'The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com December 10, 2012 -- 3B The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom December 10, 2012 - 38 MICHIGAN ATHLETICS SCOREBOARD Wolverines sweep tnl-meet L A S T W E E K T UESDAY (D EC. 4) Men's basketball:Michigan73, Western Michi- gan 41 Woen's basketball Michigan 56, linoi State 45 F R IDAY (D EC. 7) Volleyball: Michigan 3, Michigan State 0 Men's gymnastics: Maize 330.200, Blue 328.800 noen's gymnastics:Michigan195.375, Michi- gan State 191.100 SAT U RDAY (D EC, 8) Men's basketball: Michigan 80, Arkansas 67 Volleyball: Michigan3,Stanford l WrestngMichigan 30, DukeT14 WrstiE Michigan32, Eastern Michigan 3 T H I S W E E K TUESDAY (DEC. 11) Men's basketball: Michigan vs. Binghamton, 7:00 p.m.o Women's basketball: Michigan at Eastern Michi- gan, 7:00 p. THURSDAY (DEC, 13) Volleyball: Michigan vs Texas at Louisville, Kent., 7:00 p.m. FRIDAY (DEC. 14) Ice Hockey: Michigan vs. Western Michigan, 7:35 SATURDAY (DEC. 8) Men's Basketball: Michigan vs. West Virginia at Brooklyn, N.Y.,8:00 p.m W en' basketball:Michiganvs.WesternMichigan, 2:0 pm. (') Ice Hockey:Michiganvs. Western Michigan, 7:35 p.m.') Volleyball:NCAAChampionshipatLouisvlle, Ky., 7:00 pm. - (') Allhome events are eligible to earn points for the Athletic Deportment's H.A.SL program. BIG TEN STANDINGS FOOTBALL Legends Division Big Ten Overall Nebraska 7 1 10 3 Michigan 6 2 8 4 Northwestern 5 3 9 3 Michigan State 3 5 6 6 Iowa 2 6 4 8 Minnesota 2 6 6 6 Leaders Division Big Ten Overall Ohio State 8 0 12 0 Penn State 6 2 8 4 Wisconsin 4 4 8 5 Purdue 3 5 6 6 lndiana 2 6 4 8 linois 0 8 2 10 MEN'S BASKETBALL Team >i Ten Overall Illiois 0 0 10 0 Indiana 0 0 9 0 Michigan 0 0 9 0 Minnesota 0 0 10 1 Ohio State 0 0 6 1 Iowa 0 0 8 2 Michigan State 0 0 8 2 Nebraska 0 0 6 2 Northwestern 0 0 7 3 Wisconsin 0 0 6 4 Penn State 0 0 5 4 Purdue 0 0 4 5 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Team Big Ten Overall Purdue 0 0 9 1 Michigan State 0 0 8 1 Michigan 0 0 7 2 Penn State 0 0 7 2 Ohio State 0 0 6 2 Minnesota 0 0 9 3 Nebraska 0 0 7 3 Iowa 0 0 6 3 Northwestern 0 0 6 3 Wisconsin 0 0 5 3 Indiana 0 0 6 4 Illinois 0 0 5 4 ICE HOCKEY Teams CCHA Overall Notre Dame 9 1 0 134 0 Miami 7 32 103 3 Western Michigan 7 2 1 103 1 Ohio State 6 2 2 7 5 4 Ferris State 6 5 1 7 6 3 Alaska 4 7 3 6 8 4 Lake Superior 5 7 0 8100 Michigan 3 6 2 5 8 2 Michigan State 3 8 1 4102 Bowling Green 2 6 3 3 9 4 Northern Michigan 2 7 3 6 8 3 FOLLOW ON TWITTER @MICHIGANDAILY @THEBLOCKM @BLOCKMFOOTBALL @BLOCKMBBALL @BLOCKMHOCKEY By MAX COHEN "It feels great to be back and Daily Sports Writer wrestling at Cliff Keen again," Apland said. "It was alongwait." For weeks, all he could do was The entire team appeared to wait. be in a rhythm, as the Wolver- Forced out of action with a ines jumped out to huge leads in shoulder injury until last week- . both parts of the doubleheader. end in Las Vegas, 285-pound Despite sitting some of its nor- fifth-year senior Ben Apland, mal starters and giving some the man normally charged with of the backups opportunities closing the deal on a Wolverines' to earn experience, Michigan victory, defeated the Blue Devils, 30-14, could only DUKE 14 in the first half of the double- trust his MICHIGAN 30 header. replace- "We've had a lot of guys put- ments to E. MICHIGAN 3 ting time in and training hard do his job MICHIGAN 32 and when we have some oppor- for him. tunities to put some of those Now that he's back in the line- guys in, we need to get them up, Apland could do no wrong match experience and we need in his first action of the season, to get them varsity experi- pinning both of his opponents in ence," said Michigan coach Sean a doubleheader and helping the Bormet. "So we had an opportu- No. 14 Michigan wrestling team nity to do that today and it was earn tri-meet victories over good." Duke and Eastern Michigan on Sean Boyle, a 125-pound Saturday. redshirt junior, started things off strong for the Wolverines, earning a technical fall to give' Michigan five points. A pin by 165-pound Michigan freshman Taylor Massa gave the Wolver- ines a 24-3 lead, effectively put- ting the scoring out of reach, and Apland's pin in under three min- utes put an exclamation point on the victory. ' "When we're winning big when it comes into my match, it takes a lot of pressure off of me," Apland said. "I can go out there and have fun like I try to do and I'm going to try to do for all of the dual meets this year." Michigan continued after a 15-minute intermission as it hit the mat against the Eagles. After a technical fall by 149-pound redshirt junior Eric Grajales, the Wolverines took a commanding 14-0 lead. Many new and differ- ent faces scored for Michigan, with redshirt sophomore Chris Heald winning his first match at the collegiate level, a 9-5 deci- sion in the 184-pound weight class. Eastern Michigan put up a fight in individual matches, but 'the Wolverines were too much for the Eagles to handle as Apland's second pin of the day in just 53 seconds capped off a 32-3 victory for Michigan. Although the final scores showed that the Wolverines won with ease, the coaching staff wanted the wrestlers to focus as if the dual meets were tight. "Whether we've got abig lead in the dual or whether it's a tight dual, we need to be focusing on the same things from match to match," Bormet said. Whether Michigan has a big lead, a small lead or no lead atall. in the dual meets of the future, it knows it will have Apland avail- able in the 285-pound position, ready to close the door on more Wolverine victories. MORGAN- From Page 1B his way. When he's got that, we're a much better team." The Wolverines didn't plan to look inside for offensive produc- tion but the frontcourt provided more than half of Michigan's offense. The Wolverines tallied 42 points in the paint even though Morgan took just nine shots and McGary six. Many of Michigan's points came from put-backs. Not typically a rebounding team, the Wolverines pulled down a season-high 18 offensive boards and scored 15 second-chance points. Morgan had six of the 18 offensive rebounds and was often found in position under the basket for an easy lay-in. "With the ball screen offenses that everybody employs there's pressure on the rim a lot of dif- ferent ways and there's rebound- ing angles," Beilein said. "You're going to have some muckers that are going to go get the loose ones. Mitch and Jon and Jordan make a huge difference in that. It's rare for one of our teams to do that.... You need guys to get in there and attack the rim and get offensive rebounds." The most important part of the forwards' game, though, was lim- iting the Razorbacks' extra pos- sessions. Beilein said Michigan's defensive rebounding slowed down Arkansas' transition, saying the energy Morgan and McGary brought to Saturday's game was integral in slowing down the Razorbacks' fast-paced game plan. Michigan hasn't had a signifi- cant post presence in past years and that was a hole that needed filling if Beilein wanted to have a complete team this season. With the addition of a taller McGary to complement a strong Morgan, the Michigan coach is happy with how the frontcourt is developing. "Most of the big guys we've found there's a steady progress until they really get it and then they'll make a bigger jump," Beilein said. "You've seen it with Jon, you've seen it with Jordan, and (now Mitch is) just making steady progress." MICHIGAN From Page 1B sas outside an arm's reach, but Mike Anderson's team swung back. A fast start to the second half shrunk a 10-point halftime deficit to one by midway through the frame. "What I really like, is that we did respond during that time," Beilein said. "And we didn't respond with some pretty play. We got gutty, garbage buckets that made the difference and then hit a big three." The game mirrored last year's contest in Fayetteville when it was the Razorbacks to jump out to a fast start. Michigan chipped into the lead throughout the second half before falling short at the end, 66-64. But whereas the Wolverines kept it close until the final pos- session last year, they shut down the Razorbacks' comeback emphatically on Saturday. FINAL FOUR From Page 1B only unseeded team remaining in the Elite Eight, the Wolverines were never expected to mount a comeback, but they did. Both teams came out aggres- sive in the set, but it was the Cardinal's blocking that caught Michigan off-guard. Sophomore setter Lexi Dannemiller followed her game plan, isolating Erwin and junior outside hitter Molly Toon. But the pair continually found themselves stuffed at the net on several swings. When they did manage to hit it around the wall, there was a Stanford defen- sive specialist waiting to pass. The Wolverines, benefitting from a strong freshman squad, met an equally impressive fresh- man group from Stanford. With the score tied at eight, a balanced Cardinal front led by freshman middle blocker Inky Ajanaku went on a 6-0 run to grab a com- fortable lead and eventually close out the set. The Wolverines refused to stop challenging Stanford's blocking scheme in the second set and raced out to a 16-10 lead, capped by a kill from right-side hitter Claire McElheny. Four- teen of the Wolverines' first 16 points came on kills. Despite the Cardinal's two errors in the set, Michigan con- tinued to score, winding up for kill after kill. The Wolverines coasted through the remainder of the second set, even as Stan- ford fought them off. "We're a very balanced team and that's something we pride ourselves on," Cross said. "It was really about attacking the quick tempo and then spreading out and giving our outsides an open space to hit." Cross finished second on the team with 15 kills after her strong effort the previous night. Toon followed with 12 kills and McElheny with 1L Following back-and-forth play from both teams in the third set, Michigan opened up a lead on a 6-1 run. Stanford took a timeout but it was ineffective at slowing down a team that had no trouble responding to a powerful Car- dinal. defense. The Wolverines cruised through the remain- "I think that's a sign of a good team," said sophomore point guard Trey Burke. "It got down to aone-possessiongame,butwe never broke, we never cracked and we stayed together." With just under four minutes left, Burke was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. He made two of the free throws to give Michi- gan a comfortable 68-59 edge. From there, it was easy. The Wolverines continued to stifle the Razorbacks (4-4) on defense and flourished in transition late in the game, turning that one- point lead into a 17-point advan- tage. Burke made a difficult, falling-down bank shot in the final minute and followed that with a ferocious fastbreak, two- handed dunk - one in which he was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim. ."I haven't seen that in a long time," Beilein said about the call. Redshirt junior forward Jor- der of the set, riding a wave of momentum into the final. With a two-set lead to boot, Michigan looked like the team that had been in this situation before, the team that knew how to close out big games in the fourth set. Trailing 10-9, the Wolverines put together a 5-0 run, leaving Stanford looking drained and sullen. Leading 15-13, Michigan needed one final run to crush anythought of a comeback in the fourth set. The Wolverines did so with a 4-0 run, which ulti- mately allowed them to cruise to a match point, which Erwin fin- ished off with an emphatic kill. The Wolverines, the team that wasn't predicted to be celebrat- ing, celebrated. They smiled as they had all season, as even the coaches knew they had accom- plished somethingspecial. Freshman libero Tiffany Morales, playing in front of friends and family in her home state, bailed out Michigan when it needed her most. The Redondo Beach, Calif. native tallied 22 digs on a night where she was all over the court. Erwin, too, found herself doing more than hitting, contrib- uting 16 digs of her own. "Tiffany's progression has been great," Rosen said. "I thought last night she did an out- standing job of just positioning herself and making great defen- sive plays, and she definitely car- ried that through tonight. She's been a huge defensive force for us." It's likely Michigan, a team without a real star, will once again be underdogs when it trav- els to Louisville to face the Long- horns. But that underdog mindset - doesn't exist anymore. "It doesn't matter because we're such a great team," Erwin said. "We don't need our names out there because no matter what teams throw at us, 14 people are coming at them." They've done it to No. 9 Louis- ville and No. 2 Stanford, so why not again? "We might not be the biggest names or the highest profile, but I think this a team that is playing as well as anybody in the country right now," Rosen said. "And I'm excited aboutthat." dan Morgan was the Wolver- ines' rock early. With no one on Arkansas to match his physical- ity, he scored six of Michigan's first nine points, drew a charge and was a menace on the offen- sive, glass all game. He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds - six of them offensive - to rack up his sec- ond double-double in a week. With the help of the rest of the frontcourt, the Wolverines outrebounded the Razorbacks 42-26. Eighteen of those came on the offensive glass. "They were so good in transi- tion, we wanted to limit them," Morgan said. "By getting offen- sive rebounds, they weren't get- ting defensive rebounds to get out and run." Morgan was a big part of the Wolverines' stout interior defense that kept Arkansas from evening up the game in the sec- ond half. Redshirt sophomore Jon Horford was also instru- mental in shutting down the Arkansas frontcourt, racking up three blocks. BJ Young and Marshawn Powell accounted for all of the Arkansas scoring early. It wasn't until six minutes remained in the first half that a third Razor- back scored, when walk-on Kikko Haydar took command of Arkansas's offense. His 9 points - he had scored six com- bined this season until Saturday - kept the Razorbacks within shouting distance to finish the half. "We didn't know who he is," Beilein said about the 5-foot- 10 junior. "I thought he walked in off the street. What a great story." Beilein was happy about his 100th win, and he hopes that the worst has passed with his time at Michigan. With a team like he has this year, those wins may come faster. "I certainly hope the next 100 at Michigan are easier than the first 100," Beilein said.