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8 - Friday, January 25, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

THE 'D' AWAKES

Stellar defense
seals M' win

By ANTHONY OLIVEIRA
Daily Sports Writer
Before each game, coaches jot
down points of emphasis on the
locker room white board. In last
night's contest against Indiana, one
of Michigan coach Kevin Borseth's
comments read: "Defense, you've
got to rescue us."
The Michigan women's basket-
ball team heard its coach loud and
clear, limiting Indiana to just 34.4
percent shooting, and claiming its
fifth Big Ten win of the season, 65-
54.
Unlike earlier games this season,
the Wolverines buckled down from
the opening whistle and led the
contest from wire to wire. Michi-
gan limited the Hoosiers (5-3 Big
Ten, 12-8 overall) to their lowest
first-half total of the season with 20
points.
"I think our defense did a good
job, especially in the first half,"
Borseth said.
After Indiana went toe-to-toe
with the Wolverines for the first
five minutes, it was outscored 10-2
inthe next five. Michigan (5-3,12-6)
stretched its lead to 14 near the end
of the half.

The Hoosiers' Whitney Thomas
and Amber Jackson attacked the
hoop fromthe outset, in an effort to
put sophomore Krista Phillips into
early foul trouble. Indiana actually
completed its objective, drawing
Phillips's first foul less than three
minutes into the game.,
But Phillips, who earned four
fouls in each of the previous two
games, remained disciplined for the
remainder of the contest.
"I can't get into foul trouble or
else vwe get into trouble as a team,"
Phillips said.
Working on her footwork during
practice allowed Phillips to make an
impact in last night's game, racking
up 16 points. But her work inside
should also be credited to Michi-
gan's effort in the backcourt.
"Those kids shooting that ball
from the arc really helped her a lot,"
Borseth said. "They really took the
(double teams) off."
The Wolverines performed well
from the perimeter, making seven
triples and preventingIndiana from
staying with its double-team down
low. The Hoosiers allowed Phillips
to go 8-for-11 from the field, all of
the shots from inside six feet.
Michigan's lead was cut down to

Sophomore Krista Phillips posted her third double-double of the season last night.

Wolverines gear
up for big weekend
In-state rivalry about the team, and the 26 guys in
the locker room are much better
fires up top-ranked friends than any of those guys on
Michia ud Michigan State."
The bond between Fardig and
his Spartan friends has spurred
By ANDY REID a text-messaging battle of sorts,
Daily Sports Writer with all-in-good-fun trash talking.
Although he wouldn't delve into
Green can mean envy, money or the specifics of the texts, Fardig
the environment. said the messages were something
But green rarely describes fun from both sides, not mean-
hatred. spirited, fight-inducing jabs.
That is, unless Out-of-staters, like goaltender
you're a member Michigan St Billy Sauer, have a harder time get-
of the Michigan ting into the rivalry. Hailing from
hockey team. at Michigan Walworth, N.Y., Sauer had little
The Wolver- Matchup: exposure to the in-state feud before
ines square off Michigan St. coming in as afreshman.
against their 16-5-4; Michi- "I wasn't really born into the
most heated gan 22-2-0 rivalry," Sauer said. "When I came
and bitter rival, When: Tonight here from New York, I didn't know
green-and- 7:35 P.M. too much about Michigan-Michi-
whiterclad Where: Yost gan State, but ever since I've really
Michigan State, Ice Arean started to hate green."
in a home-and- TV/Radio: Some incomers didn't have the
home series N dFSN samelearningcurveas Sauer.After
that kicks off in moving to Ann Arbor from Buffalo,
Yost Ice Arena N.Y., freshman Kevin Quick laid
tonight at 7:35 p.m. out one simple goal in one of the
"Everyone knows how much Wolverines' first team meetings:
the color green is hated around sweep the Spartans.
this campus," junior Danny Fardig The stakes always run high in
said. "But we have to make sure to the series, but this weekend could
do things right so this rivalry is as have major implications in the final
good as it's built up to be." conference standings. With Michi-
' Fardig, along with more than gan holding a paper-thin lead over
half ofthe teams'combined rosters, second-place Miami (Ohio), two
come from the state of Michigan. wins over Michigan State could
With so many players growing up tighten the Wolverines' grip on a
near each other, it's to be expect- CCHA regular-season champion-
ed that friendships were formed ship. A disappointing weekend
between Wolverines and Spartans, could knock Michigan off its first-
mostly through high school and place pedestal. '
junior-level hockey. But the Wolverines needn't rely
An Ann Arbor native, Fardig on conference standings for moti-
has close ties with Michigan State vation tonight.
seniors Bryan Lerg and Chris "When you look at the other end
Mueller. Fardig considers Lerg one of the ice and it's Michigan State,
of his best friends, but once he dons it's a pretty. good feeling," Fardig -
that giant, green block 'S' on his said with a growing smile on his
chest, friendships are thrown out face. "You get excited, jacked up
the window. to play. You don't need any more
"It's not about friends when you motivation than seeing that green
go out on the ice," Fardig said. "It's at the other end."
Want to work for the Daily?
Come to our mass meeting.
Sunday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
420 Maynard St.

five points early in the second half.
But that's when junior Carly Benson
emerged.
The 6-foot-2 forward delivered
a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. But
it was her three 3-pointers that
opened the interior.
"Carly stretches (the Hoosiers)
a little bit,"Borseth said. "The two
really complement each other really
well."
Benson finished with 22 points.

Phillips notched her third double-
double of the season.
After the game, Borseth was
again asked where his team stands
in the Big Ten. He said the Wol-
verines still have to see the rest of
the teams in the conference before
that will be clear. But with Michi-
gan shutting down an Indiana team
with the player Borseth called the
best in the league in Thomas, it may
have big things in its future.

Freshman Hicks provides spark off bench

By JASON KOHLER
Daily Sports Writer
If Michigan coach Kevin Borseth
could play his starters all 40 min-
utes, he would.
Or at least that's NOTEBOOK
what he said after
his team's win over Michigan State
two weeks ago.
Three minutes into the first half
against Indiana last night, assistant
coach Dawn Plitzuweit subbed in
freshman Veronica Hicks, who had
played in just six games this season.
Heading into last night's contest,
Hicks had the third-fewest minutes
played on the team (2.7 per game).
Hicks's impact was immediate, as

she was on the receiving end of the
night's top play. After sophomore
Krista Phillips received the ball
down low, she quickly dished it to
a cutting Hicks, who laid the ball in
for her first points as a Wolverine.
"Dawn put her in there earlier
than I thought she would," Borseth
said. "And I thought she did pretty
well."
The layup marked her only points
of the night, but in 12 minutes of
play, Hicks's presence was definitely
felt on the defensive end.
Michigan's lone freshman forced
two steals and picked up two defen-
sive rebounds.
"She plays great defense," junior
Carly Benson said. "She's so long

and lanky, and she gets her hands on
a lot of passes."
REBOUNDING WOES PUT ON
HOLD: Last night, for the first time
since a 63-46 win over Iowa on
Dec. 30, Michigan outrebounded its
opponent.
More impressive than Michigan's
36 rebounds was the fact that it held
Indiana to 32 boards. The Hoosiers
came into the game fourth in the Big
Ten with 43.1 rpg.
"We knew they were a very good
rebounding team, so we did some
extra rebounding drills and made
sure we boxed out and got in front of
them," Benson said.
Senior guard Janelle Cooper
snatched eight rebounds, but 6-

foot-6 Phillips led the way with 10
boards. Phillips was also 8-11 from
the field, giving her 16 points and a
double-double for a second straight
game, despite facing a double team
the entire game.
"I think Krista handled the dou-
ble team very well," Benson said.
"We worked on that in practice all
week."
Borseth told Phillips that for
Michigan to win, she needed to
rebound and-take care of the ball.
Phillips wasn't as successful with
the second task, adding, six turn-
overs to her team-worst 62. But it
was no surprise that she was able
to out-muscle the Hoosiers for loose
balls.


Role reversal: Big brother becomes little
brother in intra-state basketball rivalry

If Michigan State's football
team is the little brother, then
the Michigan men's basketball
team is the black sheep of the fam-
ily.
Wolverine
fans really
don't want to
acknowledge
the team, but
they have no
choice.
More than
two - months H JOSE
after Mike
Hart called BOSCH
the Spartans
Michigan's
"little brother,"Michigan State fans
have a chance to tell Hart where he
can stick it.
The 11th-ranked Spartans have
won 13 of their last 14 games and
will have the home-court advan-
tage when they face Michigan
Sunday.
Michigan
State hasn't Michigan at
dropped a game Michigan St.
to the Wol-
verines at the Matchup:
Breslin CenterMichigan 5-
since the 1996- St. 17-2
97 season. And
that game has When:Sun-
been wiped dayt1P.M.
from Michigan's Where: Bre-
record books. slin Center
So, to appease TV/Radio:
the Athletic CBS
Department and
the NCAA, the
last time the Spartans lost at home
to the Wolverines - and it still
counts - was the 1993-94 season.
Freshmen Manny Harris and
Kelvin Grady were four years old.
Michigan State is better than
Michigan in just about every team
statistical category except blocks
and losses.
But that's why they play the
games, right? Teams don't win or
lose on paper - they win and lose

0

BEN SIMON/Daily
Freshman Manny Harris leads the underdog Wolverines against the Spartans Sunday.

on the court. At least that's what
I'm telling myself as I try to imag-
ine how the Wolverines can win on
Sunday.
Michigan coach John Beilein
could point to the Wolverines'
near-win versus Wisconsin as a
sign his team is close to turning it
around.
But Michigan's rebounding kept
it in the game, and there's no way
the Wolverines will. outrebound
the Spartans.
The offense doesn't put players
in good rebounding position, and
the players themselves too often go
up for rebounds with just one arm,
only to lose control of the ball.
Michigan State works on
rebounding. The drill is called
"War."
Beilein could rely on Harris's
scoring ability. Building off the
team's strong rebounding, the
freshman phenom almost willed
his team to victory against the Bad-
gers.
But Illinois proved teams can

concentrate solely on Harris and
still win.
The Wolverines' other scoring
threat, sophomore DeShawn Sims,
has enough talent to control the
game.
But he still takes too many ill-
advised shots and, at times, can
hurt the team as much as help it.
And what about throwing every-
thing out the window because this
is a rivalry game?
Duke, Harvard, Georgetown
and UCLA aren't rivalries, but they
were all important games. The
Wolverines were close in just two
and lost them all.
It's not that Michigan doesn't
care.
The Wolverines just don't have
the firepower.
- Considering Michigan's
one road win came when Bosch
wasn't there, he would like to tell
Wolverine Nation that he won't be
at the game on Sunday. He can be
reached at hectobos@umich.edu.

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