February 9,20 5 sports. michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com SPORTS I 10 Cagers can't hold off No. 1 Illinois What does a moral victory look like? By Josh Holman Daily Sports Editor Despite being Michigan's seventh straight loss, last night's 57-51 defeat to No.1 Illinois proved to be a change of pace for Michigan. But some of the same prob- lems that have haunt- ed the Wolverines IL"N1s5® (3-7 Big Ten, 12-12 ""H'AN 51 overall) during their losing streak may have been the difference between an upset and just another loss. Illinois guard Dee Brown scored 16 points last night to lead the Fighting Illini (10-0,24-0). But it was seven of his points in particular that swung the balance of the game. With Michigan clinging to a 39-35 lead with under ten minutes remaining in the second half, Brown turned the game com- pletely around with three steals in four pos- sessions, leading to three layups and a free throw. The final layup and free throw gave Illinois a 42-41 lead. The turnaround was part of a 12-3 run that built up a lead for Illinois that it would not surrender. "It's just the way it happened," Brown said. "I got up in the lanes, just trying to make plays. They just fell my way." The plays had been falling Michigan's way prior to that point, much to the sur- prise of the 13,751 people in attendance at Crisler Arena. Michigan's game plan of slowing down the pace to a near crawl worked for three-fourths of the game, giv- ing the unranked Wolverines a chance to threaten the Fighting Illini and their unbeaten record. "(What) we needed to do for us was to shorten the game," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "We sold our kids on the idea that, if the game is shortened, it becomes an opportunity for the under- dog - or the team less talented in a lot of ways - to have a chance to put game pressure on them." The Wolverines milked time on almost every possession, barely even looking for a shot before 10 seconds remained on the shot clock. Despite falling behind early, the strategy seemed to work. The Wolverines shot 47.5 percent from the field - a combination of open looks down low and clutch 3-point shoot- ing. Sophomore forward Courtney Sims anchored the post, scoring 15 points on 6- for-7 shooting. Outside the paint, Michigan hit 6-of-14 shots from beyond the 3-point arc, led by a 3-for-7 effort from sophomore Dion Harris. "It was one of my more solid games," Harris said. "I think I stayed within the game plan. I let things come to me today, and it worked out better for our team:' Harris finished the game with 21 points and seven rebounds. Harris also turned the ball over just once, a change from the turn- over problems that have plagued the Wol- verines during their seven-game skid. "I thought Dion played his heart out," Amaker said. "I thought he gave us every- thing he had. ... His play was a reason we had a chance to hang in there." But Michigan did have difficulty from the free throw line. It shot just 7-for-14 from the charity stripe. The Fighting Illini flexed their No. 1 RYAN WEINER/Daily Junior Chris Hunter had 10 points and five rebounds in Michigan's loss to Illinois. ranking early in the game, building an 11-3 lead by the first media timeout. But Michi- gan was not intimidated and put together a string of runs that kept it in the game. First came a 5-0 run that chipped into Illinois's lead and closed the gap to 18-13. Then Michigan went on a 13-1 run in the final 6:39 of the first half - its largest run of the game. Harris controlled the end of the first half, hitting two 3-pointers and finding junior Graham Brown under the basket for a layup during the stretch. Harris led all scorers with 12 points in the first half and exceeded his final output from each of the last three games, when he was held under double digits. The Wolverines took over the lead on a basket from sophomore Courtney Sims and carried a 28-24 advantage into the second half. The loss may have had its share of heart- break, but it looked nothing like the last six losses Michigan has suffered, all by more than nine points. "It will be interesting to see if they con- tinue to play like this or if they go back to their regular style," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "You never know, we might play them in the (Big Ten) Tournament." MEGAN KOLODGY Megology 101 hen the buzzer went off to signal the end of last night's men's basketball game against No. 1 Illinois, Crisler Arena erupted in cheers. Michigan had finally done it - it gave the Maize and Blue faithful a reason to show up at games. Funny thing is, the Wolverines didn't win. They extended their los- ing streak to seven, dropped to .500 for the season and stretched the Fighting Illini's win streak to 24. But it didn't feel like it. Michigan's 57-51 loss to the team that is widely considered to be the best in the nation - and the only one that remains undefeated in the NCAA - is a moral victory for a team that, in each of its last three games, has lost by at least 17 points. These defeats did not come against good teams, either. With each of these embarrassing blowouts, the Wolverines' confi- dence sank to a new low, and coach Tommy Amaker and his team had fewer and fewer answers as to why their season was spiraling out of control. No one was surprised that Michi- gan lost to Illinois, an obviously superior team. But everyone was shocked that Michigan, at this time, the lowest point of its season, could hang with the Fighting Illini. Last night, the Wolverines exhib- ited something that they hadn't shown in a long time - swagger. Even prior to the game, they looked different. They weren't just going through the motions of warm- ups - they attacked their layups with vim. If Michigan was a horse parading around pre-race in a pad- dock, and it had to face the defend- ing Triple Crown champion, you'd have almost bet on it to win. During the game, Michigan shot with confidence. And for once, players besides sophomore spark- off-the-bench and crowd favorite Brent Petway grabbed rebounds as if they thought that they were criti- cal, instead of just automatically hustling back on defense. They held a typically high-scoring team to its lowest final score of the season. They also ran something of an efficient offense and more than tripled their assists from Saturday's game - which isn't saying much as they had just four against Ohio State. But again, we're talking moral victories here. The assists illustrate that Michigan played as a team in the way that it has not been able to do since the beginning of its losing streak. Michigan was cognizant, capable and determined - a shocking com- bination considering that all the stats, all the film and the team's overall defeated attitude these last few weeks would indicate that it was anything but. And a team probably never looked as relieved after a loss. In the locker room, usually stoic soph- omore Courtney Sims - whose consistent shooting helped keep the Wolverines even keel - nearly cracked a smile and mentioned that he and sophomore Dion Har- ris were bantering about how good they felt about the potential that this game held for them before tak- ing the court. The Wolverines attributed their loss (win) to finally listening to Amaker and "executing" the way that Amaker has apparently been prescribing throughout Michigan's slump. "I think they believed in what we were going to try to do tonight," Amaker said of his team. "I thought that this was one of the keys - that we worked hard instituting this game plan." And apart from Michigan's ther sad 50-percent performance rom the free-throw line and the minia- ture "Fundamentals of the Steal" clinic that Illinois' Dee Brown ran in the middle of the second half - three steals in four possessions that pushed Illinois into the lead that probably lost the game for Michigan - it did execute. The problem is, no one seems to know what made things click for the Wolverines. Amaker said they finally "sold their kids" on the notion of slowing the game down, but why now? Why not after a 29- point loss to winless-in-the-Big Ten Purdue? Why not after the loss at home to Minnesota? See KOLODGY, page 12 * WOMEWS cAK tiLLg By Matt Venegoni Daily Sports Writer The margins of defeat for the Michigan women's bas- ketball team its past two games: 21 and 15. At first glance, it looks like the Wolverines are regress- ing from where they were earlier in the Big Ten season. But a harder look at those games shows that, while Michigan may not be notching marks in the win column, the fresh- men are learning valuable lessons that they can use down the road. Freshman forward Ta'Shia Walker is the prime exam- ple. She went up against Minnesota center Janel McCar- ville - an All-American and Wooden Award candidate - in Sunday's game. Walker did not score a single point and fouled out of the game with 3:38 remaining, but she believes that her experience will make her better the next time she faces a premier player. "Janel is a very good player, and I like playing against her," Walker said. "I think it will better prepare me down the road as I get older and (gain) more experience to know how to play players of her caliber." One of the main problems for Walker and Michigan going into - and during - the game was the Wolverines lack of height and size. The Gophers boasted a frontcourt of 6-foot-2 McCarville, 6-foot-3 forward Jamie Broback and 5-foot-ll forward Shannon Bolden. The bigger Gophers were able to control the boards throughout the game, out- rebounding Michigan 33-23. More importantly, Minnesota moved much of its offense through its post players, leading to many high-percentage field goal opportunities. "We tried to not let McCarville and the other posts go where they wanted," Walker said. "Because we are smaller everyone wants to push around under the basket, we tried to avoid that." In the first half, Michigan kept the Gophers' post players from going where they wanted to. But the second half was a different story. Minnesota controlled the tempo and got the ball to McCarville to pull away from the Wolverines. "We knew, coming into the second half, that they would definitely go back to their inside game," Burnett said. "But they have a great combination of talent. So we were trying to give help to the post play, but you have play- ers off their bench, (Katie Alsdurf) for them, touching the ball making threes." Once the Gophers pulled away and the game was out of reach, the Wolverines did not give up. The last five minutes of the previous two games have been good opportunities for Burnett and the rest of the staff to implement a different part of their game plan. Instead of launching haphazard 3-pointers, the team worked on its offensive sets and pres- sure defense. "We have told our kids that we want them to play hard all the way through 0:00, and they are doing it," Burnett said. "That style of play with this particular group, we are really using it for experience. "We are really coaching all the way through to the end on exactly we want to be doing and not be doing and what position we want to be in, because that, eventually, is going to be our style for 40 minutes in this program." Gajic thrives on numerous superstitions By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Editor When the Michigan hockey team takes the ice before every game, several of the Wolverines have their own routines. Soph- omore T.J. Hensick is always the second-to- last player to leave the rink after warm-ups, senior captain Eric Nystrom is always the second-to-last player onto the ice before player introductions and senior Eric Wer- ner is always the second-to-last player into the huddle around the net. Freshman Chad Kolarik is always the first player on the bench and senior Nick Martens is always the second-to-last guy off the blue line after the national anthem. But senior Milan Gajic trumps them all. Gajic is the last guy off the ice, the last one on, the last one off the blue line and the last in the huddle. And it doesn't stop there. "Where do you want to start?" Gajic said. "The week before? Two days before? You're laughing, but no, it's bad.... I got everything from how I fall asleep to what I eat." He makes sure that he always gets a bag of Haribo Alphabet Letter Gummies a couple of days before the weekend. If they don't have the candies at Campus Corner he goes across the street to Blue Front. And if they're sold out, then it's off to CVS, which, luckily for Gajic, is open 24 hours per day. So what about sleeping? What supersti- tions does he have about going to bed? "Oh, I can't tell youithat," Gajic joked. But the list goes on and on. On game days, Gajic takes his superstitions even further. Like most of his teammates, Gajic takes a pregame nap. But he wakes up every day to the same, ironic song - "Head- strong" by Trap. The song wakes up both Gajic and Nystrom, who live in the same house. Gajic always wears his tie loose and his top button unbuttoned to the game. "And I don't think he wears socks on game days," Nystrom said. One of Gajic's biggest superstitions is making his mom call him from British Columbia on game days at 5 p.m., and making his dad call at 5:15 p.m. His mom tells him to be careful and to make sure he doesn't hurt anybody. Then his dad tells him to score a goal, get an assist and hurt anyone who comes near him. "They live in the same house, but they can't talk to me at the same time," Gajic said. "It's funny because you can hear them in the background when the other one is calling." His mom, Helen, said that she started calling him from work when he was play- ing junior hockey. Milan wouldn't let her off the phone until she said the things that she said every week. "Because I was at work, sometimes, it was very inconvenient," Helen said. "But it doesn't matter. It has to be done." Gajic's superstitions started after a good game in junior hockey in which his under- dog team won 5-4. Actually, Gajic won the game; he scored all five goals. "From there, I think that started every- thing," Gajic said. "That was pretty much it right there, and, since then, as long as I can remember, it's been pretty much like that." None of his teammates have ever tried to stop him from doing his routine, so it has never been a problem. For two games dur- ing his first year of junior hockey he had to wear No. 13 instead of his traditional No. 9 because a veteran on the team had his num- ber. But his teammate was traded a couple days later, and Gajic wore No. 9 the next game. But what will he do at the pro level if he can't keep his superstitions? "The next level I'll be kind of the rookie, right?" Gajic said. "So I pretty much have to do what they tell me. But I'll try to do as much as I possibly can without pissing anybody off." RYAN WEINER/Daily Senior Milan Gajic is always the last player into the huddle before games - one of his many superstitions. i ' .