8 - Tuesday, February 5, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com ILLINOIS 66, MICHIGAN 61 m Once again,'M' fails to close 4 Junior Jessica Minnfield hit just one 3-pointer in last night's loss to Illinois. It was Michigan's first home loss of the season. HOMJL\E, BUT NOT SAF After hot start,'M' drops third straight close-fought game By ALEX PROSPERI Daily Sports Writer Flash back to Jan. 24. The Michigan women's bas- ketball team was riding high at 12-6, tied for second place in the Big Ten. It had already won more conference gamesthan last season. Last Tuesday, they were even sniffing ESPN's bracketol- ogy. Flash forward to today. Michiganlostits thirdstraight game, succumbing to Illinois, ZACHARY MEISNER/Daily 66-61, last night. The last trio of games has been nightmarish for the Wolverines. All three were winnable, with the biggest margin of defeat just five. Each game featured similar problems - the failure to create turnovers, inability to find shots ide game, led by and poor execution in crunch Smith, who had a time. its. "We're playing really well in t (to guard her)," spurts right now," sophomore a Phillips said. center Krista Phillips said. it was going to "When it comes to the end of the felt that we did a game, we just lose focus. We're e's going to score trying to get there, and we're trying to get that win. We have Skrba came off to play the last five minutes like the team in scor- we do the first five minutes of d straight game, every half." Against Iowa on Jan. 27, ast night's con- Michigan was down three with nes had dropped 30 seconds remaining. Shock- on the road but ingly, the Wolverines didn't or the two-game realize the situation and failed eek. to foul until just one second is was not in the remained. gan has another In East Lansingon Jan. 31, the gainst Penn State Wolverines had an eight-point lead with nearly seven minutes at home," Skrba to go. After allowing the Spar- ve to stay confi- tans to take the lead with a 10- ack Thursday." 0 run, Michigan senior Janelle Cooper missed a last-second 3- pointer that could have tied the game. And last night, in a game that featured 11 ties and 17 lead changes, the Wolverines failed to execute under pressure again. Down 62-61 with 58 seconds left, Michigan was called for a shot clock violation. A layup by Illinois center Jenna Smith, who had a game-high 16 points and 8 rebounds, put Illinois up by three. The Wolverines called a time- out with 33 seconds left, but didn't get up a shot for 16 sec- onds. Two Illinois free throws later, the game was over. Failing to finish may have its source. After the game, Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said his team has trouble beating teams off the dribble, which has lim- ited the team's opportunities. And, as the game nears its end, the opposing defense tightens the pressure, making it harder for Michigan to find open jump- ers - one reason Michigan has taken 26 fewer shots than its opponent in the last three games. "We can't beat people off the dribble," Borseth said. "Can we get any better at it? We're try- ing. We work everyday at drib- ble penetration, trying to get by people." The Wolverines have also struggled to create turnovers. Michigan forced just nine against Iowa and just six against Illinois. Over the past three games, Michigan has commit- ted 17 more turnovers than the opposition. "We've been at the bottom," Phillips said. "We're fighting to try and maintain what we got going on right now. We just have to get past this three-game los- ing streak." 4 I By JASON KOHLER Daily Sports Writer Last night, Illinois was able to do what no other Big Ten team has done this season - beat Michigan in Crisler Arena. Entering the contest, the Wol- verines were 8-0 at home. The Fighting Illini beat Michi- gan, 66-61. Last Thursday, they snapped a four-game losing streak, upsettingthe Big Ten's only ranked team, Ohio State, 68-64. "Obviously we were hoping to come out with a win and go 9-0 at home," junior Stephany Skrba said. "It just sucks." Winning on the road is an irreg- ular occurrence for Illinois. Com- ing into last night's game, the Illini had won just one conference road game, and that was against North- western, a team that has yet to win a Big Ten game. In the first half of the game, Michigan and Illinois played unin- spired basketball. The Wolverines (5-6 Big Ten, 12-9 overall) inched into halftime with a 32-29 lead. But in the second half, both teams went back and forth - there were nine lead changes and seven ties in the second half. Whatever Michigan did, Illinois quickly responded. "We stopped them, and they'd pull up a jump shot in our face," Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. "And when we didn't, they would end up with the offensive rebound." Illinois (5-6, 13-9) outshot the Wolverines by 11 in the second half. Michigan couldn't shut down the Illini, forcing just six turnovers. "If a team has six turnovers against you, you ain't beating them," Borseth said. "Good players can score. Great players stop good players from scoring." By Borseth's reasoning, his team played well but not great, because Michigan had its best shooting night in conference play (51.2 per- cent). But in the final eight and a half minutes, the Wolverines made just one basket - a turn-around jumper from Skrba. Meanwhile, Michigan blew a five-point lead, allowing the Illini's crew of over-six-foot shooters to heat up from the perimeter. "We needed to play really well to beat these people," Borseth said. "And things didn't bounce our way." The Illini made 10 3-pointers, including a stretch where they scored from beyond the arc on three straight possessions. Junior Lori Bjork connected on four of the eight 3-point shots she took. Illinois' outside shooting helped it establish an ins sophomore Jenna; game-high 16 poin "It was difficul sophomore Krist "I knew going in be a battle, but If decent job. But sh( points." For Michigan, the bench and led ing for the secon putting up 14. Coming into 1 test, the Wolverir two close games had high hopes fi homestand this wi Losing to Illino plans. But Michij chance at home ap Thursday. "We play well said. "We just ha dent. We'll get it b 4 4 Ties show conference's parity 4 Looking for spark against Ohio State, Harris calls players-only meeting By ANDY REID tional weekend against Michigan Daily Sports Writer State and a marquee matchup with Miami. Top to bottom in the CCHA, any "How do you get ready for this team can beat any other on any team when you've got Miami next given night. week?" Berenson said. "You say it It's a sentiment reiterated time enough, and pretty soon the play- and time again by Michigan coach ers are believing it. I don't think Red Berenson, they were as respectful as they especially when NOTEBOOK should've been." Michigan upcom- Nowhere was the Wolverines' ing opponent is statistically lower lack of respect for the Wildcats on the conference totem pole. more apparent than Friday night's The nation's top-ranked team, first period. Michigan turned in Miami (Ohio), was upset by con- an uninspired 20 minutes, falling ference bottom-dweller. Alaska in behind 1-0 and taking the usu- December. Notre Dame suffered ally spirited Yost crowd out of the an embarrassing conference loss game. when it fell to Ferris State in Octo- Although Michigan fought back ber. to take a short-lived lead in the Thisweekend, it was the Wolver- second frame, it never truly gained ines' turn to underperform against momentum. The Wildcats' rough- a less-than-stellar conference foe, 'em-up style - 85 combined pen- tying Northern Michigan, 3-3, in alty minutes were called over two both games of last weekend's series games - kept the flow of the game at Yost Ice Arena. choppy, preventing the Wolverines The Wildcats, the ninth-place from finding an offensive rhythm. team in the CCHA standings, came "I think we were more disap- into the weekend having won just pointed with the effort we put one conference series all season. out," freshman Max Pacioretty They had nothing to lose. said of Friday's tie. "We came out On the other hand, Michigan slow, and it really showed that we had to focus on not looking past weren't prepared to play after a Northern Michigan - a series hard weekend like last weekend." sandwiched between an emo- NET GAMES: Junior goaltender Billy Sauer sat for the third time this season Saturday. Taking his place between the pipes was fresh- man Bryan Hogan, who turned in his first non-winning performance of the season. Hogan had wins over Ohio State and Bowling Green in December. Hogan looked solid at times, but couldn't rotate quick enough on two Wildcat slapshot goals. In the second period, Northern Michi- gan forward Ray Kaunisto took a slapshot from behind the Michigan blueline. Hogan appeared to save it with his leg pad, but a bad angle allowed the puck to deflect off his body and into the net. "He battled," Berenson said. "That was a tough goal to give up that early. Both these games were tough games for our goalies to play because they didn't see a lot of shots." DOWN THE STRETCH: With just eight games remaining in the regular season, the CCHA Tour- nament bracket is starting to come into focus. The Wolverines need just four points in their final four weeks to clinch a first-round bye. Four points is more than pos- sible with weekend series against Lake Superior State and Ferris State still to come. By DAN FELDMAN Daily Sports Editor After losing to Minnesota Thursday, sophomore center Ekpe UdohpraisedtheGoldenGophers' energy and enthusiasm on Michigan at the court. Ohio State When asked how the Michi- Matchup: gan men's bas- Michigan ketball team 5-16; Ohio could duplicate State 15-7 that, he didn't When: have a concrete Tonight 7 P.M. answer. "~ "I don't Where: Value know," he said. City Arena "We've just got TV ISPN to come togeth- er as a team." Freshman guard Manny Harris, in the past week, took a step to reach Udoh's vague goal, calling a players-only meeting while Michigan coach John Beilein was on a recruiting trip. Beilein, who learned about the meeting from one of his assis- tants, called it "absolutely ter- rific." "It's a step in the ownership of the team that we have been em- bracing all year long," Beilein said. These are dire times for Michi- gan (1-8 Big Ten, 5-16 overall), which has lost five straight games and 10 of its last 11. Effort has been lacking, andthere are few signs of improvement from the beginning of the season. But it was no surprise to Beilein that Harris was the player to step up in an attempt to reverse the Wolverines' fortunes. Before yes- terday's practice, Beilein recalled watching a game at Harris's high school, Detroit Redford. Instead of playing, Harris was coaching a group of seniors, who weren't on the basketball team, against the faculty. That was Beilein's first sign Harris might be a future locker room leader for the Wolverines Initially, Harris felt uneasy about challenging his mostly older teammates in Ann Arbor because he felt he was making the same mistakes as everyone else, unlike in high school, where he dominated. "What I told myself is that you can't get into people for mak- ing mistakes," Harris said. "But effort, or something like that, you can get into people for that." If the Wolverines show more effort against Ohio State tonight, it would likely be a morale boost, but a win seems almost out of the question. The Buckeyes (6-3, 15-7) have a six-game winning streak against Michigan, the longest of any con- ference foe over the Wolverines. Although Michigan leads the Big Ten in 3-point attempts, its .316 percentage from beyond the arc is second worst in the confer- ence. The Buckeyes are best in the league in defending the 3-pointer. Going against that stellar perimeter defense, the Wolver- ines will likely have to look inside for offensive success. If Michigan has any chance at the upset, it will need to fol- low Harris's cue, who frequently drives to the basket, on the court. Andy Reid contributed to this report. We are just a stone's throw away from North Campus.r, Located near Al Utilities Paidr o arey of Floor Plans offered ° Free Satellite TV o Fully F r l(Apartments F Internet 0 Washer and Dryer xu Amenities a a aa a 0 800.424.8580 www.peacecorps.gov