The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com ( February18,2013
guard Trey Burke's outstanding
day and several cheer-inducing
alley-oops by freshman forward
Glenn Robinson III, they didn't
play like they had much to cel-
ebrate. But Michigan pulled out
the win, 79-71, over Penn State.
"It was ddja vu of the Nebras-
ka game," said Michigan coach
John Beilein. "Nebraska came in
here and we had some adversity
in the game and we had to battle
through it. We had to do some
things that, frankly, we needed
at this time. Last week was such
a difficult week for us (so) to try
to bounce back, we needed to win
any way possible."
Added Burke: "I told the guys
this is a gritty, not pretty type
of win. It wasn't the best type of
win, but it was a win we needed
to come out with. We'll get better
from it, it gives us a level of confi-
dence we've been missing."
The Wolverines were down by
as many as eight points in the first
half, and the first field goal made
by someone other than Burke
came with eight minutes left to
play in the half. Burke had five of
Michigan's nine total field goals
in the first stanza and the sopho-
more finished with a season-high
29 points and five assists on 9-of-
16 shooting.
Though Burke hit his shots and
dictated Michigan's offense in
the first half, he still had trouble
finding open looks. Penn State's
defense forced Burke to take off-
balance fade-away jump shots
that Penn State coach Pat Cham-
bers called "circus shots" - shots
that reflected the Wolverines'
inability to get into offensive
rhythm, as they shot a dismal 36
percent in the first half
After a poor first-half perfor-
See WEEKEND, Page 3B
'M' alumni highlight
rededication weekend
level rose exponentially as Rice
approached center court to
receive a commemorative plaque
for his legacy as a Wolverine.
In addition to Sunday's "Stripe
Out" for the Michigan men's bas-
ketball game against Penn State
and the celebration of the 1989
NCAA Championship squad, the
Michigan Athletic Department
hosted a series of events for the
Crisler Center rededication week-
end. Former players came back to
see the new arena and to reunite
with teammates in celebration of
the program's rich basketball his-
tory.
Friday night's "Return to
Crisler" event showcased Rice,
Cazzie Russell and Diane Dietz in
a panel emceed by football great
Desmond Howard, and each for-
mer player discussed his or her
time at Michigan and shared
thoughts on the new additions to
the arena.
"It was time to keep up with
modern technology and gym-
nasiums," Russell said. "It looks
great, we got a tour (and) it was
unbelievable. A lot of thought
went into what they're doing.
This is probably something they
can use for a number of events,
and it wasn't just put together as
just a basketball arena - it was
put together with a lot of things
in mind."
Russell was not only impressed
See REDEDICATION, Page 3B
Robinson breaks out of
scoring slump in a big way
By STEVEN BRAID
Daily Sports Editor
With six minutes remaining
in the first half of the Michigan
men's basketball team's matchup
against Penn State on Satur-
day, Glenn Robinson III darted
across the baseline and rose up
to corral a lob from sophomore
guard Trey Burke. With ball in
hand, Robinson reacquainted
himself with an old
friend on the flight
down: the rim. A
But that wasn't
the only highlight
from the fresh-
man forward on
Sunday. Robinson
- who had been strug-
. win,,.,
of late to produce on the offensive
end, brought life into the crowd
with an aggression that hadn't
been seen out of him in weeks,
throwing down a season-high
five dunks en route to a 21-point,
10-rebound performance in
Michigan's 79-71 victory.
"I think my first (field goal)
was the (alley-oop) from Trey
and that got the place going,"
Robinson said. "We started
to play defense, get our hands
together and (started) playing
more as a team. (Those dunks)
definitely got me going."
Entering the contest, the Wol-
verines' opponents had ren-
dered Robinson ineffective
on offense during the past
two weeks. He'd been held
under double-digit points
in three of the past
four games and hadn't
reached his scoring or
rebounding averages
- See ROBINSON, Page 3B
;
TREYBIEN
After Michigan's roughest stretch of
the season, Stephen J. Nesbitt examines
where the Wolverines would be without
Trey Burke. Page 2B
STREAK SNAPPED
The Michigan women's basketball team
beat Michigan State for the first time in five a
years in a 70-69 thriller at Crisler Saturday.
Page 4B