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The Michigan Daily j michigandailycom | March 12, 2012
LOOKING PAST 'OHIO
I
TODD NEEDLE/ailt
Membersof the Michigan basketball team express their frustration during the Wolverines' 77-55 loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Buckeyes rout Michigan in semifinal
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
INDIANAPOLIS - Brutus
brought the brute to the No. 10
Michigan basketball team on Sat-
urda Life Fieldhouse
and theWolverines were caught
without
their gloves MICHIGAN 55
on. OHIO STATE 77
Ohio
State forward Jared Sullinger
shucked two underwhelming
performances against Michigan
earlier this season by the wayside
and took control of the Big Ten
Tournament semifinal, carrying
the Buckeyes to a decisive 77-55
win over the Wolverines.
It was tough to believe that No.
2-seed Michigan was the higher-
seeded team this weekend, as No.
3-seed Ohio State established
dominance under the basket
early and its domain spread to
the perimeter later.
"A lot of things didn't go our
way today," said redshirt sopho-
more center Jordan Morgan. "We
kept fighting, but we couldn't get
a break. Couldn't get a shot to
fall. Couldn't get big loose balls.
It was like we just kept fighting
uphill all day."
Sullinger's 16 points in the
first half were more than he had
in either of the teams' match-ups
earlier this season and in the sec-
ond half he did his damage from
the free throw line.
Sullinger, a former high school
teammate of Michigan fresh-
man point guard Trey Burke,
found points early by spinning
right, spinning left, falling down,
getting offensive rebounds and
sinking jump shots. His 24 points
were a game-high and he added
six rebounds.
"He just was making tough
shots," Morgan said. "I still tried
to make him make tough shots
that I tried to make him make
last game. There's really no way
to guard him when he's making
those shots."
Everything that went right for
Michigan this season went miss-
ing Saturday.
Burke had the worst game of
his season, as Buckeye guard
Aaron Craft stifled him all after-
noon. Burke couldn't find pen-
etration and had to settle for
contested 3-pointers when he
could even get a shot off. The wad5
Michigan attacked Ohio State,
Burke had to shoot jumpers
instead of attacking the rim like
he did against other teams.
"It is (a problem that Ohio
State forces me into jump shots)
when I shoot the way I shot
tonight," Burke said. "But if I was
shooting the way I know I can
shoot, then it wouldn't have been
a problem. We just weren't hit-
ting shots tonight."
Burke didn't make a field goal
until late in the second half and
rmissed each ofhis seven attempts
from 3-point range. He finished
1-for-11 from the floor and also
committed a season-high eight
turnovers.
The shots weren't falling for
anyone else, either. Michigan
shot just 1-for-13 from behind the
See BUCKEYES, Page 38
MARLENE LACASSE/Daily
Fifth-year senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick made 62 saves in Michigan's two-game sweep of the Fighting Irish.
Michigan earns bi to Joe
Louis with sweepofN
Burke has career-worst
game in lopsided loss
By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Freshman point guard Trey
Burke was the talk of the town
in Indianapolis on Friday night
after scoring a career-high 30
points in the Michigan men's
basketball team's overtime win
over Minnesota.
OnSaturdaynight, he wasstill
the center of many conversations
- and no, it wasn't because of his
game-high seven rebounds.
Burke scored 11 of the Wol-
verines' first 12 points and later
scored nine points in overtime
to lead Michigan to a 73-69 vic-
tory over the Golden Gophers.
But the freshman followed his
career night with his worst col-
legiate performance to date.
With Burke held in check
all game long, the Wolverines
faltered, falling to Ohio State,
77-55. It was Michigan's most
lopsided loss of the season.
"It definitely was (my worst
game)," Burke said. "It goes like
that sometimes, I understand
that. (Friday), Ihad a greatgame.
(Saturday), I had a bad game.
"I just think it was a bad night
- an unlucky night - the total
opposite of (Friday)."
Playing against the team he
grew up idolizing as a child, and
matched up against the Big Ten
Defensive Player of the Year in
sophomore point guard Aaron
Craft, Burke never got comfort-
able.
The freshman didn't score
until the 6:55 mark of the sec-
ond half. Before that, he missed
all eight of his shots - including
six 3-pointers - and committed
eight turnovers. His previous
high for turnovers, six, came
back in December.
Burke said that the defen-
sive strategy that Ohio State
employs to stifle the ball screen
that he uses so effectively is
unique to the Buckeyes. It's dif-
ficult to attack, partly because of
Craft's defensive ability, but also
because of the Buckeyes' length.
"They tend to corner me on
the ball screens and (use) brack-
ets," Burke said. "Craft makes
sure I can't use (the ball screen)
and (sophomore forward Jared
Sullinger)'s right there, so it's
kind of like a mini trap. It's just
a look that we really don't see a
lot. We know we're going to see
it against them, but it kind of
throws our offense off.
"We made adjustments to
it, but ... if shots are not falling,
then adjustments aren't going to
work."
Craft and Burke have been
battling since their days of
playing high school basketball
against each other in Ohio, but
both were quick to point out
that Burke's poor performance
wasn't necessarily Craft win-
ning a one-on-one matchup.
"Stopping a great player like
him, especially with how he was
feeling from (Friday), it was defi-
nitely a team effort," Craft said.
"(I was) just trying to not make
it about me against him because
that's not what it's about.
"Our bigs did a great job hedg-
ingball screens today and every-
one else did a good job of zoning
up and not giving easy baskets
for the most part. So it was defi-
nitely a team effort on him."
But at one pivotal moment in
the game, around the halfway
mark of the first half, it did come
down to Craft and Burke.
See BURKE, Page 3B
By LIZ VUKELICH
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 4 Michigan hockey
team skated off the ice Saturday
night with a little extra pep in its
step. And considering the type of
weekend NOTRt DAME 1
the play- MICHIGAN 2
ers had, the
fact that NOTRE DAME 1
they even MICHIGAN 3
had that extra energy was an
accomplishment in itself.
After deciding Friday night's
2-1 victory in double overtime at
Yost Ice Arena, the Wolverines
wanted to make quick work of No.
17 Notre Dame to advance into
the CCHA semifinals next week.
Nobody wanted another 83 min-
utes of hockey.
Consider it mission accom-
plished. Michigan (15-9-4 CCHA,
23-11-4 overall) sailed over the
Fighting Irish (12-13-3, 19-18-3)
with a decisive 3-1 victory to earn
a two-game sweep and close out
the seniors' final stand at Yost.
Both nights were about Michi-
gan getting that all-important
first goal to set the pace. But then
the Wolverines had to maintain
that momentum.
"Absolutely, you want to score
See SWEEP, Page 3B
BURKE'S BIG BILLING
Michigan's standout freshman guard
* has been filling some big shoes -and
he'll continue to be the X-factor. Page 2B
SENIORS' SEND-OFF r ',
It took the Wolverines eight periods to
earn a sweep and close the doors to Yost
for the final time in 2011-12. Page 4B