The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Thursday, December 7, 2006 - 8A
Cagers look for road win
By DANIEL BROMWICH
Daily Sports Writer
Any decent team should be able to win at
home.
There's the comfort of shooting on rims
that send balls on predictable caroms.
There's the home crowd that creates
momentum and provides motivation when
necessary.
And there's the possibility that the refs
will be intimidated by the environment and
shade calls the home team's way.
That's why the test of a good team has
always been whether it can win on the
road.
The Michigan basketball team gets a see-
ond chance to prove it is such a team tonight
when it travels to Oxford to take on the
Miami (OH) RedHawks at 8 p.m.
Its first opportunity didn't go as planned.
Facing North Carolina State in Raleigh in
the ACC/Big Ten Challenge last week, the
Wolverines fell 74-67 to a Wolfpack team
missing its best player. They trailed by 21
points in the middle of the second half.
But it wasn't all bad.
Michigan opened the game hot, leading
16-4 before North Carolina State began to
chip away. And staring at a large deficit with
just 11 minutes remaining in the game, the
Wolverines mounted a furious comeback
and had a chance to cut the lead to two late
in the game.
"We always come out ready to play, but
then we have a little dip in our play," junior
Ron Coleman said. "We just have to learn
how to sustain it."
Some of that inconsistency can be blamed
on the hostile environment. It was Mich-
igan's first road game this season, and the
raucous Wolfpack crowd was tough for
some of the Wolverines to handle. Fresh-
man Ekpe Udoh has said that he was very
nervous to play at the RBC Center.
As North Carolina State made its run, the
crowd became louder and more involved.
The pressure seemed to affect Michigan,
and its shots began to rim out.
"It shouldn't matter where we're at; we
should always play the same," sophomore
Jerret Smith said. "I think last time we got a
little shook up when things started turning
around. But I think we'll be all right. I think
shots weren't falling last road game."
But the Wolverines' struggles on the road
aren't just limited to their first road game of
this year.
Last season, six of Michigan's eight con-
ference losses came on the road, including
one at Purdue, which finished last in the
Big Ten. Michigan's only two road victories
came against Minnesota and Penn State,
which finished eighth and 10th in the con-
ference, respectively.
According to some Michigan players, the
struggles away from Crisler Arena can be
attributed to a lack of focus.
"We just have tobe ready to play 40 min-
utes, that's basically it," Smith said. "We
have to always be ready to play strong all
40 minutes, instead of having letdowns and
time gaps in the game."
But that wasn't the problem in the North
Carolina State game.
"If you want to be a truly good team, you
have to get some wins on the road," senior
captain Lester Abram said. "You can't just
win every game at home and expect to go
places. Until that point, we weren't really
playing that well as a basketball team. We
were getting wins, but after we won we
really didn't feel good about the way we
were winning."
After Michigan's dominating win over
Wofford on Saturday, the team started to
feel better about its play. Several players
noted that it was the first time the team had
played a complete 40 minutes, and Michigan
coach Tommy Amaker was visibly pleased
with the Wolverines' effort.
And given that the North Carolina State
loss came early in the season, it shouldn't be
too detrimental to the team's stated goal of
making the NCAA Tournament.
"If someone told you that you had nine
games, and that you had won eight, that's a
pretty good record to have," Amaker said.
Junior Ron Coleman and the Wolverines will try to even their road record tonight, in Oxford.
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