4B - Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Wolverines prepare for Wisconsin big man Butch

Michigan has struggled
to defend strong post
players all season
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily Sports Writer
Opposing big men have been scoring on
Michigan's defense as if it doesn't defend
the paint.
In Saturday's loss to Iowa, Michigan
allowed Hawkeye forward Cyrus Tate to
score 21 points, most of them on layups
after dribble penetration. Illinois center
Shaun Pruitt dumped 19 on Michigan last
Wednesday, mostly off one-on-one plays in
the post.
Tonight at Wisconsin, Michigan faces
a player who is part-Pruitt and part-Tate:

senior Brian Butch.
Michigan coach John Beilein described
Butch as the type of player who can score
off isolation or a pass from a dribble
drive.
Sophomore Ekpe NOTEBOOK
Udoh said getting better
position, staying mobile
and using his arm length are the keys to
stopping Butch. Udoh knows the Wolver-
ines don't have the size to play physically
with the 6-foot-11 Badger.
In Michigan's 70-54 loss to the Badgers
in the Big Ten opener, Butch was limited to
just 16 minutes of play while 6-foot-10 Wis-
consin freshman Jon Leuer hit a career-
high 25 points in 24 minutes.
NOT AS FRESH: Manny Harris went
from a game-time decision to making
game-deciding ones in Saturday's loss to
Iowa.

A foot injury he suffered last week has
continued to bother him. And through 34
minutes against Iowa, he was almost a
nonfactor on offense.

But that's when the
real Manny Harris got
going.
He scored nine of his
11 points in the remain-
ing five and half minutes
to help cut a 16- point
deficit to just three.
Trailing by eight with
more than a minute left,
Harris banked in a three
while getting fouled and
converted the free throw
to give the Wolverines

Michigan at
Wisconsin
Matchup:
Michigan 5-13;
Wisconsin 15-2
When: Tonight
7 P.M.
Where: Kohl
Center
TV/Radio:
ESPN

played his heart out on a bad foot."
But that same passion spelled the end of
the night for the Detroit native.
When he couldn't get the steal on the
inbounds play, Harris picked up his fifth
foul to stop the clock.
"Sometimes, he plays too hard, and
that's just him," sophomore DeShawn Sims
said. "I'd rather have somebody play too
hard than scared to play hard at all. He put
everything on the line."
Harris picked up all five fouls in the final
three minutes of the game.
PRYOR ENGAGEMENT: Aside from a
game over break against then-No. 8 UCLA,
Saturday's contest against unranked Iowa
had the largest attendance of any game this
season.
The game against the Hawkeyes out-
drew the first two home Big Ten games,
which were against ranked opponents

Wisconsin and Indiana.
"We loved the outcome of the crowd,"
freshman Kelvin Grady said. "Unfortu-
nately, they can't be out there to play for us.
We want the crowd to be able to come in
and see us doing great things on the floor
and keep them going."
Some of the 11,638 in attendance might
have been on hand to urge highly touted
football - and basketball - recruit Terrelle
Pryor and others who were in town for their
recruiting visits to attend Michigan.
The Athletic Department classified the
Iowa game as the only Maize Out on Mich-
igan's schedule and offered a special Fam-
ily Four Pack deal for the game.
According to Mark Riordan, the Uni-
versity's associate athletic director for
marketing, about 1,000 more tickets than
normal were sold for this game, the Detroit
Free Press reported.

6

hope.
"He's straight heart," junior Jevohn
Shepherd said. "He went out there and

Smith helps 'M' secure perfect home record

6

By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
Hannah Smith made her final meet
of the season at Canham Natatorium
a fast one.
After a difficult week of training,
the junior
demon- N'WESTERN 1341
strated MICHIGAN 1521
end-of-sea-
son speed Saturday, earning two indi-
vidual victories and a pair of NCAA
consideration times to help boost No.
12 Michigan over Northwestern, 152-
134. The win gave the Wolverines a
perfect home record this season.
The junior got things started with
a powerful freestyle in the final leg of
the 200-yard medleyrelay.
After the Wolverines stayed neck-
and-neck with the Wildcats through
the first three legs, the Dexter native
pulled ahead. Thanks in large part to
a tight flip-turn, Smith took the lead
and touched the wall first by just one-
half second.
Smith went on to grab victories in
the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes,
posting times near her career best in
both events.
"I wasn't expecting to go those
times, but that just gets me excited
about Big Tens," Smith said.
Michigan (3-0 Big Ten, 5-1 overall)
entered Saturday's competition fresh

off a 160-74 trouncing of Michigan
State on Friday.
But the Wolverines didn't let
fatigue get in the way. Opting to com-
pete its top swimmers in exhibition
format for the last four events, Michi-
gan still controlled the Wildcats (1-3,
5-4) in nearly every event.
Junior Emily Brunneman con-
tinued her dominance of distance
events this year, winning the 1,000-
yard freestyle. She jumped to an early
lead, finishing11seconds ahead of the
field.
Sophomore Margaret Kelly joined
the victory campaign with wins in
the 100- and 200-yard freestyle.
"There are a lot of reasons why
we could have come in here and not
swam as well because of a really hard
week in training, and a meet yes-
terday," Smith said. "But I think we
stepped up."
The Wolverines also showcased
their skill on the diving board.
In Friday's three-meter spring-
board, the Wolverines had three new
divers qualify for the NCAA Zone
Diving Championships.
Senior Elyse Lee, who already
qualified in November, notched vic-
tories in the one-meter and three-
meter events Saturday, following the
noteworthydivingteamperformance
against Michigan State.
"Elyse scored really well - she
is just so steady," Michigan diving
coach Chris Bergere said through
the athletic department.
An undefeated home record is
nice, but Michigan coach Jim Rich-
ardson wasn't too concerned with
the scoreboard. Richardson said he
puts more stock in how his team
performs in practice than how it
performs in meets.
"The nature of this sport is pre-
paring to be as fast as you can be at
the end," Richardson said.
Michigan will conclude its regu-
lar season campaign Feb. 1 when It
heads to Columbus for a dual meet
with Ohio State.

Sophomore Andre Schultz and the Wolverines beat Michigan State Friday.
Wolverines beat "inferior"
Spartan swimmers

PETER scHOTTENFELS/oaily
Junior Hannah Smith earned two individual wins in the last home meet of the year.


By RYAN A. PODGES
Daily Sports Writer
For the first time in at least
four years, the Michigan men's
swimming and diving team drew
the support of the Michigan pep
band at Friday night's dual meet
against
Michi- MICHIGAN ST. 77
gan MICHIGAN 145
State. -
At the meet, the Wolverines
were boosted by an extra large
and spirited crowd of supporters
who proudly sang "The Victors"
between events to cheer on the
nation's No. 4 team.
"(The atmosphere) was really
fun," senior co-captain Alex
Vanderkaay said. "It's my fourth
year on the team and I don't
think we've ever had the whole
pep band here so I thought it was
really great."
But sophomore Andre Schultz
was the featured soloist in Mich-
igan's 145-77 dual meet win over
Michigan State.

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Schultz won the 1,000-yard
freestyle with a time of 9:10.01
and earned the lone NCAA qual-
ifying time of the meet with his
first place finish in the 200-yard
backstroke (1:45.68). His win-
ning time in the 1,000-yard free-
style was more than 24 seconds
faster thanthesecond placetime.
His performance impressed his
coaches and teammates as they
cheered him on.
"Andr Schultz was by far our
best performer today," Michigan
coach Bob Bowman said.
Michigan's commanding vic-
tory helped it continue its domi-
nance in the all-time series;
Michigan leads 74-5. Michigan
State (0-4 Big Ten, 3-5 overall)
has not beaten Michigan since
the 1966-67 season.
The Wolverines won all but
one of the 11 swimming events,
including both the 400-yard
medley and freestyle relays. The
Wolverines touched first and
second in eight of nine individu-
al events and swept the top four
spots in four events. The only
event Michigan failed to win
was the 200-yard breaststroke.
Sophomore Scott Spann finished
second in the event but was dis-
qualified for a false start.
"We had a lot of guys swim-
ming off-events tonight and I
had the opportunity to swim
some events I never get to
swim," Vanderkaay said. "We
could obviously win this meet
pretty easily, so we took it as an
opportunity to change the line-
up a little bit."
Senior Dane Grenda won the
400-yard individual medley at
3:57.29 and was followed 0.11
seconds later by freshman Jared
Miller in an event Michigan has
not lost all season.
Junior Bobby Savulich took
first place in the 100-yard free-
style (44.59) and second in the
50-yard freestyle (20.73) behind
sophomore teammate Chris
Brady (20.56).
Despite not having much com-
petition from the Spartans in the
meet, Schultz said swimming his
best times was never a problem.
"I don't want to sound arro-
gant," Schultz said. "Bob always
tells us we can't swim down to
their level, but when you have
teammates like we have, you
always have someone to race."
The win for Michigan (5-0 Big
Ten, 7-1 overall) came as no sur-
prise to the Spartans, who were
overpowered by the Wolverines
from start to finish. Michigan
State saw the meet as an oppor-
tunity to change their lineup for
a different reason.
"It's tough to come in here
because we are a little over-
whelmed," Michigan State head
coach Matt Gianiodis said. "We
didn't really go with our best
lineup. It wouldn't have made a
difference anyway. At this point,
at least, we're so inferior to them
that we decided togive some peo-
ple some other chances to swim
against some good people."

1 11

Stop by the Alumni Association for:
Wednesdays is a
"Welcome to catch a Free coffee
wodeul way etween
quick brether ed sathe Web Free bagels
classes' -u friends-
and that tt
Free magazines
Free WAI-FI Youvesaved me money
and brightene,
Wednesdays."
At Welcome Wednesdays, you can feed your caffeine addiction, grab a bagel and
check your email. All for free at the Alumni Center. You also can learn about the
programs we offer, like career mentors, inCircle (the U-M social networking site)
and free business cards. Or pick up a free blue book for your next exam.
Every Wednesday from January 16 through March 19.
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Starting an hour earlier!)
Open to all U-M students.
The Alumni Center is located at 200 Fletcher St., at the corner
of Fletcher and Washington, next to the Michigan League.
ALUMNIASSOCIATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
www.umatumni.com/students

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