4B - Januar y 17, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wolverines live and die by -MN;ASK y Road woes hit again Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. , against Hawkeyes IOWA CITY - So, Michigan lostbecause it's tough to win on the road in the Big Ten. Or it lost because Iowa's actually bet- ter than we thought. Or it lost because Michigan didn't have the right energy for this game. Yada yada yada. Nuh-no. These may r be the conve- nient answers for why the Wolverines suffered their highest-mar- NEAL gin loss of the ROTHSCHILD season to a team that was blown out by Progresso ... check that ... Campbell on its home court earlier this season. But they don't explain the loss in any clear terms beyond Mysticism, Daoism or Tebowism. The real explanation for a loss like this is a little less fun to mock. The Wolverines have two star players. If neither impacts the outcome of the game, Michi- gan will likely lose, unless it's playing Atlanta A&T. Sophomore forward Tim Hardaway Jr. and freshman point guard Trey Burke are the two stars on the team. Sure, Zack Novak is a sensational role player, leader and ambassador, and once in a while, Evan Smotrycz reminds us how to spell his name. But neither of them dictate whether or not Michigan will win a game. Michigan is a 10th-place team in the conference without Hard- away and Burke, so it only makes sense that it would play like such on Saturday with Trim Hurke contributing nothing. Hardaway shot 2-for-13 from the field and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts. He was able to get to the foul line, but only when he thought better of tak- ing contested 3-pointers early in the shot clock. And with just two rebounds,.two assists and two turnovers, it was clear that Hard- away was better off staying in Ann Arbor for the weekend. Burke is a different story. You, box score dweeb, may be saying, "Neal, you turd. How can Trey Burke have played badly when he scored 19 points and hit most of his shots? Nice argument, Sophomore guard Tim HardawayJr. is one half of Michigan's top-tier scoring duo. PAUL SHERMAN/Daily ya GDI." remaining. By that point, there Well, box score dweeb, I didn't was no doubt that the Hawkeyes say Burke played badly. I said he were cruising to a double-digit had no impact on the game. He win. Burke went on to pour in 13 committed his second foul just points in the waning minutes of seven minutes into the game and the game, but they were all mean- Michigan coach John Beilein ingless. benched him the rest of the half If you're keeping track, from Between then and halftime, Iowa 13:16 left in the first half to 5:44 increased its lead from two points left in the second, Burke made no to 10 points and the Wolverines impact and Iowa had stretched its were already lead from two against the - - points to 15 ropes. points. Defend As for the M ichigan has that, box score decision to dweeb. bench Burke? the stars to The Wolver- A point guard ines are a qual- being whistled compete ... but ity team. Their for two fools thedthree previous is hardly a not depth. losses were all big deal, plus to teams cur- Burke plays rently ranked the easiest in the top 16. position to exercise self-restraint Ina 12-point loss at Virginia in and avoid fouling. So, Burke was late November, Hardaway scored overzealously removed and kept just five points. And in the loss on the bench from most of the to Indiana two weeks ago, Burke first-half action, and Michigan went 4-for-15 and missed each suffered for it. Aside from two of his three free throws. Both 3-pointers early on when the played well against Duke, but score was close, Burke was absent the Blue Devils are an elite oppo- in the half. In the second half, nent that are always goingto be Burke couldn't find his way to tough for Michigan to take down. the basket until six minutes were What I'm saying is that Michigan enjoys the luxury of having two star players, but they have to play like star players for the Wolver- ines to benefit. If neither makes an impact, then we should expect the Wol- verines to lose. If one plays well, we should expect Michigan to be competitive. And if both play well, we can expect the Wolver- ines to be competitive with the top teams in the country. Last Wednesday, Northwest- ern almost took down Michigan at Crisler Center. The Wolverines made a second-half comeback and needed overtime to stave off the Wildcats. With Burke struggling throughout regulation, Michigan needed Hardaway to be effective. "It's no secret, (Hardaway is) our leading scorer," Beilein said. "We don't beat Northwestern if he doesn't go ona run and make four, five in a row in the first half." Michigan has the stars to com- pete at the top of college basket- ball, but not the depth. When that happens, the stars control the fate of program. No pressure, Tim and Trey. - Rothschild can be reached at nealroth@umich.edu. By DANIEL WASSERMAN Daily Sports Writer IOWA CITY - After a terrible first half on Wednesday against Northwestern, it would've been hard to imagine the Michigan men's basketball team playing a worse first half all season. But the Wolverines did just that MICHIGAN 59 in Iowa. IOWA 75 Michi- gan couldn't find any rhythm on the offensive end, even before freshman point guard Trey Burke took a seat for the last 13 minutes of the half after picking up his second foul. The struggles continued into the second half, when the Wolverines could never sustain momentum, eventually falling 75-59 to the Hawkeyes, remaining winless in true road games this season. Michigan shot just 25.8 per- cent (8-for-31) from 3-point range. Burke was the Wolverines' only offense early on, leading Michigan (4-2 Big Ten, 14-4 over- all) with just six first-half points as the Wolverines sputtered to a 33-23 deficit at halftime. Senior guard Zack Novak kept the Wolverines in the game early in the second half, knocking down two 3-pointers, and a Tim Hardaway Jr. layup plus a free throw drew Michigan within six with just under 13 minutes left in the game. But the Hawk- eyes surged ahead for 10 straight points, highlighted by a two- hand slam from Iowa's Melsahn Basabe that ignited the crowd, forcing Beilein to call a timeout. When Novak finally ended the run with his third 3-pointer of the half, it halted a span of 4:58 in which the Wolverines were held without a point. Michigan finally found second- half momentum with just under six minutes to play, when senior guard Stu Douglass capped a 7-2 Wolverine run that pulled them within 12 points, prompting Iowa coach Fran McCaffery to take a timeout. The Hawkeyes (3-3, 11-8) missed a shot right out of the break, but Iowa's Zach McCabe was able to corral the miss - which had found its way to half court - by out-diving junior guard Matt Vogrich. Moments later, Iowa's Matt Gatens con- netted on a 3-pointer to put Iowa ahead by 15, essentially clinching the game. Gatens tied for a game-high in points with 19, thanks largely to four 3-pointers. It was McCabe who set the tone for the Hawkeyes from the get-go, scoring the game's first six points and finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds. Burke got Michigan on the board - after more than three -and-a-half scoreless minutes - with a 3-pointer and followed up an Iowa 2-point basket with another long-range bomb. The Wolverines were again marred by porous first-half shooting. After shooting 28.1 per- cent against the Wildcats earlier in the week, Michigan connected on just 15.8 percent (3-of-16) of its 3-pointers on Saturday. Hard- away Jr. was fairly absent in the first half, scoring just three points, finishing the game with nine. Sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz couldn't find his way out of a recent funk, missing all six of hisfield-goal attempts and being held scoreless for the first time this season. Hardaway Jr. put the Wolver- ines ahead at the halfway point of the first half with a free throw, but Iowa reserve Josh Oglesby came off the bench and scored seven consecutive points for the Hawkeyes, who entered halftime leading, 33-23, thanks to a buzz- er-beatingshot by Devyn Marble. Burke finished with 19 points - most of them coming late in the second half, while Novak finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, despite being in foul trouble for much of the second half. Though Burke still had a good stat-line, the freshman is yet to win a true road test. "I wouldn't even say it's the crowd, really," Burke said. "When they made their run, we were calm when we were in the huddle.... The visiting team feeds off the crowd ar- I they hit some big shots. It's just the home-court advantage, I guess. We have it at home. We just have to continue to learn so we can get some bigwins on the road." Michigan now has just three days to bounce back from this loss and prepare for Tuesday's matchup with Michigan State, who might be ranked in the top-5 in next week's rankings. 0 WRESTLING Michigan captures eight of 10 match titles against Hoosiers Despite beam, 'M'tops OSU By LIZ NAGLE Daily Sports Writer Friday the 13th is a worrisome day for the superstitious. And though the No. 11 Michigan wres- tling team felt none of its effects, its opponent suffered a night of bad luck. The Wolverines walked off the mat last weekend with their tails between their legs after a harsh loss against Illinois. But they looked like a brand new team on Friday, dominating Indiana in a 33-6 victory. And they were certainly dressed like one. After more than two decades, Michigan coach Joe McFarland decided it was time to test out the white singlets at home. "They look great in the box, but you're never sure how they're going to look on the guys until you get them on," said Michigan assistant coach Sean Bormet. "But I think they look pretty good. It's good to change it up. The guys were excited to get them." That excitement and change translated onto the mat. Michi- gan left the Hoosiers scoreless in the firstseven bouts while racking up bonus points with major deci- sions, technical falls and a pin by 133-pound senior Zac Stevens. Following an aggressive start, Stevens forced the fall on Indi- ana redshirt freshman Joe Duca in just 1:42 to win his first home match this season. "It felt good,kind of like getting the monkey off the back," Stevens said. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Zeerip felt that same way after winning his first 157-pound bout In the lineup between Stevens of the season at Cliff Keen Arena. and Zeerip was fifth-year senior Zeerip followed 149-pound Kellen Russell, who never fails redshirt sophomore Eric Grajales to add to the stat sheet. Russell with a consecutive major deci- improved to 120-12 in his career sion. Zeerip accumulated a 25-12 with the latest victory being a 3:59 win after wrestling back from a technical fall on Hoosier redshirt 5-0 deficit early in the first period. freshman Ryen Nieman. He gadded six additional take- Russell is a single win away downs with 2:26 in riding time in from becoming Michigan's 16th the final two periods. winningest wrestler. As it stands, Zeerip's comeback mirrored Russell shares the 17th place with the Wolverines' own resilience Lanny Green and is on pace to coming off the Illinois loss. surpass No. 16 Tyrel Todd. Coin- cidentally, both of the alumni were in attendance to witness the victory of their successor. "It felt... like Though they had enough . 'cushion from the lightweights getting the and middleweights, the Wolver- ies suffered two close losses - monkey off the Hoosiers managed to get on thehboard with two back-to-back the back." wins at 184 and 197 pounds. But redshirt junior Ben Apland man- aged to win to stop the super- stition that "bad luck comes in There was a noticeable differ-,threes" from ringing true. ence in the team between their Apland won the heavyweight last two matches. After being match against Indiana'redshirt knocked off the pedestal of their sophomore Adam Chalfant after No.8 rank, Michigan felt the pres- taking the lead from a 2-2 tie at sure to win. the end of the first period. With "The coaches stressed to us a body lock and single-leg take- about being mentally tough," down, Apland pushed himself to a Zeerip said. "Last week we went perfect 4-0 record in the current out kind of flat without any ener- Big Ten season. gy. We definitely worked on our "Our team is good enough to toughness and effort." be a top-five team," Stevens said. Each Wolverine that took the "We want to bring home a tro- mat allayed the coaching staff's phy." concerns of inconsistent aggres- Michigan may be well on their siveness. way after leaving Indiana feeling "Our attack rate was good," helpless. And though the night Bormet said. "We put several remains infamously unlucky, guys, at several weight classes, on the Wolverines have yet to walk their backs." under the ladder. ByISABELLAACHENBACH For theDaily Last Friday night was the first event of the season for the No. 10 Michigan women's gymnas- tics team at the newly OHIO STAT E 62 renovated MICHIGAN 73 Crisler Center. Competing against No. 18 Ohio State, the pressure was defi- nitely on. The Wolverines ended the competition with a final score of 195.500, besting the Buckeye total of 195.175. Four Michigan gym- nasts won individual titles for specific events, including junior captain Katie Zurales on beam and in the all-around. There were four events being judged - vault, bars, balance beam, and floor. After both the vault and the bars rotations, Michigan was up, 98.325-97.650, a pretty significant lead in gymnas- tics competition. Then came time for the beam. After sophomore Joanna Samp- son and freshman Annette Miele fell in the middle of their rou- tines and others looked wobbly, Ohio State was back in the natch, aheadby just .225. "The kids have done really, really well (in practice), so actu- ally I was a little bit surprised that we didn't do as well as we have been doing on beam," said Michi- gan coach Bev Plocki. The floor exercise was the final rotation - a game changer for Michigan. Junior Natalie Beil- stein won first place in this event, tying a career-high of 9.925. "Our strongest event for the team as a whole (is) floor," Samp- son said. We all really love having fun with the crowd and the judg- es, and everyone on the sidelines ERIN KIRKLAl Junior captain Katie Zuraleswon the all-around title against Ohio State. gets so into it." "Overall, I think we did great on three events for the first meet," Plocki said. "Had we stayed on beam, right now we would be sitting with one of the highest opening scores in the country, so I'm very optimistic about what I think we're capable of this year and excited to have this first one behind us." The team has changed a lot since last year, losing five seniors including Kylee Botterman, the 2011 NCAA All-Around Cham- pion. The Wolverines gained just two freshman, Sachi Sugiyama and Miele. This season, the team is not only smaller in numbers but also younger. "There's been all this conversa- tion about how we graduated five kids, we have no seniors, we lost all of our leadership," Plocki said. "In reality, I think we do have some underclassmen on this team that are becoming really good leaders. They've really banded together and they're ready to go out and prove to the world that they can stillbe good without Bot- terman and some of the seniors." The team certainly proved they were capable in this event. "I was really excited for my team 'to bring it and to show everyone what a young team can do," Zurales said. "I know we're small but everyone's ready and everyone's feeling really confi- dent." The team prepared for thesea- son throughout the fall and has had a few mock intrasquads and one official intrasquad. "I think (the intrasquad) got everyone exposed to the competi- tion setting and also got the fresh- man in Crisler Center," Zurales said. "It helped to get the nerves out and to be able to also visualize yourself doing your routine." This Saturday, the women's gymnastics team will compete against No. 22 Minnesota in Min- neapolis. "I think next week we'll be ready to go and really do our best on everything," Sampson said. "As a team I think we're just gonna do a little bit more of the fine tweak- ing now that we've actuallygotten out, shown what we can do, and really gotten the season going."