U The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I January 23,2012
HOG
IED
Michigan 64
Arkansas 66
Furious start , omebacfalls short
cripples Blue
By BEN ESTES elapsed in the game. An and-one
Daily Sports Editor play by Rickey Scott made it 6-0
0 Arkansas before Michigan got on
Michigan coach John Beilein the board via a jumper from sopho-
will be the first to tell you that it's more guard Tim Hardaway Jr.
tough to win on the road in college It was certainly a solid start for
basketball. It's even tougher when the Razorbacks, but it was nothing
the home team you're trying to top the Wolverines haven't seen before.
simply won't miss a shot. That is, until Arkansas' Devonta
That was the case in Fayetteville, Abron dunked, Julysses Nobles
Ark. on Saturday in the Wolverines' drilled a 3-pointer and Scott nailed
66-64 loss to Arkansas. another jumper.
Razorback guard Madracus It didn't end there. The Razor-
Wade opened the scoring by drill- backs went on to convert their first
ing a 3-pointer before a minute had See ARKANSAS, Page 3B
Michigan's chances
rim out in another
defeat on the road
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
Trey Burke's 3-point attempt
as the clock expired escaped
the cylinder, and Michigan's
hopes of completing an epic
comeback found another cylin-
der: the garbage can.
The freshman point guard's
step-back jumper skidded
across the rim, and when the
ball came down, the Wolver-
ines (5-2 Big Ten, 15-5 overall)
were still winless in true road
games, losing 66-64 against
Arkansas on Saturday.
"We were trying to just get
(Burke) downhill," said Michi-
gan coach John Beilein about
the last play. "Trying to get to
the basket, or if they gapped,
hit a guy for a three. We
weren't going to get both. So
when he tried to turn the cor-
ner, he didn't, then he sort of
went for his own, which would
have been a great ending."
Down 20 points in the first
half, Michigan cut the Razor-
back lead to 13 by halftime and
then almost came all the way
back in the second half.
Redshirt sophomore center
Jordan Morgan was instru-
mental in erasing Michigan's
deficit. He was constantly fed
under the rim in transition for
dunks, as the Wolverine deficit
continued to shrink. Morgan
finished with 16 points, half of
which came on jams in the sec-
ond half.
But the Razorbacks' furi-
ous shooting barrage in the
first half put enough distance
between them and the Wolver-
ines, and Michigan's comeback
attempt at Bud Walton Arena
fell short.
The Razorbacks (2-2 SEC,
14-5) made their first 11 shots
and before the Wolverines had
even attempted a free throw -
to put them comfortably ahead,
29-10. They used their torrid
pace to force the Michigan
offense to make ugly misses,
quick possessions and five
turnovers in the opening min-
utes.
"There were some posses-
sions where they hit some real-
ly tough, great shots," senior
guard Zack Novak told UM
Hoops. "There was other pos-
sessions where we didn't mark
as well as we could have."
Arkansas pushed its lead up
See COMEBACK, Page 3B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Michigan maintains perfect
record at Crisler Center
By MATT SPELICH
Daily Sports Writer
With 13 minutes left in
the second half of the Michi-
gan women's basketball game
against
Indiana INDIANA 48
on Sunday, MICHIGAN 66
the Hoo-
siers drilled three 3-pointers
in less than a minute. The Wol-
verines called a timeout, even
though the scoreboard read
50-31 in favor of Michigan.
It was one moment of worry
on the road to an easy victory
over Indiana, 66-48. The Hoo-
siers held the lead only once,
in the game's first sequence off
of the jump ball. From the next
play on, the Wolverines were
determined to not let Indi-
ana's lead stand - the Hoosiers
trailed for the rest of the game.
Indiana now finds among the
number of teams Michigan has
beat down this season. While
it was expected that the worst
team in the Big Ten wouldn't
give the Wolverines much trou-
ble, their nine-point second-
half run was significant enough
to catch the attention of Michi-
gan coach Kevin Borseth.
"They made nine points in
a minute," Borseth said. "A
30-point lead went to 20 in a
minute. Add another minute to
that and we could have found
ourselves in trouble. You can't
take anything for granted in
this game. Indiana never quit.
They came out hard in the sec-
ond half. Luckily, we did a good
job of taking care of the ball."
Taking care of the ball and a
solid five-men-out motion were
two major keys for the Wolver-
ines, who had all kinds of suc-
cess inside the arc and around
the rim. Junior center Rachel
Sheffer had a game-high 16
points. She was followed closely
behind by senior guard Court-
ney Boylan, who racked up 15.
"When we went five-out, we
really opened up the middle,"
Sheffer said. "We are fortu-
nate that we have a team where
everyone can drive and handle
the ball and dish to our shoot-
ers. We had a lot of great looks
today."
While it may not have been
a major issue given the blow-
out score, Michigan struggled
from the 3-point line and on the
glass. The Wolverines shot just
17.4-percent from beyond the
arc and had 10 less rebounds
than the Hoosiers.
Though Michigan came into
the game with enough con-
fidence to overtake Indiana,
the team's size and talent were
a concern. During and after
the game, however, it became
apparent that something was
missing from this Hoosier team.
"They are a big, strong team
and only one step away from
being truly great." Boylan said.
"They have a girl who's 6-foot-6
and shoots 44-percent from the
3-point line. With a little devel-
opment, she may be that one
step. That's just one example of
the many potential assets they
have on that team."
Boylan was completely
serious. There is no obliga-
See BLOWOUT, Page 3B
MATT CASHORE/Notre Dame Athletic Department
Fifth-year senior goalie Shawn Hunwick allowed just four goals in a weekend split against Notre Dame in South Bend.
Wolverines earn tough split vs. TIrish
By ZACH HELFAND
Daily Sports Editor
SOUTH BEND - Minutes
before freshman forward Alex
Guptill would classify the No. 7
Notre Dame
hockey MICHIGAN 1
team's play NOTRE DAME 3
on Saturday MICHIGAN 2
as "dirty," NOTRE DAME 1
Michigan
coach Red Berenson had to stop
himself from sayingthe same.
The Fighting Irish's apparent
game plan - harassment of fifth-
year senior goalie Shawn Hun-
wick - left the coach reaching for
the right words.
"They play an overly - I don't
know if it's overly physical, but
some people would say it's - you
know, there's - I'm not going to
say it. But yeah, it's physical hock-
ey," Berenson said.
Notre Dame forward Jeff
Costello skated to the penalty box
a little over a minute into the Wol-
verines' opening game against
the Fighting Irish on Friday. He
served two minutes for goalten-
der interference after knocking
Hunwick over in open ice.
Message sent.
For the remaining hour and
59 minutes of the series, differ-
ent iterations of the same scene
played out constantly. Hun-
wick was knocked over, snowed,
taunted, bumped and, once, even
penalized.
See SPLIT, Page 3B
GETTING CHIPPY
Michigan topped Central Michigan,
thanks to wins in the final two rounds on
Sunday. Page 4B
CITY OF ANGEL(E)S
Freshman Adrian de los Angeles
claimed the all-around title against No.1
Penn State for the upset victory. Page 2B