Wednesday February 2, 2005 sports.michigandaily. com sportsr@michigandaily. com e tidti n hmiag SPORTS 9 Cagers to square off in must-win Role players arefine, but M' needs stars By Josh Holman Daily Sports Editor It's definitely raining on the boat that is the Michigan men's basketball season. Now the only thing left to be seen is whether the Wolverines will jump ship or grab buckets and start bailing water.. Michigan (3-4 Big Ten, 12-9 overall) is coming off Saturday's embar- rassing 84-55 road loss M' - its fourth consecutive, u e: making the longest such streak of the season. E3 The Wolverines will return home tonight to take on Minnesota (4-3, 14-6) in what some people are grumbling might already be a must-win game for the Wolverines. "I do think, obviously, it's an impor- tant game, from a lot of different areas for our team," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I'm sure if you're Min- nesota, you're looking at it as a win- nable road game ... Both teams are looking at it as an opportunity to win a conference game." After allowing Purdue to notch its first win in conference play, the Wolver- ines are trying to avoid falling out of the action in the Big Ten. What could have earlier been considered an easy stretch in the schedule has suddenly become a series of games that Michigan has to win to keep its hopes up for an NCAA Tournament appearance. "We came back (Monday) and told coach some things we wanted to do, and he agreed with a lot of things," sophomore ICE HOCKEY Brent Petway said. "We all came out with our heads up and had a great practice (Monday). And we are just ready to turn it up and get a win (tonight)." But the Wolverines will have to do more than change their attitude just to pull out a win at Crisler Arena. Sun- dGHT ~esoia at day's thumping in West Lafayette was more than just a few minor set- backs. At the game's end, it looked as if Michigan would need a total over- haul to get back on track. Offensive rebounding may be one of the biggest problems that the Wolver- ines need to remedy. Opponents have garnered at least 11 offensive rebounds in Michigan's last five games. "We can't let them get those easy offensive rebounds," junior tri-captain Graham Brown said. "That's what has been killing us." The Golden Gophers are currently fifth in the conference in offensive rebounding at 10.95 per game. If Michi- gan can hold that number down, it just might show signs of improvement. But despite all the negatives Michigan has to improve on this week in practice, Amaker and his staff actually wanted to highlight the positives that they could take from the loss at Purdue. "We wanted to pull all the posi- tives things that we felt that we did do well, and we wanted them to see that," Amaker said. "So we wanted them to see what we want done. I think it's more important to see what we want to have Sophomore John Andrews came off the bench in Sunday's 84-55 loss at Purdue. The reserves scored 26 of Michigan's 55 points, one of the few bright spots. happen as opposed to ... the things they didn't do very well." Michigan's bench play is one thing that has worked for the Wolverines. Nonstarters scored 26 of Michigan's 55 points. Junior forward Chris Hunter led the way off the bench with 11 points. While Michigan has brought a balanced scoring attack to the table, the Golden Gophers have rallied behind two players. Minnesota has nine freshmen on its ros- ter, and the play of junior Vincent Grier and senior Jeff Hagen has held the team together. Grier averages 16.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while Hagen adds 11.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. The pressure is on to keep pace with the rest of the Big Ten, and tonight's game may be a good barometer for just how good the Wolverines can be. "(Tonight) will be a good opportu- nity for us to come out and get a win," sophomore Dion Harris said. 'We have nine games left." SHARAD MATTU Mattu fast, Mattu furious The Michigan men's basketball team won't make the NCAA Tournament this year, and ... What's that? You already knew this? Well, let me finish. ... and injuries won't be the reason. Yes, the Wolverines have played vir- tually the entire season without Lester Abram and have gone extended stretches without Daniel Horton, Chris Hunter and Graham Brown. And yes, players who were never supposed to set foot on the floor are playing and even starting. But just two weeks ago, Michigan was playing its best basketball of the season, 3-0 in Big Ten play and heading into Bloomington. The Wolverines seemed to have survived all the injuries and were set to take off. But the Wolverines lost a game that was closer than the final score (62-53) indicates. While a lot of people imme- diately wondered who would have won if Abram and Hunter had been healthy, I thought exactly the opposite. No matter who was healthy and who was injured, Michigan was going to lose, and it was probably going to be a close game. That's just what always seems to happen to Michigan against Indiana, even though both teams have been pretty much mediocre the last couple of years. But then that's pretty much where Michigan basketball is right now. Year after year, nothing seems to change.. Entering the season, the Wolverines were widely expected to take the next step and, at the very least, make the NCAA Tournament. They were losing a solid all-around player in Bernard Robinson and bring- ing in only one freshman, Ron Coleman, who was hardly expected to be a high- impact player. But all of Michigan's returning players were supposed to be a year wiser, a year stronger and a year better. Horton was supposed to have gotten over his sopho- more slump, as he seemed to do during the team's postseason NIT run. And sophomores Dion Harris and Courtney Sims were supposed to have settled into their roles and were supposed to become forces in the Big Ten. But what happened last year to Hor- ton is happening this year to Harris and Sims; players that came to Ann Arbor with the highest apparent ceiling seemed to have abruptly leveled off after their freshman year. Horton's troubles, both legal and injury-related, are well-documented, but both Harris and Sims have been healthy this entire season and have failed to fully establish themselves despite appearing ready to take their games to the next level. Harris raised his level of play late last season when Abram gave him his start- ing spot, and Sims, who seemed to run out of gas as the season ended, gained 25 pounds of muscle to address the problem. But little has changed. Like Horton, Harris never seems truly comfortable running the offense and far too often finds himself with the ball late in the shot clock trapped behind the three-point line. Last season, and at the start of this season, Harris seemed like the kind of player who would welcome the chance to take over games, the way his team needs him to without Abram and Hor- ton. He seemed like the type of player who would play better with the ball in his hands more and more. But not only hasn't he taken charge, he's hitting just 35 percent of his shots and has just 74 assists to go with 60 turnovers. Sims's role on the team also seems to fluctuate all the time. After a strong start, Sims's playing time took a dive until Michigan's other big men got hurt, and Michigan coach Tommy Amaker had no other choice but to play him. But no matter what Sims does, he leaves everyone wanting more. He's cur- rently hitting 57 percent of his field-goal attempts and 72 percent of his free throws, yet only takes about seven shots a game. . Michigan's role players have been impressive this season. Coleman bounced right back from a bad start and has been reliable ever since, and sopho- more walk-on John Andrews has done a solid job. Big men Brown, Hunter and Brent Petway have done a great job pro- viding Michigan with toughness, scoring and explosiveness, respectively. But in the end, role players can only do so much. Stars matter more in basketball than any other sport. When the shot clock is running down, when the game is com- ing to an end, teams need reliable players to get the job done in crunch time, and Michigan just doesn't have that right now. Maybe expectations were too high for Horton, Harris and Sims. Though they seem to play hard, they might not want to be great players badly enough. Maybe they don't know how to get better, and the coaches don't know, either. But one thing is for sure: Until something chang- es, Michigan just won't be that good. Tambellini more than just a scorer By Gabe Edelson Daily Sports Writer After Saturday's 3-1 loss to then-No. 4 Michigan, Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle heaped praise on a certain Wolverine. "I thought (Jeff) Tambellini was the best player on the ice," Kyle said. "He played exceptionally well. He was, without a doubt, the most dangerous player." Strange, considering that Tambellini - who ranks second on the team with 32 points and is known mostly for his offensive skills - was held without a single point over the two-game weekend series. So why was Kyle so complimentary to the junior alter- nate captain? "There's a chance for him to score every time he touches the puck," junior Andrew Ebbett said. "That's a great asset for the team to have." Tambellini touched the puck plenty of times over the weekend, keeping the Northern Michi- gan defenders honest and aware at all times. He fired shots on net early and often, beginning with a rocket just five minutes into Friday's game that was snagged by Wildcats goalie Tuomas Tarkki. His eight shots in the series were the most of any player on either team. But that's nothing new to Tambellini, who has led Michigan in shots on goal in each of his previ- ous two seasons in Ann Arbor. He currently leads the Wolverines with 135 shots this year, a remark- able 44 more than Brandon Kaleniecki, who ranks second. But Tambellini insists that his shots were worth taking. "They were quality shots," Tambellini said. "Some- times you're throwing pucks through traffic, and some nights they hit a stick that goes down. Some nights they just find a way to go through." Michigan goalie Al Montoya knows just how threatening Tambellini can be when he has the puck in the offensive zone. Montoya faces Tambellini every day in practice. The two often go head-to- head in a lighthearted drill where Michigan players skate in alone in an attempt to get the puck past the netminder. Though Montoya stops most of the shots he faces, Tambellini comes out on top more than most other Wolverines. "If you give (Tambellini) anything, he's going to put it there," Montoya said. "You just have to bring your best (as a goalie). You need an extra focus. He can come in with speed and release the puck without you even knowing it's being released. "It's more of a privilege that I have to come out here and take shots from him, because he makes me better. And I hope to think that I make him better." But Tambellini wants to be known as more than simply an offensive powerhouse. Over the summer, he paid extra attention to improving his play on the defen- sive side of the puck. Thus far, Tambellini has shown progress in his quest to become a complete player. "I've been really trying to concentrate over the off- season," Tambellini said. "(I've been) paying atten- tion to defensive hockey and being a player that can See TAMBELLINI, page 10 Sharad Mattu can be reached at smattu@umich.edu. Three-pointers not the answer for Blue JACK HERMAN ON WOMEN'S HOOPS Some teams live or die by the 3-pointer. For the Michigan women's basketball team, it's more as if the triples keep it on life support, and it's only a mat- ter of time before the plug gets pulled. Against Wisconsin on Sunday, the Wolverines fell behind by 20 points in the second half before a barrage of 3-pointers brought them back within seven. But this was no help, and the Badgers downed Michigan 79-71. In total, the Wolverines hit 12 treys against Wisconsin, setting a new school record - the second time this year the team has eclipsed the old record of 10. Earlier in the season, during its 70-60 loss to Michigan State, Michigan bucketed 11 from behind the arc to break the mark. In the Michigan State game, the long-range shoot- ing actually allowed the team to take a lead late in the first half. Then the shots stopped falling, and the offense looked helpless. At times, the team went minutes without scoring, including a five-minute drought to start the half. Finally -just like the Wisconsin game - the 3-pointers became a last-ditch effort for the Wolverines. Their last four baskets came from downtown, which only served to make the game look more respectable in the end. "We're not playing with any sense of urgency until we get down by double digits, " Michigan coach Cheryl.Bur- nett said after a Dec. 28 loss to Oakland. "Scoring does not come easily for this basketball team." The tendency to shoot from the outside comes from an inability to penetrate and get inside the lane. Michigan often looks to have no real purpose on an offensive pos- session. The team forces up shots from well behind the arc, looking desperate just to make a play on offense. The Wolverines have taken 331 shots from downtown this year, second most in the Big Ten, but are ranked sixth in 3-point percentage. That is not to say the team needs to work on making 3-pointers to win games. Rather, the young Wolverines just need to wean themselves off relying on the three-ball so much. During the 63-61 win against Indiana on Jan. 23, the team played with much more heart than it had in recent games. The team proved that, even when it struggles from behind the arc, hitting just 3-of-16 from downtown, it can still compete. Michigan hustled all game and managed to find ways to work the ball down low. The Wolverines committed themselves to handling the ball better and had just 12 turnovers. Essentially, the team did the "little things" necessary to win. The Wolverines gave it their all that day, diving on loose balls, grabbing offensive rebounds and, more importantly, making sure every possession down the floor counted. Indiana is not one of the better teams in the Big Ten, and no one should expect Michigan to go out and beat No. 3 Ohio State or No. 10 Michigan State. But it still needs to bring that same passion to every game. It's understandable, with this young and undersized team, that it is easy for the Wolverines to look to 3-pointers as the remedy to all their problems. But by doing this, they rely on chance rather than skill and effort to win games. If, instead, the team concentrates on doing those "little See HERMAN, page 10 DAV ID TUMAN/Daily Senior Tabitha Pool is shooting just 33 percent from 3-point range this season.