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." The D'Amore-McKim MS in Accounting/ MBA for non-accounting majors: " Earn two degrees in just 15 months. " Complete a 3-month paid residency at a leading accounting firm. . History of 100% job placement. Take the first step. Visit us online or at an information session near you. Learn more about the program and upcoming events at msamba.northeastem.edu K Become our fan on Facebook. facebook.com/northeasternuniversitymsomba - 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 msamha."o2theastem.edu 817.373.3244 gspaglses.edu Schod onss D'Amore-McKim Northeastern University 4