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.) WANT MORE DAILY SPORTS COVERAGE Visit WWw.michigandaily.cOm AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @MICHDAILYSPORTS 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...