8A - Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Dismal shooting all
around against SVSU
By CHANTEL JENNINGS
Daily Sports Editor
During the first three-and-a-
half minutes of 2010-2011 Michi-
gan men's basketball, junior guard
Zack Novak knocked down a mid-
range jumpshot, the Wolverines
were 5-for-5 from the free throw
line and freshmen Tim Hardaway
Jr. and Evan Smotrycz had both hit
3-pointers from the wing.
They were perfect. They hadn't
missed a single shot.
But then a drought hit and Mich-
igan didn't make a 3-point field goal
for more than 26 minutes. In fact,
the Wolverines would only hit one
more 3-pointer the entire game on
the way to finishing 3-for-21 from
behind the arc - a pitiful 14.3-per-
cent - in the 68-59 exhibition win
over Saginaw Valley State Univer-
sity on Saturday.
"It's a mental thing," Smotrycz
said after the game. "If you're mak-
ing shots, then the game's going
really well, if you're not, then it's
more of a struggle."
Smotrycz, one of two players for
the Wolverines to reach double-
digit scoring, resisted attributing
his poor shooting to being a fresh-
man or first-game jitters.
"Everyone's been saying, 'Are
you nervous for the first game?'
But I feel like we've already played
a bunch of first games in Europe,"
Smotrycz said of Michigan's four
exhibition games played in Bel-
gium this past Aug. "Definitely
the crowd was different and play-
ing here against people who aren't
wearing Michigan (practice) jer-
seys."
Michigan coach John Beilein
admitted he anticipated jitters
under the lights from his young
ARIEL BONi
Junior guard Stu Douglass struggled shooting in Michigan's exhibition win.
ARitL BOND/Daily
Redshirt sophomore middle linebacker Kenny Demens got his first start against Iowa.
Changes on defense
lg 1i
l everaR eatheticism1
players but said Smotrycz and
Hardaway Jr. - who shot a com-
bined 4-for-18 from the floor -
have been shooting consistently in
practice.
But it wasn't just the fresh-
men who struggledto make shots.
Juniors Novak and Stu Douglass
along with sophomore Darius Mor-
ris - the most experienced players
on the team - shot 7-for-20 from
the field.
The troublesome shooting
became even more evident in the
second half when the Wolverines
shot 25-percent from the floor and
only managed to outscore the Car-
dinals 36-35.
It's still not clear whether Mich-
igan will have a clutch player that
can score on command. Morris
scored 18 points, 12 coming from
the freethrow line, but if he is to
remain at point guard, it'll be dif-
ficult to lead the team in both scor-
ing and assists.
With the poor shooting, it's hard
to overlook the startling statistics
from Saturday's game, consider-
ing that Michigan State opened its
season last week with an 88-44 win
over SVSU.
But Michigan isn't looking that
far into the future quite yet. Next
on the schedule is the season-open-
er against South Carolina Upstate
this Saturday at Crisler Arena.
"It's the first game, we're com-
ing in with no expectations for this
season - just playing loose, were
not gonna beat ourselves up about
an exhibition game," Douglass
said. "There's a lot of stuff we have
to work on but it's early and we're a
young team and we played well in
the scrimmage ... We know what
we're capable of and I'm not wor-
ried about that."
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Since
th Roh back on starting role, according to Van
a D e Bergen, his relationship with
and Demensat Ezeh has not changed. The two
middle linebackers still talk on
ddle, 'D takes the sidelines in between plays.
lens forward Now it's Ezeh rotating in for
Demens, who recorded eight
tackles against the Hawkeyes, 12
ByTIM ROHAN against Penn State and 10 against
Daily Sports Editor the Fighting Illini.
"(Demens) understands the
igan football coach Rich game real well," Van Bergen said.
tez says he wants his strug- "The game sorts out for him real
rfense to get bigger, faster, fast in his head and he makes deci-
r and more athletic. sions quickly. When he tackles, he
wo defensive players in role tackles with bad intentions. It's
ons - redshirt sophomore something you look for in a middle
linebacker Kenny Demens linebacker."
tphomore defensive end Rodriguez has criticized the
oh - such athleticism has defense's tackling and identified
e difference-maker. it as one of the basics that Michi-
can do a really high back gan needed to work on, but noted
t just a back flip," redshirt that Demens has been consistent
defensive end Ryan Van in that department so far - par-
said of Demens on Mon- ticularly in the Wolverines' 67-65
hink he can clear five feet, overtime win against Illinois on
Saturday.
6-foot-1, 250-pound line- Demens's unique blend of size
tas injected energyinto the and speed allows him to both
tn defense since supplant- fill holes quickly and track down
or Obi Ezeh in the starting opposing ball carriers from side-
inst Iowa on Oct. 16. Ezeh line to sideline - then make them
nned the position for most feel the hit when he gets there,
years. With Demens making an impact
just explosive," Van Ber- at linebacker, Roh moved to defen-
d. "His quick movements, sive end opposite Van Bergen. The
'I see that with somebody move was such a success on Sat-
. And the way he does it is urday that Rodriguez said it will
s good at linebacker.... The probably remain that way for the
could be full speed and he rest of the season.
e standing still and he can In 2009, Roh had 7.5 tackles for
runner cold. Just because loss and two sacks as a true fresh-
rxplosive he can meet your man at outside linebacker and was
so quickly." considered one of the best candi-
Demens took over the dates to replace Brandon Graham's
production as a pass rusher this
season.
But so far this season he has
just 3.5 tackles for loss and half
a sack, with most of that produc-
tion coming early on. For Roh,
the position change removes the
other responsibilities required
of linebackers like dropping into
pass coverage and allows Roh to
just do what he does best - rush
the passer.
Van Bergen approved the move
of Roh to the defensive line. He
sees Roh's speed as a nice comple-
ment to his own power.
"I just felt there was a lot more
pressure coming off the edges,"
Van Bergen said of the defense. "I
thought the quarterback was very
uncomfortable. He had happy feet
back there. We didn't register a
bunch of sacks but he was running
for the sideline pretty quickly and
unable to find receivers."
After the game, Roh said he felt
more comfortable at defensive
end.
Michigan has struggled getting
pressure on the opposing quarter-
backs consistently all season - the
Wolverines' 1.33 sacks per game
ranks 98th in Division-I FBS foot-
ball. Moving Roh could jumpstart
the pass rush.
"We were justtalking about
maximizing our guys' potential,"
Demens said. "Craig Roh is a rush-
er. He does well on the line. He's
not too bad at linebacker, but he
maximizes his stuff on the line."
For a unit that has allowed 34
points per game, it couldn't hurt
to let it rip - and watch Roh and
Demens fly to the ball.
SALAM RIDA/Daily
Seniorforward Matt Rust admitted at practice that Michigan has had trouble finding a groove on Friday nights.
Wolverines look to stop
rendof frst-game losses
FIELD H OCKEY
Blue draws Monarchs for tourney
By NICK SPAR to a conference championship,
Daily SportsEditor Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz
knows Old Dominion will be a
On Tuesday, the Wolverines tough first-round test on Satur-
were one of 16 teams selected to day.
play in the NCAA Tournament "They are a perennially strong
after upsetting No. 8 Penn State NCAA Tournament team," Pan-
and No. 5 Ohio State on its way kratz said. "They are always going
to securing the Big Ten title last to be disciplined. We have our
weekend. work cut out for us, that's for sure."
The eighth-ranked Michigan The key to the Wolverines'
field hockey team drew No. 12 offensive success could be fresh-
Old Dominion in Saturday's first- man sensation Rachael Mack.
round match in Chapel Hill, NC. After scoring the game-winning
The Monarchs (12-10) are making goals against both the Nittany
their 28th tournament appear- Lions and Buckeyes and being
ance, while Michigan (5-1 Big Ten, named the Tournament MVP, she
15-6 overall) is making its ninth will be sure to garner the attention
and first since 2007. The winner of the Monarch defenders.
will play the winner of Stanford- That could create time and
North Carolina on Sunday. space for seniors Alicia Mayer and
Despite taking down two of Zara Saydjari, who have also been
the nation's top 10 teams en route forces on the offensive end lately
and might adapt more readily to
an unfamiliar environment on the
road.
While Michigan, has to travel
about 500 more miles than old
Dominion does to reach Chapel
Hill, Pankratz thinks being away
from Ann Arbor could ultimately
help them.
"It's hard on the players," Pan-
kratz said. "It's an awful lot of
time commitment. We have to
leave and they have to rearrange a
lot of things they have to do aca-
demically, which isn't easy. On the
flip side, it's nice to be able to be
sequestered in the hotel and away
from a lot of distractions.
"I think it could work to our
advantage to be on the road and in
the hotel. We're going to look at it
that way and get excited about the
weekend."
By CASANDRA PAGNI
Daily Sports Writer
After splitting three straight
weekend series to either ranked
opponents, conference foes, or
both, the No. 9 Michigan hockey
team is understandably frustrated.
The Wolverines (4-1-1-0 CCHA,
5-2-3 overall) have dropped three
straight Friday night contests
before rebounding to put their
opponents away in the series finale.
Michigan boasts a 4-0-2 record
on Saturday nights, but isn't finding
its groove on Fridays.
"I think we have the right mind-
set going into Friday," senior alter-
nate captain Matt Rust said after
Monday's practice. "But our inten-
sityon the ice, the little things were
doing, being smart with the puck,
playing more physical ... were just
not doing those things on Friday
night."
While Michigan coach Red
Berenson won't complain about
the team's scoring - especially in
its recent Saturday night victories
- he is concerned about the team
getting better both collectively and
individually.
"There's probably not a player
in the locker room that is satisfied
with what he's done in the first 10
games," Berenson said. "They're
not satisfied with what the team
has done, they're not satisfied
with what they've done and so on.
There's a point of realism where
you have to look in the mirror and
say 'What am I doing?"'
After taking stock of past games
this season, one of the methods the
Wolverines will use to improve,
their Friday night performance
is to focus on incorporating more
enthusiasm into practice and
games.
From exaggerated celebrations
after scoring a goal in practice to
cracking jokes in the stretching
circle, Michigan knows a lighter
mood can help increase the tempo
and help the team get focused.
"We're trying to loosen up the
atmosphere," Rust said. "Some
guys, myself especially, are grip-
ping the stick a little too tight."
Finding a balance between hav-
ing fun and remaining competitive
is an idea that came straight from
the top, as Berenson said he was
worried about the team "getting
too tight" after the recent weekend
splits.
Berenson stressed that the Wol-
verines need to incorporate some
emotion into their practices and
looks to Rust and the other cap-
tains to help set the example.
"Coach brought up (having
fun) today in practice," Rust said.
"There's a lot of stress, and you can
kind of feel it whether you're on the
ice or in the locker room. It kind of
helps things out when you bring
a little bit of fun into it, whether
it's in practice or a game or in the
weight room. Just bringingmore of
a fun aspect to it just hlps us get
the work ethic up, the confidence
up, and everything starts falling
into place."
With Michigan currently in
second place in the CCHA stand-
ings - just one point behind 4
conference-leading Notre Dame -
this weekend's matchup with the
11th-ranked Fighting Irish takes
on extra importance. The Wolver-
ines will debut their maize jerseys
for the first time this season on
Friday.
With a 5-2-1 record in their
maize jerseys last season, sopho-
more right wing Chris Brown
thinks the new jerseys could be
the icing on the cake for a Michi-
gan squad that looks to take its
new, energized attitude into Fri-
day night and grab game one ofthe
series.
"We don't lose in maize," Brown
said. "That's our motto. It makes it
special. When you get to put that
jersey on, no other team has that
and no other team has that tradi-
tion that we have. Especially when
you play Notre Dame, it's even
more special."
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