The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I January 11, 2010 Junior Manny Harris reaches for a loose ball in the Wolverines' loss to Northwestern yesterday at Crisler Arena. Despite Harris's team-leading 24 points, Michigan blew a 17-point first half lead to fall to the Wildcats. Internal struggles plague M11 No matter who the Michigan has- ketball team plays, it's the same thing. I'mnot talking about turnovers, or missed shots, or its inability to get key defensive stops, all of which led to perhaps the most depressing loss of the season yesterday against Northwestern. I'm talking about what happens after the games. Want to know what hap- JOE pens? The media mem- bers go into the locker STAPLETON room and ask players the tough questions that need to be addressed even though it's obvi- ous that if the players knew the answers, they wouldn't be losing so many games. After that, we go into the Crisler produc- tion studio, where Michigan coach John Beilein steps up to the podium and, far too often this season, attempts to explain why his team played the way they did. In yester- day's case, he was trying to tell us why the Wolverines gave up a 17-point lead at home See STAPLETON, Page 3B Wildcat rally dooms Wolverines After staging a comeback against Penn State, Blue suffers opposite fate By NICOLE AUERBACH Daily Sports Editor The game's final 10 seconds were tick- tock-ticking away when the Michigan men's basketball team was given the ball out of bounds underneath Northwestern's basket. Sure, the Wolverines were down a few too many points, but they weren't defeat- ed yet. It was still a pray-for-a-miracle situation. But no Michigan player went to the baseline, nobody was ready to throw the ball in. Eventually freshman guard Darius Morris tossed it in, got the ball back and sprinted down the court. As he ran, the game clock marched toward Northwest- ern's 68-62 victory, and when Morris reached the paint, he lost control of the ball. It was a painstaking, fitting image of Michigan's play Sunday afternoon - though to be fair, the Wolverines lost control of the game way before the final moments. Some may point to the moment mid- way through the second half when, after leading by 17 points, Michigan saw its lead disintegrate into a tied ballgame. Others could say it was the pair of Northwestern free throws with 1:14 left in the game, the points that gave the Wildcats the lead for good after Morris hit a huge 3-pointer to give the Wolverines a brief advantage. The free throws, coupled with Michigan's three turnovers in the final 1:03, crushed the Wolverines' final glimmer of hope. But according to Michigan coach John Beilein and the stat sheet, the Wolverines lost their very comfortable grip on the game toward the end of the first half. All of the sudden, with four minutes left before halftime, Northwestern's zone defense became smothering, and the Wildcats' offense came alive in the form of freshman Drew Crawford - who went on a personal 11-0 run. And even though Crawford would con- tinue to pester the Wolverine defense for 25 points on the day, the Wildcat defense was more troublesome for Michigan. "Their 1-3-1 defense, what makes it so successful is the way they can touch the ball," Beilein said. "When you have touchers on the ball ... that's really huge. That certainly took us out of rhythm, and because that took us out of rhythm, our defense in the second half was not good." Northwestern coach Bill Carmody confirmed how the 1-3-1 zone devastated the Wolverines, too - his Wildcats were "really getting their hands on balls and taking away passing lanes," he said. It's no coincidence that Michigan's 18 turnovers more than doubled its season average. Northwestern's zone worked, and it certainly confused the Wolverine offense. See NORTHWESTERN,Page 3B SAID ALSA LAH/Daily Freshman Darius Morris led the team with seven assists yesterday. Despite sweep, Blue still an average team. Offensive explosion keys weekend wins The Michigan hockey team knew it needed to sweep Western Michigan this past weekend. Lo and behold, the Wolver- ines earned two wins over the last-place Broncos. It was Michigan's first confer- ence weekend sweep since the MARK end of October BURNS against Lake BURNS _ Superior State. With the sweep, Michigan propelled itself into a tie for seventh in the CCHA. The wins also gave the Wolverines some momentum for the second half of the season, with the defin- ing chunk of their schedule still to come in the next three weeks. But at the end of the day, every- one needs to be reminded that Michigan did nothing more than beat a mediocre Western Michigan squad that has seen better days, a team the Wolverines should beat handily nine times out of 10. So, for anyone claiming Michi- gan is on its way to finishing in the top four of the CCHA or mak- ing it to the NCAA Tournament for the 20th-straight year needs to step back and realize this team has proven it is just, well, average at this point. See BURNS, Page 36 - By TIM ROHAN Daily Sports Writer Freshman forward Lindsay Sparks and the Wolverines played with an urgency in the attacking zone and scorched MICHIGAN 4 the nets W. MICHIGAN 3 all week- end ina sweep in a home-and- home series against the Western Michigan Broncos. W. MICHIGAN 1 Michi- MICHIGAN 6 gan (7-7 CCHA, 12-10-0 overall) 6-1 on Sat- urday and 4-3 on Friday. It was the team's' second CCHA sweep of the season and its first sweep since the offense exploded for 11 goals in two games against Lake Superior State on Halloween weekend. The scoring came in all different forms. Defensemen scored from the point, the Wolverines found wide open teammates off crisp passing and Michigan tallied a sea- son-high four power play goals to win Friday's game. But it was fitting that a defen- seman opened the scoring in both games. Michigan coach Red Beren- son expected his blue liners to contribute offensively before the season, and they were consistent- ly in the middle of the scoring all See WESTERN, Page 3B MAx cOLLINS/Daly Sophomore Luke Glendening battles for a loose puck in Michigan's 6-1 victory over Western Michigan. This weekend's conference sweep was the first since October. WISCO NO-GO Women's hoops drops another Big Ten road game, this time in Madison, after a second-half collapse Page 4B CLARY-FIED Defending national champion swimmer Tyler Clary, now healthy, leads Blue in a blowout Page 2B 9