The Michigan Daily j michigandaily.com I January 30, 2012
TATTOOED IN COLUMBUS
Michigan 49
0 Ohio State 64
OSU proves
too strong at
home for M
By BEN ESTES remaining in the second half, and
Daily Sports Editor primary backup Evan Smotrycz
also picked up his fourth shortly
COLUMBUS - With 4:28 left after that. With a diminished
in the game on Sunday, No. 20 lineup, the Wolverines couldn't
Michigan was barely clinging to answer on the offensive end.
its last hopes of a late-game come- Down 12 points when Smotrycz
back, down nine points and with exited, Michigan actually cut the
two starters on the floor with four deficit by three before Smotrycz
fouls. and Morgan re-entered. But it
Freshman point guard Trey wasn't enough to stop the Buck-
Burke, making a return to his eyes' momentum.
hometown, drove the right side of "Sullinger's ayear older, Craft's
the lane and forced a shot while ayear older," said Michigan coach
leaning on the big body of No. 4 John Beilein. "They do a really
Ohio State's Jared Sullinger. good job, and (William) Buford
It missed, as did the two fol- really understands defense.
low-ups by redshirt sophomore They have more experience, but
forward Jordan Morgan and their length is really important.
senior guard Zack Novak - the They're as long as anybody."
two starters in foul trouble. The The Michigan offense strug-
Wolverines were left flailing gled throughout the game on
helplessly around the rim. And Sunday, shootingjust 3.S percent
they were helpless to stop Sull- from the field. Buckeye guard
inger, who followed his defensive Aaron Craft, known as one of
stand with a fast-break dunk to the best on-ball defenders in the
clinch the win. Michigan couldn't country, proved his worth. The
muster much the rest of the way, combination of Craft's defense
fallingf64-49. and the Ohio State big men jam-
The final score belied the true ming the lane on screens kept
progress of the game, as the Wol- Burke from getting much breath-
verines were in it for most of the ing room, forcing the freshman
afternoon. Down just three points into five turnovers. if
at halftime, Michigan quickly And the Wolverines weren't
tied it at 26 with a 3-pointer by strong enough on the glass, los-
senior guard Stu Douglass. But ing the rebounding battle, 38-29.
the Buckeyes responded with a Buckeye guard Lenzelle Smith's
3-pointer of their own and never performance typified Michigan's
relinquished that lead. struggles. Throughout the game,
Morgan picked up his fourth the 6-foot-4 Smith managed to
ja foul with just over 13 minutes See OSU, Page 3B PHOTOSYER NKRKLAND/Daily
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Buckeyes bully
bigs on the road
Michigan s inexperience
reemerges in loss to Ohio State
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
COLUMBUS - No. 4 Ohio State
challenged the Michigan basketball
team to play hard-nosed, rough-
and-tumble basketball in the paint,
and Michigan responded - with a
0 whimper.
The Buckeyes physically domi-
nated the 20th-ranked Wolver-
ines inside, leaving 14 offensive
rebounds, 16 second-chance points
and dire foul trouble for Michigan
in their wake.
"They have tremendous ... tal-
ented guys," said Michigan coach
John Beilein. "What might work as
a box out against another team does
not work against them. You have to
finish every possession with a legal,
strong box out. It's just a couple
(rebounds) that we could have con-
trolled that really would have been
important in this game."
* Standing at 6-foot-3, Ohio State
guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. punished
the Wolverines with eight offen-
sive rebounds and a game-high 17
points. His 12 rebounds were also a
game high.
"I knew that was goingto be our
edge, rebounding and just doing
the little things," Smith said. "I
stuck to that early and just got
myself in a position where I could
get the rebounds. We weren't mak-
ing many shots, so it was a better
chance on getting rebounds."
Smith has forwards Jared Sull-
inger and Deshaun Thomas to
thank for his success. The two
sophomores bullied Michigan's big
men and cleared the path for Smith
to get extra looks on weak-side
rebounds and tipped balls.
"I just try to know the angle and
where the ball is going to bounce
depending where they shoot,"
Smith said. "When Jared got his
second foul, my eye lit up. I knew
it was go time and needed to go to
work."
The Buckeyes' toughness also
got the Wolverines in foul trouble.
See BIGS, Page 3B
COLUMBUS -
Stop me if you've heard
this one before.
The Michigan basket-
ball team, coming off a recent
big win over rival Michigan
State, heads down to Columbus
to take on a top-five Ohio State
team. The Wolverines battle the
whole way
through.
After a
low-scoring
opening,
it's a one-
possession
game at
halftime, BEN
and it stays ESTES
close until
pretty late
in the second half.
But at that point, the more
talented Buckeyes assert their
will and Michigan can't answer
their run, eventually dropping
the game by a final score that
isn't indicative of how close the
matchup truly was.
Yes, I'm talking about No.20
Freshman forward Trey Burke scored 13 points in his return to Columbus. Mich
Michigan's 64-49 loss to No.
4 Ohio State on Sunday after-
noon. ButI could also be talk-
ing about the Wolverines' trip
down here on Feb. 3 of last year
- it was pretty much the same
story, except Michigan had the
halftime lead.
Last year, my colleague Luke
Pasch wrote in this space that
while the Wolverines battled
admirably, they were still too
young and in need of a talent-
and-experience upgrade that
rigan lost the contest, 64-49.
the next season promised. (He
also predicted that Michigan
would win this game this sea-
son, onthe assumptions that
Darius Morris would return to
Ann Arbor and Jared Sullinger
See INEXPERIENCE, Page 3B
A DESERT, ICED OVER BARWIS' BOYS
" Luke Moffatt's journey from Arizona Former Michigan strength coach Mike
to Michigan is far from typical in college Barwis is training five Wolverines for the
hockey. Page 4B upcoming NFL draft. Page 2B