8A - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
SxtTeMcia aly-mciadiyo
TODD NEEDLE/Daily
Freshman guard Trey Burke scored a game-high 19 points in Michigan's overtime victory over the Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday evening.
Wolverines out-claw Wildcats
in O to capture series sweep
Junior guard Matt Vogrich hit three big 3-pointers against Northwestern.
Vogrich comes alive
from 3-point range
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"You
first (in
ichigan fired against a team like that, (play-
ing) at home, (and us) beating
p 38 3-point them once already in overtime,"
Douglass said. "They don't need
empts against any more motivation. ... You
orthwestern want to get that first bucket."
Coming into the game, the
Wolverines knew they'd have
By BEN ESTES plenty of looks from long range
Daily SportsEditor because of Northwestern's sub-
par defense.
4STON - Michigan lived But they probably wouldn't
3-pointer on Tuesday have guessed they'd end up
aking an early six-point shooting 38 times from beyond
to the arc.
h MICHIGAN 67 From the game's opening
NWESTERN 55 minutes, Michigan (11-4 Big Ten,
on 21-7 overall) launched repeat-
s. Michigan also died by edly from deep. Against the
ointer, faltering when Wildcats' man-to-man defense,
estern switched to a which
ne in the first half and Northwest--
veral other looks in the ern initially e
half. deployed, the VWe st
e end, the Wolverines Wolverines .
:he 3-pointer. found success. the mi
missing a desperation Michigan
m deep in the final pos- made five of makin
of regulation - failing to its first eight P
e-open teammate Zack attempts from pay 1
n the process - fresh- long range.
int guard Trey Burke Sophomore
is first 3-point attempt guard Matt
isuing overtime period. Vogrich's 3-pointer with 9:19
k and fellow senior left in the first half gave his team
Stu Douglass followed a 19-13 lead.
nsecutive 3-pointers of But early success gave way
wn, giving Michigan a to a long stretch of frustration.
int lead midwaythrough The Wolverines looked lost at
e. first when Northwestern (6-9
there, the Wolverines Big Ten, 16-11 overall) moved
to a 67-55 victory over into its 1-3-1 defensive scheme,
ldcats at Welsh-Ryan despite the fact that Michigan
in Evanston, winning coach John Beilein uses that
cond overtime contest zone.
Northwestern this sea- The Wildcats, led by star
forward John Shurna, took
lass admitted that advantage of Michigan's sudden
opening 3-pointer was a inability to hit a shot, finishing
elief. the half on an 18-5 run to take
always want to strike control of the game.
overtime), especially Shurna scored 10 of his 14
points before halftime. The
Wolverines started falling
behind on defense in the face
of Northwestern's Princeton
attack, losing backside cutters
and switching into unfavorable
matchups.
"We know they run probably
the most difficult offense in the
Big Ten," Burke said. "We knew
that they were going to switch a
lot on ball screens and handoffs.
I got switched onto Shurna a
couple times, and I just tried to
deny him as much as possible.
"He was killing us at first, but
at the end, we did a good job of
locking down on him and mak-
ing him miss."
After the break, Burke found
himself
hounded even
had more.
ill ha The Wild-
cats stayed
with their
1-3-1 defense
g them and also used a
or it 2-1-2 at times,
constantly
collaps-
ing multiple
defenders on
the freshman guard, especially
when he tried to penetrate.
But the open shots were still
there on the perimeter, and
Beilein told his players repeat-
edly to just keep shooting. The
team began to attack the zone
efficiently, moving the ball more
quickly, getting the ball inside,
even if for a brief moment, and
penetrating enough to draw
defenders away from the 3-point
line.
It was Burke himself who
stood up at halftime to encour-
age his teammates. He lamented
how the Wolverines always say
the same things at halftime - it
was time for them to iust go out
and play.
Burke led them in that effort,
and the shots began to fall
again, especially in the biggest
moments.
Vogrich's 3-pointer with 8:45
left in the game gave Michi-
gan the lead for the first time
since the first half, and sopho-
more guard Tim Hardaway Jr.'s
3-pointer tied the game at 49
with 1:41 left.
"We're usually the ones
throwing (the 1-3-1) at other
people," said Burke, who fin-
ished with a game-high 19
points. "We worked on it here
and there in practice this week,
but it's just a different look for
us. It took us that whole (first)
half, and (by) that second half,
we were adjusted.
"We still had the mindset (of)
make them pay for it, for playing
the 1-3-1."
The Wolverines had plenty
of opportunities to lose their
focus, especially with both red-
shirt sophomore Jordan Morgan
and sophomore forward Evan
Smotrycz having to sit in the
first half with after getting into
foul trouble.
But they buckled down on
defense in the second half and
overtime.
On offense, led by Burke -
who played the entire game
- and a never-stop-shooting
attitude, Michigan kept its bear-
ing, turning the ball over just
seven times.
"(Against the 1-3-1), what you
have to have is not schematic,"
Beilein said.
"It's a bunch of guys who see
the floor, who can all pass, and
are going to be selfless in their
game. ... We shot 38 (3-pointers),
didn't we? That's a lot. We'll
have to get some ice on those
arms."
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
EVANSTON - Just 15 seconds
into the game, redshirt sopho-
more center Jordan Morgan
picked up a foul.
A few minutes later, senior
guard Zack Novak, and Morgan's
replacement, sophomore for-
ward Evan Smotrycz, picked up
consecutive fouls. The next play,
Smotrycz fouled again. After
Morgan re-replaced Smotrycz,
Morgan fouled again.
Six minutes of the game had
elapsed, and both big men had
two fouls, reaching the number
that usually causes Michigan
coach John Beilein to sit the play-
er for the rest of the half.
"If you look at the old Princ-
eton teams ... it was more of a
passing offense," Beilein said,
describing Northwestern's evolv-
ing offense. "They really drove
it at us and drove it at us and the
officials started calling it very
tight. It was the right calls. Foul
trouble hurt us in the first half."
Amid the carnage, Beilein
needed production from his
bench if the Wolverines wanted
to stay in the game.
Beilein has sparsely used his
bench in conference play this
season. In past games when Mor-
gan has fouled early, Beilein has
depended on Smotrycz to replace
him. But this time around, with
Smotrycz also in foul trouble,
Beilein was handcuffed. Novak
also had to sit for seven minutes
in the first half.
"Those things are going to
happen," Beilein said. "It's sud-
den change, and you just need to
adjust to it."
Enter junior guard Matt
Vogrich, who was playing just a
half-hour away from his home-
town.
"It was awesome," said the
Lake Forest, Ill. native. "My AAU
coach was here, my family, my
friends."
With the starting frontcourt
forced to the bench, Vogrich
sparked the Wolverines with
valuable minutes off the bench.
His nine points on three 3-point-
ers gave Michigan the spurts it
needed in the decisive overtime
victory.
"That was big for him to come
off the bench," Beilein said. "He's
been a big part of this little surge
that we're having right now. All
year long, we've struggled at
times with our bench play. We
needed that. He's done a good
job."
After missing his first two
shots, Vogrich buried two
straight 3-pointers to extend the
Michigan lead to six.
With Morgan and Smotrycz
limited to playing just six minutes
in the first half, Michigan was
forced to go with a smaller lineup.
Vogrich and junior forward Blake
McLimans were forced to see
their longest stretches of playing
time in Big Ten competition.
Despite Vogrich's efforts, the
foul trouble came back to haunt
the Wolverines.
The 19-13 lead that Vogrich had
given Michigan quickly deterio-
rated, as the Wildcats went on an
18-5 run and took a 31-24 lead into
halftime.
In a low-scoring second half,
the Wolverines inched their way
back. But another Novak foul -
his third - thrust Vogrich back
into the game.
The hometown kid came up
big again, banging home another
3-pointer from the cornerto erase
Michigan's halftime deficit and
give Michigan a 39-38 advantage.
It was the Wolverines' first lead
since it was 19-17.
"He's really rolling right now,"
Novak said. "Really just shoot-
ing the crap out of the ball. That's
huge for us."
Neither team would lead by
more than four until the Wolver-
ines broke it open in overtime to
win 67-55.
Vogrich has found a hot streak
recently, making three of four
3-point attempts at Nebraska two
weeks ago and making both of
his tries behind the arc at home
against Illinois two weekends
ago. However, in both of those
contests, Michigan was already
leading comfortably when
Vogrich got hot. This time, it was
different.
In this game, in front of his
friends and family, he made the
shots when they counted.
"These are games where
there's a little something extra
there," Novak said. "Whether
it's the school that passed you up
or a school you have a bunch of
friends that go to. It's snecial."
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