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8 - Friday, January 15, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Win showcased
Big Ten defense
By GJON JUNCAJ the wing, there's a lot of speed com-
Daily Sports Editor ing at the defender. You just have to
make the defender make a play, and
Sixteen games into his colle- it works."
giate career, Darius Morris had a With an undersized four-guard
hard time figuring out what was lineup, Michigan's transition
happening around him. After 20 offense and open-floor speed will
minutes of play in be instrumental in surviving when
the men's basket- NOTEBOOK the team shoots poorly, as it did in
ball team's win the first half of last night's game
over Indiana last night, the fresh- (32 percent)."It seems simple, and
man point guard watched both it's not," Beilein said. "You need
teams commit a combined 21 turn- spacing. You've got to move the
overs -11 from the Wolverines. ball. The right guys have to run
There wasn't much of the fran- the right angles. We were making
tic 1-3-1 zone defense that North- some chancy plays there. That's a
western deployed last Sunday to big emphasis for us right now. In
take down Michigan. No gim- the Big Ten, at this level, it's so hard
micks or new schemes. It was to score. When you get a fast break,
almost exclusively man-to-man you need to take advantage of that."
defense from both teams. And lots PROGNOSTICATOR: Freshman
of silly mistakes from each squad guard Matt Vogrich made his first
that would make any high school 3-pointer in five games last night,
coach blush. nailing an open look from the wing
"It was ugly," Morris said. "Just in the first half. Though it seemed
in the beginning of the game, I felt routine enough, Beilein cracked a
the flow was a little weird. We were wide smile in the postgame press
playing great defense, but I don't conference, boasting of a pregame
know what was happening on the prediction which came true.
other side. ... I guess that's one of "I told (Vogrich) he was going to
those old-fashioned Big Ten games hit athree,"Beileinsaid."Isaid,'The
- just physical defense, and the crowd is going to go crazy, because
offense is a little slow." they're all rooting for you.' And,
Morris said redshirt junior sure enough, he came through."
Anthony Wright warned him about Though the Lake Forest, Ill.
this style of play he decided to native has played limited minutes
attend a Big Ten school. this season, he at least appears to
"We're giving more energy to have established a role as a tempo-
the defensive end, which might be rary sparkplug off the bench, sub-
affecting people's decision-making, bing in at shooting guard and small
and fatigue and stuff like that." forward.
TAKING ADVANTAGE: Michi- Vogrich received high praise for
gan's consistentlytight man-to-man his two baskets and three offensive
defense, coupled with some sloppy rebounds in three minutes of play
Indiana passing, led to 21 Wolver- in a win over then-No. 15 Ohio State
ine points off 19 Hoosier turnovers. on Jan 3. And his teammate and
Junior Manny Harris and Morris occasional barber seems to think
were particularly effective in slic- Vogrich has found a nice niche for
ing through Indiana's transition himself.
defense. Though the Wolverines "That's the second or third time
only netted six fastbreak points, now that (Vogrich) has really come
multiple players thought it was in and given us a spark," sophomore -
arguably the best the team has run Zack Novak said. "Getting a put-
the floor all season. back, we need him to do that. That
"We didn't convert all of them, really helps us to have someone
but the (chances) that we did con- come off the bench ... he's a little bit
vert looked pretty," Morris said. of a fan favorite.
"Just getting out there and running, "He doesn't have the hair any-
making a simple pass. I feel like more. When he did ... he looks kind
when me and Manny are running on of ridiculous, so people like him."
Junior Manny Harris only registered four points in the first half of last night's win. But in the second half, Harris surged to finish with a team-high 21 points.ARIEL BOND/Daily
'M'tops Idiana in
ugly home victory
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Editor
Harris explodes for
17 points in second
half after being
benched by Beilein
For a while, it looked like junior
Manny Harris would never get it
going.
Through the first 28 minutes
of the Michigan men's basketball
team's contest against Indiana in
Crisler
Arena, INDIANA 45
the MICHIGAN 69
Detroit
native was stifled to just four
points.
Then, in the final 12 minutes,
Harris erupted, scoring 17 of the
Wolverines' final 29 points to lead
Michigan to a 69-45 win over the
Hoosiers.
Harris started with a nice curl
around the Indiana defense en
route to a layup and came back
on his next two possessions with
baskets to give Michigan a 44-36
lead.
While Indiana was able to pull
within five points with about six
minutes remaining in the game,
the Wolverines put it away on
a series of four possessions led
by Harris. After missing a hook
shot, Harris went up to grab his
own rebound and put it back for
a layup.
After two consecutive stops by
the Wolverines and a pair of fast-
break layups by freshman Darius
Morris and sophomore Laval
Lucas-Perry, Harris came back
to drain a critical 3-pointer that
put the Wolverines up 57-45. The
basket essentially sealed the game
for Michigan, which finished the
game on a 29-9 run to close out
the Hoosiers.
"That's a damn good finish,"
sophomore Laval Lucas-Perry
said. "We really buckled down
and played with poise at the end."
But things didn't go so well for
Harris and the Wolverines earlier
in the game. Indiana guard Jer-
emiah Rivers played lockdown
defense on Harris, neutralizing
him as a scoring threat and forc-
ing four turnovers from the junior
guard.
Rivers frustrated him enough
that Michigan coach John Beilein
decided to bench Harris for five
minutes in the second half.
"I missed an assignment on the
block-out," Harris said. "Coach
took me out to teach me a lesson,
and I just knew that when I came
in we needed some spark from
somewhere and that's what I tried
to do."
Senior DeShawn Sims was once
again the most consistent Wol-
verine, finishing second to Har-
ris with 20 points and leading the
team during the sloppy first half
of the contest with 12.
While Harris looked bad in the
first half, he wasn't alone.
From the opening tipoff it
looked like a typical, low-scoring
Big Ten game, with a combination
of smothering defense and sloppy
play by each team.
Michigan committed 11 first-
half turnovers, many of which
were unforced. The Hoosiers
weren't much better, committing
10 themselves.
Beilein attributed the low-scor-
ing game to good defense from
both squads.
"I was really impressed with
how (we) played defense today,"
Beilein said. "It was another great
example of Big Ten defense. If
we don't guard, we don't win this
game today."
And while the Wolverines
might need an epic performance
to pull off an upset against Con-
necticut at Crisler Arena on
Sunday, they are content with
not collapsing down the stretch
against Indiana like they did in
their last contest against North-
western.
"You look at that clock with
eight minutes and you're not say-
ing to them 'don't blow this one,'
" Beilein said. "You're just saying
good job and just keep it up and
we're winning with our defense."
Alaska's 'D' might
frustrate Mich igan
4
Comeback from Blue bench
falls short in loss to Indiana
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By ZAK PYZIK Michigan coach Kevin Bors-
Daily Sports Writer eth's decision to play nearly his
entire bench, at probably the most
. .Pii critical part of the game, was out
r Krista Phillips of character.
;ses last-second "I think we needed that little
spark," Boylan said. "(Coach)
that would have went to the bench and he was
looking for a spark. Looking back
rced overtime now, that's when we made a surge.
He does frequently sub people in
12 minutes remaining in so everyone can have their big
'higan women's basketball night."
62-60 loss to Indiana last But the second string seemed to
be the best option.
an MICHIGAN 60 In the first half, freshman
INDIANA 62 guard Dayeesha Hollins scored
a season-low two points, while
ttempted to motivate her senior center Krista Phillips made
tes on the bench as the only one of her first seven shots
nes trailed by nine points from the paint. The Wolverines
nington. didn't lead at all during the first
iwhile, second-stringers twenty minutes.
Jones, Courtney Boylan, "I think some players have on
rdan and Rachel Sheffer games and some have off games,"
the court, accompanied Reynolds said. "We typically start
one consistent starter, off faster than we did, and we
Reynolds. didn't start that well. We needed
Dow
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defensive stops. I don't know
what they shot but we felt that
every shot was going in. It was a
rough start."
The backups cut the Hoosiers
lead to five, and Borseth substi-
tuted a few of his fresh-legged
starters.
Veronica Hicks and Phillips
were put back in with the high-
energy Boylan, Jordan and Reyn-
olds.
The five went on a 15-0 run,
and just like that, the Wolverines
took their first lead of the game
with five minutes remaining.
But after a 5-0 run by the Hoo-
siers, a three-second call that
cancelled out a Boylan 3-pointer,
and an offensive foul, the Wol-
verines were down two. Hicks
then inbounded the ball to Phil-
lips at the post, who missed an
open layup to seal an Indiana
victory.
Michigan (2-5 Big Ten, 10-7
overall) might have might have
won if it weren't for poor shooting
in the first half. The Wolverines
shot just 37 percent from the field.
Or it could have been the poor
officiating, which was alluded to
by players and coaches. Michigan
was called for 16 personal fouls
compared to Indiana's 11.
"A couple fouls the ref called
were heartbreaking," Boylan said.
"We don't want to ever blame
anything on the refs. Ronnie
asked the ref and, she said, 'why
didn't I get the call on the other
end?' In a way we like it to be
more equal. But teams have home
court advantage and refs some-
times play into that."
The team will play Ohio State
next Thursday at Crisler Arena in
hopes of spoiling the top-ranked
Big Ten team.
Borseth agreed that his team
needed to put the past behind it
and look forward to its match-up
with Ohio State.
"The game's over," Borseth
said. "There is no sense in crying
over spilt milk."
By RYAN KARTJE With that experience, Michi-
Daily Sports Editor gan knows exactly how effective
Alaska's trap canbeat limitingscor-
n four goals in the third peri- ing opportunities. But none of the
inst Miami (Ohio) earlier this players believe that experience will
, the Wolverines saw their give them any advantage in such an
sive strategy go haywire. important CCHA matchup.
ly due to a loss of composure "To be honest, nothing has really
ense, Michigan (7-7 CCHA, changed," junior forward Matt Rust
verall) tallied a hefty 65 pen- said."They're always asolid defensive
nutes against the RedHawks, team. You know what you're goingto
1 of those in that final, frus- get from them every single game. It's
period. going tobe a defensivebattle."
weekend, Alaska at And with three years under his
Wolverines MIchgn belt, Rust, along with the rest of the
n an oppo- veteran Wolverines, isn't expect-
in Alaska Matchup: ing many scoring chances on goalie
3, 10-6-4) Alaska 10-6-4; Scott Greenham.
as seen the Michigan 12-10 "Every game against Alaska in
opposite When: Friday my career here has been 2-1 or 3-2,
hen it comes and Saturday low-scoring games," Rust said.
in the box. at 7:35 P.M. "Getting precious goals is huge."
Nanooks Where: Yost But keeping the Nanooks from
registered Ice Arena maintaining the man advantage
west pen- or even the 3-on-5, which Michi-
inutes in Division-I hockey gan was forced to kill last weekend 4
ason. against Western Michigan, could
with Alaska's slow, bother- be key for the Wolverines, as they
tyle of play, which employs seek their first two-sweep streak
p, it will take a great deal of of the season.
or Michigan to be successful And with this weekend's series,
eekend. Michigan begins a tough stretch
u look at their team, and that includes series' against three
literally the mirror of our of the CCHA's top four teams -
Michigan coach Red Beren- Alaska, Ferris State and Michigan
id. "We've got an edge on State.
, they've got an edge on the That stretch is capped off with
play. Goals scored, goals a matchup against No. 3 Wiscon-
t... there's notmuchto choose sin at the Camp Randall Classic,
en the teams." playing at the Badgers' football
when itcomes to the vast dis- stadium.
in penalty minutes, Berenson Two wins in front of the home
ery pleased with his team's crowd in the season's final two
tion as the ninth-most penal- months could mean the difference
am per game in the NCAA. between an NCAA Tournament at-
at's not a flattering stat," large bid and a long, lonely March.
ion said. "Our goal at the start After starting off slow, Michi-
year was supposed to be the gan is looking for a similar second
'enalized team. What do we half to what they experienced last
o do? We have to really pay season, losing only three games
on to our penalty minutes. after the Great Lakes Invitational.
ies are like goals, they're a "Every year (at this time) it's
art of the game." like pulling teeth.," Berenson said. 4
series with the Nanooks is "We might look back at it two
olverines' second this season, months from now and we might've
hey traveled to Anchorage at one two (series) in a row. Every
ginning of October and came game is going to be abattle. But the
pty on the score sheet, losing only way we're going anywhere is
to be consistent."