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8A - Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
6
Langlais searching for
offense from blue line
Senior's longevity
has been huge boost
for Wolverines in
last three seasons
By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Writer
Just shy of the halfway point
in the regular season, the No. 11
Michigan hockey team has so
far been propelled largely by the
strong offensive outpouring from
its seniors.
Five of the top seven scorers'
on the team are seniors, paced by
forwards Carl Hagelin (16 points)
and Louie Caporusso (14). But
the success of those veterans has
exposed the lack of scoring from
senior defenseman Chad Lan-
glais.
Langlais, who is on the Wol-
verines' top defensive pairing
along with freshman defenseman
Jon Merrill, has managed just
one goal and four assists through
16 games.
Langlais's lone goal was a
can't-miss opportunity against
Notre Dame when every other
player on the ice thought the puck
was caught in freshman Luke
Moffatt's equipment. Langlais
skated in along from the right cir-
cle and deposited the puck behind
a bewildered Fighting Irish goal-
tender.
Such good fortune has been
rare for the defenseman. He
hasn't netted any of his other 24
shots on goal.
"I'm putting the effort in, but
sometimes the puck doesn't want
to go in," Langlais said on Tues-
day.
In the opening week of the sea-
son, Michigan coach Red Beren-
son voiced his desire for Langlais think that's what has gotten me
to assert himself more on offense here," Langlais said. "I like to
to become a scoring threat. take the puck and score. Every-
Despite Langlais scoring just body likes to score, but I really
12 times in his first three seasons, take pride in my passes."
Berenson admits that he has been Berenson suggested that Lan-
"surprised" with his head defen- glais's lack of offensive produc-
seman's inability to score this tion might be a direct result of
year. -Merrill and Langlais facing off
"The puck is just not going against the top scoring lines on
in and it's not going through," the opposing team every time
Berenson said. "That's the dilem- they step onto the ice.
ma with our defensemen, just Going up against some of the
getting pucks through. Teams most dangerous offensive lines
are just doing such a good job of in the nation is a tall order for
the smallest defenseman on the
squad, yet he consistently logs the
most ice time on the team.
"He's got... "He's playing against the top
I'. players that our team sees night
warrior in him after night," Berenson said.
"That's pretty good for a guy
that doesn't show that's 5-foot-whatever.
n t"He's got a little bit of a warrior
up in the stats." in him that doesn't show up in the
stats."
In his three seasons manning
the blue line duties for Michi-
blocking point shots. Chad is one gan (7-2-1 CCHA, 8-4-4 over-
of those players who gets victim- all), Langlais has never missed a
ized by it, but he's also had some game, accumulating 145 straight
good chances. starts. That's only 21 games short
"I think it's just a matter of of matching former skaters Tom
time." Miller and Travis Turnbull for
Though Langlais isn't light- the program's Iron Man title -
ing the lamp regularly, he hasn't the team record for consecutive
been completely absent in the appearances is 166.
offensive zone. He's had plenty Barring an unforeseen injury
of success setting up goals for his or roster scratch, Langlais will
teammates. match the record in the second
It's said that every great goal round of CCHA tournament-
is set up by an even greater pass action in early March.
- and if that's the case, Langlais "It's really special to be able to
has thrived. play that many games," Langlais
With an assist last Friday said.
against Wisconsin, he - moved "That means that we are going
to 20th on Michigan's all-time far every year, deep into the
defenseman assists list, only one playoffs, and that's real special.
helper behind former Wolverine It's something I haven't really
Blake Sloan. thought about (the record), but I
"I take pride in my passes. I hope I can keep going."
ARIEL BOND/Daily
Sophomore point guard Darius Morris tallied 13 points in the Wolverines' 69-6t upset victory at Clemson.
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Y E A R B O O K
By BEN ESTES early on, as they led by as many as
Daily Sports Writer 20 in the first half and entered the
break with a 16-point lead. Michi-
CLEMSON, S.C. - So much for gan shot 60 percent from the field
an Atlantic City hangover. in the first frame and held the
After droppingboth of its games Tigers to just 27.9-percent shoot-
at the Legends Classic last week- ing.
end, the Michigan men's basket- But Clemson (5-2) came outwith
ball team a renewed intensity in the second
roared MICHIGAN 69 period and quickly cut the lead to
into CLEMSON 61 eight with 11:17 left in the game.
Clemson The Tigers took advantage of a
on Tuesday night and silenced stagnant Wolverine offense that
the Tigers, besting the home team could not find open shots and capi-
69-61. talized on several turnovers to cut
The game was part of the Big the deficit.
Ten/ACC Challenge, an event in With the crowd on their side and
which the Wolverines have not had a young Michigan team appearing
much success recently, dropping to fade with the pressure turned
their matchups in each of the past up, the Tigers were poised to send
four seasons. the Wolverines to another disap-
But Michigan (4-2) drew Clem- pointing loss just four days after
son this year, a team it has beat the Michigan dropped a tough
twice now in three years. game to then-No. 9 Syracuse.
The last memorable victory over It was Clemson, though, that
the Tigers came when the two appeared to be the jittery team for
squads met in the first round of the most of the game.
2009 NCAA Tournament. In that The Tigers failed to capitalize
game, the Wolverines were a No. on their momentum, missing shots
10 seed but defeated the No. 7 seed or turning the ball over right as
Tigers, 62-59. they were on the verge of going on
An underdog yet again, Michi- a tear.
gan battled through a raucous Michigan showed newfound
atmosphere at Littlejohn Coliseum nerves and continued to battle
to prevail once more over Clemson. until finally coming away with the
The Wolverines are now 4-0 all- win.
time against the Tigers. "It's just a testament to this
"It's hard to win on the road," team," junior guard Zack Novak
Michigan coach John Beilein said said. "We've got a whole new
after the game. "Everywhere (a demeanor to us and a whole new
game) is, it's hard to win on the toughness. It showed tonight."
road. It does feel good. That's the With the score at 45-37 in the
mark of the really good teams, the Wolverines' favor with 10:33 left in
ones that can get up to 50 percent the game, redshirt freshman cen-
on the road." ter Jordan Morgan's three baskets
The Wolverines managed to led to an 8-2 Michigan run to rees-
quiet the 7,237 fans in attendance tablish a solid lead.
Novak's back-to-back 3-pointers
then gave the Wolverines a 59-41
lead with 5:07 remaining. But
the Tigers refused to quit, reduc-
ing the deficit to as few as seven
points with just over 15 seconds
left. Michigan, though, hung on by
making enough free throws once
Clemson started fouling.
"It was almost good they got
it down to eight," Beilein said.
"We could realize that we had to
get it back up there and perse-
vere through that. ... (We) got just
enough stops, because they are a
good 3-point shooting team. We
got just enough to keep (the coach-
es) nervous down the stretch."
Freshman forward Evan
Smotrycz headlined Michigan's
first-half surge, scoring 13 points
before the break and ending the
game with 18. He was nearly per-
fect on the night, going 6-for-7
from the field and 2-for-2 from
3-point range.
Sophomore point guard Darius
Morris was also a critical part of
the team's success, as he was all
over the court offensively and
defensively. Morris finished with
13 points, seven rebounds, eight
assists and four steals in 39 min-
utes of play.
But it was the Wolverines'tenac-
ity that helped them come up big in
Littlejohn Coliseum.
"You need every win that you
get, (but) this was a big game for
our confidence," Novak said. "To
win on the road, especially here
(being) a tough place to play. They
got a great crowd. It's just, we
fought.
"For such a young team, com-
ing into this environment, to play
as well as we did, it's encouraging."
01
Smotrycz finds scoring
touch in win over Tigers
Fre:
in fi
in v
CLE
Smotry
quite t
Hist
seum -
Tigers
hostile
visiting
An
men's I
ACC m
on Tue
stando
from
court.
ButS
as ever
undert
tlejohn
his hot
finishe
high 18
pelling
road vi
"I k
team,"
Beilein
"It's an
teamsc
shman tallies 13 Smotrycz never looked intimi-
dated.
rst half, 20 total Two and a half minutes into
the game, sophomore guard
ictory at hostile Darius Morris drove to the bas-
ket and dished out to Smotrycz
road arena on the perimeter as the Clemson
defense collapsed. The freshman
By LUKE PASCH buried his first 3-pointer of the
Daily Sports Writer night, giving Michigan an early
6-3 advantage.
MSON, S.C. - Evan TheWolverines didn'trelinquish
'cz hadn't heard anything that lead for the rest of the contest.
his loud before. But that was the type of
orically, Littlejohn Coli- play the Tigers had to expect.
- home of the Clemson Smotrycz was recruited primar-
- presents one of the most ily for his shooting ability - he
playing environments for doesn't quite have the frame to
g teams. match up underneath, and he
d prior to the Michigan doesn't hustle around the court
basketball team's Big Ten- an awful lot.
natchup with the Tigers Or does he?
sday night, the freshman Later in the first half, Mor-
ut had never played away ris picked up a defensive board,
home on a non-neutral pushed the ball up the court and
found Smotrycz cutting to the
Smotrycz looked as relaxed hoop for an easy lay-in.
, playing more confidently On the next Michigan posses-
the deafening boos of Lit- sion, Smotrycz got the ball in the
than he has in front of paint, and with no better option,
me crowd this season. He pulled up for a 12-footer and
d the night with a game- drained it.
points in 25 minutes, pro- Then, he got a look in the post,
the Wolverines to a 69-61 this time with a big body on him.
ctory. No big deal - he faked to the bas-
now Clemson has a good ket one way, getting the 6-foot-8
Michigan coach John senior Jerai Grant in the air and
said following the game. drawing the foul as he laid it in
environment that a lot of again.
do not come into and win." He converted on the free throw
attempt, and a couple of minutes
later, Smotrycz drove to the hoop
for another easy layup, complet-
ing a 9-2, Smotrycz-Clemson run.
"He's really crafty," redshirt
freshman center Jordan Morgan
said. "That's one of his good skills
- he's able to get people in the air
and finish around people, finish
with contact.
"He definitely asserted him-
self, and he was pretty hyped for
his first ESPN game."
Indeed, Smotrycz showed
the nation what he is capable of.
For the first time, the forward
showed his potential to be a dual-
threat player.
He shot the ball well, finishing
2-for-2 from 3-point range and
6-for-7 from the field, and he fin-
ished drives from both the post
and the paint.
His performance comes as a
relief to a Michigan squad that
will be undersized against most
opponents.
"We played himself as both
a four-man and a five-man
(tonight)," Beilein said. "We're
trying to make him multi-posi-
tioned when we can, and he's still
learning.
'You know, at 6-foot-9, there's
quicker guys here ... but he's get-
ting better at it."
And with Big Ten season less
than a month away, Smotrycz is
getting better at just the right
time for the Wolverines.