. The Michigan Daily I michigandailycom I February 6,2012
Spartans snap Michigan win streak
Gre
reb
w
en matches 'M's Before Sunday afternoon,
Michigan guard Zack Novak and
ounding output Michigan State forward Dray-
mond Green were tied 3-3 in the
ith 16 boards in-state rivalry over their careers.
But after losingthe last three con-
By LUKE PASCH tests in the series, Green salvaged
Daily Sports Editor his final regular-season game
against the Wolverines, with his
T LANSING - The battle Spartans winning handily at the
senior captains has official- Breslin Center, 64-54.
e Green. The Michigan State defense
smothered Michigan's offense all
game long, holding the Wolver-
ines to under 40-percentshooting
from the field and their second-
lowest scoring total of the season.
Ultimately, it was Green's day.
The Spartan captain could not be
stopped in the second half, and he
finished the game with a double-
double on 14 points and 16 boards,
matching Michigan's rebounding
total by himself. Any questions
about the health of his left knee,
which he sprained late in the sec-
ond half at Illinois on Tuesday,
were completely erased.
"I couldn't even tell he was
hurt," said freshman point guard
Trey Burke. "He hit some big
shots down there. He got to the
rim a lot, got to the line a lot. He
looked better than he usually
does."
"He has a huge desire," added
senior guard Stu Douglass. "A lot
of rebounding is just a lot of want.
You can tell he's hungry for the
boards, he's hungry to get extra
possessions on the offensive end
and get offensive boards. You
really just gotto match that inten-
sity."
The atmosphere inside the
Breslin Center at tip-off was elec-
tric, but neither offense was able
to feed off it early on. The first
bucket of the contest didn't come
for two-and-a-half minutes, a
layup from Michigan State guard
Branden Dawson. Michigan
didn't get on the scoreboard until
a little over five minutes in, when
Burke hita running floater in the
lane to tie the game at 2-2.
After the first media timeout,
Michigan State (7-3 Big Ten, 18-5
overall) settled into a groove on
See SPARTANS; Page 3B
O EAS
of the
ly gone
No second-half heroics
'Hobey' Hunwick beaches
Miami in crucial series
By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Sunday
wasn't the first time sophomore
forward Tim Hardaway Jr. was
held scoreless in the opening
20 minutes of a game against
Michigan State.
So when he missed his only
two field goals and was limited
to one assist and no rebounds,
the Wolverines weren't overly
concerned about Hardaway's
ability to charge back with
a strong second-half perfor-
mance. After all, in a win over
the Spartans last season, Hard-
away led Michigan to a win by
scoring 20 second-half points
after being held scoreless in the
first half.
But this time, Hardaway
mustered just four points -two
of which came via meaning-
less free throws in the garbage
time. The guard shot just 1-of-
10 from the field, as the Wolver-
ines fell, 64-54.
Not even Hardaway could
explain why he was stifled all
day long.
"I can't even answer that
question," Hardaway said. "I
just give them all the credit
- they deserve it. They came
out with a good game plan and
executed."
Michigan State coach Tom
Izzo had answers, though.
Izzo lauded Hardaway's tal-
ent and athleticism. So, instead
of focusing on shutting down
Hardaway, the Spartans game-
planned to take away the
methods Michigan uses to get
Hardaway the ball.
That centered on containing
freshman Trey Burke, the key
to the Wolverines' victory in
Ann Arbor three weeks ago.
"What we did is we shut
down Burke's penetration,"
See HARDAWAY, Page 3B
By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Editor
After the Michigan hockey team
scored three first-period goals on
Friday, Miami (Ohio) coach Enrico
Blasi pulled starting goaltender
Cody Reichard in favor of Connor
Knapp.
The two seniors look nothing
alike. Reichard is under six-feet
tall. Knapp stands at 6-foot-6.
So why, in the post-game press
conference, did Michigan junior
forward A.J. Treais incredulously
ask, "They changed goalies?"
Probably because it didn't mat-
ter who was in net for Miami dur-
ing the Wolverines' series sweep.
It only mattered who stood at the
opposite end of the ice - fifth-year
seniornetminder Shawn Hunwick.
Hunwick turned in another
near-perfect weekend, the latest in
a string of impressive performanc-
es. In the last three weekends, he's
cruised to two shutouts and twice
held opponents to one-goal games.
This weekend, the Yost Ice
Arena crowd showered Hunwick
with chants of "Hobey Baker,"
the annual award given to college
hockey's best player. He was noth-
ing short of a rock, as his coach
Red Berenson likes to say, risingto
the occasion as RedHawk skaters
intruded into his crease all week-
end long.
Miami knocked him down time
after time, but that didn't stop
Hunwick from making plays when
See HUNWICK, Page 3B
REDHAWKS ROCKED
Michigan blasted a physical Miami
(Ohio) team, sweeping the series at
Yost Ice Arena. Page 4B
STATE OF THE STATE
The tides of the Michigan-Michigan
State rivalry have shifted, but the balance
is a good thing. Page 2B