Thursday February 23, 2006 sports. michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily.com Weight loss key to Smith's reurence B -Kevin Wright Daily Sports Editor PRle IdCQgaTS Fil 40 8A 'M' can't prepare too much for State By David Murray Daily Sports Writer Eeyore can sympathize with them. With their most recent loss to Iowa on Sunday, the Michigan's women's basketball team has dropped 14 con- secutive Big Ten games. If that isn't disheartening enough, dating back to last year, the Wolverines have just one Something was missing from Michigan's line- up on Tuesday night. Tep pounds to be exact. Freshman Jerret Smith returned for his first home game since the.Wolverines defeated Wis- consin on Jan. 28 after dropping 10 pounds from his battle with mono. "I feel a lot better now that my weight's back down," Smith said. "It (helps) my confidence a lot more. This is my typical weight." The freshman sat out four straight games due to a concussion and then for mono. Then, last Saturday, Smith suited up for the Wolverines' contest against Michigan State. But he was still regaining his game conditioning. Smith played 18 minutes and recorded two points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field. But Tuesday night against Illinois, Smith looked like the floor leader off the bench that Michigan sorely missed. "Jerret Smith gave us a tremendous game," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I com- plimented him in the locker room in front of the whole team. I thought his minutes off the bench were sensational. He really played with poise beyond his years." Smith contributed nine points in 15 minutes of pla.y, but his court vision had the greatest impact in the Wolverines' victory. With Michigan clinging to a three-point lead midway through the second half, Smith pushed the ball to halfcourt. From there, he zipped a pass toa .wide-open Brent Petway under the basket, whofinished the play with an emphatic dunk. He gave us big minutes, especially just han- dki the ball, passing to guys and penetrating," Petway said. "He gave us big minutes off the bench." Smiith struck again after Illinois' James Augustine hit a free throw, cutting the Michi- gan°jlead to one with four minutes left in the game. As the shot clock dipped below 10 sec- onds, the freshman took the ball at the top of the key and drove to the lane. At the block, he win in their last 30 Big Ten games. And the Wolver- ines are so desperate for SAT' players to fill their injury- stricken roster they have. added volleyball .playersM and walk-ons just to field a full team. 7 Now, to add insult to all Crisi of its injuries, Michigan. hosts Big Ten powerhouse No. 14 Michigan State tonight. In the Wolverines' last outing against the Green and White, the Spartans' full- court pressure bullied the Wolverines into 29 turnovers and a 33-point road drubbing. "We practiced against (pressure) a lot at practice," sophomore captain Krista Clement said. "I think that (game) was early on in the Big Ten season, where people might not have wanted to come and catch the ball. We were really timid. We've changed since then." The Wolverines are accustomed to change. Michigan has had six differ- ent starting lineups since it last faced Michigan State. In fact, every player on the roster, excluding the recent additions, has started at least one game. On the other hand, Michigan State seniors Liz Shimek and Lindsey Bowen have been the epitome of con- sistency during this Big Ten this sea- son. They have started in all 28 games for the Spartans. For Michigan to halt its Big Ten struggles Thursday, it must contain the two All-American candi- dates. Together, the duo averages just 1.4 points less than the entire Wolver- ines current starting five. "Their starting lineup is pretty lethal, with them having two very spe- ru a ic )01 ;l r a cial seniors," Michigan coach Cherryl Burnett said. "We have to be able to guard them, and I think their whole starting lineup. You can't have too much of a gameplan to stop somebody, because they can all score." While Michigan State ranks third in points per game in the Big Ten (68.7), and the Wolverines are last (57.9). Although Michigan has had difficulty scoring as a team, individual players 1RDAY have stepped up to carry the scoring burden each .htgt, State game. During Michi- gan's last game, a 67-55 loss to Iowa, freshman pm 11point guard Jessica Min- Arena nfield poured in a career- high 20 points. In the previous game, against Purdue, sophomore shooting guard Janelle Cooper recorded a career-high 17 points. Career-highs are nice, but a notch in the win column would be better. With just one player shouldering the offensive load, opposing defenses have forced that one player to try to single- handedly win the game, while shutting down Michigan's other players. "We've been talking about team chemistry the past couple of days," Minnfield said. "We said earlier that we can't have just one person stepping up and having 15 or 20 points a game. It's all about team chemistry, and we have to work hard in each game." The Spartans are headed to the NCAA Tournament in March, but the Wolverines will need a miraculous run at the Big Ten Tournament to claim a spot in the "Big Dance." This doesn't, mean that the game against Michigan State will have no effect on their sea-' son. The Wolverines want to prove that they are a different team than the one that was embarrassed in East Lan- sing on Jan. 1. "(Thursday's game) is our opportunity to perform better at the things that when we were so young, so long ago, at the beginning of the Big Ten season (we did poorly)," Burnett said. "We need to now show the maturity of our execution." RYAN WEINER/Daily Ten pounds lighter after battling a case of mono, Jerret Smith looked sharp against Illinois. changed his shot into a pass right to the hands of junior Courtney Sims. Sims, who was positioned for the rebound, took the ball, slammed it home and drew a foul on Brian Randle. He made the ensuing free throw to give Michigan a four-point lead. "I was trying to get rebounding position just in case he shot it," Sims said. "I just looked before I turned because Jerret's a real good passer. Sometimes, he makes tricky passes, and you won't even expect it." During Smith's absence from the court, his weight dropped from the 200-pounds he started the season with to his new weight of 190 pounds. "I want to get back down to 185 because I feel a lot better," Smith said. "My legs feel there, my explosiveness feels there. I feel so much better. I'm happy I'm losing all that weight." NOTES: Before the game Tuesday night, the team announced that reserve center Amadou Ba would be suspended for one and a half games following a confrontation with a Michigan State fan in East Lansing on Saturday. "It's unfortunate that the incident before the game happened," Ba said. "I'm really sorry about it, but we just have to move on right now." a