MMMM 4E - The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2004 Wih NIT title, MicZigan learns new lesson: victory SPORTS MICHIGAN 64, Purdue 63 ichigan was ahead 41-29 in the second half when it started. Rutgers's Ricky Shields hit a 3-point- er. Then, Juel Wiggan scored off an offen- sive rebound. Herve CHRIS Lamizana nailed a BURI@ jumper, and Shields did the same. In the Goin' to Work blink of an eye, APRs 2, 2004 Michigan was down 44-43 and pro-Rut- gers Madison Square Garden was alive. Suddenly, every Michigan fan in the place was stuck in flashback mode, their mind wan- dering to losses at Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana - games where the Wolverines played so well for so long, only to collapse in the waning moments. But last night, something strange hap- pened: Michigan didn't fold. Instead, the Wolverines tightened up their defense and rediscovered their confidence on offense. A layup by Michigan center Courtney Sims put the Wolverines ahead with 4:55 left, and five minutes later, the Wolverines found themselves with something that had too often eluded them in regular-season road games. Victory. Don't kid yourself - Michigan would not have won this game earlier this year. No way. The NIT version of the Michigan basket- ball team, though, was different than the regu- lar-season version. After the win, senior Bernard Robinson said that Michigan had been capable of a performance like last night's all year. And therein lies the difference: Regular- season Michigan couldn't get it done. Post- season Michigan played up to its potential. Regular-season Michigan would have imploded had it turned the ball over four times in four minutes as the Wolverines did last night during Rutgers's run. But postseason Michigan found a way to get the job done - be it Dion Harris nailing a 3-pointer with all the Rutgers fans on their feet, or Daniel Horton racing back on defense after a turnover to get the Wolverines the pos- session back with a steal. The mantra all season for this baby-faced Michigan squad was that it takes young teams a long time to learn how to win. Well, consider the lesson learned. "As a coach and as a teacher, when you see your players and your students get better at the things that you've been coaching and preaching and teaching, there's nothing bet- ter," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. And the result of that knowledge spoke for itself last night. Victory. It's a word that hasn't accompanied the end of a Michigan season in years. But this Michigan team may have accomplished more in a postseason NIT than any team ever has. In a mere two weeks, the Wolverines made everyone forget about the Ed Martin scandal, the seasons that ended with blowout losses in the Big Ten Tournament and the departures and dismissals of players from the program. This week allowed the Michigan program and its fans to put all that aside and focus on - (GASP!) - basketball. OK, it wasn't a great game. Michigan turned the ball over 15 times, shot 35 percent from the floor and 59 percent from the free throw line. The Wolverines did everything they could in the second half to let Rutgers back into it, and there's no question they looked more like an NIT champion team than a team that should challenge Duke or Connecticut. But what the Wolverines also looked like was a team that finally came together and finally learned how to win. If that was the only thing that Michigan took from the NIT, then the postseason trip would have been well worth it. But, it obviously wasn't the only thing the Wolverines managed to accomplish at Madi- son Square Garden. In one five-game postsea- son run, this year's Michigan team brought respectability back to this program. The Wolverines won a national title (I know, not the national title) on national television in the "world's most famous arena." "It wasn't just for us," Horton said. "There were a lot of guys on the team that (won the 1997 NIT title) that weren't a part of the scan- dal, and they had to watch the banner that they worked hard for get taken down. "We wanted an opportunity to put another one back up." Thanks to the win, Michigan gets to refill the vacancy left in Crisler's rafters after the self-imposed sanctions. There's no telling how big something like that could be for this team next year and for this program in the future. Last night, this team - this program - took a huge step forward. And the Wolverines did so by putting aside not only the internal problems this team has had in the past, but also by forgetting about those devastating road losses earlier this year. And because of all of that, Michigan heads into the offseason with something this pro- gram and this young team needed more than it ever did in the past. Victory. -Burke can be reached at chrisbur@umich.edu. Michigan center Courtney Sims blocks a shot in the Wolverines' 64-63 win over Purdue on Feb. 7, 200 a s sqUeak with last- February 9, 2004 By Chris Burke Daily Staff Writer It's hard for someone 6-foot-11 to hide any- where without being noticed, but that's exactly what Michigan freshman Courtney Sims was able to do during the closing seconds against Purdue on Saturday. After a Brandon McKnight fade-away jumper capped a 16-point Purdue comeback to give the Boilermakers the 63-62 lead with just under eight seconds remaining in the game, Michigan point guard Daniel Horton took the inbounds and raced the length of the court. His floater in the lane came up short of the rim. Waiting for the miss, though, was Sims, who had snuck behind the Purdue defenders as they scrambled to stop Horton's penetration. Sims's first tip-in attempt fell out, but the center managed to knock home the second chance, giving Michigan a 64-63 win. "I knew (Horton) was going to take the shot - I just wanted to get into position," Sims said. "When he missed it, it just happened to fall into my hands. I tried to tip it in but missed, and I just stayed with it until it fell." The Michigan big man was able to get into position for the game-winner thanks, in no small part, to Purdue's absence of timeouts. Instead of stopping the clock and setting up their defense, the Boilermakers' were forced to try and improvise a defense on the fly to stop the charging Horton - a situation that led to Sims' terrific inside position. "I wish we would've had (a timeout)," Pur- due coach Gene Keady said. "If we'd have had one, we would've won the game because we would've got our defense set up. We didn't block out. You've got to punch the ball out, and not let them have another possession." After the referees viewed the replay of Sims's shot, Purdue was given 1.4 seconds to attempt to steal a win, but the Boilermakers' final heave downcourt was tipped away, preventing any last- second shot attempt and preserving a roller- coaster victory for the Wolverines. "I don't think we escaped; I think we won," Horton said. "I think that's something that this team is getting used to doing - pulling it out at the end." For the first eight minutes of the second half, it looked as if Michigan (4-4 Big Ten, 13-6 overall) might run Purdue (5-4, 15-7) out of sold-out Crisler Arena. After leading 35-30 at the half, the Wolverines watched Purdue trim the advantage to one before responding with a 15-2 run to open that 16-point cushion. Freshman Dion Harris started the spurt by converting a layup after Horton thread-the- needle with a bounce pass through two Pur- due defenders. Two plays later, Harris forced a turnover and fed senior Bernard Robinson for an easy bucket. "I thought our defense was terrific," Michi- gan coach Tommy Amaker said. "We were able to use our defense to create good shots offensively." But that was the high watermark for the i 4 at Crisier Arena. second tip-i Wolverines. Keady used one of his team's timeouts, turning the momentum around. "(I told them in the timeout) to be aggres- sive on offense first and believe they could make a comeback," Keady said. "In college basketball, you're never out of it." Purdue forward David Teague began to heat up from the field, while the Wolverines' offense was lulled to sleep by the Boilermak- ers' zone defense. Michigan went almost 11 minutes without a basket, managing a mere three free throws over that stretch, allowing Purdue to tie the game at 57. "I think (we frustrated them)," Teague said. "We had them right where we wanted them." The two teams wrestled back-and-forth from then on. Horton ended the scoring troubles by drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key. But Horton and Sims each missed the front end of one-and-one free throw opportunities, paving the way for McKnight to hit two shots to put Purdue ahead in the final 30 seconds. Sims and Horton's late-game heroics were the culmination of solid evenings from both players. Horton had a game-high 19 points and added five assists, while Sims recorded 11 points and 15 boards for his first career double-double. Robinson joined Sims in the double-double category with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Michigan returns to action on Wednesday as it travels to Minnesota to take on the Gold- en Gophers, who are still winless in the Big Ten after losing to Illinois yesterday. m m