The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 5A
4Winning streak
has Blue 'hungry'
Team looking to
extend three-game
winning streak
against Gophers
By MARK GIANNOTTO
Daily Sports Editor
Just two weeks ago, it was
impossible to imagine that the
Michigan men's basketball
team would
soon be the
hottest squad Michigan at
in the Big Ten. Minnesota
But the Matchup-
Wolverines (4- Michigan 8-17;
9 Big Ten, 8-17 Minnesota 17-9
overall) have W
won three hen: Tonight
straightgames,
and now that's Where:
exactly what Williams Arena
they are. TV/Radio:
Thanks to ESPN
Purdue's loss
at Indiana Tuesday, Michigan's
win streak is currently the lon-
gest in the conference.
Some, including Michigan
coach John Beilein, aren't sure
what to make of it.
"Is that what it is? Really?"
Beilein said at his press confer-
ence yesterday.
Surprised or not, Beilein
understands basking in the
glow of the first extended
period of success all season is
the last thing the Wolverines
should doheadingintotonight's
showdown at Minnesota.
"We cannot accept anything
that has happened right now,"
Beilein said. "I think four wins
in the Big Ten was not a goal
to get (at the beginning of the
season). But when we had one
win in the Big Ten, four wins
seemed like a pretty good goal.
We just have to keep moving
on."
But before the team can
move up the Big Ten stand-
ings, it must show the wins
over Penn State, Iowa and Ohio
State weren't flash-in-the-pan
performances.
In those games, freshman
guard Manny Harris was sen-
sational, averaging 21 points,
five rebounds, three assists and
two steals. But Harris has been
surprisingly consistent all sea-
son.
The real reason behind the
recent surge has been the play
of everyone besides Harris. For
the first time all year, the Wol-
verines are getting contribu-
tions from more than just their
two leading scorers.
In its upset of the Buckeyes
Sunday at Crisler Arena, Mich-
igan got 22 points from sopho-
more DeShawn Sims, eight
from freshman Kelvin Grady
and seven each from senior
David Merritt and redshirt
freshman Anthony Wright.
Harris wasn't exactly held in
check, either, scoring a career-
high 27 points.
"I always felt we were a pret-
ty good team," Sims said. "But
it was hard to show it because
everybodywasn'tshowingtheir
best efforts at the same time."
The last time the Gophers
and Wolverines squared off, on
Jan. 31, was one of Michigan's
worst showings of the season.
After the disappointing 77-65
loss, Harris called a players-
only meeting to address the
team's struggles.
A close loss at Ohio State and
three straight wins later, and
that meeting has materialized
as the turning point in the sea-
son.
"We're hungry now, like
we should have been since the
beginning of the season," Har-
ris said.
INJURY UPDATE: Merritt's
surgery to repair a torn medial
meniscus was a success, said
Beilein. He said redshirt junior
C.J. Lee should see more min-
utes tonight, because the team
has just three guards available
to play for the rest of the sea-
son.
Freshman Manny Harris has been the main catalyst during Michigan's three-game winning streak.
'M'heads down home stretch
with NCAA bid within reach
ByALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
It's make or break time for the
Michigan women's basketball
team.
Win the next four and there is
a good chance the Wolverines will
earn a spot in the NCAA Tourna-
ment for the first time since 2001.
Lose the next four and it's the
NIT - or maybe no tournament at
all.
"Everything that we've accom-
plished so far goes right down the
drain if we don't do well in the
last four games," Michigan coach
Kevin Borseth said. "That's the
good news - we're motivated to
do that. The bad
news is the teams Purdue at
we play are very
good. It's not Michigan
going to be easy." Matchup:
The Wolver- Purdue 14-12;
ines (7-7 Big Ten, Michigan 14-10
14-10 overall) When: Tonight
play four tough 7 P.M.
games in the next Where:
11 days against Crisler Arena
Purdue, Illinois,
Wisconsin and Minnesota. Michi-
gan is 1-2 against those teams this
season.
It would be 0-3 if it wasn't for
sophomore center Krista Phillips.
Her miracle 40-foot 3-pointer sent
the Jan.17 contest against the Bad-
gers into overtime, where Michi-
gan went on to win 79-73.
On Jan. 10 in West Lafayette,
the Wolverines weren't so lucky.
They displayed one of their com-
mon end-of-game collapses after
leading by one with less than two
minutes to play. The Boilermakers
scored the final six points on their
way to victory, 56-51.
Although tonight's rematch is at
Crisler Arena, home-court
See BOILERMAKERS, Page BA
CHANEL VON H ABSBURG- LOTH RINGEN/DaHy
Freshman Bryan Hogan, the backup to junior Billy Sauer, has had to make the most of limited starting opportunities this season.
Hogan waits for his shot
Seniors hoping for first conference title
By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
Fourth place as freshmen.
Third as sophomores.
Second as juniors.
Starting tonight, the seniors on
the Michigan women's swimming
and diving team look to close out
their career with the award that
has eluded them for four years - a
Big Ten Championship.
"We're just hoping that this year
is the year for it," senior Michelle
Uhlig said. "We've trained all year
really hard, and we've thought
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about it. It's been our team goal
from the beginningto win."
In the program's 26-year history
at Big Tens, just one class of seniors
has graduated without hoisting the
conference trophy sometime dur-
ing their careers. The Wolverines
kick off their three-day quest for
the conference title tonight at Ohio
State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Michigan has more conference
championships (14) than any other
Big Ten team, all under the watch
of head coach Jim Richardson.
Between 1987 and 1998, Richard-
son's squads won 12 straight.
Every day during practice, the
senior class sees the 14 conference
championship banners that hang
high on the wall of Canham Natato-
rium. The Wolverines know it will
take their best performance of the
season to hoist a 2008 banner.
"Everyone needs to swim their
best," senior Justine Mueller said.
"That's all we can ask for. If every-
one walks out of (there) with at
least one best time, and we don't
win, that's the way it was supposed
to be."
The seniors are making it.a pri-
See BIG TENS, Page 8A
By ANDY REID sible angle until a team manager
Daily Sports Writer came back onto the ice to tell the
trio a mandatory weight training
A thick layer of shaved ice had session would begin in five min-
built up in the goal crease a half an utes.
hour after the Michigan hockey For Hogan, who is regularly the
team ended its practice Tuesday. last goalie on the ice, the added
Freshman goalie Bryan Hogan practice time is a chance to close
bent down and tried to clear the gap between him and starter
excess buildup from the blue ice in Billy Sauer.
front of him. The coaches and all And his extra effort isn't going
but two other players - freshmen unnoticed.
Aaron Palushaj and Max Pacioret- "I think he's made a lot of
ty - had long since left the ice, but improvement this season," goal-
Hogan still sat between the pipes, tender coach Josh Blackburn
taking an onslaught of slapshots said. "We knew Bryan was a good
from his classmates. goalie, and he's continued to work
The two forwards kept taking hard and improve, and in his situ-
shots at Hogan from every pos- ation, that's a really hard thing to
do."
Before the season, Michigan
coach Red Berenson hinted at a
possible goalie competition, cit-
ing Sauer's inconsistency last
year. But after Hogan missed the
first month of games due to mono-
nucleosis, Sauer embarked on a
career-best year, becoming one
of the stoutest netminders in the
country.
When Hogan returned, the
so-called goalie controversy was
a thing of the past, and the High-
land native settled into a spot on
the bench. Since then, Hogan has
stepped it up in practice, often
staying on the ice with teammates
See HOGAN, Page 8A
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