The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com December 7,2009
SAM WOLON/Daily
Senior DeShawn Sims tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Michigan past Arkansas- Pine Bluff. The Detroit native led the charge for the struggling Wolverines after the team only managed to tie the Golden Lions through the first half of Saturday's gamn.
Sims not Harris, is the Michigan pulls past
most valuable Wolverine upset-minded Lions
_ n the Michigan baspetball, ing like the dominant player he cess this season.
team's loss to Boston Col-
lege last week, senior and
second-leading scorer DeShawn
Sims notched four points and .
four rebounds in just 23 minutes.
Part of the issue was foul trou-
ble. But the bigger issue was that
Sims just didn't
show up. JOE
Saturday STAPLETON
was a differ-
ent story. At On Men's
halftime of the Basketball
Wolverines'
67-53 win against Arkansas-Pine
Bluff, Michigan was tied at 32
with an 0-5 team relatively new
to Division I. And this time, Sims
was the only one who played
well - he had 15 points at the
break.
While it was great for fans to
see Sims coming back and look-
can be, his performance pointed
to one of his greatest flaws:
inconsistency.
This has been a knock on Sims
ever since he first donned the
maize and blue - it's old news.
The not-so-old news: Michigan
needs him to start finding some
consistency fast, because he is
the single most important player
on the team.
The question is how can Sims,
a player with talent through the
roof who at times disappears in
stretches during games, find a
way to perform at a high level,
game after game?
While Saturday's game
against the Golden Lions may
have seemed like a ho-hum,
somewhat disappointing game, it
holds the answer to that question
and the key to Michigan's suc-
In fact, Sims himself touched
on it in the locker room after the
game.
"They just went to me," Sims
said. "Coach stressed that we
play from the inside out today
and we executed the game plan."
There it is - inside out. A
phrase Michigan fans have been
dying to hear all season after
watching an offense that seems
to always be going outside in.
Throughout the early season,
Michigan coach John Beilein has
said Sims is working on beinga
more complete player - refining
his outside shot and his ability
to score from the wing-- even
though he has traditionally
found success down low.
"We're trying to win games,
but we're also, in practice, trying
See SIMS, Page 4B
By GJON JUNCAJ
Daily Sports Writer
There are still problems, and
the Wolverines know that. One
torrid second-half run doesn't
change much.
But with the Michigan men's
basketball team's 67-53 win over
Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the Wol-
verines showed they can still
grab momentum at any given
moment.
After taking just two shots
in the first half and playing
uncharacteristically passively on
offens'e, junior forward Manny
Harris tallied 14 points in the
opening eight minutes of the sec-
ond half to lead a 17-5 Michigan
run.l
A halftime tie turned into a
comfortable lead and the Wolver-
ines (4-3) cruised from there, but
it took much longer than anyone
on the team would have liked.
Michigan shot just 4-of-21 from
the outside in the first frame,
including 3-of-15 from behind
the arc. Each miss magnified the
defensive lapses that allowed
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-6) to stay
within striking distance.
And Michigan coach John Bei-
lein seemed very concerned that
several of the team's sharpshoot-
ers couldn't break out of their ear-
ly-season slump.
"The best players that were out
there were getting good shots,"
Beilein said. "And other guys who
were out there wide open didn't
make them. You tell me another
day when you're going to see Zack
(Novak) and Stu (Douglass) go
1-of-11 (on 3-pointers). ... People
are going to keep packing it in
until we get it going (from the
perimeter)."
Harris, Novak and Douglass -
last season's primary three-point
shooters - have combined to hit
23 of 93 shots from behind the
arc in the team's first six games.
Redshirt sophomore guard Laval
Lucas-Perry, who opened Satur-
day with two quick triples, has
been the lone offensive bright spot
from the perimeter. He has made
40 percent of his 3-point attempts
this season.
Beilein compared the individu-
al cold streaks to a hitting slump
in baseball, and admitted there's
not much a coach can do other
See GOLDEN LIONS, Page 3B
Blue bound for NCAA Sweet 16
ICE HOCKEY
After hitting new low,
'earns series split
By MARK BURNS
Daily Sports Writer
On Saturday, the ingredients
for the Michigan volleyball team
to advance to the Sweet 16 of the
NCAA Tournament were there:
experience, senior leadership and
a refuse-to-give-up mentality.
But it took a 2-0 match deficit
for those ingredients to start boil-
ing.
The 16th-ranked Wolverines
squared off against Ohio Univer-
sity in the second round of the
NCAA Tournament on Saturday
after advancing past Niagara the
night before.
And after two sets, the Bob-
cats looked like they would easily
advance to the third round.
"We looked at each other
(after the second set) and refused
to lose," senior captain Megan
Bower said.
That's when Michigan's
strengths began to surface.
Experience.
In last year's NCAA Tourna-
ment, the Wolverines were down
2-1 in the first and second round
and rallied to win in five sets on
both occasions.
Michigan (26-9) had been in
a come-from-behind situation
before, and this predicament
was nothing new for the veteran
team.
All of the Wolverines' current
starters played in last year's tour-
nament, so everyone had the con-
fidence and trust in each other to
rebound from the 2-0 hole.
But against Ohio, the Wolver-
ines would have to win three sets
in a row after losing the first two,
a feat the team hadn't accom-
plished all season.
"This team has been playing
together for two years, and we
just looked into each other's eyes,
and we knew we were going to
win," outside hitter Juliana Paz
said.
The Wolverines were facing an
Ohio team that upended Notre
bame - the Big East undefeated
regular season champion - the
previous night in five sets.
Michigan's offensive average
was an abysmal .172 in the first
two frames.
Michigan coach Mark Rosen
said the team wasn't running its
offense at the right tempo, and SAID ALSALAH,
See VOLLEYBALL, Page 3B Senior Lexi Zimmerman will play in her third straight Sweet 16 this weekend.
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - This weekend,
the Michigan hockeyteamreached
a low it has visited just four other
times in program history..
After a 5-3 loss to Ohio State on
Friday,
the Wol- MICHIGAN 3
verines OHIO STATE 5
sat in last MICHIGAN 2
place in OHIO STATE 1
the con-
ference, a
position it hasn't finished in since
the 1978 season - three years
before the Wolverines joined the
CCHA.
To come out of the cellar,
Michigan was forced with to do
something it has done just two
times before this season - win
the Saturday game after a loss in
a weekend series. The Wolverines
managed to win 2-1.
The weekend started out like
many others this season, with
Michigan falling behind early. But
unlike games earlier in the season
against Miami (Ohio) and Michi-
gan State, Michigan showed signs
of life instead of laying down.
In Friday's second period, soph-
omore Luke Glendening picked up
a turnover at the Wolverine blue
line and beat an Ohio State defen-
semen to the outside. As Glenden-
ing was about to go behind the
net, his backhand beat Ohio State
goaltender Cal Heeter over the left
shoulder.
"We stayed pretty positive
on the bench," Glendening said.
"We're confident. We were down
2-0, but it didn't seem to faze us
much."
Michigan scored again to tie
the game, but two quick Buckeye
goals to start the third period
sealed the loss.
Even though Michigan
couldn't pull out the win, Glen-
dening's goal jumpstarted the
team's the offensive momentum
for the rest of the weekend. The
Wolverines launched 81 shots
See BUCKEYES, Page 3B
DEAR DONOVAN... ON THE ROAD AGAIN
U Cornerback Donovan Warren is expected U The Wolverines are proving their grueling
to enter the NFL Draft early, but he would be eight-game road trip to be a piece of cake.
making the wrong decision. Page 2B. This time, it was in Big Ten country. Page 2B.