The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
December 10, 2007 - 5B
CRASHING THE BOARDS
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"For Michigan, everybody is a
freshman, really. It's new. And
they'll keep getting better and
better. At this point in the season,
it's not instinctive. ".
n- Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
DUKE 95 - MICHIGAN 67
DUKE DOMINATION
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Kelvin Grady
GUARD
The freshman guard had nine points and
two assists. More importantly, he had no
turnovers in 30 minutes. He consistently
drove to the basket, creating open looks
for his teammates. It's not his fault they
couldn't convert them for points.
GAME STATS
Michigan 67
Player PTS FG FT REB A TO MIN
M-A M-A O-T
G- Grady 9 3-7 2-2 2-6 2 0 30
G- Harris 8 2-9 4-4 0-3 4 5 28
F- Coleman 4 1-5 1-2 2-5 0 0 26
F-Simi 12 5-11 1-2 1-5 0 4 26
C- Udoh 8 4-9 0 0 5-10 1 2 28
Gibson 11 4-8 2-3 0-2 0 0 12
Shepherd 6 2-4 1-2 0-1 1 1 12
Morris 5 2-6 0-0 1-1 1 2 13
Lee 2 1-4 0-0 0-2 2 1 14
Wright 4 1-3 0-0 2-2 0 0 14
Merritt 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 5
Block 0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
TEAM 67 25-66 11-15 14-41 11 15 200
FG%: 37.9 FT%: 73.3 3-point FG: 6-19,250 (Coleman 1-4, Morris
1-3, Grady1-2, Gibson 1-2, Shepherd 1-2, Sims1-1, Lee 0-2, Harris
0-1, Wright 0-1, Udoh 0-1). Blocks: 6 (Udoh 4, Sims 2). Steals: 3
(Harris, Udoh, Morris).
Udoh shines
in first start
of the season
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. - In Michigan's first
eight games, sophomore Ekpe Udoh has
brought his energy and defensive presence
off the bench.
On Saturday, NOTEBOOK
Michigan coach John
Beilein decided to start with that intensity.
For the first time this season, Beilein
went with Udoh over redshirt sophomore
Zack Gibson in the starting lineup.
Udoh seized the opportunity - he
finished the game with eight points, 10
rebounds and four blocked shots.
When Michigan kept the game close
early on, it was Udoh's defensive prowess
inside that altered Blue Devil shots and
forced misses.
"You can see the game started off a lot
differently than it has in the past," redshirt
freshman Anthony Wright said.
Udoh saw his start as a sign Beilein has
more confidence in him.
"We talk every now and then," Udoh
said. "He gives me words of encouragement
to just go out and play how I play"
Whereas Beilein acknowledged Udohhas
made improvements, he justified his deci-
sion to start Udoh over Gibson as a tactical
move to counter Duke's pressure defense.
"(Against) a team like Duke, you have to
have excellent passers," Beilein said. "You
have to have excellent drivers."
Even though Gibson didn't start, he had
one of his best games of the season. In 12
minutes off the bench, Gibson tied a season
high with 11 points.
IT'S A FAMILY: If Tommy Amaker was
still Michigan's basketball coach, Satur-
day's game wouldn't have happened.
Amaker was a player and assistant coach
at Duke before becoming a head coach at
Seton Hall and then Michigan. Duke coach
Mike Krzyzewski avoids regular-season
games against his former players and assis-
tants.
"I don't want to beat my son," Krzyzews-
ki said. "I don't want my son to beat me."
Aside from Amaker's five years at the
helm, Michigan and Duke have faced off
every December since 1989.
I LIKE YOU, MAN, BUT YOU CRAZIES:
Duke freshman Taylor King came off the
bench just two minutes into Saturday's
game.
Although he was the Blue Devils' first
sub, Udoh didn't label him their sixth man.
"Their crowd is their sixth man, really,"
Udoh said. "It's crazy"
From the moment the Wolverines
stepped onto the floor during pregame
warm-ups until the final buzzer sounded,
the crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium was
raucous.
It made a point to remind the Wolver-
ines of last week's loss to Harvard and that
redshirt junior guard C.J. Lee's full name is
Cecil Brian Lee.
But even though Michigan Was the oppo-
nent Saturday afternoon, the crowd target-
ed North Carolina in numerous chants.
Duke students started camping out on
Thursday for the best seats to Saturday's
game. Some tried to camp out on Wednes-
day, but school officials said it was too
early.
"It was exciting, if anything," redshirt
freshman K'Len Morris said. "Cameron is
a place, growing up, you always wanted to
play in. So, it was really cool, coming in and
actually getting to experience it firsthand.
During the game, you really don't focus on
it too much."
SMITH'S STATUS IN DOUBT: Junior
point guard Jerret Smith decided not to
travel to Duke to complete academic obliga-
tions, according to the athletic department.
"We'll meet when we get back home as
far as what he can do, but, obviously, it's an
extremely important issue that he shores
up the academic issues that he currently
has in front of him," Beilein said.
Earlier in the season, Smith was sus-
pended one game for violating the team's
class-attendance policy.
Injuries and suspensions have limited
Smith, the team's most experienced guard,
to just five games this season. He is aver-
aging four points and two rebounds per
game.
DUKE 95
Player
PTS FG FT REB
M-A M-A O-T
A
TO MI
i i i i i6
G- Paulus
G Hender-
F- Nelson
F- Singler
F- Thomas
Kng
Smith
Scheyer
Zoubek
McClure
Davidson
8
12
10
9
18
17
10
7
2
0
3-7
5-14
4-10
3-6
1-4
7-12
7-9
3-6
3-5
1-1
0-1
0-0
1-2
-0
0-0
0-0
1-2
2-2
3-4
1-2
0-0
0-0
0-1
0-7
1-5
1-6
2-2
3-5
1-S
2-4
3-S
0-2
0-0
6
4
3
0
0
3
0
2
-
0
0
0
0
0
24
28
27
17
14
20
20
29
13
6
2
0
1
FG%: 49.3 FT%: 71.4 3-point FG:11-27, .407 (King 3-8, Pau-
lus 2-5, Nelson 2-3, Singler 1-3, Smith 1-3, Henderson 1-2,
Scheyer 1-2, Davidson 0-1). Blocks: 3 (King 2, Henderson).
Steals: 7 (Nelson 3, Paulus 2, Scheyer, Zoubek).
At: Cameron
DMichigan...............3 54 - 95 Indoor Stadium
Duke """ 54 Attendance: 9,314
SEASON STATS
Player GP Min Pts R A
Harris 9 30.9 15.7 4.1 3.2
Sims 9 24.7 12.3 4.2 0.7
Grady 9 22.9 7.2 1.9 2.6
Coleman 9 32.0 7.0 5.4 2.0
Gibson 9 16.7 6.7 3.4 0.2
Udoh 9 23.3 5.7 4.0 0.6
Smith 5 13.2 4.0 2.0 1.2
Wright 9 16.2 2.8 3.2 0.7
Lee 9 9.2 2.0 1.4 0.9
Shepherd 8 6.5 1.8 1.0 0.1
Morris
Merritt
Block
Puls
9 9.7 1.7 1.0
3 3.0 0.0 0.3
2 1.5 0.0 0.5
0.4
0.0
0.0
} ,!
Duke guard Gerald Henderson and his teammates ran over redshirt junior C.J. Lee and the Wolverines Satuday afternoor
0
0.0
0.0 0.0 o.o
Despite blowout, Michigan made progress
DURHAM, N.C. -
There will be a time when the
Michigan men's basketball team
will have to hold itself more
accountable, when
inexperience stops
being an excuse and
execution starts
being the norm.
But not yet.
The Wolverines
made some promis-
ing strides against H. JOSE
Duke Saturday. BOSCH
Well, more like baby
steps. Michigan was The Bosch
winning five min- Watch
utes into the game.
Sure, the Blue
Devils shot just 37 percent from the
DUKE
From page 1B
Michigan committed 15 turnovers to
just 11 assists, a stat that has irked the
team all season long.
"Our skill level and things like that just
break down at different times against a
great defensive team, and their defense
just took us out of what we want to do,"
Michigan coach John Beilein said.
At his press conference earlier in the
week, Beilein was concerned with the bal-
ance of the Duke offensive attack. Enter-
field in the first half. Sure, Duke coach
Mike Krzyzewski made adjustments
and shut down the Wolverine offense.
Sure, Michigan eventually lost by 28.
Sure, it was the second straight game a
school has the Wolverines' number on
the court and in the classroom.
But give this team some credit.
Michigan is taking its licks and mov-
ing on to its next opponent. What doesn't
kill the Wolverines can only make them
stronger.
"We learned a lot, and we came home
alive," Beilein said: "I mean we came
home and we got better during that
time, and then we'll use those same situ-
ations when we're at those places that
are notorious for great crowds in the Big
Ten."
It's great the Wolverines got this
ing Saturday's contest, the Blue Devils
had six players averaging nine or more
points per game.
But the man behind Duke's runs wasn't
among those six. Freshman Nolan Smith,
a highschool teammate of Michigan soph-
omore Anthony Wright at Oak Hill Acad-
emy in Virginia, had 11 first--half points,
including a stretch where he scored nine
points in just more than two initutes.
Smith and fellow freshman Taylor King
scored 17 and 08 points, respectively, off
the bench to spark the Blue Devils after
their stagnant beginning.
The Wolverines didn't help by shooting
experience under their belt, because
now they have to refocus on the small
things. With four weeks until confer-
ence games begin, the little improve-
ments (learning the system and playing
fundamentally sound basketball) are
much more important than big-picture
improvements (wins).
One week wasn't enough for the
Michigan men's basketball team to
prepare for Duke. One month probably
wouldn't have been adequate.
Because that's how difficult Beilein's
job is right now. He's trying to teach a
system to a group that hasn't grasped
its concepts and doesn't have the proper
skill sets (making perimeter shots) to
succeed.
It's like sitting with your back to
another person and trying to instruct
25 percent from the field in the first half,
which included misses on several wide-
open looks.
Michigan did show some signs of life
in its third loss against a ranked opponent
this season. In the second half, it scored
44 points.
Leading the way for the Wolverines
were sophomores DeShawn Sims and
Zach Gibson with 12 and 11 points, respec-
tively. Gibson came off the bench for the
first time this year. Sophomore Ekpe
Udoh, who finished with a game-high 10
rebounds, started in his place.
But there can only be so many upsides
him how to build a Lego model - only
you can'tuse colors or shapes to describe
the pieces and the other person has his
hands tied.
And even that is easier than Beilein's
job.
But even with far less experienced
players learning a complex system, the
Wolverines boldly took the court against
vaunted Duke.
And despite all that was going against
Michigan Saturday - youth, inexperi-
ence, the Cameron Crazies - they made
it a game for the first 12 minutes.
Considering I thought Michigan
would be out of the game when Duke hit
its first basket, that's improvement.
- Bosch can be reached at
hectobos@umich.edu.
to a 28-point loss.
Even with Michigan's improved play
after halftime, Duke still put up 55 points
in the second stanza and eight Blue Dev-
ils finished the game with at least seven
points.
"Even though we've got sophomores
and juniors out there ... they've all been
role players," Beilein said. "And I don't
think one of those guys at Duke has been a
role player in their life.
"We're still learning that we have to do
some other things to help the team. And
only experience will help them go from
that role player to really helping us win."