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