The Michigan Daily i :gandaily.com I December14, 2009
k
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Sims provides
second-half
boost i n win
COMPANY
, 4
y Y
H ' V' ni fir
i :. l l
Blue's NCAA Rosen and Co.
journey halted earn national
Th
has b
coac]
It
tion
ballt
Regi(
Haw
Th
fourt
Wolv
vice
with
four-
"V
game
repo
team
the c
going
said.
our h
kidsI
ment
Bu
repli
follo'
drop
the I
son.
By MARK BURNS playoff run in history.
Daily Sports Writer "We definitely didn't bring
our 'A' game tonight," junior
ie serve-and-pass battle setter Lexi Zimmerman said.
een a point of emphasis for Zimmerman was named to the
h Mark Rosen all season. Stanford Regional All-Tourna-
needed to be the founda- ment team along with sopho-
of his Michigan volley- more left side hitter Alex Hunt.
team's play in its Stanford Zimmerman added that the
onal Final match against team's effort was a non-issue
aii on Saturday. against the 12th-seeded Rain-
se previous night against bow Wahine, and that every
h-seeded Stanford, the Wolverine knew the stakes of
'erines recorded eight ser- the match. But the execution
aces and handled the ball just wasn't there, and it cost the
ease en route to a shocking team dearly in Palo Alto, Calif.
set upset victory. The 13th-seeded Wolver-
Vhen we started to do the ines (27-10) never really gained
plan and the scouting momentum throughout the
rt for Stanford, I think our match, a testament to Hawaii's
- one through 15 and all of fast-paced offense, which pre-
oaches - felt like we were vented Michigan from setting
g to win the match," Rosen upa consistent block.
"But we didn't play out of Hawaii (32-2) registered five
head. ... I was proud of our service aces to the Wolverines'
for going into that environ- zero. Michigan tallied six ser-
, coming out and then being vice errors, as well.
essful." "Even at the highest level, the
it the Wolverines couldn't serving and passing is where the
cate that performance the game is often going to be won
wing night, as the team or lost," Rosen said. "(Hawaii)
ped a three-set match in won the serve-and-pass battle
Elite Eight to end the sea- tonight."
It was Michigan's longest See ELITE EIGHT,.Page 3B
respect in1'09
Led by two stars,
Wolverines come
back after trailing
36-33 at halftime
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
John Beilein may have finally
found a way to motivate his team
during halftime. Yesterday, he
certainly motivated senior for-
ward DeShawn Sims.
"He brought out the 'F chart,"
Sims said. "It's this chart Coach
Beilein's got. If you don't do
something you get an 'F,' and
that equals sprints in the next
practice. That was a little moti-
vation."
When Sims realized he wasn't
contributing enough, with two
F's on Beilein's chart at half-
time, he immediately picked up
his game. Sims scored a total
of 23 points to power Michigan
past Detroit 75-64 yesterday,
while teammate Manny Harris
also contributed a game-high 27
points. I
Sims got his game together
in the second half when he
made 3-of-3 from downtown
and scored 15 points. The senior
made 10 of 12 shots and added 12
rebounds
Together, Sims and Harris
have accounted for over 53 per-
cent of the Wolverines' offensive
output this season. But it wasn't
until the second half that Sims
and Harris started to gel.
"Once he picked it up, the
whole team feeds off him," Har-
ris said of Sims' performance.
"Of course, they also feed off
me, but when you got two guys
doing it, its just a whole differ-
ent story."
In the first half, the Titans
easily tossed the ball inside to
one of their forwards, who either
overpowered the Michigan
defender or got a second-chance
opportunity off of an offensive
rebound. Detroit picked up 26
of its 36 first-half points in the
paint, which helped it garner a
36-St halftime lead.
What was alarming was the
ease with which Detroit scored
points. The Titans shot more
than 55 percent in the first half
and nearly 70 percent in the
paint.
But in the second half, the
Wolverines held Detroit to
just 34.5 percent shooting and
forced 11 missed shots within
eight feet. Michigan's swarm-
ing man-to-man defense finally
made a difference, and the Wol-
verines didn't let Detroit get sec-
ond chances, outrebounding the
Titans 23-10 in the second half.
"The whole story of the game
was our second-half defense,"
Beilein said. "It was where it
needs to be. It had great convic-
tion as (assistant coach) Jerry
Dunn said before the game. We
were on a mission and we got it
done, because we had been talk-
ing about defense but we needed
to amp it up."
It wasn't until about the
12-minute mark of the second
half that the Wolverines finally
pulled away. The effort was
charged by Harris, who led the
Wolverines during a 10-2 run
with four points, including a
dunk that energized the lacklus-
ter crowd and sealed the win for
the Wolverines.
During the first half, it
seemed like Harris was the
only one who showed up to play,
leading the team with 14 points
on 5-of-9 shooting. Once again,
the supporting cast didn't show
up. Sims and sophomore Laval
Lucas-Perry saw glimpses of
offensive production, but nei-
ther one played consistently
enough to offer a reliable option
outside of Harris.
The second half was probably
Michigan's best effort so far this
season, but the team has a tall
order in their next game at No.
1 Kansas.
"Winning and playing is
always confidence and momen-
tum," Sims said. "We're going
into Kansas to face a great Kan-
sas team. We're going in with the
mindset ofjust playing confident
and with some swagger, and we
had a little swagger today."
t all started Aug. 28, 2009.
The Michigan volleyball
team hit the road for its
first match of the season, against
then-No. 3 Nebraska, a perennial
powerhouse and three-time NCAA
Tournament MARK
Champion. AK
It's safe to say BURNS
most thought
the Cornhuskers On volleyball
would beat the
Wolverines. After the first set went
Michigan's way, some spectators
probably called it a fluke. After
two, it was a trend. Three in a row,
well, that was just domination.,
David swept Goliath, soto speak
- on his home court.
That was only the beginning for
Michigan. The team won 11 of its
next 12 matches before starting Big
Ten play, eventually finishing tied
for fourth in the conference.
The Wolverines won 27 matches
this season - their best since 1981.
They went to the Elite Eight of the
NCAA Tournament for the first
time in program history before los-
ing to No. 3 Hawaii in three sets.
"This season, back in May, this
team set high goals for them-
selves and they've achieved those
things," Michigan coach Mark
Rosen said. "A lot of teams out
there say, 'We want to do this,
we want to do that.' But are they
willing to put the work in and the
effort in to get there? And this
team did that."
The Wolverines did it in style,
establishing themselves as one of
the best teams in the nation.
After this weekend, college
volleyball dynasty Penn State has
won 108 of its 113 sets this year. Of
those five losses, two came at the
hands of Michigan.
The Wolverines were up on
the Lady Lions 2-1 back on Oct. 16
before losing in a five-set thriller.
See RESPECT, Page 3B
Wrestling on one leg, Sheena
motivates young Wolverines
ICE HOCKEY
-Michigan's offensive luck runs
out in second game against Irish
By LUKE PASCH
For the Daily
Gabe Sheena has never been shy
about his leg condition - the back
wall of his dorm room features a
plaque that reads "One-Legged
Wonder Blvd."
When Sheena, now a fresh-
man on the Michigan wrestling
team, was eight years old, he was
diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a
common form of bone cancer. He
underwent a Van Ness rotation-
plasty, a surgical procedure that
rid his body of the tumor but forced
doctors to amputate much of his
left leg.
During the operation, doctors
removed the knee and surrounding
tissue, then reattached the remain-
ing part of the limb. With the use of
a prosthetic, Sheena's foot now acts
as his knee joint when he walks.
The procedure would severely
hamper Sheena's athletic abilities.
Or so the doctors thought.
In the summer before his fresh-
man year at Brother Rice High
School in Birmingham, Sheena
attended Michigan's wrestling
summer camp, where he first met
Michigan coach Joe McFarland
and began wrestling without his
prosthetic leg.
"He's a neat kid and an inspira-
tion to everyone," McFarland said.
"The kid has an awful lot of cour-
age."
He also has a rather blunt sense
of humor.
When Sheena hears students'
complaining about homework or
By TIM ROHAN On offense, the Wolverines (5-7-
Daily Sports Writer 0-0 CCHA, 9-9-0 overall) created
similar opportunities in the first
SOUTH BEND - In Friday period in both games. Yesterday,
night's first two periods at Yost they missed opportunities on
Ice Arena, the Michigan hockey rushes and missed shots in front of
team controlled the puck and out- the net to start the game. But most
shot No. 18 Notre Dame en route of Michigan's shots came from the
to a 4-1 victory. outside after Notre Dame scored
Yester- its first goal and then tacked on a
day was NOTRE DAME 1 second.
the same MICHIGAN 4 On Friday, Hagelin scored on
story, a rebound that came off of a set
except play from a faceoff. Senior for-
for the MICHIGAN 0 ward Brian Lebler also scored on
result. NOTRE DAME 2 a rebound, and freshman defense-
. Even man Lee Moffie scored during a
though second-period power play.
the Wolverines took 38 shots, they Junior forward Louie Capo-
were shut out 2-0 at Notre Dame's russo finished the scoring with a
Joyce Center. and missed count- wrist shot about 10 feet inside the
less opportunities in the first blue line that also snuck in the top
period. of the net.
A rejuvenated Irish team At Yost, the puck was bouncing
snatched the lead with a shot that the Wolverines' way.
hit junior goalie Bryan Hogan's "I just watched (Alexander)
glove and went into the net. Ovechkin YouTube clips," Capo-
"Games like this in the begin- russo said jokingly of the goal. "I
ning, scoring (issues) were prob- just tried to do that. Obviously, it
ably because we didn't play well didn't look like him, but I just fig-
enough," junior forward Carl ured, 'You gotta shoot the puck.' "
Hagelin said. "Today was more Yesterday, that swagger and fire
like, unlucky. I haven't said that was missing.
we've been unlucky before. But "We've played the first half of
today we definitely had enough the season coming from behind,"
grade-A chances, to win the Caporusso said. "That's not fun.
game." ... You want to get the momentum
Michigan coach Red Berenson and make (your opponent) have to
called Friday's victory lucky. The perform."
puck didn't go the Wolverines' The Wolverines couldn't regain
way yesterday - all of the luck the lead Sunday. Michigan is 8-2
belonged to the Irish. when it scores the game's first
goal, but 1-7 when the opponent
lights the lamp first.
Michigan played with a sense
of urgency, crashed the net, and
made plays happen throughout
Friday's game. Notre Dame (5-5-
4-2, 8-8-4) played without four of
its defensemen, including talented
junior Ian Cole. Cole's absence
forced the Irish to play sophomore
forward Billy Maday (the Irish's
points leader), Ryan Guentzel and
Riley Sheahan on defense.
But the Irish defense was
good enough that Michigan still
couldn't muster a goal yesterday.
The Wolverines didn't help
themselves by taking 18 penalty
minutes in the shutout loss, and
the nation's No. 1 penalty kill unit
enteringthis weekend gave up two
power play goals on the weekend.
It was another inconsistent
weekend for Michigan, which
entered yesterday's game with a
chance to earn its second sweep of
the season.
The Wolverines are now off
until Dec. 29, when they play in
the Great Lakes Invitational at
Joe Louis Arena.
"(This weekend) leaves us
somewhere in the middle," Beren-
son said. "We're not on a roll.
We're not bad. We're a pretty
good team. We've got to find ways
to win games like this. When you
come in here and play like that and
keep them on their heels, you have
to find a way to win this game.
"I still think our best hockey is
ahead of us."
ARIEL BOND/Daly
Freshman Gabe Sheena underwent a Van Ness rotationplasty at age eight.
exams, he's never afraid to chime
in with a card that few can play. "A
least you have two legs," he says.
From his summer camp expe-
rience, Sheena was well aware of
what it would take to become a Big
Ten wrestler.
He worked on his upper body
strength throughout high school
(Sheena can bench 285 pounds now
- roughly twice his body weight)
See SHEENA, Page 3B
I
INTRA SQUAD CLASH WINNING WAYS
N It may have just been Maize against Blue, 1 After last year's 10-20 season, women's
but the Michigan men's gymnastics team basketball has learned how to win again. Its
proved a lot in its first competition. Page 3B. -game at Xavier will be a big test. Page 2B.
I
I