was fortunate to get some
open shots, too."
After out-rebounding Wisconsin
17-16 in the opening 20 minutes,
Michigan was out-rebounded 21-12
in the second half. Throughout their
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Conference Overall
run, the Badgers were able to get a
number of easy second-chance
opportunities.
"I thought how aggressive they
were on the glass in key moments
was the difference in the game,"
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker
said.
In a game when Wisconsin's ros-
ter was shortened - Big Ten Pre-
season Player of the Year Devin
Harris was marred by foul trouble
and starting guard Freddie Owens
was out due to injury - Michigan
was undone by the play of the
rarely used Hanson and center Mike
Wilkinson.
Hanson - who had averaged 3.5
points a game coming into yester-
day's contest - carried the Badger
offense late in the first half, finish-
ing 5-for-6 from downtown and 6-
for-8 from the field.
"He hit every open shot he took,"
said Bernard Robinson, who led the
Wolverines with 13 points. "And
most of the shots he took were
open."
Hanson's hot hand spread to the
rest of the team, as Wisconsin shot
48.2 percent from the field. In con-
trast, Michigan guard Daniel Hor-
ton continued his shooting slump,
going 3-for-11 from the field,
including 0-for-4 from 3-point
range.
Wilkinson had his way with
Michigan big men Graham Brown
and J.C. Mathis, leading the Bad-
gers with 18 points and 10
rebounds. The junior scored 10 of
Wisconsin's first 12 points.
"(Wilkinson's) a great player,"
Brown said. "He's hard to defend.
He got me there a little bit in the
first half, but I settled down and
tried to lock him down on defense."
Wisconsin's Harris, on the other
hand, took just six shots and let the
game flow to his teammates.
"I didn't see (Harris) force any-
thing," Amaker said. "He was in
foul trouble, and I didn't recognize
him coming back into the game,
trying to make something happen
for himself."
Michigan was also unable to
recover, getting into second-half
foul trouble very early. Wisconsin
was in the bonus with 13:56
remaining. The Badgers then went
on to shoot 14-for-16 from the
charity stripe, while the Wolverines
MADISON - Michigan guard
Daniel Horton was thinking the worst.
The sophomore stepped on the
heel of Wisconsin guard Boo Wade
as he drove to the basket midway
through the first half and felt a
familiar pain. He left the floor nurs-
ing the same right ankle that he had
injured in high school - the same
one that he hurt last season, right
before the Big Ten Tournament.
"Every time something happens
to that ankle, I get pretty scared,"
Horton said.
The sophomore joined Courtney
Sims, who had twisted his knee a few
plays earlier, on the end of the
Michigan bench.
After coming out to assist both of
the injured players, Michigan coach
Tommy Amaker feared that the injuries
might be more severe and that both
were lost for the rest of the game. But
Sims and Horton were able to come
back into the lineup.
"I was a little surprised based on the
way that it seemed out on the floor,"
Amaker said of the duo's return. "I
think that it scared them a little more
than it actually hurt them."
Sims slipped after catching a lob
pass up-court from Horton. When he
planted, his knee went the wrong
direction. Michigan reserves
Amadou Ba and Colin Dill had to
help Sims off of the floor.
"At first, I thought that it was real
bad," said Sims, echoing Horton's
initial fears.
Sims scored nine points and threw in
a team-high three blocks in 27 min-
utes. Horton struggled from the field
after the scare, making just three of his
11 looks in total.
COLLEGE BOARDS: To the Wolverines,
the key to last night's loss was Wiscon-
sin's aggressiveness on the glass.
The Badgers out-rebounded them
37-29 en route to their win. Wisconsin
did everything but break out the
Windex in the second half, grabbing
21 of the 33 shots that came off the
rim.
Michigan's struggle on the glass
seemed eerily similar to its rebounding
woes in a loss at Vanderbilt. In that
game, the Commodores rode a 42-24
edge on the boards - which included
17 offensive rebounds - to victory.
Last night's margin wasn't as large
and Wisconsin grabbed five fewer
offensive rebounds than Vanderbilt did.
But the end result was the same.
"I thought that how aggressive they
were on the glass was the difference,"
Amaker said. "In key moments, they
were able to get an offensive rebound
here and a tip-in there."
NOTES: In his first three years, Wis-
consin coach Bo Ryan has led the
Badgers to a perfect 19-0 record in
Big Ten games at the Kohl Center.
They have won their last 23 games at
home overall . . . Last night was
Michigan's first game against a ranked
opponent this season. The Badgers
entered the game ranked No. 21 in the
Associated Press poll . . . Sherrod
Harrell was back in uniform after
missing the Michigan State game with
an ankle sprain. He entered the game
with 1:29 remaining and Michigan
trailing by 17 . . . The Wisconsin stu-
dent section chanted "N-I-T" at the
Michigan bench as time wore down.
Team
Wisconsin
Purdue
Indiana
Michigan State
Illinois
Iowa
Penn State
Northwestern
Michigan
Ohio State
Minnesota
w
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
0
L
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
w
12
13
9
8
12
9
8
7
10
9
8
L
3
4
6
7
4
6
7
9
5
8
8
Courtesy or erek MontgomeryBadger Herald
Sophomore Graham Brown scored seven points in a losing effort for Michigan.
Brown struggled defensively in the first half.
went just 7-for-12.
One of the bright spots in the
game for the Wolverines was their
low turnover total (11). After
coughing the ball up 22 times in its
loss to Michigan State, the small
turnover number was a positive for
Michigan.
"We made some steps forward in
improving our basketball team
tonight," Amaker said. "One of
those steps is that we value the bas-
ketball."
Michigan will next play on the
road against a hungry Penn State
team on Saturday.
"Every game from now on is a
must-win game for us," Lester
Abram said.
Saturday's results:
WIscoNsiN 74, Michigan 63
PURDUE 72, Minnesota 65
ILLINOIS 80, Penn State 37
Michigan State 73, NORTHWESTERN 61
IOWA STATE 84, Iowa 76
YESTERDAY'S GAME
Michigan (63)
Abram
Robinson
Sims
Brown
Horton
Wohl
Harris
Andrews
Harrell
Petway
Hunter
Mathis
TEAM
Totals
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
23 2-6 0-0 0-1 1 4 4
31 6-12 0-0 2-7 2 2 13
27 4-8 1-2 1-4 1 2 9
23 3-4 1-1 2-3 0 3 7
33 3-11 2-3 0-3 2 4 8
1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
32 3-9 3-6 1-3 4 2 11
2 1-1 0-0 01 0 0 3
1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
7 2-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 4
4 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
16 2-5 0-0 1-2 1 1 4
3-3
200 26-59 7-1210-291119 63
FG%: .441. FT%: .583. 3-poInt FG: 4-14, .286
(Harris 2-5, Andrews 1-1, Robinson 1-2, Hor-
ton 0-4, Abram 0-1, Hunter 0-1). Blocks: 4
(Sims 3, Petway). Steals: 2 (Horton, Robin-
son). Tumovers: 9 (Horton 3, Mathis 2, Robin-
son 2, Brown, Petway). Technical fouls: none.
WISCONSIN (74)
Morley
Wilkinson
Helmigk
Wade
Harris
Ukawuba
Nixon
Hanson
Taylor
Mader
MIN
34
39
24
34
21
1
12
18
1
16
FG
M-A
5-7
8-12
3-8
1-5
1-6
0-1
1-4
6-8
0-1
2-4
FT REB
M-A 0-T
2-2 3-8
2-2 3-10
0-0 0-2
6-6 0-6
3-4 0-3
0-0 1-1
0-0 2-2
0-0 0-1
0-0 0-0
1-2 2-3
11.
A
2
2
2
7
4
0
0
1
0
1
F PTS
1 12
2 18
1 7
1 8
3 5
1 0
0 2
2 17
0 0
1 5
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