8 - Friday, January 5, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Senior wing Lester Abram was Michigan's leading scorer in a 71-61 defeat of Ilinois. Cagers have to slam 'backdoor on Wilcats Crisler cruel to defeat By CHRIS HERRING Daily Sports Writer When Michigan women's basketball coach Cheryl Burnett reviews film of last night's game ILLINOIS 70 against Illinois, someone MICHIGAN 51 may have to tell her which part she's watching. The Wolverines had multiple stretches dur- ing the game where they couldn't score at one end or make stops at the other. Though Michigan put together a few good spurts in the middle of each half, Illinois proved too strong, handing the Wolverines a 70-51 loss at Crisler Arena. The defeat marked Michigan's fourth straight, and its 28th consecutive loss in the Big Ten, a streak dating back to the 2004-2005 season. After a Wolverine basket knotted the score at two, Illinois took the lead and never looked back. The Illini went on a15-4 run to open play and hit eight of their first 10 shots from the field. But Michigan quickly turned the tables. Following two Wolverine buckets, sophomore Melinda Queen hit a 3-pointer to bring her team within six, 21-15. That was as close as the Wolverines (7-9 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) would get the rest of the way. Illinois (12-3, 2-1) came back to life during the last five-and-a-half minutes of the opening period, scoring on five consecutive possessions going into the break. The Illini held Michigan to one basket during that span, closing the first half on an 11-2 run totake a 35-21 lead. According to Burnett, her team had more to do with the half's poor ending than Illinois did. "Our frustration is that when we get back into a game, our next two or three posses- sions are possessions where we just put our head down, which is totally opposite of what it should be," Burnett said. "We want to stay very aggressive, but let's make sure that we're making some good decisions once we get back in (the game)." Michigan looked better in the second half of their Big Ten home-operier, but poor shooting coupled with the Illini's defensive discipline doomed the Wolverines. Illinois came in com- mitting just 14 fouls a game - good for sixth best in the country. 9 By H. JOSE BOSCH Daily Sports Editor Winning the Big Ten opener. Check. Winning the Big Ten road open- er. TBD. Just three days after its sur- prisingly easy 71-61 victory over Illinois, the - Michigan Michigan at men's bas- Northwestern ketball team . will travel to Matchup: Evanston to Michigan 13-3-0; face peren- Northwestern nial confer- 10-4-0 ence doormat When: Saturday, Northwest- 2:32 p.m. (EST) ern tomorrow j Where: Evanston afternoon. LTV: ESPN-Plus But just as players must puta bad loss behind them, the Wolverines understand that it's just as important to look past a big win. "We just have to move on," junior Ron Coleman said Wednes- day night. "We got a good win here at home, and now we have to prepare for (Northwestern)." Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 13-3 overall) wants to avoid a repeat of what happened two years ago when the team last traveled to Evanston. Powered by now-graduated forward Vedran Vukusic, the Wildcats jumped out to a 28-4 lead in the opening 10 minutes en route to a 69-53 win. It was the first of three consecutive losses that ended Michigan's dismal 13- 18 season. "They were hitting everything, throwing alley-oops and making threes," senior Courtney Sims said following the Illinois win. "So it's going to be real tough. They are always real tough to play at home, so we have to set the tone just like today." The Wolverines relied heav- ily on the seniors to jumpstart the team and take control of the ball- game in the second half against the Illini. Seniors Dion Harris and Les- ter Abram scored a combined 46 points and contributed a combined 11 boards. Not to be outdone, Sims grabbed 10 rebounds and added eight points. Even with solid offensive pro- duction, Michigan has to play better defense to prevent another mauling by the Wildcats. "They're going to be in games all year because they run (their offense) untilyou make amistake," Petway said. "You just have to go into that game ready to guard (for) the whole shot clock if you have to. They're going to run it and turn the offense over and make you play defense the whole time." Coleman added that North- western uses the backdoor cut to score many of its baskets. He said that by stopping that, the Wolver- ines can slow down the Wildcats' offense. But Michigan has had trouble with similar offensive sets recently. On Dec.30 against Georgetown, the Hoyas abused Michigan with the backdoor cut, almost dou- bling the Wolverines in points in the paint. The Michigan defense never adjusted, and Georgetown cruised to an easy win. "We learned that we have to sit on top of (the cut)," Coleman said. "We have to have help- side defense, and that's the most important thing." But aside from taking care of business on the court, the Wol- verines also have to remain lev- elheaded for their first road test of the conference season. While Northwestern (0-1, 10-4) is far from a basketball powerhouse, during the Big Ten season, Welsh- Ryan Arena can be a tough place to play. It's smaller than most Big Ten basketball venues, giving it a high school feel. "The Big Ten is a competitive league and on any given night someone can lose," Coleman said. "We have to go out with the mind- set that we're not going to be one of those teams." A&9 Freshman LeQuisha Whitfield and her fellow Wolverines fell to Illinois last night in their Last night was no different, and the Wolver- ines failed to attempt a free throw until min- utes into the second period. Junior co-captain Janelle Cooper said her team must penetrate more to get to the charity stripe. "I don't think it was (Illinois) not fouling," Cooper said of Michigan's lack of free throws. "I think it was just us not being aggressive. If we were more aggressive, we'd be at the line a lot more." But it wasn't just the free throws. The Illini held the advantage in nearly every aspect of the game. They shot 53 percent (26-of-49) from the floor - nearly 20 percent better than the Wol- verines. Illinois also outrebounded Michigan 40-23. Still, the Wolverines still had a few bright spots. Freshman point guard Sireece Bass led the team in scoring for the first time, tallying a career-high 10 points. On the defensive end, sophomore Ashley Jones had a few big blocks, including one that found the front row in the second half. "We were working really hard at some points, and we got a couple blocks and couple steals," Jones said. "If we could just do that for 40 minutes, we'll definitely win ballgames." Burnett agreed, but said the Wolverines can't afford to perform the way they did against a team like Illinois. "We saw some good signs, but of course it's not what we need to beat a team that shoots 53 percent for the game." Bai~ley bai ls f or junior league 0 By JAMES V. DOWD Daily Sports Writer As much time as Michigan's hockey coaches spend drawing up the Xs and Os, they spend even more laying the foundation for recruiting success. One of the reasons for NOTEBOOK such a deep investment in the search for new players is a perpetual battle with Canadian junior leagues, namely the Ontario Hockey League, for the top talents in the Great Lakes Region and in Ontario. Over winter break, the Wolver- ines found this competition con- tinues even after a player comes to Michigan when former sopho- more Jason Bailey left Ann Arbor to sign with the OHL's Ottawa 67s. Bailey earned the respect of his teammates during his time at Michigan with his powerful skat- ing and physical presence, but failed to score a point during the first half of the season. Even when he went through tough times, Bailey kept a positive attitude and was well liked by his teammates. "Off the ice, he was a good kid," Michigan captain Matt Hunwick said. "I liked to have him around the locker room. He was pretty loose, and he was pretty fun to be around. "On the ice, he struggled a little bit, so the game wasn't as much fun as it used to be." The change seems sensible for Bailey, as his powerful style is bet- ter suited for the Canadian junior leagues. The OHL in particular has been a haven for power for- wards, whereas the college game tends to cater to smaller finesse players. Bailey has notched three points on two goals and an assist in his first three games with the 67s. The move also brought Bailey closer to home, friends and fam- ily, as he hails from Nepean, Ont., which is less than 10 miles from Ottawa. Quite a Turn-around: While Bailey couldn't bounce back from his early season statistical strug- gles, sophomore Travis Turnbull has found his stride after notch- ing just two points in Michigan's first 17 games. Since teaming up with senior T.J. Hensick and junior Kevin Porter on Michigan's top line for the first time against Notre Dame on Dec. 8, Turnbull has compiled a four-game point streak, with three goals and three assists over that time. During last week's Great Lakes Invitational, Turnbull contin- ued his hot streak, scoring a goal against both Michigan Tech in the Wolverines' 4-1 semifinal vic- tory, and another against Michi- gan State in Michigan's 4-1 loss in the title game. "I think that the chance to play with (Hensick) and Porter got me excited," Turnbull said. "I just worked hard, a couple things went right and my confidence has built from there." With the eventual return of sophomore Andrew Cogliano, who will skate for Canada in today's gold medal game at the World Junior Championships, Turnbull is aware his spot in the lineup may shift once again. But this time, Turnbull can rely on his newfound confidence to help him regardless of his linemates. Over-engineered: During the GLI Championship game, both Michigan and Michigan State skated in new, lighter jerseys pro- duced by Nike for holiday tourna- ments all over the country. Releases from Nike adver- tised the jerseys spent 44 hours in wind-tunnel testing and were credited with allowing players to carry at least 200 pounds less dur- ing the course of a game. Much to the chagrin of Nike representatives at the tournament and Michigan State's athletic media relations personnel, the jerseys apparently had little effect in the Spartans' dominant victory over the Wolverines. "I didn't really notice much of a difference," Michigan State for- ward Bryan Lerg said. 0 0 Targetless, Blue begins season By COLT ROSENSWEIG Daily Sports Writer The captains are back. The target meet system has been scrapped. After a disappointing season that found the Wolverines watch- ing NCAA team finals from the stands, the Michigan men's gym- nastics team is getting back to basics - and hopefully its winning ways. This year's squad, led by cap- tains Justin Laury and Andrew Elkind, is primed both to avenge last April's eighth-place finish and disprove its No. 8 preseason national ranking. "If (last year's finish) isn't (good motivation), there's something really wrong," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "I would expect that they would get the same motivation out of their finish that football did out of their finish last year.... I think they're pretty much where they need to be." Last season, Michigan used the "target meet" system, in which the team used its top lineup only in certain competitions. Golder hoped that by using the other meets to rest key gymnasts, the whole team would be fresher at the end of the year. But the system also seemed to send the message that Michigan was not trying to win every meet. "We were going there to lose, instead of going there to win," assistant coach Scott Vetere said. "Obviously, if you want to win the meet, you're going to put your best lineup out. We weren't doing that, so the guys thought we were going there to lose." Now Michigan plans to field a consistently tough lineup for every event, barring injury. Though the floor exercise team is not as deep as in the past, it should still be able to post high scores. Due to rule changes devaluing all vaults, run- ning up points on that event will be difficult, but all collegiate teams will have to make this adjustment. The most dramatic turnaround will be on the pommel horse and parallel bars. These two events, both glaring weak points for the team last season, may become strengths. Both event squads will be bolstered by Laury, junior Paul Woodward and sophomore Ryan McCarthy - all returning from various injuries. In addition, three strong freshmen, Torrance Laury, Mel Santander and Joe Levine, should add solid scores. The freshman class has gener- ally been a source of pleasant sur- prises. Santander, a former junior national team member, originally planned to go to community col- lege near home in Massachusetts to continue training for the Olym- pics with his'club coach. But he changed his mind and committed to Michigan midsummer. Both he and Torrance Laury have a wealth of experience competing in impor- tant meets as veterans of Junior Olympic Nationals and the USA Championships. Then, about a month into the semester, a "secret weapon" basi- cally fell into the team's lap. Freshman Dave Chan, 21, spent the pasttwoyears servinghis man- datory two years in the Singapore military. He chose Michigan for its engineering curriculum, not even aware the University had a men's gymnastics team. After learning about the team, Chan just hoped to work out at the gym after his two-year gymnas- tics layoff. Once the coaches saw him on the equipment, they knew they had to have him. "Dave is the man," sophomore Phil Goldberg said. "This guy comes in from Singapore one day asking if he can work out, and he's really good! ... Some of the stuff I've seen him do is pretty amazing. I can definitely see him coming in this year and helping us." And while many people may be counting them out, the Michigan gymnasts' expectations for them- selves are as high as ever. "We have a lot of talent (and) we've all been putting in a lot of work," senior Aaron Rakes said. "I expect a lot of wins, and espe- cially a very big win at the end of the season." 0 603 E. LIBERTY ST. CALL (734) 668-TIME E . WWW.MICHTEATER.ORG