8A - Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Michigan Daily- michigandaily.com

SA - Wednesday, January 26, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

ICE HOCKEY
'M' can't get complacent

Blue struggles against zones

t this time last year,
nearly 20 games into the
CCHA season, the Mich-
igan hockey team had its boxing
gloves on. Michigan was in the
ring, knowing
it needed to CASANDRA
knock out any PAGNI
opponent in
its way just to On Ice Hockey
have a chance
at the postseason. The Wolver-
ines were seventh in the CCHA,
and that's only because they grit-
ted out four conference wins in
its first six games in 2010.
Michigan held a 9-8-1 CCHA
record when it headed into its 19th
game of the season against the
Spartans in late January last year.
We all know the Wolverines'
incredible story of last year's
improbable postseason run, but
we also know the agonythat came
along with Miami (Ohio)'s 3-2
double-overtime winto move onto
the Frozen Four. But it's 20i1 -
and this Michigansquad just won
its 14th conference game.
This year's Wolverines are
ranked sixth in the nation.
Michigan sits atop the CCHA
and looks poised to receive a con-
ference tournament first-round
bye and an NCAA Tournament
berth, barringsome major train
wreck in the remaining nine
games.
This year's Wolverines are
good, so the odds of that train-
wreck happening is aboutas
likely as Tate Forcier declaring a
major in Organic Chemistry at his
next school, but in its remaining
nine games, Michigan can still
get better. And for it to do so, the
Wolverines need to dig back into
their closets and dust off those old
boxing gloves.
To avoid a second helping of
that bitter taste thatthe loss to the
RedHawks gave the Wolverines
in Fort Wayne last year, this year's
squad can't getcomplacent.

Last
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n
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And
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you kn
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The
though
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coming
sweeps
Alaska
has ace
son -a
despite
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The
season-
due inl
surge o
For mu
verines
win on

year, Michigan was the of a 4-4-1record in game one of a
Jog and it very clearly had CCHA series, compared to a 9-0-0
hing to fight for. The con- record in CCHA series finales.
ices of losing were spelled After Michigan's recent 2-0
d and clear near the end shutout against Alaska last Friday,
nary lastseason - win the Michigan coach Red Berenson
tournament or sit at home echoed this sentiment.
the NCAA Tournament "I know we canplay better than
first time in 20 years. we played tonight," Berenson said.
h place in the CCHA or "I think that's a challenge after a
t year's Wolverines had a lotcof Friday games. You haven't
ht in front of them, and they played for a week ... we've got a lot
ced thattrole. of players that have to play better,
in a conference where in and our team has to play better."
ekend - last weekend - And though he's playing a
.1 and No. 2 teams switched strong center on Michigan's see-
the No. S team dropped to ond line, senior forward Louie
and the eighth-placeteam Caporusso - last year's leading
to fourth, anythingcan goal scorer with 21 lamplighters -
n. only has seven goals to his name
so far this season, with the last
one coming one month ago.
Senior forward Matt Rust
e Volverines recently gotthe monkey off his
back, scoring his first goal since
eed to dust November in last Saturday's game
'against Alaska.
ff those old Rust scored 13 goals for the
Wolverines' last season, and while
)Xing gloves. he is a power forward on Michi-
gan's top line, he only has four
goals this season.
Michigan needs Rust and Capo-
atop the CCHA, it's not the russo - and others, as well - to
omforting of news when break their scoring funks and
ow your first-place lead chip in on offense, especially as
pon just a two-point lead. they face four of the CCHA's top
re's a simple solution offenses in their fivew remaining
. Just keep fighting... and series.
ig. The Wolverines are As the Wolverines face Miami
g off back-to-back weekend (Ohio) in two weeks at their own
s against Ferris State and rink andthe nation's top-two goal
- the first time Michigan scorers in RedHawks Andy Miele.
omplished that this sea- and Carter Camper, the Michigan
and are finding ways to win offense will undoubtedly be tested
the fact that they aren't in this game.
n all cylinders yet. But don't worry, the fact that
Wolverines just won their they aren't quite playingtheir best
-best fifth game in a row, team hockey yet is a good thing. It
large part to their recent mightbe just the motivation these
f Friday nightvictories. Wolverines need to regainthat
ich of the season, the Wol- same gritty attitude from 2010.
s struggled to find away to It just might keep them in the
Friday nights, to the tune ring.

By LUKE PASCH
Daily Sports Writer
In the first half of the Michi-
gan men's basketball team's game
against No. 15 Minnesota on Sat-
urday, the Wolverines scored just
four points in the paint.
That statistic itself wasn't ter-
ribly eye-popping. Michigan has
four shooters on the court at all
times - four players that hang on
the perimeter while their lonely
fifth man often gets smothered
under the basket. And if they can't
get penetration, they're all happy
to fire shots from beyond the arc.
But Michigan coach John
Beilein knows that four points in
the paint are too few and the 19
first-half 3-point shots the Wol-
verines took against the Golden
Gophers were too many. He's
probably aware that even a team
of five Glen Rices - Michigan's
all-time leader in 3-pointfield goal
percentage - wouldn't be able
to successfully run such a one-
dimensional offense.
What was particularly interest-
ing, though, was how Minnesota
turned the Wolverines (1-6 Big
Ten, 11-9 overall) from a shoot-
first offense to a shooting-only
offense.
Minnesota coach Tubby Smith
deployed a 2-3 zone for most of the
game, which apparently caught
Beilein off guard because Michi-
gan looked as though it had no
idea how to attack it.
And instead of attacking it, the
Wolverines sat back and put up the
most 3-point attempts they have
all season (35).
"They went to a zone - people
hadn't zoned us for a month,"
Beilein said in his weekly radio
show on Monday. "It gave us a few
issues before halftime. We closed
the half very poorly - let them
back in ita little bit - and then we
opened the (second) half poorly
and got down."
Typically, zone defenses are
used to crowding the lane so

*1

Junior guard Zack Novak was one of the few bright spots against Minnesota.

opposing forwards can't get open
underneath Teams usually stick
to man-to-man against Michigan
because zones consistently leave
men open around the perimeter.
And against a team of shooters
like the Wolverines, opponents
are wary about allowing them to
fire threes all game.
But Smith wasn't concerned.
With a long team that features
elite big men like Trevor Mbakwe,
Colton Iverson and Ralph Samp-
son - at times all on the court at
once - Minnesota was able to
stretch its zone out to the perim-
eter and still clog up the lane, cre-
ating a menacing wall of defense
for sophomore pointguard Darius
Morris to dealwith.
"They made 12 (3-pointers) -
they made 12 too many," Smith
said. "We challenged some shots
well, but they're most effective
when they're penetrating a pitch-
ing. But because the zone didn't
really allow them to beatus off the
dribble and find people open, the
zone was very effective."
The plan worked to perfec-
tion, much like how Syracuse's
zone worked against Michigan at

the Legend's Classic in Novem-
ber, when the Wolverines shot
at a woeful 8-for-32 clip from
3-point territory. Both the Golden
Gophers and the Orange were able
to close off drives and still stretch
the zone enough to get a hand in
the shooters' faces.
About five minutes into the sec-
ond half, Novak put up a 3-pointer
from the corner, only to get stuffed
by the high-flying Mbakwe, who
retreated from the low post to
make the play.
"With that length, it's similar to
a Syracuse zone that you just have
trouble when you get it into spots
and you turn and there's a 7-footer
standingthere,"Beilein said after the
game."Those guys are flying at you."
Normally, Michigan won't have
to worry about facinga zone with
length like Minnesota or Syracuse
because most teams just aren't big
enough to run it and still cover
shooters on the perimeter. But
Beilein probably still hopes he
doesn't see a zone again for awhile.
And he probably won't - not
until he treks to Minneapolis in
late February to face Smith's crew
again.

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