The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 5B

CRASHING THE BOARDS

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Dion Harris
The senior guard was about the only Wol-
verine who seemed not to be shellshocked
by the raucous Mackey Arena crowd. He fin-
ished with 21 points, shooting 7-of-14 from
the floor and hit three 3-pointers. Unfortu-
nately, Harris had just two assists and com-
mitted three turnovers.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE x
"We're very disappointed. This
was abig game for us. We could
have been 3-0 in the Big Ten."
- Senior COURTNEY SIMS on Saturday's loss.
PURDUE 67 - MICHIGAN 53

SATURDAY'S GAME
Purdue 67

Player

MINM9'KAI OT IAIFIPTS

watt 25 2-4 0-2 1-4 2 1 4
Landry 30 9-14 4-6 3-7 1 2 22
Teague 34 8-10 1-2 1-4 2 2 21
Kramer 25 1-3 1-2 1-2 3 4 3
Grant 25 1-3 2-2 1-1 1 3 5
Lutz 20 1-4 0-0 0-1 3 2 2
Riddell 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Crump 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 3 2 2
Green 17 1-4 0-0 0-3 0 2 2
Uchendu 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Hartley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Vandervieren 9 2-2 2-2 0-1 1 0 6
TEAM TALS 200 26-46 10-16 7-23 16 19 67
FG%: 56.5 FT%: 62.5 3-point FG: 5-13, .385 (Teague 4-
5, Grant 1-3, Green 0-1, Kramer 0-1, Lutz 0-2, Watt 0-1).
Blocks: 2 (Crump, Vandervieren). Steals: 5 (Kramer 3,
Teague, Watt). Turnovers: 12 (Kramer 3, Grant 2, Green 2,
Teague 2, Landry, Riddell, Watt). Technical fouls: None.
Michigan 53

WILDCATS
From page 1B
Taking advantage of Michigan's
decision to collapse on Landry
inside, the senior shot 4-for-5 from
behind the are. Teague finished
the half with 16 points, three com-
ing on a shot from well behind the
3-point line in the final seconds of
the opening stanza. Landry added
13, and the Boilermakers went into
the locker room- with a 15-point
advantage.
"I told our guys, 'I don't care
if we get beat by 50 points, we're
coming through David Teague and
Carl Landry,' " Purdue coach Matt
Painter said.
The Boilermakers (2-2 Big Ten,
13-5 overall) had previously lost
to the likes of Indiana State and
Minnesota this season - both
on the road. But Michigan never
really posed a threat to the Pur-
due, which improved to 11-0 on its
home floor on the year.
The Wolverines (2-1,14-4) made
their only move early in the second
half, trailing 46-32. Two Michigan
steals led to easy lay-ups for Ron
Coleman and Dion Harris. The
Wolverines found Courtney Sims

inside on their next two posses-
sions to cut the deficit to six.
But that was as close as Michi-
gan got. Landry muscled up a lay-
up underneath the basket to spark
an 8-3 Purdue run to push the lead
to 11. The Wolverines failed to
make another run, in part because
of their 17 turnovers, and Purdue
coasted to the victory.
"It's real disappointing," Michi-
ganguard Dion Harris said. "Espe-
cially when we came out good, and
then, in the second half we were
able to cut it down to six. But we
weren't able to get the lead and
obviously win the game."
Michigan appeared to be in con-
trol at first. The Wolverines took
an 8-2 lead with two Ron Coleman
3-pointers. After the second went
down, Harris gave a fist pump that
seemed to show Michigan had
come to play.
But the excitement didn't last
long. Purdue responded with a 20-
5 run of its own, as Landry and the
Boilermakers were simply too much
for the Wolverines to handle.
"They put us on our heels,
and we got in a big hole," Michi-
gan coach Tommy Amaker said.
"Climbing uphill like that the
majority of the game is a very dif-
ficult position to be in."

Player

MINIMAM A OT AIF IPTS I

Petway 24 2-4 3-4 2-5 0 4 7
Coleman 31 2-3 0-0 0-4 2- 0 6
Abram 37 3-9 2-5 2-6 3 1 9
Sims, C. 22 2-3 0-0 0-1 0 4 4
Harris 34 7-14 4-4 0-1 2 1 21
Smith 16 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Baker 12 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Udoh 12 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 4 2
Sims, D. 12 1-3 2-3 0-0 0 1 4
TEAM TOTALS 200 18-42 11-16 5-19 7 17 53

BEN SIMON/Daily
Senior Courtney Sims pulled down ust one rebound during Saturday's loss to Purdue.

FG%: 42.9 FT%: 68.8 3-point FG: 6-13,462 (Harris 3-6, Coleman
2-2, Abram1-1, Baker 0-2, Smith 0-2) Blocks: 3 (Udoh 2, Petway)
Steals: 6 (Sims 3, Harris 2, Petway). Turnovers: 17 (Petway 3, C.
Sims 3, D. Sims 3, Smith 3, Abram 2, Udoh) Technical fouls:
None
Michigan .....27 26 - 53 At: Mackey Arena
Purdue.............42 '25 - 67 Attendance: 12,958

AROUND THE BIG TEN
Tuesday's results:
No. 2 WisCoNSIN 72, No. 7 Ohio State 69
Wednesday's results:
INDIANA 85, Purdue 58
ILUNIOs 74, Iowa 70
MICHIGAN STATE 66, Northwestern 45
Saturday's results:
Indiana 84, PENN STATE 74
No. 7 OHiO STATE 68,
No. 20 Tennessee 66
No. 2 Wisconsin 56, NoRTHWESTEmN 50
loWA 6o, Minnesota 49
PURDUE 67, Michigan 53
Sunday's results:
MiCHIGAN STATE 63, Illinois 57

Player
Harris
Sims, c.
Abram
Petway

GP
1I
18
18
18

Min
31.0
23.6
27.4
23.7

P5ts
13.0
12.6
9.3
7.2

R
2.3
6.4
4.4
6.5

L

coleman 18 25.6 6.7 3.4
Udoh 18 19.4 5.0 j 4.4
Sims, D. 16 10.0 3.8j 1.8

A
4.4
0.4
2.4
1.3
1.4
0.7
0.4
2.7
0.5
0.6
0.3
0.1
0.5
0.0

Smith 18 20.1 3.7 2.0
Baker 15 10.5 3.3 0.5
Shepherd 14 10.4 2.5 1.9
Price 4 4.0 2.3 1.5
Morris 7 5.3 1.0 0.3
Merritt 2 2.0 0.0 0.0
DeVries 1 3.0 0.0 10
BIG TEN STANDINGS

t
t
C
{
t
C

BOSCH
From page 1B
positive in a 14-point loss, from the time
the clock hits zero, to the time you step
up to the podium, it's a safe bet there
wasn't one.
If you didn't get a chance to watch the
game, trust me, that was definitely the
case Saturday.
The Wolverines lost to a Purdue team
that was trounced by its rival (Indiana)
the Wednesday before. It doesn't matter
how angry the Boilermakers might have
been. A week's worth of preparation
should overcome any type of emotion the
opponent may have.
Michigan committed 17 turnovers
against just seven assists. Giving the
ball to your opponent more often than
your own teammates is a recipe for
disaster - unless you're playing Michi-
gan. (North Carolina State pulled off
this feat in a Nov. 27 win over the Wol-
verines.)
But the most depressing thing of all
didn't show up in the stat sheet. It was
the Wolverines' lack of physicality that
made me reach for the closest hankie to
dry my tearful eyes.
"(Purdue) put us on our heels, and we
got ina big hole," Amaker said. "Climbing
up hill like that the majority of the game
is a very difficult position to be in."
For Amaker, every key road loss slides
him farther down the hill. And if you
take into account his entire career at
Michigan, sixth-year coach is looking at
something much more imposing.
He's looking at climbing Mt. Everest.
In his six seasons as a head coach at
Michigan, Amaker can lay claim to just
two big road wins (at UCLA on Dec. 28,
2002 and at No. 14 Iowa on Jan. 5, 2005).

Add to that the reality of a tourney-less
program staring back at him, and he's
climbing this self-imposed mountain
without an oxygen mask.
For three years, including this season,
people around campus have been calling
for Amaker's head. During his first two
seasons at the helm, I would've called
those people crazy.
Even though Amaker's players haven't
been perfect, (see Daniel Horton and
Bernard Robinson, Jr.), nothing close
to the Ed Martin debacle has surfaced
under Amaker's reign. Bill Martin's
reasons to retain Amaker made perfect
sense. He cleaned up a tarnished pro-
gram.
But this season might be different, and
Amaker's reaction to the loss may be the
first clue. He may finally be feeling the
squeeze that many of the fans have been
trying to puthim in for the past three
seasons.
The Wolverines had a chance for a
marquee road win, but with another dis-
appointment under their belts, they're
running out of opportunities. Next
week, Michigan must travel to Wiscon-
sin and Indiana back-to-back and then to
Ohio State, Michigan State and Illinois
for its next three road games.
Winning two or three of them is what
Amaker needs to do to start climbing up
that mountain.
But with the way the team has been
playing on the road lately, winning one
of those games would be a miracle.
Near the end of Saturday's game,
when Purdue had all but sealed the deal,
its pep band played Bon Jovi's "Livin' on
a Prayer."
It's an appropriate soundtrack for the
rest of Amaker's season.

Team
Wisconsin
Indiana
Ohio State
Michigan
Iowa
Michigan State
Purdue
Penn State
Minnesota
Illinois
Northwestern

Big Ten
3 0
3 1
2 1
2 1
2 1
2 2
2' 2
1 2
1 2
1 3
0 4

Overall
17 1
12 4
14 3
14 4
10 7
15 4
13 5
10 6
7 10
13 6
10 7


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