The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 23,2011 - 7A
MAUI MALAISE: DUKE DOES IT AGAIN
Fast start paces Blue Devils Guards Rivers and Curry shine,
By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Writer
LAHAINA, Hawaii - Mike
Krzyzewski and his record-
breaking 903rd win has been the
nation's biggest college basket-
ball story early this season, but
in Maui,
the talk has MICHIGAN 75
surrounded DUKE 82
around his
losses - or lack thereof.
Of the Duke men's .basket-
ball coach's 283 losses, none
have come in his previous four
Maui Invitational appearances.
And just moments after tipoff, it,
became evident that Michigan
wouldn't give him his first.
Despite two furious second-
half Michigan rallies - with
freshman point guard Trey Burke
taking over the game each time -
the Wolverines (4-1) failed to pull
their deficits within five, falling
82-75.
"It mirrored a little bit of our
game last year in the NCAA Tour-
nament, where they got off to a
quick start with us," said Michi-
gan coach John Beilein. "We were
chasing them the whole time and
they're not a great team to chase.
They really know how to control
the ball."
Burke followed up an impres-
sive showing against Memphis
with 17 points and eight assists
against the Blue Devils.
Just two and a half minutes
into the game, starting sopho-
more forward EvanSmotryczwas
already bench-ridden after pick-
ing up two early fouls, and Duke
took a commanding 9-0 lead less
than four minutes into the game.
"I thought the way we defend-
ed was probably a little differ-
ent than what they would have
expected," Krzyzewski said.
"(Beilein) had counters, but to
start off with, it's something they
haven't seen."
Redshirt sophomore forward
Jordan Morgan finally put the
Wolverines on the board four
minutes in with an electrifying
transition dunk, sparking a 9-0
Michigan run that drew the Wol-
verines within two.
But the Blue Devils (6-0)
proved to be too much to handle.
Despite forcing eight first-half
turnovers, Michigan entered
halftime trailing 34-22, thanks
largely to sophomore guard Tim
Hardaway Jr.'s absence. Hard-
away shot 0-for-6 - including
two open 3-pointers towards the
end of the half - and was held
scoreless in the first stanza.
outplay Wolverine backcourt
ByBENESTES
Daily Sports Editor
TEUGENE TANNER/AP
Duke guard Austin Rivers scored a game-high 20 points on Tuesday.
The Wolverines shot just 2-for-
10 from behind the arc in the first
half. The beginning of the second
half was all about Burke and his
matchup with lastyear's heralded
high school recruit, point guard
Austin Rivers.
Seconds after the half started,
Burke penetrated the Blue Devil
defense and found a wide-open
Morgan for a layup. Moments
later, Smotrycz corralled a defen-
sive rebound and took the ball
coast to coast for a layup, forcing
Duke to call a timeout.
After a Blue Devil 3-pointer,
Burke again drove through the
paint, collapsing the Duke big
men, and found Morgan for a
dunk. Hardaway then blocked
back-to-back 3-point attempts,
leading to a Burke layup and a
3-pointer of his own - his first
points.
In the next four minutes, the
Burke-Rivers show really got
going. Rivers scored eight points,
including two 3-pointers, while
Burke added five points, a steal
and an assist to Novak, whose
3-pointer cut the Blue Devil's lead
to six. Burke came through with
another steal and dish to Novak,
but the senior couldn't knock
down the 3-pointer and Duke
stayed hot from 3-point land,
converting on 11-of-22 of its shots
from deep.
"Their perimeter played very,
very well," Beilein said. "I'll have
to watch film again to see how
much of that was us and how
much of that was Duke, but I
assume a lot of it was Duke."
Rivers and guard Seth Curry
each scored a game-high 20
points. Curry shot 7-for-8 and
made all four of his 3-pointers.
"We hit some amazing three's,
but they were good shots,"
Krzyzewski said. "We attacked
their 1-3-1 (zone defense) well.
"That's a weapon for us. ...I
think it's difficult for somebody
to play zone against us, because
the three guys that we start on
the perimeter can all shoot."
Michigan's 75 points are a
season high and its 53 second-
half points almost matched the
61 points per game the Wolver-
ines averaged before coming to
Maui.
"I like the way our kids
adjusted in the second half,
offense wasn't the problem"
Beilein said. "Duke came out
with a great plan and that's a lit-
tle bit of why (Krzyzewski) has
900-some wins.
"Obviously, there's not a kid
here that didn't want to win or
didn't think we could've won
that game if we played a little
better."
LAHAINA, Hawaii - If Mon-
day's matchup against Joe Jack-
son and Will Barton was the
midterm for the Michigan bas-
ketball team's backcourt, then
Tuesday's meeting with Seth
Curry and Austin Rivers was the
final exam.
Freshman Trey Burke and
sophomore Tim Hardaway Jr.
aced the test against their fellow
guards from Memphis, but the
Duke duo proved too much for
the Wolverines in the Blue Dev-
ils' 82-75 win.
Rivers and Curry certainly
had the pedigree advantage
coming in. Rivers - the son of
Doc, the Boston Celtics coach -
is one of the top freshman in the
nation, ranked the No. 1 overall
recruit for the class of 2011 by
Rivals.com.
And Curry - the brother
of Stephen, the star guard for
Golden State, formerly of David-
son College - entered Tuesday
averaging 16 points per game as
his team's leading scorer.
By the end of their Maui Invi-
tational win, the pair of Blue
Devils had proven their domi-
nance. Curry and Rivers com-
bined for 37 points on 12-of-21
shooting, including a 5-for-8
performance from 3-point
range.
"They're both natural scor-
ers," Duke coach Mike Krzyze-
wski said. "They're not (point
guards), but they're very gifted.
And if they learn how to use
their gifts together, then we're
goingto be better.
"And we saw that a little bit
more today."
Hardaway Jr. and Burke came
up just short in trying to match
their counterparts. They com-
bined for 36 points while shoot-
ing 14-for-31 from field - good'
numbers, but not quite as good
as the Duke duo.
The Wolverine backcourt
struggled just a bit more than
the Blue Devil backcourt. And
in a game that came down to the
final few possessions, that was
one reason Duke prevailed. It
was especially big given Michi-
gan's opponent's performance
from deep - the Blue Devils shot
52.4 percent from distance for
the game, leaving little margin
for error.
Hardaway Jr., especially,
had difficulty getting into an
EUGENETANN
Duke guard Seth Curry made all three of his 3-point attempts yesterday.
offensive rhythm. Early on, the
Miami, Fla. native couldn't get
any open looks. When he did
shoot the ball, he missed every
time, going 0-for-6 from the field
in the first half. Michigan coach
John Beilein credited Krzyze-
wski's game plan in stifling his
sophomore.
"They completely shut down
Tim," Beilein said. "They
wouldn't let him get the ball.
They played four on four on
one side. We tried to draw some
things up in the huddle, (but)
until we got to halftime we
couldn't make an adjustment on
that the way we wanted to."
Burke, meanwhile, fared bet-
ter, leading the Wolverines in
scoring in the first half with
eight points. But he took it up a
notch in the second.
The Blue Devils were deter-
mined to cut off all back screens
and other off-the-ball action.
Michigan was forced to play a
two-man game, where Burke
typically just worked off a ball
screen given by a teammate at
the top of the key. Beilein said he
was happy with the way Burke
dealt with Duke "locking the
rails" on the offense.
Though Burke improved in
the second half, and Hardaway
Jr. exploded to shoot 6-for-8 and
scored all of his 19 points after
the break, the Blue Devils had an
answer every time.
If Hardaway Jr. knocked
down a jumper, then Curry
would answer with a 3-pointer
on the other end. If Burke drove
the lane for a nifty layup, Rivers
would do the same the very next
possession.
For most of the action out of
the break, each team's backcourt
dominated the scoring. The
teams' four guards combined
to account for 65 percent of the
scoring, notching baskets one
after the other on many occa-
sions. The problem for the Wol-
verines was that the Blue Devils
scored more in that stretch, 18
points to 12.
That run was punctuated
by a play that illustrated just
how deadly the Duke pair was.
Against man defense, Rivers
quickly drove into the lane, caus-
ing Curry's man to collapse into
the paint to help. Rivers then
easily dished to the open Curry,
who nailed a 3-pointer. The shot
put Duke up 63-48 with just over
eight minutes left, and though
it didn't ice the game, it made it
near impossible for Michigan to
come back.
"Basically, we were just try-
ing to be aggressive," Rivers
said. "Our teammates did a great
job of finding us ... from there we
tried to push it and run offense."
With another game left in
Maui, Beilei, just hopes that
Burke and Hardaway Jr. can
apply the lessons from the loss
going forward.
"(Duke) answered, didn't
they?" Beilein said. "What hap-
pens is Rivers was so good with
the ball, just creating... (having)
good patience. They made some
tough shots, and thenthey creat-
ed some opportunities for (open)
threes, which were a killer."
'M' to play UCLA for third place in Maui
By BEN ESTES can focus on."
Daily Sports Editor UCLA has a record 11 NCAA
basketball championships, but
LAHAINA, Hawaii - Another this season hasn't exactly lived up
day, another matchup with one to that legacy so far. The Bruins
of college basketball's elite pro- dropped their first two games of
grams for the the season to less-than-inspiring
Michigan bas- competition, falling to Loyola
ketball team. Marymount and getting blown
The Wolver- Michigan out by Middle Tennessee State.
ines will square The team was able to rebound
off against -3. against Maui weakling Chami-
UCLA (1-3) on Michigan 4-1 nade, and did come back in its
Wednesday in When: semifinal against Kansas on
the third-place/ Wednesday Tuesday to make the game com-
fourth-place 7:30 P.M. petitive, despite losing 72-56.
game at the Still, nobody knows quite what to
Maui Invita- Where: expect from the Bruins.
tional, as Mich- Lahaina Civic Junior forward Reeves Nel-
Center
igan looks to son symbolizes those question
leave paradise TV: ESPN marks. UCLA's leading scorer and
with a winning rebounder a year ago, Nelson was
record in the preseason tourna- suspended earlier in November
ment. for a series of missteps.
Tuesday's loss to another bas- The ban was lifted after just
ketball titan, No. 6 Duke, removed two days, but then Nelson missed
any hope for a Maui title. The the team bus to the flight to Maui
Wolverines will have to bounce last week.
back quickly in order to come UCLA coach Ben Howland
away with the win over the Bru- suspended him for the first half of
ins. the Chaminade game, but Nelson
. "We'll go back and watch the did have 12 points in the Kansas
film quickly to learn things to loss.
make Michigan basketball bet- In his absence, guard Jerime
ter," said senior guard Zack Anderson (13.7 points per game)
Novak after the Duke loss. "It's a has taken over the scoring load,
quick turnaround. There's a rea- with forward Travis Wear and
son everyone's saying this is one guard Josh Smith also scoring in
S of the best fields that's ever been double figures. The Bruins hope
in this tournament. their early-season shooting woes
"We've got a chance to get improve against Michigan on
third here, and that's really all we Wednesday.
"(Michigan's) a very hard team Trey Burke has emerged as a .1
to prep for in a few hours because playmaker in Maui. The Colum- For [he veggie foodie in you!
they have so many things in their bus, Ohio native has averaged 15.5 Present valid student ID and get
offense," said UCLA coach Ben points in the two contests and has
Howland. "We haven't spent consistently knocked down out-
enough time working on our side shots. Plus, he has generally 1 5 % o ff
zone (offense).... They're going to shown solid decision-making, any entrce'
be playing that 1-3-1 that they're "Especially when you have a, Dine-in/Carry-out only. Notvalid with other promotions
famous for, so we're going to new 'quarterback,' it takes time ***Cal734-557-35ford ryt**
have to handle that zone and play to get things going, understand-
well. ing how these things work in
a game," said Michigan coach
John Beilein. "We're throwing a* f
lot at (Burke) and, gradually, he's
"(Vichigan's) a absorbing as much as he can, but
it takes time.
very hard team "So it's encouraging we're get-
ti nancr "E PR
to prep for in a
few hours."
"We're going to have to play
very smart (on Wednesday)."
For their part, the Wolver-
ines are riding their first wave
of sustained offensive success
so far in the early part of the
season. After scuffling often in
wins over Ferris State, Western
Illinois and Towson, Michigan
scored consecutive season highs
against Memphis and Duke,
pouring in 73 and 82 points,
respectively.
The offense stagnated too
much in the team's first three
wins, lacking the flow it had
developed in the second half of
last season. But freshman guard
Ting closer.
Defensively, the Wolverines
slipped against the Blue Devils,
giving up the most points they've
allowed all year (82) and allowing
Duke to shoot 56.5 percent from
the field.
Michigan's guards struggled
with the quickness of Duke's
backcourt, allowing far too many
open 3-pointers.
But the team should have an
easier time defending the Bru-
ins, who have averaged just 60
points intheir three losses - even
though, if prior games are an
indication, they probably won't
play as much zone as Howland
expects.
"I really like the way we're
competing," Beilein said. "You
watch your own team. You don't
know what the other peope have
out there, (but) I do like the way
we're competing."