The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
February 72011 -3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom February 7, 2011 - 3B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
BIG TEN ROUNDUP
Here's what's happened
in Big Ten basketball this
past week.
SUNDAY FEB. 6
Michigan 65 at Penn State 62
Michigan State 56 at No.18 Wisconsin 82
No.1 Ohio State 82 at Minnesota 69
SATURDAY FEB. 5
No. 24 Illinois 70 at Northwestern 71
Iowa 64 at Indiana 63
THURSDAY FEB. 3
Michigan 53 at No.1 Ohio State 62
WEDNESDAY FEB. 2
Michigan State 52 at Iowa 72
No. 20 Minnesota 57 at Indiana 60
TUESDAY FEB.1
Penn State 51 at No. 24 Illinois 68
No.10 Purdue 59 at No.18 Wisconsin 66
BIG TEN STANDINGS
1) No.1 Ohio State (11-0)
2) No. 19 Wisconsin (7-3)
3) No.11 Purdue (7-3)
4) Illinois (5-5)
5) Penn State (5-6)
6) Michigan State (5-6)
7) No.18 Minnesota (5-6)
8) Northwestern (4-7)
9) Michigan (4-7)
10) Iowa (3-8)
11) Indiana (3-8)
ICE HOCKEY
CCHA ROUNDUP
Here's what's happened
in CCHA hockey this
past week.
SATURDAY FEB. 5
No. 9 Michigan 0 at No.13 Miami 3
Michigan State 2 at Ohio State 4
Bowling Green 1 at Western Michigan 3
Lake Superior 2 at Northern Michigan 0
Ferris State 2 at Alaska 1
FRIDAY FEB. 4
No. 9 Michigan 2 at No.13 Miami 4
Michigan State 2 at Ohio State 0
Bowling Green 1 at Western Michigan 1
Lake Superior 4 at Northern Michigan 1
CCHA STANDINGS
1) No.13 Miami (45 pts.)
2) No. 10 Notre Dame (44 pts.)
3) No. 9 Michigan (43 pts.)
4) Western Michigan (39 pts.)
5) Ferris State (35 pts.)
6) Alaska (33 pts.)
7t.) Lake Superior State (31 pts.)
7t.) Ohio State (31 pts.)
9) Northern Michigan (29 pts.)
10) Michigan State (26 pts.)
11) Bowling Green (13 pts,)
PENN STATE
From Page 1B
said. "It wasn't a time for me to be sad for
myself ... it was (motivation). This is the
Big Ten - you take hits like that. It's not
the football side of the Big Ten, but it's
real physical."
Penn State (5-6, 12-10) recaptured
the momentum and led by as many as 10
points in the second half. At that point,
Morris wasn't capable of carrying the
team on his shoulders anymore - but he
didn't need to.
With about seven minutes remaining
in the game and the Wolverines trailing
by six, freshman guard Tim Hardaway
Jr. stole the ball and took it to the hoop
on a fast break, scoring his first points
of the afternoon. Hardaway Jr. finished
it by converting a foul shot to make it a
three-point play. He ended the game
with 13 points - all of which came in the
0 second half, as the freshman played just
Michigan disappoints against Nittany Lions
By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team showed
this weekend that it belongs among the
nation's best.
But Sunday's meet against No. 3 Penn
State also showed the 13th-ranked Wol-
verines (5-1 Big Ten, 10-3 overall) that
they aren't quite in the Nittany Lions'
league.
After a commanding 26-9 victory over
No. 6 Wisconsin in Madison on Friday,
Michigan was outclassed by Penn State
on Sunday, losing28-13.
"I felt we wrestled really well Friday
night," Michigan coach Joe McFarland
said Sunday. "To be honest, I think we
needed to wrestle tougher in situa-
tions against Penn State. You can't give
up three pins and a major decision and
expect to beat a good team. It's unfor-
tunate and a little disappointing, but we
need to rebound and take something
from this."
SPECIAL TEAMS
From Page lB
"I can't figure it out," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said after Saturday's game.
"We're one of the least penalized teams
in the league andthey mightbe one of the
more penalized, and who gets all of the
penalties (in) the first half of the game
when the game's on the line? That's the
story of the game."
The Wolverines went 0-for-10 on the
power play in the series, getting just nine
shots combined onthose man-advantages.
Even when Michigan pulled its goalie
For every sour feeling the Wolverines
were left with on Sunday, they had an
equally positive Fridaynight.
In a night of upsets, redshirt junior
Justin Zeerip got Michigan started by
squeaking past the Badgers' No. 12 Ben
Jordan.
Wisconsin (0-3-1, 9-3-1) and Michigan
would split the next four matches. Red-
shirt sophomore Ben Apland defeated
the Badgers' No.11 Eric Bugenhagen, and
sophomore Sean Boyle followed suit with
awin of his own.
Wisconsin pulled even at 9-9, but that
was as close as it would get.
Redshirt junior Kellen Russell and
redshirt freshman Eric Grajales each
won in major decisions, 10-2 and 11-3,
respectively. Russell - ranked No.l in the
141-pound class - started a four-match
win streak for the Wolverines to close the
meet.
Redshirt freshmen Brandon Zeerip
and Dan Yates picked up the final two
wins.
in the closing minutes on Friday, it had
trouble. With the six-on-five advantage,
the Wolverines had four shots blocked
before Cannone took one of those blocks
the other way and tapped in the goal on
the empty-net breakaway.
Miami's game-tying and game-win-
ning goals Friday - in addition to Can-
none's goal on Saturday - were with the
extra man.
"Their power play is better than ours,"
Berenson said. "It's as simple as that."
Looking at the players involved, that
little pass by Miele was an even more
accurate representation of the weekend
than it appears. Miele and Cannone com-
Despite riding the momentum that
comes with a six-game win streak - four
of which came over ranked teams - the
Wolverines were unable to withstand
the pressure of facing powerhouse Penn
State. The Nittany Lions (3-2, 13-2) were
No. 1 until falling to No. 3 this week after
back-to-back losses.
From the get-go,it was Penn State who
seemed to want it more.
"I think we got a little out-wrestled,"
Russell said Sunday. "People weren't
wrestling as hard as they could in this
match. I'd rather have it right now than
next weekend. Hopefully we'll take this
in, we'll digestit and work hard all week."
Despite scoring on a takedown in the
meet's opening seconds, junior Zac Ste-
vens was thoroughly dominated,losing in
a major decision.
Russell won in dramatic fashion to
extend his win streak to 28 and improve
to 27-0 on the season.
Matched up against Penn State's No. 7
Andrew Alton, who Russell has narrowly
bined for nine points on the series and
were involved in all seven goals Miami
scored this weekend.
Miele scored the game-tying goal on
Friday. Cannone set up the game winner
by making a deke on junior defenseman
Greg Pateryn that will go on the Red-
Hawk's season-ending highlight reel.
Berenson summed up Miami's seven
goals in two offensive outbursts as con-
cise as possible: "Their best players were
their best players."
The sweep vaulted the RedHawks (13-
7-4-2 CCHA, 16-9-5 overall) into first
place and dropped Michigan into third
behind idle Notre Dame. The Wolverines
DEFENSE
From Page 1B
Friday's loss was due to a three-goal
third period comeback by the RedHawks
- Michigan had previously been unde-
feated, 15-0-3, when carrying a lead into
the final frame.
"We just have to play a full 60 minutes
and we can't give their players time,"
sophomore forward A.J. Treais said after
Friday's game. "They have two or three
of the best players in the country and
you can't give that guy time and space
or they're goingto make plays, and that's
what they did."
The late-game defensive mishapswere
captured perfectly in the RedHawks'
game-winning goal on Friday.
With just over four minutes left in
regulation, Miami's Pat Connone entered
the Michigan zone, and right when junior
defenseman Greg Pateryn approached
him with a challenge, Cononne pulled
the puck back and darted around him
with a flourish. With Pateryn beat, Can-
defeated in two previous matches this
year, Russell needed overtime to win, 3-1.
With the score just 1-1 heading into
overtime, Russell wasn't thinking about
losingeither the match or the streak.
"If you think like that then you're
going to lose, bottom line," Russell said.
"The whole time, I knew I was going
to win. I was just trying to look for that
opportunity to win.You're always glad to
get out of that one (with a win), but there's
always stuff you can improve on."
But after Russell, the Nittany Lions
controlled the rest of the bout.
Penn State would take four of the next
five matches - two of which were pins
- to build an insurmountable 22-6 lead.
Yates pulled off Michigan's lone win in
that span.
The Wolverines were able to finish
the meet on a bit of a bright spot, as fifth-
year senior Anthony Biondo and Boyle
recorded victories. Boyle, who's won his
last four matches, wasone of Michigan's
lone wbright spots on the weekend.
(14-7-1-0,17-9-4) have now lost three in a
row after their loss to Michigan State last
Saturday.
Though the Wolverines do have two
games in hand on Miami, they lost their
games in hand with second-place Notre
Dame by getting swept this weekend.
"I think everyone's, somehow, looking
at (the standings)," Hagelin said. "From
now on, we're going to do everything we
can to beat those guys, but at the same
time they have to lose some games ... We
have to prepare for every game like it's a
playoff game."
One 30-foot pass, one long bus trip
home.
none fed the puck across on a dime to
Matt Tomassoni, who shoveled it into the
net for the game winner.
"If you're a forward, you say that's a
good move - if you're a defenseman, you
say that's a terrible move," Berenson said
of Cononne's deke.
"(Pateryn) missed him completely, you
can't do that. You can't do that. You can't
get beat. That goal really turned the tide."
ThoughMichiganwasoutscored7-2 on
the weekend, the deficit could have been
much worse if not for stiff goaltending by
Hunwick, who kept the Wolverines with-
in fighting distance duringwhatBerenson
described as a "shooting gallery" late in
his 28-save performance on Friday.
With the CCHA lead hanging in the
balance, Michigan will not only need
good goaltending, but it will also need to
cut down on the number ofshooting gal-
leries down the stretch.
"Defense first ... just make sure that all
the small things and all the details, play
simple hockey," Hagelin said. "That's
what we do when we play our best -
everyone's got to chip in."
Senior Carl Hagelin plays against lowa at Crisler Arena on January 30, 2011
verines defeated lowa, 87-73.
FLOREK
From Page 1B
ther, I'll ask another question. When's
the last time, somebody, literally any-
body, on the Michigan team scored on
a breakaway?
It has been a problem all season.
Michigan has no one who can create
instant offense. Fortunately for the
Wolverines, they have covered it up
with their depth and timely scoring to
remain near the top of the conference
standings.
Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe the
Wolverines can ride their depth and
timely scoring from the blue line to
the Frozen Four.
They were one whistled-off goal
away from getting there a year ago
with a similar situation.
But at the risk of turningthis col-
umn into a game of 20 Questions, do
three minutes in the first frame due to
foul trouble.
"Motivation was key in that (half),"
Hardaway Jr. said. "I just saw how my
teammates were playing and just said,
'Darius (Morris) can't be the only one
going to the lane and Matt Vogrich com-
ing off the bench for me can't be the only
one hitting open shots."'
Hardaway Jr.'s scoring spurt trig-
gered the comeback and Michigan
knotted the game at 53 points with
4:40 left. Morris then hit a jumper and
a layup to put his team ahead by two
points. His roommate Jordan Morgan
- who tallied a career-high 11 rebounds
- practically sealed the contest with a
monster dunk seconds later, giving the
Wolverines all the momentum and a
three-point lead.
Keeping it within two possessions
for the last two minutes, Penn State
made it a game. The Wolverine bench
players started biting their finger-
nails when Morris got the ball on a fast
break. But with the team only up by
you think Michigan can make a second
consecutive run through the postsea-
son, without being down late in the
game and needing a player to step up
and score?
The Miami series exposed Michigan's
lack of a top-tier play maker. Michigan
State coach Rick Comley called Michi-
gan "the best team in the country top to
bottom," after its game last week.
But it didn't take much more than
one guy to beat the top-to-bottom
Wolverines.
"I think that Miele guy, he's the
only one who can really do things
himself," Hagelin said. "Other than
that, they're not a great offensive
team."
In this case, one isa lot more than
none.
- Florek thinks Hagelin is more like
Luis Mendoza than Adam Banks. He can
be reached at florekmi@umich.edu.
five points, he decided not to shoot it
and instead held onto the ball to con-
trol the tempo.
After being fouled, Morris missed his
ensuing free throw, and Penn State had
eight seconds to get back on offense and
knot the game up with a 3-pointer. But
Nittany Lion guard Tim Frazier was
injured in transition, and with just four
players on the offensive end, Penn State
blew its opportunity. Michigan was able
to pull out the win despite Morris's lapse
of judgment.
"How about that?" Beilein said. "You
know what (Morris) said to me? He was
trying to be classy, like (how) you don't
run up the score when you're up ten. He
was trying to just dribble it out and not
show them up. (You don't do that) when
you're up five."
Beilein said that stunt will serve as
something this youthful Wolverine team
learns from. Michigan will return home
to Crisler Arena to take on Northwest-
ern this Wednesday in hopes of garner-
ing its fifth conference win.
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