8 - Friday, January 26, 2007 P 4
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
ast start not
enough for'M'
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By ANDY REID out of the gate really confident. ...
Daily Sports Writer We came in with a very specific
gameplan, and I think we did a
MADISON - Apparently, the very good job of having our post
Michigan women's basketball help where it needed to help."
team didn't get the memo. With Michigan's fast start in
InWisconsin,basketballgames the post, the Badgers began to
last 40 collapse inside on defense. The
minutes. MICHIGAN 60 Wolverines responded with a
Last WISCONSIN 73 surprising barrage from long
night range.
was a classic tale of two halves, as Struggling all year from behind
the Wolverines folded against the the arc, Michigan lit it up from
Badgers after halftime, losing 73- downtown, scorching the nets on
60 at the Kohl Center. three consecutive possessions.
From the opening tip, the The Badgers, who had slowly
Wolverines were on the prowl, clawed back into the game, had
jumping out to a 14-6 lead before no answer for the flurry of tri-
Wisconsin could settle into the fectas, and Michigan ran into the
game. In those initial minutes, tunnel with a four-point lead.
the Michigan's post play looked Unfortunately for the Wolver-
smoother than it had all season, ines, they had to run back out of
with freshman Krista Phillips the locker room for another half.
and sophomore Carly Benson Picking up where Michigan
racking up points down low. left off in the first half, Wiscon-
The duo accounted for 10 of sin launched 3-pointers from the
Michigan's first 14 points. outset, sinking shot after shot.
Even though the Wolverines As the Badgers caught fire, the
has the size to compete in the Wolverines cooled down.
paint with any Big Ten team, they "At halftime we said, 'We have
have struggled all season to find to come out and play the same
ways to get the ball to their post way, have the same mindset,' "
players. Michigan coach Cheryl Minnfield said. "We started to
Burnett admits her team strug- slack at the beginning of the sec-
gles with post entry passes, but ond half, so that was the big dif-
don't tell that to sophomore Jes- ference in the game."
sica Minnfield. The point guard Michigan's post-passing prob-
tallied seven assists in the first lems grew as the game wore on.
half alone, finding Phillips near Michigan couldn't seem to find
the basket multiple times. Phillips down low - she didn't
Wisconsin came out playing make a field goal in the second
much more man-to-man defense half. And after a stellar passing
than the previous time these two performance in the first half,
teams faced off. This gave Phillips Minnfield had just one assist
an opportunity to use her height after the break.
to score points in the paint. Along with the slow start,
"I'm really proud of the first Wisconsin's ability to crash the
half," Burnett said. "Our kids offensive glass took a toll on
played really hard. They came Michigan.
ByDAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON-Lastnight,Wisconsin
played in its first game since return-
ing from winter break. The Badgers
looked antsy as
they shuffled NOTEBOOK
around dur-
ing the National Anthem. And when
Wisconsin scored the game's first four
points, Michigan seemed doomed to
have one of its infamous slow starts.
But the Wolverines responded with
a 12-0 run, benefiting from the inside
play of sophomore forward CarlyBen-
son and freshman center Krista Phil-
lips.
Still, a pair of wing players proved
the deciding factor in Michigan's
sustained strong play throughout the
half.
While Wisconsin was coming off
a break from classes, Michigan was
aided by a different kind of return.
Senior forward Kelly Helvey and
junior guard Janelle Cooper both
started for the first time in five games.
The veterans were instrumental in
the Wolverines' 32-28 halftime lead.
Cooper scored 10 points and grabbed
five rebounds in 20 first-half minutes.
Helvey played solid defense, notching
two steals.
"I'm really proud of especially the
first half," Michigan coach Cheryl.
Burnett said. "Our kids played really
hard, came out of the gate being very
confident."
ONE-TWO PUNCH: Michigan got
stronggamesout ofits startingguards,
Cooper and sophomore point guard
Jessica Minnfield.
The duo played a combined 77min-
utes.
Cooper led the team with 19 points
and eight rebounds, five on the offen-
sive glass. But Burnett saw much more
thanthat.
"I know you as media, as fans,
you'll look at her numbers, andshe has
a great line of what her performance
was," Burnettsaid. "But we as coaches
also look at the stats we like to keep
- defensive stats and screening stats
and all those other stats.
"Regardless of what her numbers
are (on the box score), she had a tre-
mendous game of what our coaches
would also tally. So you add both of
them together, and it's a great perfor-
mance."
Minnfield had eight assists and
was second on the team with seven
rebounds. She also bounced back from
three first-half turnovers with none in
the second frame.
PRESIING:Burnettbroughtinjunior
guard Krista Clement, sophomore
forwards Ashley Jones and Melinda
Queen and freshman guard Kalyn
McPherson with three minutes
remaining in the game. For Clement,
Jones and Queen, it was their first
action of the night.
The unit pressed the Badgers, and
Queen stole a pass but couldn't hit her
shot.
After a Wisconsin rebound, Michi-
gan backed off to set up its half-court
defense. But Burnett, with obvious
irritation, called the unit forward.
Burnett's urging worked. Wiscon-
sin point guard Rae Lin D'Alie was
trapped on her own baseline and
forced to call a timeout.
"I actually thought Wisconsin had
a couple of unforced errors just due
to our pressure," Burnett said. "Some
were forced. Sometimes we have to
get the rightkids out there to be agood
pressingteam.
As Burnett made frequent substitu-
tions in the game's closing minutes,
Michigan continued to press.
But the Wolverines often ended up
fouling Wisconsin in the backcourt,
and the Badger free-throw shooting
was solid enough to send Michigan
homewith aloss.
0
DEREK BLUMKE/Daily
Junior Janelle Cooper led Michigan was 19 points. Cooperalso posted eight
rebounds in the Big Ten loss at Wisconsin.
"Blocking out still plagues us," during the early minutes of the
Burnett said. "We felt like we second stanza.
blocked out well enough in the Michigan's solid final minutes
first half. In the second half, we'd could give the Wolverines plenty
guard them for 29 seconds, they'd ofmomentumgoinginto Sunday's
get a contested shot, and then game against Indiana.
they'd get an offensive rebound. But this loss is still going to
I really think that made the dif- hurt for a while.
ference." "We wanted to remember the
Although the slow second-half first game (against Wisconsin),"
start effectively ended Michi- Burnett said. "We wanted to
gan's chances to pull out a win, prove that the end of that game
the team never gave up down the wasn't the way it should have
stretch. occurred. We wanted to use that
Implementing an aggressive as motivation. ... This was a great
press, the Wolverines chipped opportunity for us to come out
away the Wisconsin lead built with a win, but we didn't."
MEN'S BASKETBALL
No road rest for Cagers as they enter Bloomington
By MARK GIANNOTTO
Daily Sports Writer
Having just one person abso-
lutely despise you is hard.
Having thousands hate you
- well, that's just downright mis-
erable.
And that's exactly what life on
the road is like in the Big Ten. The
Michigan men's basketball team
learned that lesson the hard way
on Wednesday night when it fell to
No. 2 Wisconsin, 71-58, in Madi-
son.
But the Wolverines have no time
to stew over the loss. Michigan
faces another road test tomorrow
when it travels
to Blooming- Michigan at
ton to take on Indiana
No. 23 Indi- Matchup:
ana. Michigan 16-5;
The loss Indiana 14-5
to the Bad- When: Saturday
gers dropped at noon
Michigan to Where: Bloom-
2-4 from ington, lid.
24away fom TV/Radio:
Crisler Arena N
this sea-
son. With the Wolverines firmly
entrenched on the NCAA Tourna-
ment bubble, Saturday represents
another opportunity to capture
the elusive marquee road victory
- the one that impresses the tour-
nament selection committee come
March.
"I think it would be big as a pro-
gram and as a team to go in on the
road, knowing we haven't had as
great as success on the road as we
should have," senior Dion Harris
said.
To defeat the Hoosiers, Michi-
gan (4-2 Big Ten, 16-5 overall)
must limit the silly turnovers that
have plagued it in each loss this
season.
On Wednesday night, the Wol-
verines committed 19 turnovers,
including 12 in the first half. The
mistakes derailed Michigan after
it jumped out to a 9-0 lead.
The veterans were the biggest
culprits. The seniors - Harris,
Lester Abram, Courtney Sims and
Brent Petway - accounted for all
but three of the giveaways.
"We need to keep our poise and
not turn the ball over," Sims said
followinghis 16-point, seven-turn-
over effort on Wednesday night. "I
think if we eliminate that, we'll
be fine. When we're winning and
playing well, we aren't turning the
ball over and executing what we
do in practice."
The Wolverines must perform
better than they did against the
Badgers, because Indiana (4-2, 14-
5) is no walk in the park - not by
a long shot.
Before their road loss to Illinois
onTuesday,theHoosiershadreeled
off five straightvictories, including
wins over Michigan State, Purdue
and at Connecticut. To make mat-
ters worse, Michigan has not won
at Assembly Hall since 1996.
Because of the late finish at the
Kohl Center on Wednesday night,
Michigan's time to devise a strat-
egy for coach Kelvin Sampson's
squad is limited.
"It's kind of hard to prepare for
the future when you are prepar-
ing so hard for Wisconsin," Abram
said.
The decisive matchup in tomor-
row's contest should be the battle
inside. Indiana features junior
forward D.J. White, who averages
more than 14 points per game and
leads the Big Ten in blocked shots.
The Wolverines' trio of for-
wards - Sims, Petway and fresh-
man Ekpe Udoh - will likely be
called on to neutralize White. If
Michigan double-teams him, it
opens up room for Hoosier guard
Roderick Wilmont, a dynamic 3-
point shooter.
Most important, the Wolverines
must right the ship or risk watch-
ing their Big Ten title hopes - and
NCAA Tournament dreams - slip
away for a ninth-consecutive sea-
son.
"Listen, we are in the middle of
the conference race," Amaker said
after Wednesday's loss. "We came
here in second place (in the Big
Ten), and we're going to be fine.
Just because we didn't play well
tonight, we aren't ready to tank
our basketball team. We aren't. We
are going to go back and compete.
We're going to go to Bloomington
and see if we can get a win there."
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