0 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 Seni mis layuf fo With the Mic team'sE night,; freshma guard Jenny Ryan at teamma Wolveri in Bloon Mean Ashley Nya Jot were on by only Carmen 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 od agai season, aggres Part on def 12-10 o alty mi with 5 trating This the take of .nent (7-6-3- that he exact fate wh to time The have the fe alty m this se- And some s the tra focus f this we "Yoc they're team," son sa the PK power agains betwe But parity isn't v distinc ized te "Th Berens of the least p have t attenti Penalt huge p The the We after t the be up emi 2-0. 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."