The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
January 31, 2011- 3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom January 31, 2011 - 3B
MEN'S BASKETBALL MSu
BIG TEN ROUNDUP From Page1B
Here's what's happened
in Big Ten basketball this
past week.
SUNDAY JAN. 30
Iowa 73 at Michigan 87
Indiana 83 at Michigan State 84 (OT)
SATURDAY JAN. 29
No.1 Ohio State 58 at Northwestern 57
No.18 Minnesota 61 at No.12 Purdue 73
No.15 Wisconsin 52 at Penn State 56
THURSDAY JAN.27
Michigan 61 at Michigan State 57
No. 21 Illinois 49 at Indiana 52
WEDNESDAY JAN. 26
Northwestern 70 at No.18 Minnesota 81
Iowa 51 at Penn State 65
TUESDAY JAN. 25
No.12 Purdue 64 at No.1 Ohio State 87
BIG TEN STANDINGS
1) No.1 Ohio State (9-0)
2) No.12 Purdue (7-2)
3) No. 17 Wisconsin (5-3)
4) No.16 Minnesota (5-4)
5) No. 17 Penn State (5-4)
6) No. 25 Michigan State (5-4)
7) No. 20 Illinois (4-4)
8) Michigan (3-6)
9) Northwestern (3-7)
10) Indiana (2-7)
11) Iowa (1-8)
ICE HOCKEY
CCHA ROUNDUP
Here's what's happened
in CCHA hockey this
past week.
SATURDAY JAN. 29
No. 6 Michigan 1 at Michigan State 2
Lake Superior State 1 at Bowling Green 2
Ohio State 2 at Alaska 6
No.13 Miami 2 at No. 9 Notre Dame 2 (OT)
Northern Michigan 1 at Western Michigan 5
FRIDAY JAN. 28
Lake Superior State 4 at Bowling Green 2
Ohio State 0 at Alaska 1 (OT)
No.13 Miami 5 at No. 9 Notre Dame 5 (OT)
Northern Michigan 2 at Western Michigan 5
THURSDAY JAN. 27
Michigan State 1 at Ferris State 2
CCHA STANDINGS
1) No. 9 Notre Dame (44 pts.)
2) No. 6 Michigan (43 pts.)
3) No.13 Miami (39 pts.)
4) Western Michigan (35 pts.)
5) Alaska (33 pts.)
6) Ferris State(32 pts.)
7) Northern Michigan (29 pts.)
8) Ohio State (28 pts.)
9) Lake Superior State (25 pts.)
10) Michigan State (23 pts.)
11) Bowling Green (11 pts.)
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Matt Rust, it looked as if
something was finally going
to give. While the Wolver-
ines fired three shots on that
power play, they couldn't find
a way past Spartan netmind-
er Will Yanakeff.
It took just over 39 minutes
for someone to lightthe lamp
at the Joe, butboth teams got
on the board in the final min-
ute of the second frame.
The Spartans (7-11-2, 11-3-
4) scored the first goal of the
game with 53 seconds left in
the second period. On the
power play, Michigan State
freshman Jake Chelios fired a
shot from the slot that passed
senior netminder Shawn
Hunwick to get the Spartans
out to the early lead.
Michigan responded just
33 seconds later. Senior for-
ward Louie Caporusso slid
the puck across the crease
and scored on Yanakeff.
The equalizer was Capo-
russo's eighth goal of the sea-
son, but his first tally in one
month - his last goal came
at the Joe in the GLI Cham-
pionship against Colorado
College.
"Those last minute goals
are important goals, and that
was an important goal for
us," Berenson said. "It was
a great effort by Louie, and
you wanted that to go into
the (third) period. I can't say
it did."
The Spartans went up 2-1
just under eight minutes into
the third period on a shot
from the point through traf-
fic that Michigan State soph-
omore Joey Shean picked up
down low and slid past Hun-
wick.
Just over two minutes
later - with five minutes
remaining in the game - the
Wolverines got their best
chance of the night when
sophomore forward Kevin
Lynch was given a penalty
shot after being tripped on a
breakaway.
At the time the penalty
shot was awarded, Michigan
and Michigan State were on
a 4-on-4 due to roughing,
and Berenson elected to have
Lynch take the penalty shot
instead of taking the 4-on-3
power play option.
Unfortunately for the
Wolverines, Lynch missed
the opportunity to tie the
game up at two, as his shot
hit Yanakeff's left pad.
"Penalty shots, they're not
easy to score," Caporusso
said. "They're tough. I kind
of felt bad for him. All that
pressure, everyone is going
crazy. (After he missed the
shot) we thought we'd just
keep coming.
"That's our plan, we
always try to play consistent
hockey, try to keep coming,
keep coming. Unfortunately,
they got one, and we were
unable to (respond)."
Saturday's loss to the
Spartans snapped Michi-
gan's five-game win streak
and dropped the Wolverines
back to second place in the
CCHA.
Heading into two games
at Miami (Ohio), the Wolver-
ines know they need to put
this game - and the chances
they couldn't capitalize on
- behind them to come out
firing against the team that
ended Michigan's season in
the NCAA regional last year.
"You've got to give credit
to Michigan State," Capo-
russo said.
"I thought they did a great
job. They handled us in our
zone at times ... that can be
frustrating. We're playing
pretty consistent hockey,
and we didn't give it our best
today. We weren't good in an
awful lot of areas around the
ice. We'll be better come next
week."
JENNINGS
From Page 1B
ed from an outsider's perspec-
tive. He called a team meeting
to apologize for his conduct on
the court, for not being the best
teammate he could be and for not
playing up to his abilities.
It was in that team meeting
that Morris displayed the matu-
rity that this team's point guard
has been lacking. For a sopho-
more in college to go before his
peers, his teammates, the guys
he spends the most amount of
time with and look within him-
self and be able to verbalize that
he is sorry, is nothing short of
impressive.
Most kids his age would senda
Facebook or text apology. But not
Morris.
But what may be an even big-
ger contribution from that team
meeting was that Morris's lead-
ership inspired other guys to look
at their own performances.
"Everybody else stepped up
too and said they've been lacking
too atbeing agoodteammate and
holding each other accountable
to go out there and playing hard
all the time," Morris said.
And then Morris and his team-
mates, humbled and re-centered,
entered Breslin Arena and took
down No. 25 Michigan State.
But wait, it only got better.
On Sunday, against Iowa, the
sophomore registered a triple-
double - the first of his career,
the third in University history.
Twelve points, 11 assists, 10
rebounds. Any of those three
stats on their own would be
pretty impressive, but to put
them all together, is incredible.
But it wasn't Morris's talent
alone that earned him that sta-
tistic line - his teammates had
to catch the passes he threw,
other teammates had to throw
assists for him when he scored,
post players had to clear out the
big men for Morris to clean up
the glass.
And when that talent is sup-
CHRIS RYBA/Daily
Sophomore pointguard Darius Morris has improved his level of play since the
team's game last Thursday at the Breslin Center against Michigan State.
ported by humility, hard work
and consideration for one's
teammates is more impressive
than the fact that Morris did
what's only been done twice
before.
He's young - he will have
ups and downs. I'm not expect-
ing that he'll go out and shock
the world every game. But for a
guy to be down, know he's down
and figure out how to get himself
out of that hole means that he's
learning and getting better. And
maybe the next hole wouldn't be
so deep or his shovel will be big-
ger.
Michigan coach John Beilein
said after the Michigan State
game that he would be able to
tell everyone in March whether
the 61-57 win marks a turn in the
season.
Maybe Beilein can't wait until
March to tell if it was a turn for
his team this season - but it was
for Morris.
Call him D-Mo or call him The
Butterfly, as one commentator
dubbed him after he came out
of his cocoon early this season.
Just don't wait until March to
see what kind of a player Mor-
ris allows himself to be when he
plays to his potential and makes
everyone around him better.
BURNS
From Page 1B
said both games could have
easily gone to the Nanooks,
but his team found a wayto
win.
But as the final buzzer
sounded atthe Joe on Satur-
day, Michigan's alarm clock
finally went off as well. It lost
a game it should have lost and
needed to lose.
Let me repeat that: the
Wolverines needed to lose.
While some can view the
2-1 score asa minor weekend
blunder against an in-state
rival - one who played tough-
nosed hockey againstone of
the conference's best teams -
the defeathas larger implica-
tions for the Michigan hockey
program.
This upcoming weekend,
the Wolverines travel to
Oxford, Ohio to face one of
the conference's most talent-
ed squads in Miami and two
of the nation's best players in
Andy Miele and Carter Camp-
er. The duo leads the country
with 49 and 46 points, respec-
tively.
To compound the Wol-
verines'matters, the hottest
team in the CCHA - Western
Michigan - comes to Ann
Arbor in three weeks. The
Broncos haven'tlostin11
games and have climbed to
fourth in the conference. Led
by freshman forward Chase
Balisy, who leads the team
with 26 points, and a defense
that has surrendered more
than two goals only once in
the past 11 games, Western
Michigan finds itself in an
unfamiliar position - the
Broncos finished dead last
this past season in the CCHA.
Clearly, the road to a poten-
tial regular-season conference
title for Michigan doesn't get
any easier from here on out,
and in a way, the Wolver-
ines should be thankingthe
Spartans. The loss brought
Michigan back to reality and
made it realize that it cannot
continue winning games play-
ing the way it's been over the
past few weekends.
I won't get into X's and O's
because, frankly, the issue
isn't strategic. Sure, the Wol-
verines could clean up the
defensive end and playa little
more sound defensively. They
could even capitalize on a few
more chances.
The point of contention
centers around the team's
ability to go out and compete.
Earlier in the season, Beren-
son acknowledged that the
team is more of a "blue-collar,
lunch-buckethockey team"
than in years past. It doesn't
have the likes of Brendan
Morrison, Jack Johnson or
Kevin Porter - some of the
most heralded and flashy
Wolverines in recent memory.
In mid-November, fol-
lowing a weekend split with
Nebraska-Omaha, Berenson
said, "We've got to kick 'em in,
deflect 'em in, bounce 'em in."
The team can take some
advice from the tenured coach
and play a more old-school
brand of hockey.
At times on Saturday and
throughout the past few
weekends, the Wolverines
have started slowly only to
have to claw back into the
game (i.e. the 4-3 overtime
loss to Michigan State on
Jan. 7).
But for now, the alarm
clock's still ringing - and has
been for quite some time.
Who's goingto finallyturn
it off for Michigan?
- Burns can be reached
at burnmark@umich.edu
BALANCED
From Page1B
his team too. The morelhe found
scoring opportunities under-
neath, the more Iowa (1-8, 13-8)
keyed in on him and forgot about
shooters like Smotrycz and Hard-
away Jr. on the perimeter.
"We had a little bit of a size
advantage, and we just tried to
feed it," Morgan said. "We have
such deadly shooters that it puts
these teams in a pickle. They have
to decide, 'Are they going to give
us a three? Or are they going to
give us a two?"'
Morgan did struggle a bit on
the defensive end, allowing Iowa
freshman forward Melsahn Bas-
abe to score 25 points against
Michigan's frontcourt, though
Beilein believes that the positives
outweighed the negatives. The
improvements on the offensive
end were extraordinary.
Perhaps most impressive was
how he Wolverines attackedhl c
Ho ye 2-3 zone scheme. After
Minnesota held Michigan-to 64
points just last week, using the
2-3 for a majority of the game, the
Wolverines seemingly couldn't
solve the defensive scheme.
"Minnesota (used the zone),
and we didn't have great tim-
ing," Beilein said. "And that's all
it takes, and you get a little bit
spooked byit... We had open shots
(against Iowa), we made them -
that was the big thing. You can
execute the heck out of a zone, but
if the ball goes in and out, you can
get spooked again."
For now, Michigan is far from
spooked by anything, as the team
takes a two-game winning streak
into Columbus to take on No. 1
Ohio State on Thursday.
Michigan travels to Naples
for alumni scramble match
U-M Computer Showcase
Michigan Union. Pierpont Commons
http://showcase.itcs.umich.edu . www.apple.com/education
SU- OK
By ZACH HELFAND
Daily Sports Writer
With a white blanket of
snow covering the University
of Michigan Golf Course, and
a gray layer of clouds hover-
ing above it, the Michigan
women's golf team escaped to
green, sunny Florida to take
on three former alumni in a
scramble match on Saturday.
The current Wolverines
topped former teammates
Ashley Bauer (class of 2010),
Laura Olin (2005), and Kim
Benedict (2003) by four
strokes in the friendly event
at Grey Oaks Country Club
in Naples. The team split
into three foursomes, each
led by an alumna. Benedict's
squad of freshman Alyssa
Shimel, junior Meagan Bauer,
and assistant coach Chris-
sie George combined for
10-under par in the scramble
event to take the victory.
Shimel turned the low
score of the team with a 69,
followed by Bauer's 72 and
sophomore Caramia Sitom-
pul's 73.
The event also served as a
tune-up for the team's upcom-
ing tournament in Puerto
Rico beginning on Feb. 13.
"Some of the girls hadn't
been on grass for a while so
it was a good opportunity to
get down there and play and
practice," Michigan coach
Cheryl Stacy said.
"It was really to get out
there and get the kinks out
and the rust ... We've been hit-
ting alot of balls and chipping
and putting indoors, but it is
different when you're actually
on the grass."
In Puerto Rico, the team
will face what Stacy described
as a very competitive field.
She added that she would be
pleased with a top-five finish,
but that it is difficult to have
expectations this early in the
golf season with the team still
shaking off the winter rust.
The Florida trip - which
the team makes almost every
year - gives the team the
opportunity to work out some
of those kinks.
"It was agood weekend, we
had good weather, the girls
really seemed to enjoy it, they
seemed to play well, and we
were out there all day long,
so it was good," Stacy said. "It
was nice seeing ... Benedict,
Olin and Bauer, three play-
ers that did a lot for Michi-
gan and had a good record
throughout their careers...