4B - February 9, 2009 T Mcg Di- cgaay
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
REID
From page 1B
expression.
For the first time all game, one
of the Wolverines looked wild-
eyed, overwhelmed.
For everything they had done
right, for everything that had gone
their way, one measly missed lay-
up led to an 8-0 Connecticut run
and a10-point swing that tied the
game at 31.
Sure, Michigan kept it close
after that, but it was only a matter
of time before size and experience
stifled the proverbial man-beats-
giant storyline.
And Connecticut is a Goliath
- figuratively and, in a sense,
literally.
The Huskies are the top-ranked
team in the nation, and for good
reason after tearing off two
Il-game winningstreaks. Then
there's the 7-foot-3 behemoth
Hasheem Thabeet, who towers
over Michigan's "big" men, 6-foot-
8 DeShawn Sims and 6-foot-10
Zack Gibson.
The Huskies' game plan cen-
tered around Thabeet. And for
a team that's struggled mightily
against big men all season, Michi-
gan needed a perfect game to win
with Thabeet roaming the paint.
It was a nearly perfect game
before that gimme lay-up rimmed
out.
But from that play on, every
time the Wolverines made it close
and every time they appeared
to have a chance, Connecticut
stopped fooling around, stopped
giving up sloppyturnover and
simply tossed ally-oops to
Thabeet.
Every time Michigan had a
glimpse of hope, it was put back
in its place by the clearly superior
Huskies.
After the game, Connecticut
coach Jim Calhoun gave Michi-
gan quite high praise: "I hon-
estly think ina given game, they
can beat anybody in the United
States."
And the Wolverines have more
or less proven that, but not on a
consistent basis.
Heywood Broun once wrote of
a lesser boxer that had a shot -
but failed - at taking down Jack
Dempsey: "The tragedy of man
is not that he loses, but that he
almost wins."
Everyone remembers the story
of David taking down the power-
ful Goliath.
Butithe story's nutsa story if
David would have simply tripped
him up a bit. No glory is made in
losing - not matter how good the
team is or how close you came.
e{
01
Redshirt sophomore Aaron Hynes kicked off Michigan's strong finish against Michigan State with a 9-7 win over Anthony Jones Jr. in the 157-pound class.
Blue continues hot streak
Grapplers now 4-0-1
in Big Ten after two
wins this weekend
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - During the
Michigan wrestling team's pre-
match introductions against Michi-
gan State, Sparty tried to give a
good-natured fisthumptoMichigan
freshman Zac Stevens.
Spartyreceivednothinginreturn,
something that was common for the
Spartans all afternoon.
After coming from behind to
upset No. 8 Minnesota 17-16 Friday,
No. 18 Michigan demolished its in-
state rivals 28-7yesterday afternoon
in front of a crowd of 1,284.
The most excitingthing for many
of the members of Michigan's team
was wrestling on Michigan State's
raised platform, the only one in the
nation. The platform brings about a
sense that all eyes are on the wres-
tlers, and the noise that the platform
makes only enhances the experi-
ence.
"It's always fun to beat Michigan
State, especially in (Jenison Field
House)," senior Tyrel Todd said.
"They got the platform, they've got
a lot of great fans, so it is definitely
fun beating them here and doing it
in a dominating fashion."
The Wolverines fell behind 7-6
heading into the 157-pound match
featuring Michigan redshirt sopho-
more Aaron Hynes.
With Michigan State's Anthony
Jones Jr. holding a three-point
lead in the third period, the home
announcer told the crowd, "Jones is
dominating on his feet." Moments
later, Hynes scored a takedown and
converted that to a near fall, scor-
ing five points and taking the match
9-7.
After Hynes's victory, Michigan
went on to win the remaining five
matches.
"Nobody tells me that I'm the piv-
otal match," Hynes said. "They just
tell me to go out there and have fun,
and winning's fun."
Todd (197 pounds) carried the
momentum he gained two days
from his 16-5 victory over Minne-
sota junior Chris McPhail into his
bout against Michigan State fresh-
man Ian Hinton. After scoring a
takedown right away, he added an
exclamation point to the match by
scoring a pin just one minute and 41
seconds into the match.
"The Michigan State boy wasn't
real strong," Todd said. "I got on
top of him and was surprised at how
weak he felt, so I was like, 'I'm just
going to stick this guy right away."'
The two time All-American has
posted an 11-1 record since tearing
his ACL in early December.
"He's back," Michigan coach Joe
McFarland said. "I like the way he's
competing, he's in great shape....
He'll be there down the stretch. No
question about it."
Sophomore heavyweight Eddie
Phillips ended the meet with a
bout against his former high school
teammate and Spartan junior Alan
O'Donnell. Tied 1-1, the meet went
into overtime.
Phillips got into trouble early in
the extra period, but got out of it and
scored a takedown for a 3-1victory.
It was gratification for Phillips,
who lost to O'Donnell the last time
they met.
"Three years ago we were in high
school together, and there was no
way we would've ever thought we
would be wrestling on the Big Ten
Network," Phillips said. "That was
just something that was in the back
of my headthe whole time."
It was also the third overtime
match this year for Phillips. He
holds a 2-1 record in extra time.
"I believe I can beat anybody in
overtime, so I don't try to force bad
moves early in the match," Phillips
said.
After their two Big Ten wins this
weekend, the Wolverines' 4-0-1
record in conference play sharply
contrasts their 5-6 non-conference
record. With seven starting under-
classmen the young Wolverines
needed the non-conference season
to adjust to the rigors of collegiate
competition.
Michigan's turnaround needs to
continue in the final four conference
dual meets if it wants to match last
year's third-place Big Ten finish.
"We're working on little things
that we need to do better," McFar-
land said. "We're wrestling harder
through alot ofthese little positions.
We're ridingtough. We're not giving
our opponents anything, so that's
really good to see."
- Reid can be reached at
andyreid@umich.edu.
CAMERON
From page 1B
U.S. squad are chosen from the
National Team.
And Cameron did it without a
big score on the pommel horse, one
of his premier events.
The Wolverines thought Cam-
eron's pommel horse routine was
near-perfect, too. After two falls
on the first day of competition, the
sophomore nailed his set Saturday
night.
When the score came up as a
13.05, everyone thought it was a
mistake. Both his hit sets this sea-
son have earned 15.00 scores or
better.
"That was the biggest garbage
I've ever seen," senior co-captain
Phil Goldberg said. "Honestly, the"
first thing that popped into my
head was that this was a scoring
malfunction, they typed in the
wrong number or something."
But the score stood. And Cam-
eron's performances on his other
specialties - floor, rings and par-
allel bars"- and his ninth-place
all-around finish put him on the
National Team.
He thinks that in the next few
years, some of his Michigan team-
mates will eventually join him
there.
"You have to keep in mind that
(sophomore) Thomas Kelley is a
better gymnast than me, and so is
(junior) Mel (Santander)," Cam-
eron said. "They know they should
be on National Team with me, so I
think that's going to push them so
much more. It's amazing, the way
it's turned out. I'm sure it's going
to be the most positive thing that's
happened in a long time with the
program."
Cameron wasn't the only one
turning heads in Las Vegas.
HUSKIES
From page 1B
games, like in its 15-point loss at
Penn State on Jan. 20. The Spar-
tans are the best team in the Big
Ten, so if history says anything,
Michigan will come ready to play.
There's no doubtthat Michigan
coach John Beilein and his team
knew how important the game
was, but it took his team a little
while to get comfortable. The
Huskies' 7-foot-3 center Hasheem
Thabeet comically won the tip
with ease over 6-foot-10 Michi-
gan center Zack Gibson.
Connecticut started with a
quick 8-1 run in the first two min-
utes. But Gibson hita 3-pointer to
cut the lead to four, and from then
on, Michigan competed with the
nation's top-ranked team.
"We definitely looked at it as
an opportunity to get it one step
closer to where we want it to be,"
fifth-year senior C.J. Lee said.
"And we just didn't have enough
to pull out the victory."
Freshman Stu Douglass cer-
tainly gave his best effort. The
3-point specialist exploded from
long range, connecting on a
career-highsix3-pointers, includ-
ing a couple from well behind the
line. His 20 points were a career-
and game-high.
"He is asguy that notonly shoots
from three but can shoot from
(deep) range," Beilein said. "And
that is a huge thing for us. With-
out him tonight, it would have
been a 15- or 18-point game."
Despite being overmatched
athletically and physically, the
Wolverines (5-6 Big Ten, 15-9
overall) controlled the first 30
minutes after their shaky start
Goldberg placed third overall on
the still rings, edging out Cameron
to stand on the podium. Santander
bounced back from some rough
sets on Saturday with his second
outstanding pommel horse routine
in two days of competition to finish
fifth in the event. Fifth-year senior
Paul Woodwardcameinseventhon
the pommel horse. Kelley earned a
sixth-place tie on high bar.
"I think that this was one of the
best years that Michigan has had
at Winter Cup," said senior Ralph
Rosso, who finished 13th on rings.
"I think that we had some downs,
some falls, but we picked ourselves
back up and that's what's most
important."
As much as Cameron, Goldberg
was a star in Las Vegas. Unlike
most of his teammates, this was
Goldberg's first time competing in
a USA Gymnastics event. He said
he "lives for the big meets," and
that was especially apparent on
Saturday night.
The crowd, except for the sec-
tion of Michigan parents, didn't
make much noise for the Wolver-
ines. But Goldberg was the final
competitor on the still rings, and
after his routine, all the spectators
applauded him.
"It was perfect," Kelley said.
"We all think he won the meet. I
think his rings routine tonight was
by far the best in the competition.
He's going to win NCAA Champi-
onships if he can do a routine like
that again."
The Wolverines' overall per-
formance should go a long way in
boosting Michigan's national rep-
utation.
"We represented Michigan
real well," Goldberg said. "I think
it bodes well for the present and
also for the future, especially for
recruits, because we had a good
showing."
and nearly pulled off their biggest
win of the year.
Connecticut coach Jim Cal-
houn knew the matchup would be
difficult. The two coaches shared
the same sideline five times while
Beilein coached at West Virginia,
but Beilein was just 1-4 against
Calhoun.
"Coming home from Louisville
(where Connecticut won 68-51 on
Feb. 1), I said (to myself) 'What
did you do?' " Calhoun said of his
decision to schedule Michigan.
"You know it's going to he tortu-
ous. You know he's going to put
you through a root canal. And
sure as heck, they did."
The Huskies had trouble
adjusting to Michigan's defense,
which shifted from its traditional
1-3-1 zone to a new-look, 2-3 zone
throughout the game.
In the first half, Connecti-
cut (10-1 Big East, 221) shot just
11-for-30 from the field. The Hus-
kies missed plenty of easy buckets
inside, where they had a distinct
height advantage with Thabeet,
who had 17 points, 12 rebounds
and six blocks.
The Wolverines handled
Connecticut's full-court press
perfectly, committing just 10
turnovers while forcing 17. They
battled in the paint and even
knocked Thabeet out of the game
for a few minutes in the second
half. Gibson and Sims both used
their bodies to force Thabeet
and senior forward Jeff Adrien
into tough shots, and the Michi-
gan duo did all it could to keep
the Connecticut front line off the
boards.
Goinginto the game, Michigan,
a 17-point underdog, had nothing
to lose. But in the end, its "moral
victory" just felt empty.
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