The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 5A SALT IN THE WOUND Despite Harris's 25 points, Michigan can't keep up in 68-52 loss at Utah By NICOLE AUERBACH Daily Sports Editor SALT LAKE CITY - It couldn't have been clearer last night. Or in any of the Michigan basketball team's losses this season, for that matter. The Wolverines need someone not named Manny Harris to step up. Harris led the team in points (25), rebounds (six) and steals (four). He hit shots from beyond the arc, an area that Michigan has struggled with most this season. And he hardly saw the bench. But his heroics weren't enough. The Wolverines (4-4) suffered a very frustrating 68-52 defeat to Utah (5-4) at the Huntsman Cen- ter. "Manny's played so many min- rPJPHOTO utes, he needs a rest," Michigan Sophomore JaceTavita and the Utes dowsed Mchigan lost nitht in Salt Lake City. coach John Beilein said. "We're In Michigan's four losses, just the Wolverines' loss to Alabama on looking for something else off one player besides Harris has post- Nov. 29. the bench, (something other than ed more than 12 points. That was Is 13 points from one of his what) we've been getting." senior forward DeShawn Sims, in teammates too much to ask? It Novak's absence leaves too large a void for Blue apparently was, especially on a night where all of Michigan's weaknesses were exposed. Rebounding was the most glar- ing. Utah, thanks in large part to the play of massive 7-foot-3 center David Foster, owned the boards. The Utes outrebounded the Wol- verines 41-25, but perhaps most importantly, they collected 10 offensive rebounds in the first half alone. Utah capitalized on its sec- ond - and in many cases, third or fourth - chances to build an eight- point lead at the half. The Utes also exploited another Michiganweakness, its size, rather easily. The Wolverines have played a small lineup for much of the sea- son, but due to the illness of soph- omore guard Zack Novak and the size of the Utes' frontcourt, they were forced to go big last night. Novak missed the game with a case of gastrointestinal flu. Senior forward DeShawn Sims, who fin- ished the game with 10 points, didn't talk to the media after the game because he said he didn't feel well. Beilein said he was con- cerned Sims may have the same ill- ness as Novak. With Novak ill, Michigan devi- senior forward Zack Gibson. "In the first half, when we played both big guys together, it did not work very well," Beil- ein said. "We didn't know Zack (Novak) wasn't going to play until (Tuesday) night. We made a few adjustments to playing big going into this game, but we were really out of sync with our defense." And that defense - both inte- rior and along the perimeter - couldn't keep up with the dynamic Utah offense. The Utes penetrated the paint at will, and when they felt a little resistance, they passed the ball out to the 3-point line and a Utah guard launched a three. Many times, that shot would fall - and each time, it felt like a dagger for the Wolverines. Michigan's 3-point attempts, on the other hand, clanged off the rim for most of the night. Excluding Harris' 3-of-5 night from beyond the arc, the rest of the team shot a miserable 4-of-17 (23.5%). That, coupled with some bobbled passes and lethargic play, provoked Beilein to criticize his guards' performance. "Right now, the guard play is not real good, and we just keep working at it, just keep working at it," he said. "It's not the biggest evil right now. There (are) a lot of issues right now we need to get better at." "We've got a lot of the season left and we just got to pick it Up." And that's precisely what last night's loss clearly explained. Michigan has struggled defen- sively, on the boards and with its shooting. But until last night, all of those struggles hadn't coincided so dramatically. "It's frustrating, but the bad thing is we're 4-4, and the good thing is we've got a lot of the sea- son left and wejust got to pick itup now," Harris said. I ated trom the starting lineup it had used through its first seven games, and Beilein started both Sims and S U 2 By NICOLE AUERBACH Daily Sports Editor SALT LAKE CITY - Last night, there was a glaring, gaping hole in the Michigan basketball team. Its heart was missing. Or rather, sophomore guard Zack Novak was missing. He hasn't been the go-to guy in the Wolverines' offense, or even the key to the their 1-3-1 zone defense. But when Michigan needs someone to dive across the floor for a loose ball or bleed for the team, he's the guy. Two nights ago, Novak came down with gastrointestinal flu. He felt fine until the Wolverines' prac- tice Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. There, he began feelingill and start- ed to vomit. Michigan coach John Beilein said that Novak had trouble "keep- ing anything down" until last night. The sophomore didn't leave the team's hotel to come to the game against Utah. "We miss him a lot, we absolutely miss him a lot," Beilein said after Michigan's 68-52 loss. "That is one guy we can always depend on. He's always going to block his man out. He's always going to hustle. He's always going to do some pretty good things." With Novak out of the lineup, players like senior forward Zack Gibson, sophomore guard Stu Doug- lass and freshman Eso Akunne saw increased playing time. Gibson started in Novak's place, giving Michigan a chance to showcase a big lineup with Gib- son and senior forward DeShawn Sims simultaneously on the court. According to Beilein and evidenced by Utah's eight-point halftime lead, the strategy didn't work. Beilein also put Douglass and Akunne on the court in an attempt to get the Wolverines' guard play to click. Douglass saw his time increase to 27 minutes, and Akunne 17. Though that additional time on court didn't translate to points - Douglass led the pair with just five - it still helped Michigan gain one thing it can't in practice: experi- ence. "Our guards are just so young, (and) we're playing very young," Beilein said. "We just got to contin- ue to get more experience and keep teaching them." That word "young" came up multiple times last night, and it was always with the same message, With a young team, the cure is usu- ally in upperclassman leadership. But on this team, Novak, a second- year player, is expected to be one of the team's on- and off-the-court leaders this season. "We missed him a lot - just his hard work, aggressiveness, his offense, everything," junior guard Manny Harris said. "No excuses. Our team should have still found a way to pull out the win." Harris is another player Michi- gan has looked to for guidance, and the junior successfully led by exam- ple last night by scoring 25 points. The next steps, though, are tougher. He needs to become a more vocal leader, and then it's time to get the team on the same page mentally. "It's not good right now," Harris said. "We've got a find a way to get everyone's confidence back up, get everybody mentally into it. It's not good right now, but I know it'll get there." NOTES: In the waning minutes and with the game's outcome all but decided, the Utah student section began chanting, "Just like football." For Michigan fans, it's a painful reference to last fall's football game, in which Utah beat Michigan 25-23 in Ann Arbor. That was the first shock of the Rich Rodriguez era, and the win jumpstarted the Utes' undefeated season. Their 2008 cam- paign ended with a Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. Accordingto Utah's athletic web- site, the Utes received $800,000 to play in the football contest, and the deal included an agreement for' a home-and-home basketball series. Utah will come to Crisler Arena next season to complete the deal. Phillips stepping up for Wolverines By AMY SCARANO Daily Sports Writer Krista Phillips has found her groove - and it's no surprise that, as the tallest player on the team, she has built that momentum smack in the middle of the paint. Despite Iowa's physicality and tall lineup (six players above six feet tall), the senior scored 15 points, the majority in the paint, and was the Michigan women's basketball team's top scorer in the its first Big Ten test of the season. Phillips has now scored in dou- ble digits in Michigan's last three games and is almost doubling her point-per-game average from last year. She is emerging as a consis- tent weapon for the Wolverines - a much-needed one after last season's offensive woes. After an injury early last season, Phillips averaged just six points per game. She continually strug- gles with her footwork, and while it is not yet perfect, she has figured out a way to get around that. "She understands what we are trying to do, she totally gets that picture," Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. "The footwork is the part she is probably challenged most with and that's the area we're really trying to deal with." While the Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 6-2 overall) haven't shot well frombehind the arctheyhave made a habit of feeding the ball to Phillips under the basket, and the 6-foot-6 center is producing. But it will become much more Senior Krista Phillips scored 15 points in an upset of Iowa last Saturday. difficult for Phillips to camp out down low as the Wolverines get into conference play. She will need to adjust to the bigger players and a more physical style of play oth- erwise, opponents will push her out from the post, as New Mexico State did in its win over Michigan two weeks ago. That strategy eliminated her chances to score in the game's waning moments. "When she plays against those big Big Ten kids, they are going to move her four feet off that lane," Borseth said. "She's going to have to get craftier or we're going to have to get craftier in how we use her, because scoring in that paint is very important." Another advantage to Phillips' size is that it attracts attention. which opens up the perimeter for her teammates. In three of her four highest-scoring games in the paint, her teammates took advantage of the open shots an hit 50 percent or better. "They might double her, or even just pulling her defender closer to her helps us," freshman guard Jenny Ryan said. "So if we get the ball moving, it opens it up so much." Staying in her lane will be an ongoing battle as the season pro- gresses, but Phillips looked prom- ising in Sunday's win over the HIawkeyes (0-1, 5-4). .Now she just needs to stand her ground in tomorrow's game against Boston College (5-3) if the Wolverines hope to snap the Eagles' five-game winning streak.