8 -Friday, March 11, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com rif Icers try to extinguish Falcons'upset hopes MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily Sophomore guard Darius Morris scored 11 points and dished out seven assists in Michigan's first game against Illinois. Michigan gets second shot at Fightin gIllini By MARK BURNS in the playoffs." that, and we got to get our team Daily SportsEditor Even though the Falcons fin- playing well." ished in the basement of a few According to Pearson, that When the No. 5 Michigan conference statistical catego- won't come easy, though, as hockey team comes out for ries during the regular season' Bowling Green plays a "defen- warm-ups tonight against Bowl- - power play (11th), scoring,; sive-oriented" brand of hockey ing Green at Yost Ice Arena, offense (11th) and defense (10th) according to Pearson, a newly- it will see a - that can be thrown out the adopted scheme from Bergeron. mirror image window come playoff time. "They're going to play physi- 4 of itself circa BOWiing As any coach knows, by cal, but they're going to play 2010. Green at stringing together a few solid extremely hard without the Last sea- wins, he can have a team that puck," Pearson added. son, the Wol- Michigan can beat anyone on any given Bowling Green's defensive verines had to Matchup: night. plan lies around limiting those win the CCHA Michigan "They've got nothing to lose," "Grade-A" scoring opportuni- Tournament 23-9-4; BGSU Michigan assistant coach Mel ties and playing tight-checking to advance 10-25-4 Pearson said after practice on defense in its own zone, as Pear- to the NCAA When: Friday Tuesday. son stated. Tournament 7:35 P.M. When current first-year Michigan will have to use for the 20th Where: Yost coach Chris Bergeron was hired its speed to get around oppos- consecutive Ice Arena last April, he brought a winning ing defenders and hope to draw year - a feat mindset to a Falcon program penalty calls in the process. they accom- TV/Radio: that was on the verge of collapse But Michigan will have to plished to the Comcast just two seasons ago. survive against the Falcons surprise of As a former long-time assis- (3-21-4-2, 10-25-4) without the almost every- tant coach at Miami (Ohio), services of senior forward Louie one in the college hockey world. Bergeron hoped to change the Caporusso, who suffered a low- And in this year's conference culture at Bowling Green fol- er-body injury in the first game tournament, the 11th-seeded lowing a last-place finish in against Northern Michigan Falcons will have to pull off the 2009 and second-to-last place two weeks ago. Junior forward same magical act if they are to finish prior to this season. David Wohlberg will continue become a part of the field of the "It's a very good hire and I to fill the void on the top line 16. have no doubt that Chris will with senior Carl Hagelin and After Bowling Green's dra- help Bowling Green get back sophomore Chris Brown as he matic game-three overtime- to the level they want to be at did in Marquette for the Wol- clinching victory last Sunday and are used to being at," cur- verines. night at Northern Michigan, rent Denver coach George "Wohlberg's been a really the Falcons are riding a wave Gwozdecky said following the good player even from his first of momentum into Yost for the Bergeron hire. year when he won Rookie of the best-of-three second-round Bergeron didn't change the Year," Pearson said. "Last year, playoff series. team's finish in one year - as he had a little bit of a setback - "Right now, they're prob- the Falcons finished last in the was injured and was never real- ably having the best experience CCHA with just three wins dur- ly healthy. This year, he's played they've had," Michigan coach ing the regular season. And the very well. He's a frontline play- Red Berenson said after prac- Wolverines (20-7-1-0 CCHA, er. Maybe he's not been on our tice on Tuesday. "They've got 23-9-4 overall) are aware of the top line or our best line. more confidence than they've possible upsets that can occur in "He's very capable and very had in months. playoff hockey. talented. I think his size and "We're catching a team now "They won a series, and now skill will really add something that can put the season behind they're a dangerous team," to that line. He might even make them, and they can just go for it Berenson said. "We understand it abetter line - sorry Louie." By LUKE PASCH Instead, Friday's matchup is Daily Sports Writer critical for both teams' postseason aspirations. If junior guard Stu Douglass "I think it's just something we'll had put just a tad more oomph definitely be able to learn from," into his left-handed desperation junior guard Zack Novak said shot as the clock expired on Feb. Tuesday. "We've been pretty suc- 16 in Champaign, Friday's Big Ten cessful in the second time around Tournament playing teams. We've don't a good matchup vs. Illi- job oflearningfromour mistakes." nois would have IlinoiS VS Indeed, after losing to Indiana, far fewer impli- Michigan Northwestern and Minnesota cations for the in the first half of Big Ten play, Michigan men's Matchu 9 Michigan beat all three squads basketball team. Michigan 19112 on the back end of the conference At the end schedule. of the Wolver- When: Friday And the Wolverines prob- ines' lone game 2 P ably like their chances against the against the Illini Where: Fighting Illini (9-9,19-12) this time in the regular Conseco around. Their shooting could only season, Michi- Fieldhouse improve from the last meeting. ganhad the final TV/Radio: Michigan shot under 40 percent possession with ESPN from the field and just 2-for-18 a tWb-point defi- from 3-point range. cit, 54-52. From "We feel like there's a lot of the top of the key, freshman Tim plays that we took off in that Hardaway Jr. dished to fellow game," Hardaway Jr. said Tues- rookie Evan Smotrycz on perime- day. "We were lackadaisical in ter, who launched a 3-pointer from our ball-handling and our defense the left corner with six ticks left. in general in the first half of the The shot missed off the glass game. and Douglass grabbed the long In the second half, we were rebound. While falling back, he more furious and more intelligent released a shot from just beyond with the basketball. We just have the arc with his left hand. The ball to play like that for the whole 40 clanked off the front rim and the minutes." team trudged off the court in frus- Friday's contest will feature an tration. exciting matchup at point guard, Sophomore point guard Darius as Morris and Illinois senior floor Morris needed some more time general Demetri McCamey are to recover - he fell to his knees, two of the best in basketball. Both reflecting on just how close the are top 10 in the country in assists Wolverines (9-9 Big Ten, 19-12 per game, and usually when they overall) had come to one of their play well, their teams fair well. biggest wins of the season. Had The last time out, Morris fin- they won, it's very likely that ished with a solid line -11 points, Michigan's NCAA Tournament seven assists and six rebounds at-large bid would be taken care of - and was crucial in the closing by now. minutes to bring the Wolverines within two. He also turned the ball over only once. "He's much more consistent with what it takes to win," Michi- gan coach John Beilein said. "He has so much passion to win, and he's got such strong pride in his ability. He'll get headstrong at times, and you just have to reel it back in ... He understands his strengths, and he's working at the things he wants to improve." McCamey finished that game with game-high 18 points, hitting multiple contested shots, includ- ing four buckets from beyond the arc. His team didn't shoot particu- larly well and he was the only Illi- ni player to hit a shot from 3-point territory, while Illinois was 4-of- 18 on 3-pointers. Down low, Illinois has a con- siderable size advantage. Between seniors Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis and Bill Cole, the Fighting Illini frontcourt boasts as much depth as anyteam in the nation. In the last meeting, Michigan starting center Jordan Morgan found himself in foul trouble and only played 25 minutes.It opened many scoring opportunities for Tisdale in the post, who finished with 12 points. "We can't go 2-for-18 from three again, that's for sure," Beilein said. "They get points just from the (7-foot-1 Tisdale) factor inside. Their high-low game was very effective last time." With so much uncertainty in the postseason, both Michigan and Illinois should consider this matchup a must-win. For both teams, a victory on Friday would all but secure an NCAA Tourna- ment berth, while a loss would make the chances of that berth a bit dicey. 4 4 MARISSA MCCLAIN/daily Junior forward David Wohlberg will replace injured senior forward Louie Caporusso on the Wolverines' top line. BASEBALL SOF 1'BALL Pitching staff looks to rebound 'M' takes 22-0 record on the road By ZACH HELFAND Daily Sports Writer When the Michigan baseball team heads down to South Caroli- na for the Bojangles Baseball Clas- sic this weekend, it will be making the trip with an unfamiliar travel- ing companion: a pair of wins. For the first time all year, the Wolverines (2-9) will enter a series with some on their record, thanks to a pair of victories over Massa- chusetts last weekend. They, will look to add four more against Stony Brook and Winthrop in the series that begins Friday. "The first one's always the hard- est, so once we go that one out it kind of gave everyone a little bit of extra confidence to know that we can win," redshirt sophomore right-hander Tyler Mills said. "There's so much talent on the team, right now we're just strug- gling to put it together." But even with some confidence and momentum, Michigan could run into trouble with each team's ace. Both Winthrop (5-5) and Stony Brook (3-4) will pitch their first game of the three-team clas- sic against Michigan, meaning the Wolverines will see each team's No.1 starter. Tyler Mizenko will get the start for Winthrop on Friday and junior Nick Tropeano for Stony Brook on Saturday. At 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA, Mizenko boasts a better record than Tropeano, but Tropeano could end up being one of the best pitchers Michigan faces all year. The right-hander, who struck out 106 batters in 99.2 innings last year, was named a Preseason All-Amer- ican after leading Stony Brook to the Regionals of the College World Series. Michigan's success, though, will mostly depend on its own pitching. Thus far, the Wolverines simply have not received enough productivity out of their starters to win ballgames. Michigan hurl- ers average just 3.2 innings and an alarming 6.70 ERA per start this season, and injuries to Kolby Wood and Travis Smith have only made things worse. "Right now, the problem we're having is we're not attacking hit- ters," Michigan pitching coach MattWhite said. "Early inthe year, we've used a bunch of different starting pitchers. We're trying to get guys that will step up and give us innings at the beginning of the, game." Mills, who threw Michigan's only quality startofthe season, will get the start in the opener against Winthrop. Mills and freshman right-hander Alex Lakatos, who will start Saturday, have been the only bright spots for the Michigan pitching staff so far this season. Atthe other end of the spectrum is sophomore left-hander Bobby Brosnahan, who will throw against Stony Brook on Sunday. The No. 1 starter entering the season, Bros- nahan has struggled early in both a starting and relief role. "He's not hitting his spots very well, and he's a command pitcher," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "I'd be surprised if he doesn't pick it up here real soon. He's a competitor." Sophomore right-hander Kyle Clark, who has surrendered three runs inseveninningsofreliefwork, will gethis first start on Saturday. The offense, especially the top half of the lineup, has started to heat up. Center fielder Patrick Biondi and shortstop Derek Dennis combined for a .414 batting aver- age last weekend, setting the table for right fielder Michael O'Neill and first baseman Garret Stephens. Both O'Neil, who has a hit in every game this season, and Stephens have been pleasant surprises for the Wolverines. The bats are begin- ningto come alive. Now it's time for the pitchers. By MATT RUDNITSKY Daily Sports Writer Outscoring its opponents 176- 28 thus far, the No. 6 Michigan women's softball team hasn't faced much resistance on its way to a program-best 22-0 start. The Wolverines have 27 home runs, and they've allowed just two. They have a team batting aver- age of .357, and their opponents are hitting just .165. And all but five of their wins have been by four runs or more. - But Michigan coach Carol Hutchins, while pleased with her team's performance, knows her players still need to improve. "I want to see us play a little better defense," Hutchins said. "I thought we were a little shab- by around the edges last week. I want to see us throw some people out, and I think we've gotten alot better inthatcategory, but I'd like to see it show up. "The other thing I'd like to see is for (sophomore pitcher Stepha- nie) Speierman to come out and start havingbetter game manage- ment, pitch-to-pitch softball." The Wolverines' schedule hasn't exactly been daunting so far, though. They still haven't And Sappingfield has hit safely played against a top-25 team. in 20 of her first 22 games as a When the team travels to the Wolverine. Louisville Invitational this week- "We just want her to get after end, it will face a couple tough good pitches and let the bad ones teams in Louisville (11-6) and go, and she does a really nice job Western Kentucky (13-5). of being the second table-setter," While neither team has Michi- Hutchins said. "So with her and gan's unblemished record, both (junior center fielder) Bree Evans teams have proven they can hang at the top of the lineup, that with some of the best squads in makes us tough." the country. Facing two solid teams will be The Cardinals lost to No. 3 a nice bridge for Michigan, easing Alabama by just one run and the it into a schedule that turns from Hilltopers did the same against partly cloudyto full-on blizzard. No. 7 Tennessee. This won't be a Louisville and Western Ken- cakewalk for Michigan, despite tucky aren't ranked, but the Wol- what the records might suggest. verines'won't have to wait long to "I know they're pretty solid face a top-25 team. teams - they always are," Next Thursday, they'll travel Hutchins said. "But we only to Fullerton, Calif to play five worry about us, trying to play games in three days - including good softball, tryingto get a little contests against No. 4 Arizona bit better. So we'll be concentrat- and No. 8 Arizona State. ing on us. We focus on us." They'll also face Notre Dame Fortunately for Michigan, the and Fresno State - two teams team is rolling on all cylinders just outside of the top-25. and its stars are stepping up with Still, Hutchins realizes that some big-time performances. the season is just getting started, Senior first baseman Dorianf so it's no use talking about the Shaw is hitting a team-leading team's hot start, program-records .509 with 10 home runs and 28 aside. RBI and freshman left fielder "I don't care about any of that; Nicole Sappingfield is riding a I only care about the next week-$ 17-game hitting streak. end," Hutchins said. t A 4