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 -L 1 -1.,1 ,..7+....,L1,. -- - 4- - 1 ;