The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, January14, 2010 - 7A
Michigan
to take on
Indiana
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's basket-
ball heads to Bloomington tonight
for its first matchup of the season
with Indiana. It won't be a walk in
the park, and the Wolverines know
that by now.
Six games into Big Ten season,
they have realized that every game
demands energy, rhythm, con-
fidence, concentration, defense,
baskets, communication and a lot
more. And even when Michigan
brings all of those things onto the
court, it still hasn't always come
out on top.
The Hoosiers (2-3 Big Ten,
9-7 overall) are coming off four
straight years of postseason action,
and last year, Indiana coach Feli-
sha Legette-Jack led her team to
a school-record 21 wins. But the
Hoosiers are just eighth in the
standings, one ahead of Northwest-
ern (2-4, 1-6). The Wolverines lost
to the same Wildcats at home last
month, breaking a five-game win-
ning streak after shoting a measly
30 percent and being outrebounded
by their opponents for the first time
in three games.
With a .500 record in confer-
ence, Michigan (2-4 Big Ten, 10-6
overall) hasn't even faced most
of the top contenders yet. They
did almost beat undefeated No. 1
Ohio State in Columbus - almost.
Despite a late-game breakdown
against the Buckeyes, the Wolver-
ines have come up huge in crucial
moments this season.
The squad came out victorious
in their conference opener in Iowa
City when they were up 52-51 with
two seconds remaining before
freshman guard Dayeesha Hollins
sealed the game with a layup for a
54-51 victory.
Down by one with 14 seconds
left against then No. 8 Xavier in
Cincinnati, Hollins made a layup
for a 72-71 victory.
But Xavier was exactly a month
ago and since then, Michigan hasn't
beaten any team they weren't sup-
posed to beat. Their lone wins are
against Detroit, who is 2-9 in non-
conference games this season, and
Iowa, ranked dead last in the Big
Ten. Michigan hasn't won two con-
secutive games for nearly a month.
And the task of proving they wont
collapse after a solid start is a
daunting one.
Last season, Michigan started
out strong before losing 13 of their
last 14 games. But at that point
junior center Krista Phillips wasn't
putting up the numbers and soph-
omore Veronica Hicks was still
solidifying her starting spot in the
line-up. And the promising fresh-
men duo, starting guards Jenny
Ryan and Dayeesha Hollins, were
still in high school.
But this year is different. Phil-
lips registered a double-double
last month against Northwestern
and is a weapon down low for the
Wolverines. Hicks and Hollins are
tied with 13 points per game apiece,
leading the team. And Ryan plays
extremely aggressively for a fresh-
man, leading the team in rebounds,
averaging seven per game. Michi-
gan's scoring differential this sea-
son is plus-eight, and that number
was a Ion higher going into confer-
ence play.
Before beating Iowa on Jan. 7
and breaking their three-game los-
ing streak to solidify their first con-
ference sweep of the season, the
Wolverines insisted they had not
lost confidence, even though their
play was leaving a lot to be desired.
"Basically, our confidence is
still high," Hicks said at practice
last week. "We still feel like we
are good. We just went and played
Ohio State at their place, and I don't
know the last time they lost there,
but we were mighty close to beat-
ing them."
"They smashed every other team
that they've played in conference
so far and we really had a chance
to beat them at their home court,"
Hicks said. "Why wouldn't we be
confident right now?"
Borseth continues to emphasize
that every game is its own and that
one performance doesn't affect
the next - and that's no different
against the Hoosiers tonight.
But if Michigan plays at all like
they did in last week's 20-point
road loss to a mediocre Wiscon-
sin team, the Wolverines are in
trouble.
So when Michigan steps onto the
court tonight in Bloomington, they
better not leave anything behind
- that is, if they want to climb the
rungs of the conference ladder and
see postseason action any time
soon.
Blue's penalty
kill strategy
pays dividends
ARIEL BOND/Daly
Redshirt sophomore Laval Lucas-Perry has been inconsistent for the Wolverines this season. Lucas-Perry led the Wolverines'
victory against Penn State last Thursday with a 16-point effort in the comeback win. He hit four 3-pointers in the second half.
o overines desperate
for consistent play in
conference matchup
By JOE STAPLETON
Daily SportsEditor
As the Michigan men's bas-
ketball team prepares to take on
Indiana tonight,
the Wolverines Indiana at
without a doubt
have their last Michigan
game against Matchup:
the Hoosiers on Indiana 7-8;
their minds. Michigan 8-7
The loss in When: Tonight
Bloomington at9 P.M.
only 15 days-ago Where:
remains one of Crisler Arena
the team's worst TV/Radio:
performances ESPN
so far this sea-
son. Michigan
lost to a team playing its first
game without its leading scorer,
freshman Maurice Creek, who
will be out for the remainder of
the season.
Of course, Michigan (2-2 Big
Ten, 8-7 overall) came out the
very next game like gangbusters
at Crisler Arena and beat then-
No. 15 Ohio State in what was
perhaps their most impressive
win of the season.
So the question is, which
Michigan will show up for the
game tonight?
"I think our whole team has
been inconsistent," Michigan
coach John Beilein said. "That's
what's been the most frustrating.
You don't know what to expect
from each player right now."
He's right. The team's incon-
sistency from game to game
stems from every player not
named Manny struggling to per-
form at a high level every night.
Senior DeShawn Sims has
come on strong of late, earning
Big Ten Player of the Week hon-
ors while averaging 21 points
and seven rebounds per game in
that span. But he hasn't exactly
been a beacon of consistency
throughout the season, laying
eggs against Boston College and
at Utah.
Redshirt sophomore Laval
Lucas-Perry had trouble against
Kansas and in Michigan's first
game against Indiana (1-2, 7-8),
but exploded against Penn State,
tallying 16 points and leading the
comeback effort.
Sophomore Stu Douglass,
meanwhile, lit up Indiana in
Bloomington, notching 16 points.
But in Michigan's last two games
against Penn State and North-
western, he has scored just two
and six points, respectively.
And since the Wolverines'
defense usually mirrors their
offense, defensive effort has been
just as inconsistent as individual
offensive output.
"When things aren't going
well offensively, you got to play
even better defense," Beilein
said. "From an individual level,
that's the most important thing."
So what can Michigan do to
make sure it comes out with
equal effort, game in and game
out?
Sims said it's not a matter
of playing harder, but playing
smarter.
"I definitely think we're play-
ing hard," Sims said. "Smart? In
all aspects of the game? Not real-
ly throughout the 40 minutes of
the game, but I definitely think
this team plays hard."
Sims especially will need to
play hard on the defensive end if
he's going to stop Hoosier fresh-
man Christian Watford, a 6-foot-
8 forward who scored 19 points
in Bloomington, and most of his
production came from the post.
Another key to tonight's game
will be the ability of Michigan's
guards to box out. While junior
Manny Harris is probably the
best pure rebounder on the
team, Douglass, Lucas-Perry and
freshman Darius Morris all will
also need to make sure to get a
body on the Indiana guards,-
sophomore Verdell Jones III and
redshirt junior Jeremiah Rivers
racked up a total of 17 rebounds
in the two teams' last meeting.
The game tonight kicks off
a hellacious stretch of basket-
ball for the Wolverines. After
Indiana, the Wolverines play
Connecticut, at Wisconsin, at
Purdue, and Michigan State.
It would be nice for Michigan
to start off that stretch with a win.
"I know this stretch is very
important, probably the most
important stretch of the season
thus far," Sims said. "We're look-
ing down the road for any type of
hope."
Wolverines have the
third-best penalty
kill in the nation
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Writer
It's working.
Whether it is killing off two
and a half minutes of a five-on-
three to change the game against
Michigan Tech, scoring a short-
handed goal to put away Min-
nesota, scoring another one the
following night to take the lead
for good against No. 4 Wiscon-
sin, or taking a civil gathering of
6,921 people at Yost and turning
the place into a frenzy without
even lighting the lamp, Michi-
gan coach Red Berenson's system
seems to be working.
"It" is the penalty kill. The unit
kills off penalties at an 89 percent
success rate, just two tenths of a
pointoff of its all time mark set in
2002-2003 and good enough for
third in the country. Michigan's
penalty killers have been perfect
in 12 games this season, includ-
ing a streak of 25 straight during
which it won five of six games
during that stretch.
Much of that has to do with
the personnel. As Jed Ortmeyer
and Dwight Helminen paced the
record-setting unit seven years
ago, sophomore Luke Glenden-
ing and junior Carl Hagelin do
the same for the current bunch of
penalty killers.
"We've identified some play-
ers that have really embraced
the role," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "It's not a glamor-
ous role, it doesn't show up on the
stats. You might be our best pen-
alty killer but someone else is get-
ting all the attention because he's
our leading scorer. In the mean
time, you might be more impor-
tant than he is."
Also important to success is
practice, something the Wolver-
ines' penalty kill unit has had a
lot of this season. The Wolver-
ines are ninth in the country in
penalty minutes and have had to
kill off four major penalties so far
this season.
"Our goal at the start of the
year is to be the least penal-
ized team," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "We can play a
physical game but you don't be
penalized. ... Penalties are like
goals, they're important parts of
the game."
Despite being unhappy about
the penalties, it has provided
Michiganwithachancetochange
the momentum of the game.
The coaching staff teaches an
aggressive and unusual system:
players attack the opposing ath-
letes on the outskirts of the zone
even if they have strong posses-
sion.
The method leads to increased
turnovers and short-handed
opportunities, but increases the
chance that Michigan players
end up out of position in their
own zone. Still, because they
see the penalty kill as an oppor-
tunity to change the game, the
coaching staff is willing to take
that risk.
They see this gambling strat-
egy as a necessary risk, allowing
the penalty kill a chance to steal
momentum.
"It's hard to play a passive sys-
tem and we don't do that, fortu-
nately," Glendening said. "It's fun
to go out there and you're really
doing your best to work hard.
That's kind of our PK's theme, is
hard work is what is going to do
it for us."
That effort has changed the
tone of games all season, culmi-
nating with its performance in
the second period last Saturday
against Western Michigan.
The Yost crowd collectively
held its breath. With a 3-1 lead
Michigan faced a five-on-three
disadvantage. Of the thirteen
goals given up this season by the
penalty kill, six have come with
two men down. The Wolverines
needed to kill the penalties to
save the game.
Western Michigan set up the
power play and had a goal - but
senior Chris Summers made it
impossible for the Broncos to
come any closer. With goalten-
der Bryan Hogan on the other
side of the net, Summers broke
up a play in the slot and then
battled to chip the puck off the
glass and out of the zone as fans
exhaled.
Glendening found the puck
and drove to the net with a shot
that almost trickled past West-
ern's Riley Gill. During the
play, those exhales turned into
screams and a standing ovation
- the loudest Yost has been all
season.
"Penalties can kind of work
in your favor if you kill them,"
Summers said after the game.
"Especially when you have 7,000
people behind you screaming
and yelling, so that was a big
boost for our team. I think that
was a definite turning point in
the game."
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