4 8A - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Stingy Virginia defense hands 'M' road loss 4 By NEAL ROTHSCHILD Daily Sports Editor Charlottesville, Va. - Last night's Big Ten/ACC Challenge duel against Virginia had the signs of a letdown game for the No. 15 Michigan basketball team. The Wol- MICHIGAN 58 verines (5-2) VIRGINIA 70 were com- ing off a suc- cessful trip to Hawaii at the Maui Invitational and were playing in their first true road contest of the season. They had been playing beyond expectations and were bound to fall back to Earth. And unfortunately for Michi- gan, the signs held true. The Wolverines had trouble stringing together effective offensive possessions, and they had no answer for a second- half Cavalier run and a stingy defense, in a 70-58 loss. "They're one of the better defensive teams we'll play all year," said senior guard Zack Novak. "They did a good job. At the end of the day though, we just got some shots we had to make. In the first half we missed a cou- ple bunnies and in the second half ... we pushed things a little bit but couldn't geta bucket." The early going of the game marked a departure from what the Wolverines were used to last week. At the Maui Invitational, Michigan put up a lot of points to keep up with the pace of Mem- phis, Duke and UCLA. But things slowed back down when the Wolverines touched down in the mainland. Long possessions, few fast breaks and staunch defense kept the score low, as neither team found much rhythm on offense early. The Wolverines led 19-14 with less than three minutes left in the first half when Cavalier guard Joe Harris injected some life into the game. He knocked down a 3-pointer, forced a steal and knocked down two free throws to send Virginia (6-1) on an 10-4 run. The Cavaliers went into the locker room leading, 24-23. "That was really big," Novak said of the run. "It looks like we're going to go in with a bit of a lead, we're on the line, but you've just got to work through those After the break, the scoring picked up. The Cavaliers and the Wolverines traded leads, but neither team could separate itself until the middle of the half. That's when Virginia pounced with a 15-0 run, and Michigan couldn't respond. The crowd at John Paul Jones Arena grew louder and the Wolverines had trouble finding any semblance of an offensive rhythm. Beilein called two time- outs during the Cavalier streak, but neither helped. "We wanted to make sure they calmed down and got a good shot," Beilein said. "At that time, you don't give them a big plan. There's not a big change other than 'Alright, settle down. You're alright. And we've got to guard at one end and execute at the other.' You give them two plays." The Wolverines didn't find suc- cess with either one. Michigan missed 10-straight shots until sophomore guard Tim Hardaway Jr. finally hit a jump shot to end the suffering. At that point, Virginia was up 53-43. "As long as (Tony Bennett) is coaching this team, (the defense) is always goingto be good," Beilein said. "Theydo atremendous job.... They're tough to get easy baskets and when you get them, you can't miss them, and we had several of those in the game." Harris and forward Mike Scott had the hot hands for the Cava- liers, scoring 18 points apiece as Virginiasent Michiganhome with few positives. The Cavalier scor- ing was limited to just five players, but it was enough. Virginia evened up its all-time series with Michigan at 2-2; Hardaway Jr. spent much of the first half on the bench after pick- ing up his second foul minutes into the game. He didn't score his first points until that run-ending bas- ket midway through the second half, finishing with a season-low five points. Novak, freshman point guard Trey Burke and sophomore for- ward Evan Smotrycz took the burden of the scoring in the game, but it was far too little to give Michigan a chance to win. "We just have to learn from our mistakes and come back Sat- urday (against Iowa State) with a different mentality," Hardaway Jr. said. 4 ANDREW SHURTLEFF/AP Sophomore gaurd Tim Hardaway Jr. was held in check by Virginia's defense. He finished with a season-low five points. things. You're playing on the road, teams are going to make a run." Added Michigan coach John Beilein: "We got ourselves in foul trouble a little bit and that certainly hurt our first-half per- formance. I felt we missed some easy ones in the first half. We had foul trouble in the first half (and) probably could have got out on them a little bit, but I don't know if it helps us win the game the way they played the second half." Comprehending how this one slipped away Charlottesville, Va. - Deciphering Michigan's 70-58 road loss to Vir- ginia last night is a game of elimi- nation. So let's play. a Did Michigan lose because of poor shoot- ing? No. The LUCAS Wolverines PASCH shot 44 per- cent from the field and a blistering 45.5 per- cent from behind the arc. Their 10 3-pointers were actually the most the team has hit in a game all season. Some of those points came off desperation 3-pointers toward the end of the game, but it was still encouraging for Michigan coach John Beilein to see play- ers not named Tim Hardaway Jr. knocking down shots. Was Virginia's unique pack- line defense too much to handle? Maybe in the first half, but Michigan still finished with an acceptable 58 points. The Cava- liers entered the game second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 45.3 points per game. Beilein said after the game that he thought his team was poised on the offensive end. "I'm not crazy about scoring 58 points," Beilein said. "But not a lot of teams may score 58 points against them. Thank goodness we made some threes to be able to do that, but they're tough to get easy baskets (against)." Did point guard Trey Burke cave under the pressure of play- ing in the first truly hostile envi- ronment of his career? Not so much. The freshman didn't shoot as well as he usually does, but he still finished with 11 points and made some dazzling drives to the rim. In fact, the offense stagnated when Beilein decided to give Burke a couple minutes of rest midway through the second half. That may not be the only reason Virginia went on a 15-0 run, but it does seem that the Michigan offense presents a more poised attack when Burke runs the point. And outside of one play early in the first half when Virginia's Jontel Evans crossed up Burke on a highlight-worthy drive to the hoop, Burke's on-ball defense was solid. Was the loss due to a lack of post presence? Not really. For- wards Jordan Morgan and Jon Horford didn't play particu- larly well, but they didn't get a whole lot of minutes, either. Beilein's offensive game plan consisted of guards shoot- ing from the perimeter and cutting into the lane, partly because Cavalier forward Mike Scott and center Assane Sene are great at limiting opposing big men. Did Hardaway Jr.'s lack of production hurt Michigan? Sure, but it wasn't the key factor in Michigan's loss. It definitely hurt when Hardaway Jr. took the bench because of foul trouble just five minutes into the contest, but the Wolverines were still shooting the ball at a prolific rate. And when Hardaway Jr. was in the game, his drives to the basket were sloppy and resulted in a couple of turnovers. Did Michigan lose because of Virginia's domination of the glass? Yes - an emphatic yes. The Cavaliers finished the game with 36 rebounds, com- pared to just 26 for the Wolver- ines. Worse yet, 10 of Virginia's boards came on the offensive end. On a couple of possessions, the Cavaliers would get second and third chances before scoring. And when Michigan shot the ball, it was hard to count how many times there were only white and orange jerseys crash- ing the boards, without even a hint of maize in the scrum. It was as if Beilein had all five guys retreating to play transition defense on every possession. And because of it, the Wolverines snatched just three offensive rebounds. Sure, the reboundingtrouble was partly because Michigan's bigs didn't see the floor the whole night. But there almost seemed to I 4 4 Freshman gaurd Trey Burke scored 11 points and shot 4-of-10 from the field. be a total lack of effort. At least the team realized it. Everyone from the young Burke to senior co-captain Zack Novak, was quick to note the rebound disparity in the locker room after the game. "I think the big thing is rebounding," Novak said. "I'm goingto guess we had fewer pos- sessions (than usual) this game." Novak guessed right - and for the Wolverines, that spelled a loss. -Pasch can be reached at lpasch@umich.edu or on Twitter @LucasPasch. 4 Information Event in honor ofWorld AIDSDay Thursday, Dec. 1st 6:30 pm School of Public Health Room 1655 800.424.8580 * peacecorps.gov . facebook.com/UMpeacecorps Ie midganA ily FINALLY MIHIA 40-11,SAE3 THOSE WHO STAY WANT UPDATES ABOUT THE FOOTBALL TEAM'S BCS BOWL CHANCES? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @michdailysports @michdailyfball AND OUR BEAT: @MichaelFlorek @StephenJNesbitt @KevinRaftery @TimRohan 4 4 Hoke's first team tastes redemption Michigan halts seven-year skid in The Game Ituckye in i tes 4 4 I