Friday February 11, 2005 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily. com SPORTS 0 8 . . . ... ........ ... 'M' falls hard to national power By Matt Singer Daily Sports Writer COLUMBUS - Coming into last night's game, Michigan and No. 2 Ohio State were as different as any two teams in the NCAA. The Buckeyes (10-1 Big Ten, 23-2 overall) had won of 19 of their last 20 games. On the flipside, Michigan entered Value City Arena having dropped 13 of its previous 14. On paper, it shouldn't have been a contest. And after about ten minutes, it wasn't. The Wolverines shot just 32 percent from the field and suffered a crushing 72-39 defeat. "They're a great basketball team, Ohio State," Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett said. "They're a little bit of everything - great depth, great size, great experience." Early on, it looked as if Michigan (1-11, 5-18) could compete with Ohio State. Freshman Ta'Shia Walker's spin move and layup cut the Buckeyes' lead to 14-10 midway through the first half. But that was when the Buckeyes exploded past the overmatched Wolverines. Ohio State scored 10 unanswered points in the next two minutes and put the game out of reach. During a 20-5 run to end the first half, the Buckeyes forced six turnovers, including three steals by guard Ashley Allen. "Our turnovers created so many easy offensive opportunities for them in the first half," Burnett said. "They're lethal in the open floor." The Buckeyes took a 34-15 lead into the second half and only improved from there, as they put on a bona-fide basketball clinic. On the defensive end, Ohio State stifled the Wolverines, forcing them into desperation shots with the shot clock winding down. "If it looked like we were trying to do a ball control (offense)," Burnett said. "That was not by design" Ohio State sophomore center Jessica Davenport paved the way for the Buckeye interior on the defensive end, finishing the game with five blocks. Her most spectacular play came early in the second half. After Michigan freshman Becky Flippin made a beautiful back- door pass to a cutting Kelly Helvey, Davenport came out of nowhere, swatting away the sophomore's layup opportunity. The devastating block set up an easy fast-break scoring chance for sophomore Brandie Hoskins and gave Ohio State a 44-16 lead. "It was a nice play," Davenport said. "But the good thing was that it stayed inbounds, and we got a layup out of it. It was pretty exciting for the crowd, but the bigger thing is that we got points out of it." Davenport also powered Ohio State on the offensive end, scoring a game-high 16 points on 7-for-li shooting. But the 6-foot-4 center wasn't the only Buckeye scoring in the post - Ohio State outscored Michigan 42-12 in the paint. The Buckeyes' outstanding bench play ensured that a Wolverine comeback would Losing is one thing, giving up is worse MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Freshman forward Ta'Shia Walker could not contain Buckeye center Jessica Davenport. not materialize. Detroit Country Day product Kim Wilburn provided an initial spark off the bench, scoring eight of her 10 points in a six-minute span in the first half. Senior Beth Howe picked up where Wilburn left off, scoring seven second-half points in just six minutes. "We've got some great players maybe not playing the minutes they would like," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "But they give great effort every day in practice, and when they get in the game, it's still there. And that makes us hard to play, I think." Despite the lopsided outcome, the Wolverines did manage to execute parts of their game plan. In the initial meeting between the two teams on Jan.. 11 at Crisler Arena, Ohio State senior Caity Matter blew up for 28 points. But last night, the Wolverines held her to just five points on 1-for-6 shooting. "We wanted to make sure to eliminate easy scoring looks for Caity Matter," Burnett said. "She torched us the first time in our place." STEPHANIE WRIGHT Wright on Target COLUMBUS - At the end of Michigan's 72-39 loss to Ohio State last night, it wasn't the margin of victory or the Wolverines' offensive struggles that upset me. It was their lack of heart. I expected the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes to control the game from the start. By any reasonable measure, Ohio State is a much better team than Michigan. But that statement hides the fact that games are often decided by emotion - a momentum-changing play or a team rallying around an injured teammate can change a game's entire outcome. Even an underdog looking to prove itself against the pick of the litter has a chance. On any given night, a bad team can beat a good team, even on the road. But as the lopsided score indicates, nothing like that happened last night. While it might have been improbable for Michigan to beat Ohio State, it was absolutely possible for the Wolverines to be competitive. After all, they were tied with the Buckeyes after 14 minutes in the teams' first meeting in January. But a lot has changed for Michigan since then. It has suffered, and will continue to suffer, through a tough Big Ten schedule where it has to play six of the top seven teams twice and the three worst teams (exclud- ing Michigan) just once each. Being so consistently overmatched has clearly taken its toll on the Wolver- ines. Fourteen minutes into the first half last night, they were down by 14 points. That margin was significant; there's no denying that it's hard for a struggling team like Michigan to fight back against a team that's battling to be the best in the nation. But it's how dejected Michigan was that hurt it the most. Running to the locker room at half- time, every single Wolverine had her head down and a deflated look on her face. I can't blame them for being dis- heartened. I would be too if my team was losing by 19 points at the half. But I'd like to think that, instead of giving up, I would try to be competitive at least. When the going gets tough for Michi- gan, its toughness disappears. This team doesn't have the depth, the size or the experience to win unless it outhustles and outworks its opponents. That kind of effort is not dependent on talent. After the game, Ohio State's Brandi Hoskins said the best thing about her team is that it never stops trying, even when it has built an insurmountable lead. For the Wolverines right now, it's not a matter of can't. It's a matter of not believing they can. In its past three games, against three ranked opponents, Michigan has done what it always does - stay close for a while and then fall apart. Even last night, the Wolverines were down by just four points midway through the first half. But then the other side of their pat- tern kicks in. Once they're down, they're out. Of course Michigan's youth and limited rotation play a role. But even more important is how it seems to just give up. Not that I should talk. I gave up on this game at the end of the first half and spent the next 17 minutes trying to pay as little attention to this blowout as possible. But then I realized that I was doing exactly what I wanted to tell Michigan not to do. I watched the final three minutes of the game as carefully as I had watched the first 20. All I saw was a group of players running a half-step slower than usual. And after the final buzzer sounded, they walked to the locker room with their heads held even lower than at halftime. Kelly Helvey applauded her team- mates for sticking together in the final minutes of games, no matter how lop- sided the score. And from everything I've seen, that's true. But there's a differ- ence between supporting each other and believing in each other. The Wolverines are a close-knit group of players. But in recent games, they haven't stopped themselves from getting down when their opponents build a large lead. And once they're down, they don't have the heart to come back. If Michigan could have turned its dejection into determination, maybe I would have missed something by not watching the game. Last night, the only thing I missed was even greater disappointment. Stephanie Wright can be reached at smwr@umich.edu. 6 0 MEN'S BASKETBALL Cagers confident despite losses By Eric Ambinder Daily Sports Editor In seven games against top-25 teams this season - the Wolverines dropped five of those contests - they lost by an average words, the mindset of the Michigan teams that lost on the road to unranked Purdue (1-8, 6-15) by 29 points and to Ohio State The Michigan men's basketball has dropped seven straight conference games. Despite the Wolverines' recent losing streak, guard Daniel Horton's legal trou- bles and dropping nine of their past ten games against Michigan State, the Wol- verines' confidence level is unexpectedly high going into tomorrow's game against the Spartans. After losing 57-51 to No. 1 Illinois on Tuesday, maybe Michigan should be confident. The Wolverines (3-7 Big Ten, 12-12 overall) has played its best basketball against superior opponents. of just eight points. If the 31- point blowout to then-No. 4 Georgia Tech earlier in the year is disregarded, the margin shrinks to just four points per game. "We competed very hard and very well against the nation's best team," Michi- gan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I am hoping that, TOMORROW No. 13 Michigan State at Michigan 4:00 p.m. Crisler Arena ESPN (5-5, 16-8) by 26 points will not show up at Crisler Arena tomorrow against the No. 13 Spartans. "We know that we have to go and take them out," freshman Ron Coleman said. "It's a big rivalry. They showed us that they could play hard at Breslin. We've got to show them they are possessions with good shot selections will keep it competitive with Michigan State. Amaker said he expects the crowd to be a factor. "My wife told how she thought the Maize Rage was phenomenal (against Illinois)," Amaker said. "I usually get feedback like that from her. I thought our crowd was terrific. We are going to need it on Saturday." Amaker said "nothing has changed" regarding Horton's status. Horton remains suspended indefinitely. "I knew he was going to court after the Illinois game, so I did kind of look at it as if he could return against Michigan State," Harris said. "We are behind him, and I think he knows we are behind him." I within the realm of our program and our players, we have the confidence to know we stood toe-to-toe (with Illinois). If the Wolverines take heed of Amaker's coming into our house now, and it's going to be a different ballgame." Michigan hopes that limiting turnovers, starting better to each half and having solid I Nystrom feels right at Omaha By Ryan Sosin Daily Sports Writer Omaha has always been very good to Michigan captain Eric Nystrom. He scored his first collegiate goal there - against Providence - and tallied his first game winner there as well. Nystrom also garnered THIS V one of the three CCHA Rookie of the Week __ vlic awards he earned his freshman year during Michigan's series against Nebraska-Omaha. When No. 6 Michigan (17-3-2 CCHA, 20-7-3 overall) and Nebraska- Omaha (11-8-3, 15-10- 3) play this weekend at Nebraska 8:05 p.m. 8:05 p.m. Qwest Cent Omaha think that's one of the reasons he's had such success." Nystrom's first career goal came in Nebraska - playing in the Mav- erick Stampede tournament against then-No. 6 Providence - when he scored a key goal to maintain a sus- tainable lead in Michi- gan's 6-3 win. EEKEND One night after Nys- trom assisted Ortmeyer thigan at on a game-tying-goal, -Omah Ortmeyer picked off a . Friday, puck in overtime and Saturday set Nystrom up for the ter Omaha first of his three career , Neb. game-winning goals against the Mavericks. "Jed and I are simi- lar type of players," Nystrom said. "These are the type of games we love to play in. ... He ,would always play well, and because of that, I just fed off of him, and we made the plays together." Nystrom and the Michigan offense need a big weekend to fend off the second-place Ohio State Buckeyes. Following a pair of ties with Michi- gan State, the Wolverines have just a one-point lead over Ohio State in the CCHA standings. The fourth- place Mavericks will also look to usurp Northern Michigan for third place in the conference. The last matchup came in the opening round of the CCHA Tour- nament, when Michigan took the three-game series, 2-1, following a comeback in the final stanza of the deciding game. "When they weren't supposed to be a good team - at the end of last year - I thought that's when their team was at their best," Berenson said. "In the series here, they played their best hockey, in that three game series" the Qwest Center, it will mark the final trip for Nystrom to the cornhusker state. Last year, the Wolverines edged out the regular season set 3-1-1. "It's nice to come back to a place where you know you've played well and have some confidence," Nystrom said. "That's always a bonus." Nystrom has three game-winning goals as part of his team-leading 11 points versus this week's opponent. "I love the style of play they have," Nystrom said. "It's a hard working, physical game; and those are the games I feel I can excel in." Part of his success came in thanks to his former linemate, Jed Ortmey- er. Ortmeyer, a former Wolverine captain, is a native of Omaha and, like Nystrom, seemed to pick up his game when the Wolverines squared off against Nebraska-Omaha. "Ortmeyer was the leader on this team, but when we went into Omaha, it was like he put this team on his back," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "They'd be running at (Ortmeyer), and he'd run right over them. I think Nystrom picked It's all here. Four incredible peaks. Four fantastic parks. Four awesome pipes.Throw in brilliant blue sky days, plenty of powder, and a happening, Victorian town 1(2 I I