4
8A - Thursday, November 29, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Poor rebounding
stops comeback
Freshman Kelvin Grady dives for a loose ball in Michigan's 13-point loss in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Wolverines are 3-4 in the Challenge
12-0 run blows 'M' off home floor
By H. JOSE BOSCH
Daily SportsEditor
With a minute and a half left to
play in last night's game against
Boston College, the Eagles'
Rakim Sanders
missed his sec- NOTEBOOK
and free throw,
and the Michigan's men's basket-
ball team had a golden opportu-
nity to cut into the seven-point
deficit it faced.
But not a single Wolverine
touched the ball, and Boston Col-
lege's Shamari Spears came up
with an offensive rebound.
Michigan didn't score the rest
of the game.
"We were just playing soft
down there, basically," sopho-
more DeShawn Sims said. "And
they just outworked us."
The Eagles had eight more,
offensive rebounds than Michi-
gan (17-9) and 22 more rebounds
overall (50-32). Spears led all
players with 12 rebounds.
Boston College coach Al Skin-
ner attributed the big rebounding
discrepancy to the Wolverines'
zone defense. With Michigan so
spread out, rebounds were easier
to come by, he said.
But Sims brushed aside that
explanation, noting the Wolver-
ines played in man defense for
much of the second half. The
zone defense also can't explain
why Michigan allowed three
offensive rebounds on free throw
misses.
"We still have these little laps-
es," Michigan coach John Beilein
said. "It's a focus thing. The guy's
shooting a foul shot, and we
watch it instead of getting our leg
over them."
THANKS, BUT NO THANKS:
In the Wolverines' lone win dur-
ing the Great Alaska Shootout,
free-throw shooting, especially
late in the game, played a role in
their victory.
As a team, Michigan shot 87
percent, and freshman Manny
Harris led the way, shooting 5-
for-6 from the charity stripe.
But against Boston College, the
Wolverines failed to capitalize on
those same opportunities, going
9-for-17 - a sub-par 53 percent.
Harris's biggest misses came
with a little more than 12 minutes
remaining. Trailing 48-46, Har-
ris had a chance to tie the game,
but missed both his shots. Michi-
gan came within two points just
once more.
"Manny's played a lot of min-
utes in one week and traveled
across the country," Michigan
coach John Beilein said. "He's
going to be a solid 80-percent
guy, so I think it might be just a
fluke."
WOW: With Beilein's system
focused so much on jump shoot-
ing, there will be plenty of oppor-
tunities for players to throw up a
brick shot or an air ball.
But in the paint, missed shots
are harder to justify. Michigan
went just 5-for-12 inside the free
throw line in the second half.
"(We didn't) take our time.
(We) played too fast," Sims said.
"We had a bunch of mental lapses
in the game, so that's what really
hurt us."
One moment in particular
stood out. With less than four
minutes to play, Harris made a
big steal at midcourt and had a
clear pathway to the basket.
But he missed his lay-up.
Then sophomore Zack Gibson
missed his put-back opportunity.
And senior Ron Coleman
missed the following lay up.
One possession. Three painful
misses. The moment highlighted
some of the frustrations of the
night.
"We just have to give them
confidence and I have to continue
to give them confidence," Beilein
said. "It's frustrating when I
know we could've controlled
some of those things tonight."
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily Sports Writer
What looked like a possibility to
become the biggest win of Michi-
gan coach
John BOSTON COLLEGE 77
Beilein's MICHIGAN 64
short
tenure in Ann Arbor turned from
hopeful to almost hopeless in a
matter of moments.
Forward Ekpe Udoh connected
with sophomore DeShawn Sims
on a nifty backdoor cut to make it a
two-point contest with eight min-
utes remaining in last night's game
against Boston College.
For more than 30 minutes, the
Wolverines played neck-and-neck
with the Eagles (6-0), but, in just
a few minutes, the close game
became a memory in last night's
77-64 loss at Crisler Arena in the
Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
. During that stretch, Boston Col-
lege went on 12-0 run as Michigan
(3-4) committed two turnovers,
made numerous mental mistakes
and were outrebounded 5-0 -
including two offensive rebounds
by Boston College.
"We had two or three (bad)
mental breakdowns of just almost
'I've gotta fix it all now,' " Michi-
gan coach John Beilein said. "All
of a sudden, we just get this quick
turnaround, taking chances on
steals, taking a quick shot when
you're really guarded. I think it's
just things of guys wanting to win
but not staying solid at this time."
After Boston College's Tyrese
Rice, who tallied a game-high 28
points, hit a jumper to start the
run, freshman Manny Harris
launched an inbounds pass past
midcourt that was intercepted.
Udoh committed a foul on the
ensuing possession that sent Bos-
ton College freshman Biko Paris
to free-throw line. Paris made the
first and missed the second. Luck-
ily for the Eagles, Eagle freshman
Corey Raji grabbed the board and
made the putback.
The run came to an end after a
missed Michigan 3-pointer later
and two Eagle lay-ups off nice bas-
ket cuts.
"When stuff like that happens,
you just got to be mentally tough
and fight through it," sophomore
K'Len Morris said.
Michigan continued to fight to
the end but couldn't make the big
shot or create the defensive stop to
put it in striking distance.
Realizing it has much to learn,
the young team pointed to inex-
perience as the difference in the
game. On paper, Boston College
starting three underclassmen
doesn't look much different than
Michigan's four starting under-
classmen.
But he Eagles return five players
who averaged more than 12 min-
utes per game last season.
"A lot of us (young) guys are
coming in and having to play four
quarters of basketball, and it's
tough for us," freshman Kelvin
Grady said. "We just lacked focus,
lacked experience."
Some of that lack of experience
came on the boards. While Boston
College held a dominate advantage
in that department, 50-32, it was
the few occasions when the Eagles
pulled down offensive rebounds
from free throws that stood out to
Beilein.
"There was great teaching
points tonight for the future,"
Beilein said.
0
looknn.4 t over + ,t- cev4 ofdCA r
a
I
0
0
2