The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, February 8, 2013 - 7
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, February 8, 2013 - 7
0
Michigan looking for first
win in Madison- since 1999
'M' starts in Florida
By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Editor
On Dec. 30, 1999, when the
Michigan men's basketball team
last won in Madison, sophomore
point guard
Trey Burke was
just seven years Michigan at
old and coach Wisconsin
John Beilein
was three years Matchup:
away from leav- Michigan
igRichmond 21-2; Wis-
log R consin 16-7
for West Vir-
ginia. Since When: Satur-
then, 10 Wolver- day 12 p.m.
ine teams have Where: Kohl
failed at what Center
No. 3 Michigan = TV/Radio:
will attempt to ESPN
do on Saturday
- emerge victo-
rious at the Kohl
Center, where Wisconsin has won
five of its last six meetings against
top-five teams.
In the teams' only contest last
year, the Wolverines bested the
Badgers, 59-41, in Ann Arbor to
snap a nine-game losing skid to
Wisconsin. Junior guard Tim
Hardaway Jr., fresh off one of
his best games this season in a
win over Ohio State on Tuesday,
carried Michigan in last year's
matchup, scoring a game-high
17 points and pulling down 10
rebounds for one of his two dou-
ble-doubles last year.
A key to last season's win was
the Wolverines' ability to out-
rebound the Badgers, largely
due to the effort of then-redshirt
sophomore forward Jordan Mor-
gan. Morgan had 11 rebounds
- five of which came on the offen-
sive end - as Michigan won the
battle of the boards, 38-29, and
scored 13 second-chance points.
Sophomore guard Trey Burke will have a big role in the transition game against the Badgers, who like to slow the game down.
By ERIN LENNON
Daily Sports Writer
After weeks of practice inside
Oosterbaan
Fieldhouse,
the No. 15 USF
Michigan Tolurnament
softball team
will finally When:
take to the Fri.-Sun.
field this Where:
weekend in Tampa, Fla.
sunny Flori- TV/Radio:
da at the USF mgoblue.com
Tournament.
The Wol-
verines will
play four games between Friday
and Sunday, including a double-
header against Florida Atlan-
tic and No. 10 South Florida on
Saturday. Play begins Friday
afternoon against Marshall and
will conclude on Sunday against
Samford.
"Week to week, we've had a
lot of growth throughout the
entire team and people have
been stepping into their new
roles and positions as leaders on
the team," said senior co-captain
Jaclyn Crummey. "The potential
for our success is growing every
day. We're all so excited to see it
come out on the field this week-
end."
Michigan's 'Team 35' enters
the season as the five-time
defending Big Ten champion and
the only Big Ten team to appear
in the preseason Top 25.
Having lost a former Big Ten
Player of the Year in Amanda
Chidester, along with both a
starting infielder and outfielder,
this year's starting lineup will
feature new faces alongside sea-
sonedveterans.
Among the team's 14 return-
ing players is last year' s Big Ten
Pitcher and Freshman of the
Year, sophomore Haylie Wagner.
Wagner is currently one of 50
players on the preseason watch
list for USA Softball National
Collegiate Player of the Year,
"Haylie is a hard-working
kid," said Michigan coach Carol
,Hutchins. "I told her that this
year we're going to want her to
up her strikeout ratio, to develop
pitches. Our goal is to develop
another pitch. She has a job to do
to help us win."
Freshman Sierra Romero
is slotted to start at shortstop
in place of senior Amy Knapp.
Knapp, who will make her career
debut at third base,has embraced
the transition.
"I think at third base you
really just control the field and
it's really easy to bethe voice out
there," Knapp said. "That's my
main role on the field right now,
is to let everybody know where
the play is. I really enjoy it."
At least for the time being, the
starting job at first base is up for
grabs.
Hutchins mentioned four
players with the potential to fill
the void, including freshman
Kelsey Susalla.
"First (base) is the wide-open
position," Hutchins said. "We're
looking to see who steps up in
gameplay. We'll make decisions
based on what we need and who
we're up against. I think compe-
tition's good. They've been push-
ing each other."
The Wolverines will face their
toughest opponent in No. 10
South Florida on Saturday. The
Bulls will be led by a Player of
the Year candidate of their own
in ace left-hander Sara Nevins.
Both Hutchins and the cap-
tains are confident going up
against one of the nation's best.
"It doesn't matter how good
we are right now, it only matters
how good we become," Hutchins
said. "We're going to take every
lesson from this weekend, the
good and the bad, and we're
going to bea little bit better. And
that's all we're looking to do."
But Morgan has played just six
combined minutes in the Wol-
verines' last two contests after
spraining his ankle two minutes
into the Jan. 27 game at Illi-
nois. His status for Saturday is
unknown.
"Hopefully he'll be ready to go
this weekend," Beilein said after
Tuesday's win. "We need him
back."
Redshirt sophomore forward
Jon Horford has filled Morgan's
void in the starting lineup, but
freshman forward Mitch McGary
has received the brunt of Mor-
gan's minutes.
McGary played 29 minutes in
the win over the Buckeyes, scor-
ing 14 points and collecting six
rebounds and four steals. But
Ohio State and Indiana both out-
scored Michigan (8-2 Big Ten,
21-2 overall) in the paint and
registered a combined 30 sec-
ond-chance points, exploiting a
Wolverine defense that suffered
from more defensive breakdowns
than normal.
"(Morgan) would've helped
us a little bit, because the angles
that Jon and Mitch are playing
are much like the angles Jordan
used to play with way back when,"
Beilein said after Tuesday's over-
time win.
Burke had a relatively quiet
game against Wisconsin (7-3,
16-7) last year, recording just two
assists, but was defended by all-
everything guard Jordan Taylor,
who graduated last season. Tay-
lor's would-be replacement, Josh
Gasser, tore his ACL just days
before the season began and is out
for the year.
The Badgers struggled in the
season's onset, dropping games
to mediocre Virginia and Mar-
quette teams, but have settled
into more of a groove in confer-
ence play under veteran coach Bo
Ryan. Wisconsin upset Indiana in
Assembly Hall three weeks ago.
The game will likely be decid-
ed on Michigan's offensive end,
especially if the Wolverines can
operate in transition, something
they struggled to do against Ohio
State. The Badgers, known for
taking opponents out of their
rhythm by forcing them to play at
a slow tempo, currently rank 11th
in scoring defense nationally (56.2
points per game). Michigan ranks
sixth nationally with a 41.2-per-
cent 3-point shooting mark, but
Wisconsin holds opponents to just
30.6-percent shooting from deep.
"The key to beating the Bad-
gers is just being solid," said
senior guard Josh Bartelstein in
his weekly blog on www.mgoblue.
com. "We cannot beat ourselves
taking bad shots or going for
steals. They are known for hold-
ing the ball for all 35 seconds and
making you guard them for the
entire shot clock. If you take a sec-
ond off or don't box out, you are
going to get burned."
ICE HOCKEY
Wolverines trying to capitalize
against reeling Notre Dame
Start Your Career in Accounting.
By GREG GARNO formance was equally valu-
* Daily Sports Writer able. Sophomore forward Phil
Di Giuseppe was on the giving
If the Michigan hockey team end of the Wolverines' offensive
plans to make a late push for production, finishing with five
CCHA playoff positioning, fac- assists.
ing No. 11 Notre Dame couldn't Di Giuseppe and his team-
come at a worse time, right? mates recorded three or more
Think again. goals for the first time since Jan.
Since Jan. 18 against Lake Superior State.
8, the Wol- With just six regular-season
verines have Michigan at games left, and four of them on
won as many Notre Dame the road, their production will be
games, three, all the more important.
as the Fighting Matchup:. "I think at this point, we
Irish. Including Michigan have to keep it going," Nieves
losses to CCHA 10-16-2; Notre said. "We don't have many more
bottom dwell- Dame 16-11-t games left. We don't have much
ers Michigan When: Friday more time to change much. So
State, Bowling 7:35 p.m.' I think we just have to keep the
Gre ttSata5rdayavtoketh
dGreen State, 7: pdm momentum that we've gained
and losses to from last week and keep it going."
Alaska and Where: Comp- While Michigan coach Red
Ohio State, ton Family Berenson has been pleased with
Notre Dame is Center the play of his underclassmen,
quickly drop- TV/Radio: he hasn't been impressed with
ping in the CBS Sports the performance from his upper-
CCHA stand- Network classmen. Last weekend was
ings. The sta- - considered a step in the right
tistic is even more unimaginable direction for a group that sang
when you consider that Notre 'The Victors' after sweeping a
Dame lost just four games in the series for the first time this year,
first three months of the season. and it will take another focused
After a recent sweep of rival weekend if it hopes to replicate
Michigan State, Michigan will the results.
enter South Bend with emotions "I think everybody was dialed
running high for another week- in last weekend, and finally it's
end series with a rival. Still, a taken us more than half a year to
sweep this weekend would move get on the right page as a team,"
the Wolverines no more than one Berenson said. "We're no good if
spot up - from eighth to seventh one or two players aren't dialed
Jan. 8 injury. Bennett's return
could mean the re-pairing of
freshman defenseman Jacob
Trouba and junior defenseman
Jon Merrill, who are arguably
the team's two best defensemen.
Regardless of who is paired
together, the defense will be
called on to help its young
goaltender, freshman Jared
Rutledge. The Chicago native
pleased his coach after mak-
ing his first starts since Nov. 10,
stopping a combined 47 shots
over the weekend.
Rutledge, who has played in a
three-way goalie competition for
much of the season, will likely
once again start in South Bend.
"I can't tell you that he's going
to go on a roll, but if he does,
he'll play," Berenson said. "If our
team wins, and he plays well,
then that's what we are looking
for.
"I don't think he's at the top
of his game yet, but these games
will help him."
Rutledge can expect to see a
surging Anders Lee coming at
him frequently this weekend.
Lee leads the Fighting Irish with
14 goals this season, good for
first among CCHA goal scorers.
Notre Dame will also look to
its defense, which ranks seventh
in the NCAA in goals allowed
with 2.18 per game. Its perfor-
mance will also be important
as it tries to protect whichever
goaltender - Mike Johnson
or Steven Summerhays - sits
between the pipes. Summerhays
was recently pulled in favor of
Johnson after giving up five
goals in the first two periods of
Friday night's game against the
Buckeyes.
"They're big, they're strong
and they play physical," said
Michigan assistant coach Billy
Powers of Notre Dame. "At this
time of the year, if you're playing
well ... you're going to see more
teams that are playing more
physical.
"I would expect that we'll see
(that physicality) from Notre
Dame, but more importantly,
you'll see it from us too."
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- in the CCHA standings.
"Any time we play Michi-
gan, it's always intense," Notre
Dame coach Jeff Jackson told
The Notre Dame Observer. "I
don't need to do much on my end
to get them motivated or physi-
cally engaged - that will happen
naturally."
Michigan's underclassmen
stepped up as catalysts in last-
weekend's sweep of the Spar-
tans and will be important to
any hopes it has of improving its
playoff position.
Freshman forward Boo Nieves
stood out last weekend, tally-
ing three goals and two assists,
but his fellow linemate's per-
in."
The focus will beon the Fight-
ing Irish offense, the best in the
conference, as it skates against
the conference's worst defense.
Notre Dame is the only team in
the CCHA to score more than
three goals per game (3.10), while
the Wolverines are the only team
that allows more than three per
game (3.41).
Michigan's defense hasn't
held an opponent to fewer than
three goals since allowing two to
the Spartans on Dec. 30.
The defense should see a boost
with the return of junior defen-
seman Mac Bennett, who began
practicing on Tuesday after a
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