8A - Thursday, January 25, 2007

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Fast start not enough for
lue inloss to the aders

BEN SIMON/Daily
Sophomore Andrew Cogliano represented his country well while curling in
Alaska with his teamrnmeates.
Icers bond
over curling
ByAMBERCOLVIN "He was terrible," sophomore
Daily Sports Writer Andrew Cogliano said. "I think he
was the worst on the team."
Jack Johnson might have been Cogliano, the only other Cana-
drafted third overall in the 2005 dian, was the first overall pick in
NHL Entry Draft, but last Thurs- the draft.
day was a different story. The Woodbridge, Ontario,
As the Wolverines went round native found it funny that he was
by round selecting their team- No. 1, since he had never curled
mates for an on-ice competition, before.
the sophomore defenseman was But his rookie status didn't pre-
left waiting to hear his name vent Cogliano from representing
called. his country in style. Unlike Lebler,
Alternate captain Jason Dest Cogliano lived up to the expecta-
finally selected Johnson in the tions put on Canadians by helping
final round of the mock draft. Even his team get close in its 3-2 loss.
though he had a team to play on "Cogliano was definitely a pro,"
now, it wasn't time for Johnson curling teammate Travis Turnbull
to grab a stick and puck. For this said.
game, he would need a rock and a Michigan has played Alaska on
broom. the road three times over the past
The Michigan hockey team was four seasons, so for many of the
about to bond over a game of curl- seniors, this was their third trip
ing. Last weekend's four-day trip to Fairbanks. The team has gone
to Fairbanks for a series against curling on each of those trips.
Alaska left a lot of time to build "It's my third time doing it, and
team unity. I don't think I've improved one
While curling, the Wolverines bit," Dest said. "But I still had a
got to have some fun along with blast every time I did it."
healthy competition - and those Before curling, the Wolverines
picked last in the draft had the went to see the Trans-AlaskaPipe-
opportunity to prove themselves. line, an 800-mile-long connection
"Jack Johnson actually did pret- that transfers oil from Prudhoe
ty good," Dest said. "I didn't expect Bay to a port in Valdez.
it. I picked him up in the last round A few players also joined coach
of the draft, but he ended up com- Red Berenson on a two-mile walk
ing through for me." from the hotel to the Carlson Cen-
Dest's first pick also surprised ter for practice on Thursday in
him, but not in a good way. sub-zero temperatures.
Many players thought the Cana- Many said that just being in
dians on the team would be natu- Alaska was a thrill, but winning
rally good curlers, considering that both games against the Nanooks
the sport is one of Canada's most probably didn't hurt the warm
beloved activities. feelings about the trip.
With that in mind, Dest picked "We know what we were going
freshman Brian Lebler first. But for: win a couple games and get the
the senior defenseman's strategy sweep," Cogliano said. "I think we
based on nationality didn't exactly did that really well and along the
pan out, as Lebler failed to score a way, we did a good job of coming
point for his team. together as a team."
universi y unions-
almost as good as
[we're here when you need us.]
H University
Unions

By DANIEL LEVY
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - Michigan couldn't
have hoped for a better start in its
attempt to upset No. 2 Wisconsin.
A 9-0
lead. MICHIGAN 58
Wis- WISCONSIN 71
consinstar
Alando
Tucker sidelined with foul trou-
ble.
But it didn't matter.
What started as a dream quickly
turned into a nightmare for Michi-
gan at the Kohl Center. The Bad-
gers responded to the Wolverines'
opening jab with a knockout punch
en route to a 71-58 win that left the
Badgers in first place in the Big
Ten.
"I don't know (why the wheels
came off)," Michigan center
Courtney Sims said. "We started
just turning over the ball."
Michigan committed 12 first-
halfturnovers, allowing Wisconsin
to take a 33-26 lead at the break.
It got uglier from there.
The Badgers built a 24-point
second-half lead on the way to
their 16th straight victory.
Michigan committed seven
more turnovers for a total of 19
compared to just 11 assists.
Forward Brent Petway fouled
out in just 12 minutes of action and
received a technical foul on his
way to the bench.
Sophomore Jerret Smith was
taken down (and stayed down) on
a screen that his teammates failed
to warn him about.
And the Badgers student sec-
tion serenaded the Wolverines to
chants of "NIT."
Wisconsin (6-0 Big Ten, 20-1
overall) opened the second half
with three straight scores thanks to

the return of Tucker. The reigning
Big Ten Player of the Year scored in
the post and off an inbound feed for
four of his 13 second-half points.
Then Tucker took a rebound
coast-to-coast to set up Brian
Butch for a lay-up, opening up a
double-digit lead.
"Obviously, with Tucker, they
are something special," Michigan
coach Tommy Amaker said.
Butch was a problem for Michi-
gan all night. He led the way for
Wisconsin with seven points in
the first half while Tucker sat out.
Butch continued taking it to the
Wolverine defense in the second
half, outmaneuvering Petway in
the short time the Michigan senior
was on the floor.
"It's tough to cover a big man
who can step out and shoot the
jumpshot," Petway said of Butch,
who finished the game with a
team-high 16 points (tied with
Tucker). "We tried to get up on him
defensively, but he did a good job."
Michigan (4-2,16-5) got off to its
hot start thanks to five points and
an assist from point guard Dion
Harris. But things fell apart for the
Wolverines when Harris picked up
his second foul.
Michigan scored just one field
goal in a 5:32 span and failed to
open up a lead, even though Tuck-
er played just five minutes in the
first half.
During the drought, Wisconsin
broke open a nine-point advan-
tage. Sims's nine first-half points,
punctuated with back-to-back
dunks to finish the stanza, kept the
game from getting out of hand at
the break. The senior finished with
a team-high 16 points but also led
the team with seven turnovers.
Despite struggling on offense
without Harris, Amaker elected
to keep his senior floor leader on

0,

O%

Senior Courtney Sims is smothered while attempting to take a shot at Wisconsin
last night. But Sims led Michigan with 16 points for the night.
the bench for the remainder of the But Michigan didn't show any
half. more positive signs after the break.
"We didn't lose control of the The Wolverines put up little resis-
basketball game (with Harris out)," tance during another road loss -
Amaker said. "We were able to stay Michigan is 2-4 away from Crisler
within striking distance without this season - and now must find a
Dion. ... I thought that was a good wayto regroup for Saturday'sgame
sign going into halftime." in Bloomington.

0

Balihandling fiunks in road test

By MARK GIANNOTTO
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - It's tough enough to try to win
in an arena where the home team has lost just
five times in six years.
It's even tougher when NOTEBOOK
you commit 19 turnovers.
But that's exactly what
Michigan attempted to do last night at the Kohl
Center against No. 2 Wisconsin.
And as expected, the Wolverines could not
overcome all those giveaways.
"There really is no excuse for (the turnovers),"
senior Lester Abram said. "You can't turn the
ball over on the road, and that's what we talked
about before we even played the game. The No.
1 thing was to take care of the ball, and we just
didn't do that."
After jumping out to an early 9-0 lead, Michi-
gan watched it literally slip between its fingers.
The ensuing 9-0 Wisconsin run that tied the
game was more a result of the Wolverines' silly
mistakes than a Wisconsin offensive outburst.
Michigan committed four turnovers on its
next five possessions and allowed the Badgers
and their crowd back into the game. In the first
half, the Wolverines turned the ball over 12
times.
It didn't help that the Badgers turned up the
defensive intensity after giving up an early lead
in their own building.
Wisconsin's defenders made life miserable
for Michigan's perimeter and post players, pres-

suring the balall over the court
What m adthe turnoversWarse waswho
committed them. Seniors Dion Harris, Courtney
Sims and Abram lost the ball 15 times amongst
themselves.
"We lost our poise once we got down," Sims
said. "We weren't careful with the ball, and obvi-
ously that's something we need to work on."
It's about time: The Big Ten season had not
been kind to Sims.
Coming out of the nonconference portion of
Michigan's schedule, the Boston native led the
team in scoring, averaging nearly 14 points per
game.
But since the conference slate began, that
average had dipped to just 12 points per game.
In those five Big Ten contests, Sims averaged
just 6.6 points per game, making it more sur-
prising to see him come out of his scoring shell
in a hostile environment like the Kohl Center.
Sims was one of just two Wolverines to score
in double digits, notching 16 points on 5-of-8
shooting from the field. He was also 6-of-7 from
the free throw line.
"Today, they weren't really doubling me and
(were) playing one-on-one," Sims said. "I could
just go to work, and my teammates were feeding
me the ball."
In prior games, teams had employed double
teams and zones to counteract Sims's post pres-
ence.
I wanna go home: Every coach in the Big Ten
preaches it week inand weekoutin theirrespec-
tive press conferences.

With each team trying to hold serve at home,
winning on the road is no easy task.
And following last night's drubbing at the
Kohl Center, the Wolverines fell to 1-2 away
from Crisler Arena in conference play this sea-
son.
But for Amaker, the woes go much deeper.
Last night, Amaker's record away from
Crisler Arena dropped to 12-31 in conference
play during his six years at the helm of Michi-
gan basketball.
If you take out wins over perennial Big Ten
doormats Penn State and Northwestern out of
the equation, Amaker has just four conference
wins on the road.
Injury report: Midway through the second
half, sophomore Jerret Smith collided at mid-
court with Wisconsin forward Marcus Landry
and didn't return to the game.
The Romulus native ran into a screen from
Landry that he never saw coming, and immedi-
ately fell to the floor in pain. After laying on the
court for several minutes, he was taken to-the
locker room by the training staff.
At his post-game press conference, Amaker
would not speculate on Smith's status, but in
the locker room, a Michigan player reported the
guard had been taken to the hospital for further
tests.
This could be a potentially damaging blow
for the Wolverines, as Smith was coming off
two of the best performances of his career in
Michigan's wins over Penn State and Purdue
last week.

0

S