4B - December 5,2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wolverines, Nanooks play
rare scoreless regulation

Redshirt sophomore forward Jordan Morgan scored 16 points in Michigan's 76-66 victory over Iowa State.
Morgan sports new look,
new game in 'M' victory

NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
When Jordan Morgan got rid
of his faded high-top haircut,
it was a textbook example of
addition by subtraction. At least
that's how Michigan coach John
Beilein saw it.
After shedding some locks,
the redshirt sophomore Morgan
was the center at the center of
the Wolverines' attack Satur-
day - knocking down jumpers,
slamming home dunks and get-
ting to the free-throw line in
Michigan's 76-66 win over Iowa
State.
"If you ask Beilein, he'll say
it's the haircut," Morgan said.
"But, I mean, it could be."
Morgan was 7-for-10 from
the field and 5-for-5 in the sec-
ond half, becoming the team's
second-leading scorer with 16
points.
"We do want to score close to
the basket," Beilein said. "You
look at our 2-point field goal
percentage, it was tremendous
today. So we're trying to get the
ball inside, hopefully with an
angle of some type. I like what
(Morgan) did today, he scored
without angles and that's really
important for him to do that."
After sophomore Jon Horford
started the firstgame of the sea-
son at center, Morgan has since
taken control of the spot he held
all last season. Though Morgan

has had impressive stretches,
he's been absent for periods at
a time too. On Saturday, he was
visible for all 23 of his minutes.
"You can't just be a perimeter
team," Beilein said. "You've got
to have some presence inside.
He's worked hard, he's going to
continue to work hard."
Though Morgan scored
Michigan's first two baskets of
the game, he tired, and Beilein
pulled him out of the game for
nine minutes.
A rejuvenated Morgan came
back in the second half and hurt
Iowa State from all areas in and
around the paint. He scored 12
of his 16 points in the second
period and was the key cog in
helping the Wolverines build
a 20-point lead before it was
whittled down to single digits
late in the game.
"I just feel like I got the ball
places where I could score and
my teammates were looking for
me," Morgan said. "It started
on defense. We got stops on
defense, we were able to get
easy baskets out on transition. It
was just easier to push that lead
up."
Morgan's early baskets were
layups, but as the game pro-
gressed, his range increased.
Teammates got into the lane
and found him to spark a 21-5
run toward the start of the sec-
ond half.
He made two jumpers from

Guptill overtime
goal ends seven-
game winless
drought
MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Writer
FAIRBANKS - Some fans
might call it an instant classic.
Others might say it was boring.
Regardless, the 3,367 people at
the Carlson Center witnessed a
rare event Sat-
urday night, NOTEBOOK
when the Wol-
verines and Nanooks hung goose
eggs on the scoreboard for 60
minutes.
"Give our team credit," said
Michigan coach Red Berenson.
"One shot either way and the
game's over. We didn't give up
anything. (With) the puck not
going in ... we needed one goal to
win the game."
When the horn sounded to
indicate the end of regulation,
the Wolverines found them-
selves in their first scoreless tie
heading into overtime since Dec.
29, 2007. In that game, Michi-
gan needed double overtime to
beat Michigan Tech and win the
Great Lakes Invitational.
And freshman forward Alex
Guptill made sure the end result
would be the same when he lit
the lamp just under one minute
into the extra period.
"It came at the end of shift
there," Guptill said. "It kind of
turned out lucky. We were get-
ting really down ... but now we
know what it feels like to win."
Though teammates and
coaches alike were quick to cred-
it fifth-year senior netminder
Shawn Hunwick for keeping the
Wolverines in the game, he was
even quicker to reciprocate the
gratitude.
"(The defense) did a huge
job," Hunwick said. "They were
clearing guys out so I could see
the shots from the point. We
did a good job tonight of limit-

the paint - one of which drew a
foul --as well as a 13-footer near
the elbow.
"He's been working on that
jumper - that little 15 (and)
10-footer - all through summer
and all through practice," said
sophomore forward Tim Hard-
away Jr. "So he showed it today
and he's knocking it down. That
just gives Coach Beilein more
confidence in him down the
stretch when we need to get a
shot in the post."
Added Beilein: "We work
so hard on these areas and we
came out during the beginning
of the season and didn't show
those areas. It's tough to win
without it, so I think that was a
good step for him."
For the season, Morgan is
27-for-35 from the field - an
unworldly 77 percent. His free
throws, on the other hand,
could use some work. Though
he made two of three on Satur-
day, he's at a disappointing 44
percent through eight games.
Both averages will likely gravi-
tate to the mean, but Michigan
can still expect Morgan to keep
his play at a high level.
"He was just knocking down
shots and that's what we need
from him," Hardaway Jr. said.
"He was playing smart and he
was playing hard and aggres-
sive. So that's what we need out
of Jordan Morgan all through
the season."

cOURTESY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS ATHLETic DEPARTMENT
Michigan players battle for the puck along the boards at the Carlson Center.

ing screens and tips and all that
stuff."
Added Guptill: "Shawn's our
go-to guy. He's been unbeliev-
able in the last two years here.
"If we're going to end up win-
ning, we're going to need to ride
him."
WIDER ICE WILL SUFFICE:
The weekend series against Alas-
ka Fairbanks marked the second
time this season that Michigan
had played on Olympic-sized
ice. The Wolverines also had to
adjust to the larger playing sur-
face against Northern Michigan
in October.
No learning curve has been
evident. In fact, some Michigan
players seem to think it favors
the team's playing style.
"The Olympic ice is a lot dif-
ferent," Guptill said. "We have a
really fast team and I think our
speed showed (Saturday). We

controlled the play."
For some teams, the extra
space to cover spreads players
too thin.
But that hardly seemed to be
an issue this weekend in Alaska.
Though the offense took a while
to get going in the series finale,
Michigan scored three times in
Friday's loss.
NOTES: With his seventh
shutout, Hunwick climbed into a
tie for fifth on Michigan's career
shutout list.
Saturday's meeting was the
53rd all-time between the Wol-
verines and the Nanooks. Michi-
gan holds the series lead with a
42-10-1 advantage. The Wolver-
ines' 18 first-period shots are the
second most the team has had
in a single period this season.
Against Bentley on Oct. 7, Michi-
gan managed to fire off 23 shots
in the third period.
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Team all smiles as Michigan finally snaps winless streak

ZACH HELFAND Fifth-year senior goalie
Daily Sports Editor Shawn Hunwick said the seven-
game winless streak - the Wol-
FAIRBANKS - Apparently, verines' longest in more than a
the members of the No. 19 Michi- decade - weighed heavily on the
gan hockey team have teeth. team.
For the past few weeks, you "It's been a long time since
wouldn't know it. For one, we've won a game," Hunwick
they're hockey players, so the said. "We really needed (the vic-
whole teeth thing is always in tory). You start to doubt yourself,
doubt. But mostly, they just you start to forget how it feels to
haven't had anything to smirk win."
about for the past month. The tension left Berenson's
On Saturday, the Wolverines voice for the first time in nearly
could smile, and they did. a month.
Finally. Remember, remember the
"This was the weekend," said fifth of November? That was the
Michigan coach Red Berenson. last time Michigan had won a
"Good for this team, especially game before Saturday.
with our backs against the wall, Berenson let out a content-
like we have had lately. And they ed sigh just before he started
gotta feel great." answering questions. The rest of

the team seemed to collectively
exhale as well.
A few feet away from Beren-
son, junior forward A.J. Treais
happily signed autographs for a
handful of Alaskan Wolverines
fans. Fifth-year senior goalie
Shawn Hunwick chatted before
taking questions.
Freshman forward Alex
Guptill, who scored the game-
winning goal in overtime on Sat-
urday, kept bringing up streaks.
But this time, he wasn't talking
about losing.
"We were getting really down
there," Guptill said. "We just
weren't sure we could win. It was
a really long streak, but it's over
now, and now we know what it
feels like to win, and I think we
can go on a real streak now -

winning."
Mostly, the players just looked
relieved.
"The team's really light now,"
Guptill said. "I think it took us
17 hours to get here, so I can
only imagine 17 long hours after
another sweep and eight (winless
games) in a row. That would've
been brutal."
A few Michigan personnel
patted each other on the back and
exchanged different versions of
the same message: Finally.
Finally, a bounce that went
the Wolverines' way. Guptill's
goal actually deflected off of a
Nanook defender and into the
net.
Finally, a happy locker room.
And finally, the defense
stepped up. After surrendering

20 goals in the previous four
games, the defense earned the
victory to snap the streak.
"It's huge for the defense,"
Hunwick said. "We weren't
turning the puck over. In recent
weeks we've been turning it over
a little bittoo much."
Hunwick credited his defense
with clearing out the middle of
the ice so Hunwick could have
a better view of shots from the
point. Alaska generates much of
its offense from shots from the
blue line.
Clearing the center of the ice
also limited deflection opportu-
nities and chances to score on
rebounds.
Rebound goals plagued the
Wolverines the entire winless
streak.

The penalty-kill unit smoth-
ered the Alaska power play,
stopping all eight of their oppor-
tunities on the weekend.
The defense let just four shots
through on four power-play
opportunities on Saturday and
kept the Nanooks out both dur-
ing and after the man advantage.
The Wolverines rode Hun-0
wick to the win.
Hunwick came up with huge
saves late in the game, especially
during a two-minute Nanook
power play at the end of regula-
tion.
"(Hunwick is) like our team,"
Berenson said. "We had a lot of
pressure on us and a little bit of
self doubt and so on. Sooner or
later we were going to get out of
it, but the sooner part is better."

No.3 Okahoma State (-3) vs No. 13 Oklahoma
No. 5 Virginia Tich (-45) vs No. 21 Clemson
No.7Houston(-17)vsNo.24SouthernMiss
No 8 Oegon (30 ,) sttUCLA
No. 11Mishigan State vsNo. 15Wisconsin (-7.5)
No. 15 Kansas State (-12) owea Statr
No. 18 TCU (-40.5) cs UNLV
N.t9 Bayil 2.)cv- exas
No.2WestVirginia (-1) tiSouthir, da
Last Week
Overall

Virginia Tech
Houston
Oregon
Kansas State
UNLV
WestVirginia
3-7
168-131-4

Virginia Tech
Houston
UCLA
Wisconsin
Kansas State
WestVirginia
s-5
170-129-4

Virginia Tech
SouthernMiss
Oregon
MichiganSstate
Kansas State
USL
SoutFlo-ida
4-6
163-136-4

Virginia Tech
Houston
Oregon
Wisconsin
Kansas State
UNLV
Baylor
West Virginia
4-2

Virginia Tech
Houston
Oregon
Wisconsin
Kansas State
UNLV
West Virginia
3-7

S

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