8A - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 The Michigan Daily -- rnichigandaily.com Wolverines look to overcome B an imposing Illini frontcourt Michigan travels NTERVIEW BY to Assembly Hall, LUKE PASCH Lri ... a.1',,,,,.,.. DAILY SPORTS WRITER 01 wne Ie ithasnt won since 1995 By CHANTEL JENNINGS Daily Sports Editor The last time the Michigan men's basketball team beat Illi- nois at Assembly Hall, most of the current players were enroll- ing in kindergarten. Tonight, the Wolverines (6-7 Big Ten, 16-10 overall) are hoping to hand the Fighting Illini their third home loss of the season. If Michigan can take down Mich"' n Illinois, it will be the Wolver- at Illinois ines' first win Matchup: in Champaign Illinois 16-9; since 1995. Michigan But with the 16-10 strength of the When: Big Ten and Wednesday each individual 7:30pm. team's ability Where: to win at home, Assembly Hall nearly every TV/Radio: game - despite BTN ranking - has been a toss-up. Most recently, then-No. 14 Wis- consin upset the top-ranked and undefeated Buckeyes in Madi- Sophomore point guard Darius Morris a son, showing that no team is safe on the road, for a lot of teams to play at," "I think that (the Big Ten) Beilein said. "I'm sure they're is all about who you're playing hungry. We're going to try to be and where you're playing them," at the same mindset that they Michigan coach John Beilein have. Hopefully we can battle said Tuesday. "I think that has a them to the end, and if (you're in lot to do with the ups and downs it) at the end, you can win it." that we all try to explain to each other. It's pretty simple - you're playing tough teams at home, on the road, the ball is going to "You're in bounce your way, it's not going to bounce your way." position, the So far this season, the Wolver- ines are 2-4 on the road against opportunities Big Ten competition, with big wins coming at then-No. 25 are there." Michigan State and Penn State. When Michigan faced off against the Spartans, the Wolverines hadn't won in the Breslin Center The Wolverines are coming off since 1997. two games where they struggled But when the Wolverines beat to hold a lead in the final part of the Illini atAssembly Hall last, it the game - Northwestern went was Jimmy King and Ray Jack- on a 14-0 run in the final min- son who led Michigan to a vic-" utes of the game against Michi- tory. gan and Indiana went on an 18-5 "It's always been a tough place run to cut into the Wolverines' AT BIG TEN MEDIA DAY IN OCTOBER, THE ILLINI SAT DOWN WITH THE DAILY TO TALK ABOUT THE UPCOMING SEASON. JAMESWEAVER/Daily verages seven assists and 15 points a game for the Wolverines. The Michigan Daily: What does your team have to do to get back to the tournament this year? Demetri McCamey: We need to show more toughness down the stretch at the end of games. We need to not lose that mental focus and (not stop) having that killer instinct. That's something we've talked about this summer - having that killer instinct, and putting teams away. Mike Davis: (Play better) defense. Our defense has to dic- tate our offense. We need to get steals, get runouts, get stops. I think if we do that, we'll be a very successful team, because we can score the ball, obviously. Mike Tisdale: I think what we've been doing is really what we need to continue to do. Obvi- ously, last year was tough, but this year we have a new focus, a new energy. The new guys came in, busted into competi- tion in practice. Coach (Bruce Weber) is focusing on defense alone, and I think that's going to help us win games. TMD: It certainly helps in col- lege basketball to have two big men of the caliber that you guys do. Mike (Davis), what have you seen out of Tisdale in the paint, and Demetri, as a guard, what does it add to your team to have that pair down low? MD: (Tisdale's) gotten bigger and stronger, so he's a little harder and stronger (in prac- tice) than last year ... He's been showing me little tricks on how to step in front of people, how to swim move around people. DM: (Tisdale and Davis) have been playing with each other since freshman year and have that chemistry, that one-two punch in the post. And they have that high-low (game and) that mid-range jumpshot down pat. So that'll help give us a lot of depth in the frontcourt. TMD: No matter how good Michigan is expected to be, under coach John Beilein, the Wolverines have always had a style that opponentsfind difficult to prepare for. What makes it so tough to play Michigan, year-in and year-out? DM: Their shooting ability. They'll put up a lot of threes, and they have a lot of great 3-point shooters. Once they start hitting them and clicking, and getting that (1-3-1) zone going, they're going to be that much tougher to score on. And you still have to stop the three ... It's just really tough. MD: Shooting. Any given night, if they get hot, it's going to be a long night. They're a smaller team - they're not really big. You know, I have to guard (Zack) Novak. He's a guard - he's 6-foot-6, I'm 6-foot-9, try- ing to run around, chasing him off the screen. So it's a little different, but they have great shooters. It'll be a tough game again. It's always a tough game with them ... It's just really tough. TMD: What do you look forward to most about playing in the Big Ten every season? MT: It's exciting. It's one of the best conferences in the country - maybe the best. Obviously, there are some of the best play- ers, so it's going to be fun to compete against them. DM: I'm looking forward to everybody ... This is the num- ber-one conference in the country, so night-in, night-out, you're going to play against a good player. But at the end of the day, I just want to be the best player in the league, so I'm looking forward to everybody. 20-point cushion. A win over Illinois (6-6, 16-9) could push Michigan into the top five in the Big Ten standings, a spot that would almost ensure a postseason berth if the Wolver- ines could hold it until the end of the season. But the team is try- ing to take it one game at a time, knowing that in its past three games, any loss could have put them out of discussion. With five games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament - three of which are on the road - the Wolverines will need to turn their focus to an Illinois team that is full of length and size. The frontcourt may possess the most size Michigan has seen since it faced off against Minne- sota in late January. The Illini's starting post contingent of Bill Cole, Mike Davis and Mike Tis- dale stand at a staggering line of 6-foot-9, 6-foot-9 and 7-foot-1. Additionally, sophomore point guard Darius Morris will match up with another elite floor gen- eral in senior Demetri McCamey, who is 13 assists away from becoming just the second player in Illinois history to reach 700 assists. The senior is the active' NCAA leader in assists. "I talked to them (Monday), and I said, 'This is the last time we're going to talk about it, I believe. Maybe we will one more time. Here's where it is. You put yourself in a position. If you had gone 1-2 or 2-1 in those last three games, you wouldn't be in this position. You're in position, the opportunities are there,' " Beilein said. "The opportunity is there. "If we come away with wins, it puts us in a better position. If we don't, then we're not ready to do that yet. It's like a five-game tournament, let's see what we can do." See a multimedia piece about this story on MichiganDaily.com BASEBALL Blue must answer early season questions in Fla. By ZACH HELFAND Daily Sports Writer There will be no time to work out the early season kinks when the Michigan baseball team steps off of its plane and into the Florida heat on Friday. When the Wolverines touch down for their three-team, three-game series, they'll find themselves in another kind of heat, facing a trial by fire as they try to replace five key play- ers from last year beginning the toughest schedule in the pro- gram's history. Any baseball team from a cli- mate like Michigan's must deal with being on the road for a majority of the early season. And playing its first 17 games away from home, the team will face some unique questions. Can they handle an early season schedule stacked with teams like No. 14 Stanford and, later, Texas Tech? How will they replace players like Ryan LaMarre and Mike Dufek? "There's several questions there, but I think they can all be answered," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said Tuesday. "But they need to be answered in a positive way for us to contend for a championship." Some of the answers must come from new sources. Michi- gan can expect production out of veterans like sophomore short- stop Derek Dennis and resdshirt senior second baseman Anthony Toth up the middle, sophomore Patrick Biondi in centerfield, and junior Coley Crank at desig- nated hitter. But young players must step up for the team to contend for a Big Ten title. And fast. That means players with lim- ited experience, like redshirt junior first baseman Garret Ste- phens, or no experience, like freshman right fielder Michael O'Neil, have little time to get acclimated. There are no warm-up games and the competition will be intense from the start. That can be a curse or a bless- ing. "Coach touched on how they might start off hot and then hit that freshman wall," Toth said. "They'll struggle, but that's just how it is ... You might need a freshman to step up and we have the guys capable of doing that." Their three-game series against No. 21 Louisville, No. 22 Connecticut and a St. John's team that some polls have ranked inside the top 25, will be the first time the Wolverines have played outdoors since the fall. This means that the Friday will be the team's first time field- ing grounders off of dirt, catch- ing fly balls and pitching off of a real mound. But the tough early season schedule can provide a great opportunity. A few early wins against top competition can go a long way in terms of rankings and confi- dence. "We're just excited for the opportunity," Biondi said. "We got three top 25 teams, top 15 maybe, and that's just a great opportunity to show that we can play with anybody ... When we go out, we expect to win" Toth, who shares the captain duties with senior pitcher Kolby Wood, made that message clear when he addressed the fans on Tueday at the team's Meet the Wolverines event. "In no way, shape or form are we intimidated by anyone," he said. 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