Friday December 3, 2004 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com SPORTS 'M faces crucial Notre Dame test M ICE HOCKEY Icers look to right ship against Irish By Eric Ambinder Daily Sports Writer One more time, it's showtime for the Michigan men's basketball team. Another chance for Michigan to beat a ranked team on national television. Another chance for guards Dion Harris and Daniel Horton to show the basketball world how capable they can be. Another chance for Michigan to show it can beat a talented team with- out injured starter Lester Abram. Another chance for walk-on sophomore r John Andrews to play a t>M larger role. That chance comes tomorrow against No. 19 r: { Notre Dame. N After beginning the season 3-0, Michigan has Crisle lost three straight games :$_; in just about every way a team can lose - a nail- biter to No. 17 Arizona, a mediocre effort against Providence and a blow- out defeat at the hands of No. 3 Georgia Tech on Tuesday. And, with about four days to catch their breath since Tuesday's game, the Wolverines face the Fighting Irish at Crisler Arena at noon tomorrow. "I think (the Notre Dame game) is a must-win," guard Daniel Horton said. "This is a time when your true char- acter comes out, when you show what kind of team you really have, (if) you are able to bounce back and hopefully win a game against a highly-ranked team." Michigan coach Tommy Amaker called the backcourt's play against the Yellow Jackets "absolutely awful." The duo combined for just 12 points and committed 10 turnovers. Harris and Horton will battle against the Notre Dame backcourt of junior Chris Quinn and senior Chris Thomas - a duo that has committed just four combined turnovers in three games. Thomas was a preseason All-Big East First Team selection and Quinn leads the Irish in scoring this season, averag- ing 17.3 points per game. "On most nights, the backcourt matchups - those particular posi- tions - can set the tone for the team," Amaker said. "The responsibilities that those positions have are very big and are not to be taken lightly. I do think the matchup (tomorrow) will be criti- cal in terms of (which) particular back- court can play better." Quinn and Thomas can play inter- changeably at the point and shoot- ing guard positions, both are 3-point threats and can effective- ly feed the Irish's strong frontcourt of senior Jor- dan Cornette and junior h' e TorinFrancis. "(Notre Dame has) wY:; very experienced players in the backcourt," Amak- er said."(They)haveplay- ers very comfortable with one another. I think that (Quinn and Thomas) are outstanding shooters. It's going to be a very tough matchup for us, given the way that we played with our backcourt guys and the way that they've played coming into this particular game." Michigan has played its past four games without starter Lester Abram, who is sidelined with a shoulder injury he sustained last March. Amaker said Abram would participate in practice for the first time yesterday since re- injuring the shoulder against Colorado a little over two weeks ago. It's uncer- tain whether or not Abram will play tomorrow. "Right now, the way we are, it's bet- ter to have him a little bit, and we'll see how that works out," Amaker said. Sophomore John Andrews is expect- ed to start instead of Abram. Andrews played just 11 minutes last season, but Amaker praised him for being "one of the very few perimeter players that got offensive rebounds" against Georgia Tech. The wing played efficiently in his first start of the season, hitting 2-of-3 shots for five points and not commit- ting a single turnover. By Gabe Edelson Daily Sports Writer The Notre Dame hockey team has just three wins this season. But that doesn't mean No. 5 Mich- igan (7-1-0 CCHA, 9-4-1 overall) is overlooking the Fighting Irish (2-5- 3, 3-6-4) going into its home-and- home series this weekend. "In the past, Notre Dame has given us a great game," senior alternate captain Brandon Rogers said. "They're a solid team, they have a lot of good play- _ ers, and we're going to > have to play our best to win this weekend. On paper, their record N might not indicate how , good their team is." Notre Dame has ..- given the Wolverines Y problems in recent years. Over the past three seasons, Michi- gan is a mere 2-3-1 against the team from South Bend, and the Wolverines have dropped the last three contests between the squads. Last year, Notre Dame earned the season sweep of Michigan in South Bend by scoring a total of nine goals - while allowing just three - during a weekend of games at the Joyce Center. But the Wolverines have more than simply revenge to play for - they are smarting after an embarrassing Thanksgiving weekend. Then-No. 1 Michigan dropped a 5-1 contest to then-No. 3 Minnesota before losing to then-No. 2 Wisconsin, 3-1. "Last weekend was kind of an awakening for us," defenseman Jason Dest said. "(And) last year is in the back of our minds." Junior forward Andrew Ebbett knows that teams will not roll over for Michigan, no matter how bad their records are. "They haven't been playing that well in the league, but we're ready for them because they play us tough every time we play them," Ebbett said. "Every team comes to play Michigan as hard as they can. They're going to give us their best." Notre Dame is no stranger to upsetting highly ranked teams. On Oct. 22, the Irish toppled then-No. 1 Boston College despite being out- shot, 52-17. But Michigan coach Red Berenson is more preoccupied with his own team, not its opponent. "They're a good team defen- sively," Berenson said. " "When you go on the E road, there's no pres- ga vs sure on you. But my aw e '< concern is not Notre Dame, it's Michigan. . We have to get our game on track. Notre - e: , Dame's going to come ent.e in and try and take us off the track." With just four games left to play before winter break, the coaches and players recognize the importance of gaining momentum. And despite last weekend's strug- gles, Michigan still sits in second in the CCHA with 14 points, just one behind No. 9 Ohio State, which has two games in hand. "These (CCHA games) become bigger games," Berenson said. "Last week didn't get us going in the direction we want to go. We've got to put that behind us now and start looking at the CCHA again." Rogers, for one, feels a sense of desperation entering the home- stretch of 2004. "We're in the race for first place in the league," Rogers said. "All the points are precious. All (the games are) going to be really important." As far as Ebbett is concerned, a split this weekend would not be well- received in the Michigan locker room. "We want both wins, for sure," he said. Dion Harris and Michigan's backcourt will need to step up in Lester Ab "I look from where I came from to where I'm at now and I kind of shake my head in disbelief," the walk-on said. Andrews and the Wolverines will look to junior captain Graham Brown for leadership. Brown attributed Mich- igan's three-game slide to a crack in its confidence and possibly a case of nervousness, but he did not doubt the Wolverines would rebound. "I can't remember the last time we let somebody get 99 points on us," Brown said. "That's just something that we can't have in this system and this pro- gram. And our guys know that and we will work as hard as we can to get rid of those bugs in our system." One thing is for sure: The Wolverines can't wait to play against the Irish. "We have to show character and bounce back from losses like Tuesday night," Horton said. "We're not think- ing about the tournament, we're not thinking about building a resume. We just want to win." Saidteammate Brent Petway: "We're ready to prove to the nation that we can still go. Tuesday night wasn't our best night, but we know there will be better days, so we're just ready to go back out and prove ourselves." Cagers seeking another big road win By Matt Venegoni Daily Sports Writer Sometimes a team loses because it is clearly infe- rior to its opponent, but it sometimes goes down because of a lack of focus. That seemed to be the case for the Michigan women's bas- ketball team Tuesday night in its 61-60 loss to Drake. The goal for the young 1k>2 Wolverines will be to bounce back K 2 from the tough loss and rebound in tonight's road game against Charlotte. " Michigan hopes to have a repeat per- 2 a, formance of its last road game, a 57-51 win over UC-Santa Barbara, which had won 39 of its last 40 at home. Michi- gan was focused on the goal at hand and played an extremely disciplined game against the Gauchos. To beat the 49ers, the Wolverines will need to be a more focused group than they were on Tuesday. "(The) upperclassmen as much as the young kids weren't focused and didn't have that edge," Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett said of the Drake loss. "We've been talking about that the last few days in practice because we didn't feel like we had that intensity." Charlotte (5-0) presents a tough challenge for Michigan, as the 49ers have proven dominant in the early season, outscoring their opponents by almost 18 points per game. Charlotte's balanced attack fea- tures five players averaging double fig- ures in scoring. Heading this group is T junior guard Sakellie Daniels, who has igan posted 15.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1r jtre 7.2 assists per game. It is a rematch of last season's game Are>$