The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, January 8, 2010 - 7 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, January 8, 2010 - 7 Lions to Lambs Wolverines will continue to terrify M' steals one from Penn St. STATE COLLEGE - Blitzkrieg. Robbery. Escape. Whatever it is that best explains the Michigan men's basketball team's 38-13 run in the final 12 minutes yes- terday to pull out a win at Penn State, the body language on both teams GJON afterward illus- JUNCAJ trated the total shock brought on by that furi- ous stretch. I haven't seen the Wolverines that ecstatic or overwhelmed after any of their seven other victories this season. Sure, the players were relieved and proud after the win over then-No. 15 Ohio State this past Sunday. But they, without a doubt, deserved that victory. In Michigan's locker room after last night's 64-55 win over the Nittany Lions, players were grinning from ear to ear, yelling, joking, laughing. A few were in hysterics. The Wolverines didn't steal one from Penn State - they put their hands in the cookie jar, then smashed it over the Nittany Lions' heads. Watching Penn State swing- man Chris Babb in the postgame press conference - head down, jaw dropped open - was like watching a little boy being handed a bouquet of balloons by a clown, only to see the clown take out a needle and pop every single one before the kid could thank him. Then, picture seven of the clown's friends in the background going nuts with each pop. Michigan can thank Laval Lucas-Perry for deflating Penn State's NCAA Tournament hopes and thus keeping the Wolverines' chances alive. The redshirt sopho- more guard nailed four triples in just over five minutes late in the game. What was a seven-point deficit turned into an eight-point lead in the blink of an eye. For the third time in the past two sea- sons (at Indiana and Minnesota last year), Lucas-Perry suddenly caught fire out to help steal a much-needed road victory. "When I made that third three I was like 'I got to shoot it again,' " Lucas-Perry said of the shot that gave Michigan the lead for' good with three min- utes left. "I needed it. I just hung my shot more after I made those threes." After halftime, there weren't any schematic changes that helped Michiganj shut out Penn State's superstar guard Talor Battle (0-5 on field goals, no points in the second half), nor any adjustments that led to Michigan drilling! seven of their final 10 threes after miss- ing its first 13. In fact,, Michigan coach John Beilein didn't even; give a speech between halves. "It can be some- thing as simple as a shot, a steal, a dunk," sophomore Zach Novak said. "In the first half, we were right there but we just- shot atrociously. We come out in the second half, the first shot goes down, and we just get confidence from that." What turned thingsF around last night was as simple and cliche as it is frustrating: the Wolverines just got ho at last possible moment they could have Redshirt sophomore Laval Lucas-Perry blocks a shot from Penn Slats forward Dav d Jackson ms afforded to. Michigan's 64-55 win over the Nittany Lions yesterday at the Bryce Jordan Center. When Michigan was, gettingthrashed in the first half, igan had played all season. know what to expect from them- Battle said he heard Beilein yell- Contrast that with those last selves night in and night out. ing at his players to 'just get to 12 minutes, and it's clear this What last night's win proves the half' The Nittany Lions were Wolverine team will induce heart is beyond the "live and die by the shooting 54 percent and forcing attacks for the rest of the season three" mantra that has been blud- a litany of turnovers with just a (just like last year). And given this geoned into our heads from the straight man-to-man defense. It team's streaky reputation, I'm not moment Beilein was hired. was arguably the worst half Mich- even sure the coaches and players See JUNCAJ, PageB By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Editor STATE COLLEGE - Two things were scribbled on the chalkboard of the Michigan men's basketball team's locker room after yesterday's game. Road win and 2-1. One, of course, was the goal of yesterday's game: to come to State College and beat the Nit- tany Lions. The other was Michi- gan's Big Ten record after coming back from a deficit that reached as many as 16 points to knock off Penn State on the road. In one of the most schizo- phrenic efforts of the season, Michigan (2-1 Big Ten, 8-6 over- all) came back from a 15-point halftime deficit and ended the game on a 38-13 run in the last 12 minutes to beat Penn State 64-55. "Winning on the road in the Big Ten is so hard but the way we did it really showed that we had an awful lot of heart and are in great shape," Beilein said. "Because it takes a lot out of you when you have the start like we had." The performance in the first half was perhaps Michigan's worst of the season as it went down 31-16 at halftime in what promised to be a blowout. Just three players registered points in the half. Senior forward DeShawn Sims led the Wolver- ines with 10. But as poor as the Wolverines first half effort was, they put on a show in the second. Michigan started the game shooting 0-for-14 from behind the arc. But when sophomore Zack Novak hit the team's first three with 11:56 remaining in the second half, the team went on a tear. Harris and Novak came back a few possessions later to make back-to-back threes and Lucas- Perry hit four key shots from behind the arc, including a dag- ger into the heart of the Penn State fanbase to put Michigan eight points ahead of the Nittany Lions (0-3, 8-7) with two minutes to play. "We're all great shooters, we all can shoot the three, we call can put it on the floor and we all can make plays for this team," Lucas-Perry said. "And that's something we did tonight, it just happened to be at the end, which we needed the most." After the Novak and Harris made their threes to spark the run, the team continued to storm back into the game, led by Sims who impressed with a 25-point effort that kept the Wolverines in the contest during in most dire moments. "Credit the Sims kid because he kept them in the game to begin with," Penn State guard Talor Battle said. "Every time we would try to get out he would make a big play then Novak got hot and (Lucas) Perry. A team that lives and dies by the three like that is never out of the basketball game, and four shots they're right back in the game." The Wolverines had nine turn- overs in the first half - their sea- son average is 10 per game - but got it together and had just three in the second half. Sims started the game hot, making his first two shots, and was a force to be reckoned with down low. "We started the first half, we went inside and scored," Beilein said. "Simswas fouled and missed them both and all of a sudden we got the 'my turns' type of think- ing, where 'OK, I've got my own gameplan.' " While the win was Michigan's first true road win this season, more importantly, it proved that the Wolverines could dig them- selves out of a hole. " Blue turns around Big Ten slide at home B firs sx Fre sporte very n day ni Michi team and Iowa. In fac the e rocket Arena seen i one ca victor Mic a stro have three Wolve half, e able 3 had th half. But easy i Hawk half, s first fi half t] half. "Th Michig said. " but w win ga up, th kids o back in to be g Win this s sweep since The V head t 3orseth earns of what they hope can turn out to be another sweep to take on t in-conference Wisconsin on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. veep of tenure Earlier in the season, Michi- T gan was expected to have offen- against C5XW'R sive woes because of the six freshmen on its roster, but that By ZAK PYZIK hasn't been the case. Wolverine Daily Sports Writer coach Kevin Borseth has been working all of the younger play- shman Dayeesha Hollins ers into the game, and they have d a new, much shorter and played a critical role in Michi- ice haircut for the Thurs- gan's success. ght rematch between the Hollins racked in 10 points of gan women's basketball her own, and the freshmen as a whole scored 26 points even IOWA 43 though just Hollins and guard MICHIGAN 63 Jenny Ryan started. t, Meanwhile, sophomore Car- ntire Wolverine squad men Reynolds led Michigan in d a new look in Crisler the first half Notching eight , one that fans have not points coupled with junior n a while - a win. This guard Veronica Hicks eight me in the form of a 63-43 points as well. y over the Hawkeyes. "We knew that we needed to higan started off with take it at them and thatwe didn't ng lead, something they want them to set up their zone," failed to do in their last Hicks said. "I just pushed it up Big Ten games. The the court as fast as I could. We rines led the entire first were playing kind of sloppy, but nding it with a comfort- we needed toube aggressive." 1-13 advantage. Michigan Neither the offense nor the ae lead for the entire first freshmen singlehandedly won this game for the Wolverines. the win didn't come Michigan hit the boards with for the Wolverines. The 46 rebounds. Hicks had a sea- eyes rallied in the second son high 18 of her own. coring more points in the "Let me tell you," Hicks said. ve minutes of the second "I have never done that before. han its total in the first I have gotten double-digit rebounds but never near 20. is is a really great win," Maybe angels were lifting me gan coach Kevin Borseth to the ball, or they've got a heel I don't know if it's a relief, in my shoe." e are here just trying to The Wolverines knew beffore ames. They were banged the game how critical it was to ey have four of their top ensure that the Hawkeyes didn't ut. When those kids get get second chances. Borseth n the lineup they're going made sure they knew it. ood." "I knew that going into this aning both Iowa games conference this game will be eason is Borseth's first good for us to break our streak," of a Big Ten opponent Hicks said. "Especially when he's been at Michigan. you were supposed to finish at Volverines and him will the bottom of the conference o Madison for game one and you beat a team twice." Whoever said experience guar- antees improvement was proved wrong ina big way by the Michi- gan woman's basketball team Thursday. Last season (3-15 Big Ten, 10-20 overall) Michigan coach Kevin Borseth AMY had four start- SCARANO ing seniors to On Women's work with. Basketball Center Krista Phillips is the only starting senior this year and two freshmen, Dayeesha Hollins and Jenny Ryan, have started every game this season. To start last season, the team was impressive, opening 8-4 in non-conference match ups and 2-2 in the first four games of the Big Ten season before spiraling into despair, losing 13 of 14 remaining conference games. But this year's-young team will not suffer that same fate. The Wolverines still have a lot of work to do halfway into the season with most of their Big Ten games looming. But Michigan (2-3, 10-5) is already on its way up, standing ninth in the conference after being ranked dead last in the pre-season media poll. They swept Iowa - the first ever sweep in Borseth's tenure - and have just one loss at home after a heartbreaker against North- western last week. They certainly have the tools to do a lot of damage in conference. Offensive output has skyrock- eted from last season largely due to Hollins' impressive freshman cam- paign thus far. The Wolverines are scoring an average of 70 points per game. Last year, they averaged 55. Hollins has put up double digits in all but two games this season, and her confidence in the college arena continues to grow. "Oh my goodness. I was so ner- vous," Hollins said after her first game. "My hands were sweating and I was shaking and I don't know why." Ten games into the season, against Xavier, Hollins came alive. Her nerves had vanished as she led the team with a career-high 22 points. "I just told her I wanted to see the playerthat I saw play in Atlanta a couple years ago," Borseth said after the win over Xavier in her hometown of Cincinnati on Decem- ber 14. "I just wanted herto go out there and play. What you witnessed out there tonight was the way that kid's capable of playing." Ryan, also a freshman, leads the team in rebounds, averaging nearly seven per game, two more than any of her teammates. The six freshmen this year have helped created a team chemistry wholly different from last year, and it seems tobe helpingon the court. The off-court bond has helped them to have confidence in one another on the court. "Love the new players," sopho- more guard Courtney Boylan said. "Love the freshman. Our team already has such a better chemistry. We get along in the locker room we get along on the court. We battle out there but when we get off the court we are all still friends. I think that's a big thing that we all trust each other." More than half of the squad remains in the dark to last season's 3-15-conference schedule - and they want to keep it that way. The new energy and optimism the fresh- men bringto the team is crucial if the veteran players are to keep last year's disappointing history in the past. So while the freshmen don't know how they will perform against top teams like Illinois and Minnesota, they've proved that sometimes its better not to know what you can't do. Lack of experience a -plus for Michigan Junior Veronica Hicks talied a team-high 18 rebounds in the Wolverines' 20-point victory over the Hawkeyes last night at Crisler Arena. As a whole, Michigan pulled down 46 rebounds to owa's 37. Hicks finished the night with 10 points, eightsin the first half.