The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 9
Novak hits big shots for Blue in upset
Freshman scores
career-high 14 in
Saturday's victory
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
There are big shots and then there
are really big shots.
In the Michigan men's basketball
team's upset of then-No. 4 UCLA,
freshman Stu Douglass hit an off-
balance 3-pointer to give the Wol-
verines a late lead.
In order for Michigan to beat No.
4 Duke, someone had to step up in
place for Douglass, who didn't hit a
3-pointer all game.
Luckily for the Wolverines, fresh-
man Zack Novak stepped up -
twice.
After takinga53-50 lead with8:38
remaining in regulation, the Blue
Devils seemed to have finally pulled
away from unranked Michigan.
But Novak single-handedly saved
the day, sending Duke into a tail-
spin. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers
less than 30 seconds apart to propel
the Wolverines
to a 56-53 lead, Easter
one they wouldn't
relinquish. Michigan at
"All the credit Michigan
has got to go to
my teammates," Matchup:
Novak said. "I'm Michigan 3-6;
wide open on Michigan 6-2
those. It's easy for
me when they've day 4 PM
setting me up and
finding me with Where: Cris-
nobody within 10 ler Arena
feet."
Novak scored a career-high 14
points, going 4-of-7 from behind the
arc. He has made 10 total 3-pointers
in the last three games.
Michigan's top two scorers, soph-
omore Manny Harris and junior
power forward DeShawn Sims,
account for 53 percent of the team's
points. Novak is the only other Wol-
verine to score in double-figures in
multiple games. So it's a breath of
fresh air for Michigan to see another
scorer emerge.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
called Novak's improvement from
the first game on Nov. 21, when he
washeldscoreless, one ofthebiggest
differences in the Wolverines' play.
"That's what we were missing,"
Michigan coach John Beilein said.
"Everybodytalks aboutlastyear.We
were missing having those distance
shooters, the guys that really open
the floor for DeShawn and Manny.
And that was really the big differ-
ence."
CRASHING THE BOARDS: Beil-
ein likes to downplay rebounding as
much as he stresses the importance
of the assist-to-turnover ratio.
Saturday, Michigan held Duke,
which averages 42 rebounds per
game, to just 34 boards. The Wolver-
ines grabbed 35.
When asked what he thought
about his team outrebounding the
physical and athletic Blue Devils,
Beilein chose to look past it once
again.
"That doesn't happen very much
with us, does it?" Beilein said. "Once
again they missed a lot of shots, I
don't remember what their percent-
age is, but 41 percent right?"
Then he looked at the boxscore
and saw Duke's shooting percent-
age: 47.7, better than its season aver-
age.
"I guess we rebounded it pretty
good," Beilein said while laughing.
Considering the Wolverines were
outrebounded by 15 the last time
they played the Blue Devils, maybe
rebounding is important after all.
CHESSANYONE?: Iftherewas an
opposing player Beilein was worried
about Saturday, it was Duke forward
Kyle Singler.
"He's a tough guard because Mike
plays him as a five. He plays him as
a four. He plays him as a 3," Beilein
said.
Singler leads the Blue Devils in
scoring, rebounding and assists. He
is so versatile that ESPN announcer
Jay Bilas said Krzyzewski uses him
as "a queen on the chess board."
Although Singler had 15 points,
10 rebounds and seven assists Sat-
urday, his production was hard-
earned. The sophomore shot just
6-for-17 from the field and 1-for-9
from behind the arc, tyingthe worst
3-point shooting performance of his
career.
Back in November, Singler scored
15 points againstthe Wolverines, but
it was on just 5-of-8 shooting. Michi-
gan's 1-3-1 zone was much more suc-
cessful containing Singler in the
rematch.
"The first time we played them,
we felt we could have played our
zone more aggressive," Harris said.
"So we came out more aggressive
and flying around trying to con-
test every shot."
But it also may have just been a
bad day for the reigning Atlantic
Coast Conference Rookie of the
Year.
"What would you do? Would
you tell a really good player not
to shoot?" Krzyzewski said. "In
the second half, (the shots) were
pretty wide open."
BILAS IN THE HOUSE: One of
the more respected ESPN person-
alities, Jay Bilas, had some nice
things to say about Michigan dur-
ing Friday's practice.
"First of all, I'm a huge Michi-
gan - I don't know if 'fan' is the
right word," Bilas said. "When I
was a kid I used to go to the Rose
Bowl. It seemed like Michigan
was there every year. The best
fight song in the history of fight-
ing or singing."
Bilas, who played at Duke
under Krzyzewski from 1983-86,
ranked this matchup as one of the
best he'll see this season. But he
also warned the Michigan faith-
ful to not put too much into one
game.
"The same thing happened
at Purdue last week," Bilas said
referring to Boilermaker fans
camping out before they hosted
Duke on Dec. 2. "There's a dan-
ger with fans of making one game
into a crusade. It's an important
step but at the end of the day, win
or lose, its just one game. It's not
going to get you into the tourna-
ment. It's not going to keep you
out. A body of work does."
With two quality wins now on
their plate, the Wolverines are on
their way to putting together a
successful resume.
BRING ON THE EAGLES:
Before Big Ten play begins at the
end of December, Michigan has
four games against non-BCS con-
ference opponents.
The first is Dec.13 against East-
ern Michigan, who is 2-19 all-time
againstthe Wolverines.
The last time the Eagles beat
Michigan, Beilein was coaching
at the University of Richmond.
Eastern Michigan has gone win-
less against the Wolverines since
December 21, 1997, when former
Denver Nugget Earl Boykins led
the Eagles to an 89-83 overtime
victory with 29 points.
prDpel u ALSALAH/Da iy
helped poe Michigan In its 81-73 upset victory aver then-Nn. 4 Duke an Saturday.-.
Freshman Zack Novak's clutch shooting
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Wolverines to split into Blue
' and Maize for intrasquad meet
By COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writer
The rivalry in Michigan men's
gymnastics is back.
Not Michigan vs. Ohio State -
Maize vs. Blue.
The Wolverines hold an
intrasquad at Cliff Keen Arena each
December, with each side gunning
for bragging rights.
Last year, Maize gymnasts
replaced "blue" with "maize" in all
the usual Michigan cheers. Many
Maize team members refused
to wear blue shorts or t-shirts to
practice for weeks. The Blue team
appeared at practice one day and
whipped off their Michigan fleeces
in unison to reveal iron-on team
t-shirts that said, "What did you do
to beat Maize today?"
The rivalry will continue on Sat-
urday, when senior co-captain Phil
Goldberg leads the Blue team in
search of its firstvictorysince 2005.
Maize already has one advantage -
because Goldberg picked first when
the squads were drafted, junior
co-captain David Chan's crew will
compete in Olympic order, the nor-
mal rotation of events. Blue will fol-
low Olympic "disorder," meaning
events like floor and vault, which
often feature the same gymnasts,
will not have any break between
them.
Manyoflastyear'sBluegymnasts
maintain the complicated scoring
process was the key to Maize's vic-
tory. The coaches will use it again
this time: they will determine the
average score from every routine
on an apparatus, then multiply that
number by four to calculate the
event total. Normally, just the top
four marks on each apparatus count
toward the team score.
The intrasquad will offerthe first
look for fans at a team that finished
i in sixth place at the NCAA Cham-
pionships in April. Last year's team
usually finished workouts and was
out of the gym by 6 p.m. each day.
Now, it's typical to see half the team
still practicing at 7 p.m., working on
new skills as well as strength and
conditioning programs.
For the only time all year, Michi-
gan coach Kurt Golder won't have
to worry about lineup constraints.
This offseason, collegiate coaches
across the board supported expand-
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Junior Mel Santander will try to lead the Maize team to its third-straight victory.
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(7 .i ta al
ing the competition limit to 15 men
from 12. But the NCAA shot the
modification down.
Golder said he was "very disap-
pointed" in that decision. For one
night, at least, the only restriction
on Michigan will be how many men
can compete in each event. And the
coaching staff has high expecta-
tions, especially for the freshmen
and the four sophomores coming off
redshirt seasons.
For Michigan's two freshmen,
Syque Caesar and Douglass John-
son, the Maize and Blue will mark
their first competition as college
gymnasts.
"We'll get to see how the fresh-
men are as competitors," senior
Ralph Rosso said. "There may be
some surprises, which would be
great."
The last time Michigan fans
saw sophomores Devan Cote,
Steve Crabtree, Adam Hamers and
Andrew Vance was at last year's
intrasquad, when they'd only been
Wolverines for three and a half
months. All of them have added sig-
nificant difficulty to their routines
and will add extra fire to the this
year's meet.
Twenty-two gymnasts from last
year's 24-man team are back, and
with the changes made to the gym-
nastics Code of Points, routine
upgrades will be rampant at Cliff
Keen. Every member of the team
has added at least one more diffi-
cult skill to his repertoire.
Withsomany new skills, safety
on regulation equipment may be
an issue. In the week leading up
to the competition, each athlete
must demonstrate to one of the
coaches that he can safely per-
form all his planned skills with-
out the extra padding available at
the practice gym.
The intrasquad won't direct-
ly determine which gymnasts
compete in the season-opening
Windy City Invitational on Jan.
17, especially since Michigan
has been holding its own infor-
mal intrasquads for more than
a month at practice. But it will
be one more opportunity for the
gymnasts to place themselves
in pressure situations and gauge
their responses.
"We've been focused on put-
ting ourselves in pressure situa-
tions a lot more frequently," said
senior Scott Bregman, who will
be on the Blue team for the fourth
straight year. "We'll be so used to
raising our hand and having every
single person watching you and
being evaluated by the coaches."