TAMED IN EVANSTON
The women's swimming team
lost to Northwestern for the
first time since 2001.
PAGE 2B
HOME TRACK DOMINANCE
The men's and women's track and field
teams held their own this weekend
at the Red Simmons Invitational.
PAGE 6B
GENNARO FILICE
The magic of that
Starter jacket
PAGE 3B
The SportsMonday Column
PORTS
January 24, 2005
1B
Wilkinson torches 'M
able 1fiirgu aU dd
By Brian Schick
Daily Sports Editor
For as much success as the Wisconsin basket-
ball program has had throughout its history, it
has never fared well in Crisler Arena.
However, for just the fourth time since Crisler
was completed in 1967, Michigan failed to defend
its home court against the Bad-
gers, falling 72-61 Saturday in
front of 13,751 fans for its first
sellout crowd of the season.
Wisconsin went on an 18-4 run that gave the
Badgers an 11-point lead early in the second half
and never looked back.
The Wolverines had no answer for Wisconsin
forward Mike Wilkinson, who scorched Mich-
igan's frontcourt for 28 points and grabbed a
career-high 15 rebounds.
Michigan (3-2 Big Ten, 12-7 overall) tried to
slow the senior down by using different matchups
on defense, but there wasn't much the Wolverines
could do to extinguish his hot hand. Michigan
coach Tommy Amaker was extremely impressed
with Wilkinson's play after the game.
"I thought he was maybe flawless," Amaker
said of Wilkinson. "I'm not sure if I've used that
word before with a player, but it seemed like he
was flawless in his play."
Michigan's frontcourt had difficulty guarding
Wilkinson and was kept in check on the offensive
end as well. Sophomore Courtney Sims finished
the game with 10 points but scored eight of them
in the first half when Michigan was still trading
leads with Wisconsin.
Both Sims and junior forward Graham Brown
picked up numerous fouls trying to slow down
Wilkinson, who also hit two 3-pointers.
"(Wilkinson) is one of the best big men I've
played against," Sims said. "He's very versatile,
he can shoot and he's tough to defend."
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan didn't need to lean
on just Wilkinson to hand Michigan its second-
straight loss. The Badgers (4-1, 13-3) made runs
at critical times of the game, especially late in
the first half and early in the second half.
After Michigan tied the game at 30 with 3:08
left in the first half, Wisconsin went on the 18-4
run that put the game out of reach.
"Everything is pretty much executed to the 'T,' "
guard Dion Harris said. "They don't rush anything;
they don't try to force anything. They just run
'in defeat
their offense and play their game."
Harris and junior Daniel Horton led Michi-
gan with 16 points apiece, but Horton injured
his right knee late in the second half. It was an
especially tough blow, as Horton injured his left
knee in practice a month ago and returned to the
lineup on Jan. 5 against Iowa.
Amaker said after the game that Horton was
"complaining" about his right knee, but he didn't
know his status.
Both guards had struggled from 3-point range
throughout the game, going a combined 4-for-13
from long range. In addition, Horton couldn't
find his touch from the free throw line. An 81
percent free throw shooter, Horton went 2-for-6
from the line.
This was in stark contrast to Horton's first
game against the Badgers two years ago, when he
hit the game-winning layup and blocked Wiscon-
sin's last shot to pull off a 15-point comeback.
The Wolverines were able to hang with Wis-
consin in the first half with decent shooting
from the field. Going 4-for-8 from behind the
arc opened up the post for Sims and sophomore
Brent Petway.
See BADGERS, page 5B
RYAN WEINER/Daily
Michigan guard Daniel Horton and Wisconsin forward Mike Wilkinson dive on the floor
to pick up a loose ball. Horton left the game In the second half with a knee injury.
It's a push
OHio STATE , Mi
chigan 1
OHio STATE 6, Michigan 3
Penalty troubles continue
to killMichigan's chances
COLUMBUS - After Friday night, there was no ques-
tion what the problem was with the Michigan hockey
team. The team lost 4-1 at
Ohio State in a game where all four
of the Buckeyes' goals were scored
on the power play. No. 3 Michigan,
was on its heels for most of the gamee
but really became passive on the
penalty kill. In amazing fashion, No.
10 Ohio State converted four of its
seven power plays on Friday night. I
Michigan senior captain Eric IAN HERBERT
Nystrom - who was on the ice for Caught up in the Game
two of Ohio State's power play goals
- was clearly disappointed in his
team's penalty killing following the game.
"It's just been bad lately," Nystrom said. "That's the word
that can describe it. We've been working on blocking shots in
practice, and we have video. So we know what they're going to
do on the power play. We're just not executing penalty killing."
It wasn't a surprise coming into the game that special teams
was going to be important. Heading into the weekend, Michi-
gan and Ohio State were the two most penalized teams in the
CCHA. And Michigan has been struggling on the penalty kill
recently in conference play.
Including the power play goal that Ohio State scored in the
third period of Saturday's game, the Wolverines have now
given up a power play goal in each of their last 10 games. More
amazingly, until they held Ohio State to just one power play
goal on Saturday, the Wolverines had given up multiple power
play goals in each of their last five conference games. That's
unacceptable for a team that still has Frozen Four aspirations.
Last week, after the sweep of Alaska-Fairbanks, Michigan
coach Red Berenson singled out penalty killing as an area that
"continues to be an issue." That's why the Wolverines
See HERBERT, page 4B
Icers rebound from loss
to salvage Buckeye split
By Gabe Edelson
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - Senior captain
Eric Nystrom was bluntly honest
after No. 3 Michigan's disappointing
4-1 loss to No. 10 Ohio State on Fri-
day night.
"I don't think everybody gave
everything they possibly had," Nys-
trom said. "And that's unacceptable."
But on Saturday, Nystrom and the
Wolverines (16-2-0 CCHA, 19-6-
1 overall) responded in convincing
fashion to a Buckeye squad (13-4-1,
16-7-3) that had tallied an impressive
four power play goals just a night
earlier. Michigan turned its weekend
around with a 6-3 victory at Value
City Arena. The win was clinched
when Michigan exploded for five
goals in just over 12 minutes during
the second period. It was the Wolver-
ines' first win against a ranked oppo-
nent all season, and it held Michigan's
five-point lead over the Buckeyes for
first place in the CCHA.
Chad Kolarik scored a career-high
two goals - including the contest's
first score at 4:59 of the second period
and the eventual game-winner, which
put Michigan up 4-0 just 7:13 later
on. But the freshman's night finished
after 40 minutes when he received
a game misconduct for his role in a
fight at the end of the second frame.
"(It was) maybe one of the best
games in (Kolarik's young) fresh-
man career," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "It was too bad he got
thrown out. You could just see him
getting more confidence as the game
wore on."
Senior Jason Ryznar had a goal and
two assists for just the second three-
point game of his career. Ryznar's
performance was quite a turnaround
from his scoreless effort the previous
evening.
"(Friday) night we had a meeting
about (the loss)," Ryznar said on Sat-
urday. "We weren't happy with our
effort in yesterday's game, but we
stepped it up (Saturday night). I guess
we weren't focused (Friday night)."
But even though the Wolverines
See BUCKEYES, page 4B
JOEL FRIEDMAN/Daily
Ohio State forward Lee Spector shoves Michigan forward Jeff Tambellini during one game of the team's weekend series in
Columbus. Tambellini notched his 50th career assist against the Buckeyes Saturday night.
Pooling efforts
:
CM)
E MEN'S GYMNASTICS
School record set
in Sooners upset
.snaps streak at nine
"They celebrated like we won the
national title. " - Cheryl Burnett,
Michigan women's basketball coach
By Matt Venegoni
Daily Sports Writer
For a team that
had not won in 36
days - after los-
ing nine straight
Michigan's 63-61 victory over
Indiana yesterday felt like a Final
shot clock winding down. Pool drove
past her defender to the left wing,
jumped and hit a topsy-turvy layup,
drawing a foul from Indiana sopho-
more guard Leah Enterline. Pool hit
the free throw to tie the game and
bring the crowd to their feet.
"Tab (Pool) mixes so well her out-
side shots and her dribble penetra-
tion," Burnett said. "Those are things
we have worked on with Tab because
we know that everyone is going to run
after her when she drives. By the end
By Sara Livingston
Daily Sports Writer
While the blizzard managed to stop
many Wolverine faithful from filling
Cliff Keen Arena on Saturday night, the
dismal weather failed to slow down the
No. 3 Michigan men's gymnastics team.
Michigan trounced No. 7 Oklahoma,
originally preseason No. 1, in front of a
crowd of about half the normal capac-
ity. The Wolverines won five of the six
concerned with this team (Oklahoma). I
knew they were a damn good team, and
they could beat us at home, and I didn't
want that to happen. And I had a feeling
last night that we were going to win like
I've never had before, and I've coached
quite a few meets in my lifetime, and
there was just some inner confidence that
I had, and it came tome."
Freshman Paul Woodward didn't
look like a freshman when he mounted
the pommel horse - an apparatus with
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