2B - February 18, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

In Trey, and Trey alone, we trust

hen all else fails,
trust Trey Burke.
Every other Mich-
igan starter
has taken it
upon himself,
at one inop-
portune time.
or another, to
take an offen-
sive nosedive:
Nik Stauskas
had zero STEPHEN J.
points against NESBITT
Ohio State; -- ----
Glenn Robin-
son III liad two against Michigan
State, then again against Indi-
ana; Tim Hardaway Jr. had two
against Michigan State; and the
bigs, well, the bigs barely tip the
scales on offense.
But the unflinching, unfalter-
ing Burke hasn't failed. It's just
not in his repertoire, I suppose.
Michigan survived a scare
against Penn State on Sunday,
thanks in large partto a season-
high 29 points from Burke.
Burke, Robinson and Stauskas
combined for 68 of the Wolver-
ines' 79 points. The three big men
- Jordan Morgan, Jon Horford
and Mitch McGary - shot a com-
bined 0-for-5 for zero points.
Remember, that came against
the unquestioned worst team in
the Big Ten - winless-in-the-
conference, winless-in-the-new-
year Penn State.
That's not how that Michi-
gan gameplan was written up;
Michigan was supposed to mop
the Crisler Center floor with the
Nittany Lions. But Burke had to
bail Michigan out from a monu-
mental upset. Somehow, despite
the embarrassment of riches sur-
rounding him, that's still Burke's

job.
Burke is the king of the court
at Crisler, and it's scary to think
where this team would be with-
out him.
Trey Burke was packed and
out the door. He was done.
On Thursday, April 4 last
spring, Burke was headed home
for Easter weekend, and he didn't
plan on coming back. He cleaned
his dorm room, said goodbye
to roommate Max Bielfeldt and
walked out to the curb outside
West Quad.
"When I stepped in the car,
I was leaning gone," Burke told
ESPN. "I was leaning toward
leaving."
But then, with both feet out
the door, a conversation with
his parents on the three-hour
drive to Columbus changed
everything. Burke decided to
return for his sophomore season
at Michigan, turning down the
fame and fortune of the NBA for
one more year.
His decision changed the
entire complexion of this Michi-
gan team. He returned as the
capstone of Michigan coach John
Beilein's emerging program, a
program thatbadly needed a
floor general after losing star
guard Darius Morris to the NBA
Draft a year earlier.
It's hard to assess where this
team would be without Burke.
Top 10? Top 20? Maybe. You'd
like to think so, but it's no guar-
antee the Wolverines would even
be ranked if they were starting
a true freshman or a little-used
veteran at point guard. Burke's
poise and big-game experience

being a household name, Burke
hasn't looked to prove himself a
scorer, he's looked to create. And
he learned true consistency, even
in the eye of the Big Ten hurri-
cane. And that mindset has him
rocketing upward in both the
scoring and assists categories in
the Michigan record books.
But while having one con-
sistent player might be enough
against Penn State, it isn't against
Michigan State and Ohio State
and Indiana. That takes four or
five serious contributors, with
no major lapses or collapses.
The Michigan coachingstaff
is grooming its freshmen to be
everyday-consistent players
like Burke, but it's nota quick
journey. And it very well might
not happen quickly enough to
salvage the Wolverines' quest for
a Big Ten title.
In front of Morris and other
former Michigan greats on Sat-
urday, Burke proved his mettle
once again against Penn State,
scoring 29 points - his highest
40-minute total at Michigan -
five assists and zero turnovers.
It was his fourth turnover-less
game of the season, a pleasant
stat to go with his 3.7 assist-to-
turnover ratio. He is the only
member of the Michigan roster
that has scored in double figures
every game this season.
That's consistency. That's a
guy you can trust. If he needs
to score, he'll score. If he needs
to pass, he'll pass. If he needs to
lead, he'll lead. He's the king of
Crisler, but even the king can't do
it alone.
- Nesbitt can be reached
at stnesbit@umich.edu and on
Twitter: @stephenjnesbitt.

4

TODDt
Sophomore guard Trey Burke scored a season-high 29 points in the Wolverines' tight 79-71 win over Penn State

would be gone. The transition
offense would be stalled and for-
gotten. The 3-point machine that
was Michigan basketball under
Beilein would still be installed
out of necessity.
Fortunately, Burke is here, and
the hypothetical nightmares are
simply that - unreality.
Michigan invited any and all
past kings of the court back to
Crisler for the weekend: from
Cazzie Russell to Phil Hubbard,
Glen Rice, Zack Novak and even
Darius Morris.

As much as they gawked at the
new arena, many of the former
players came for the coronation.
They came toget an in-person
look at the kid in the white No. 3
jersey emblazoned with a now-
familiar name: Burke.
The expectations were far
different for Burke this second
time around. As a freshman,
Burke was a national surprise,
an under-the-radar recruit that
switched his commitment from
Penn State to Michigan and
caught fire. He returned asa
fixture on everyone's radar. He
returned this fall to the center of
the college basketball universe,

a preseason All-American at the
helm of one of the most-hyped
teams in the country.
And he'll admit that, some-
how, somewhere along the line,
his focus shifted away from his
future, away from himself and
back to the team.
"Lastyear, I was kind of seek-
ing (the NBA dream)," Burke
told ESPN. "This year it is more
coming my way. It's more (that)
I'm able to focus more on Michi-
gan basketball and staying in the
moment. I was more immature
last year."
From year one to year two, he
didn't change, though. Despite

Junior right fielder Michael O'Neill started the season off with a .462 batting average, three runs scored and an RBI after a three-game series against California.
Cal sweeps M' to start season

Three one-run
games and two
walkoff losses start
Bakich's tenure
By SHANNON LYNCH
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan baseball team
headed to Berkeley this weekend
to take on the California Golden
Bears in a three-game series, and
the out-
come was MICHIGAN 4
strangely CALIFORNIA 5
reminis-
cent of the MICHIGAN 5
previous CALIFORNIA 6
season -the
Wolverines MICHIGAN 1
were swept, CALIFORNIA 2
losing two_
games in extra innings and their
final game in the bottom of the
ninth.
The series began Friday after-
noon, when Michigan took the
early lead in the second inning
on an RBI from sophomore short-
stop Dylan Delaney. The Wolver-
ines picked up another run in the
third, but Cal answered quickly,
earning one run off of senior
pitcher Ben Ballantine and anoth=
er off his reliever, redshirt junior

Logan McAnallen. The score was
tied at two until senior captain
Patrick Biondi earned an RBI
off a double in the fourth, giving
Michigan the lead.
With the score at 5-4 in the
bottom of the ninth, sophomore
pitcher Trent Szkutnick allowed
a run to tie the game, sending
it into extra innings. California
came out with the win in the 11th
inning off an RBI from junior
Andrew Knapp. Szkutnick, who
had five strikeouts in the previous
three innings, was credited with
the loss.
Although the Wolverines
couldn't pull out a win, Michigan
coach Erik Bakich spoke highly of
Szkutnick's performance.
"He absolutely pounded the
strike zone and had great ener-
gy about him," Bakich said. "I
thought he pitched well enough
for us to close out the game and
win, but we just couldn't make it
happen."
Junior right fielder Michael
O'Neill, recently voted Big Ten
Preseason Player to Watch, went
3-for-4 in the second game with a
pair of doubles, a run scored and a
run batted in.
"We lost game one, but the ulti-
mate goal is to win the series and
we were still in a position to win
this series," O'Neill said.
Tied at one at the top of the

fourth, Michigan's offense
exploded, beginning with a solo
home run by freshman pitcher
Jacob Cronenworth - the first of
his career. Delaney reached first
on a throwing error and moved
to third ona Biondi single. O'Neill
hit his second double of the day to
send Delaney home, and an infield
single from freshman third base-
man Travis Maezes brought in
Biondi. O'Neill stole home on a
wild pitch to finish out the inning
with a 5-1 lead.
The Wolverines' momentum
started to dissipate, though. In
the bottom of the fifth, sopho-
more pitcher James Bourque let
up a two-run home run by Knapp
to cut the lead to two.
The game was tied 5-5 at the
end of nine and once again, the
game headed into extra innings.
This time, the Golden Bears shut
Michigan down right away - they
didn't allow a single Wolverine hit
in the toth, and scored off an RBI
to end the game, 6-5.
"Coach basically said we were
playing not to lose instead of
extending the lead," O'Neill said.
"If you get a hit here and a hit
there, a 5-1 lead can turn into an
8-1 lead and then the game is out
of reach."
On Sunday, the team's offense
was visibly deflated, but fresh-
man pitcher Evan Hill had a ter-

rific performance on the mound
in his collegiate debut. He pitched
seven innings, allowing only one
run and four hits by California's
strong lineup.
"I thought he showed the pitch
ability, the confidence and the
presence of an upperclassmen,"
Bakich said. "He did everything
we could have wanted him to do
and put our team in a position to
get a 'W.'"1
His performance wasn't
enough to propel the team to
victory, though. Hill allowed his
only run in the sixth inning, and
the Wolverines held the lead at
one until the eighth inning when
Michigan tied the game off a dou-
ble by Biondi.
It looked as if the game would
go to extra innings once again,
but California loaded the bases
in the bottom of the ninth and
scored the winning run off an
RBI by freshman Brian Celsi,
sealing a 2-1 victory. The Golden
Bears had successfully swept the
Wolverines.
"We have to just put the game
away," Bakich said. "When you
lose three one-run games in
walk-off fashion, that's not easy
for anyone to swallow, but we are
going to solidify some roles in our
bullpen and this was a good learn-
ing experience for all of us as we
continue to grow and improve."

Again, Wolverines
go 3-1Ain Florida
By NATE SELL Hutchins stressed to her play-
Daily Sports Writer ers that they couldn't dwell on
the loss and had to come out
Michigan's softball team has strong on Saturday for their sec-
some serious offensive firepow- ond game of the doubleheader.
er - now it just needs to keep The team took their coach's
that momentum throughout the advice to heart and drove in 13
whole game. Its explosiveness runs in its first inning of their
was on dis- first game of the day against
play this MARYLAND 2 Massachusetts. Michigan would
weekend, go on to win 13-2.
but just With the Wolverines up 1-0
in spurts. LIU BROOKLYN 2 and the bases loaded, fresh-
The Wol- MICHIGAN 1 man left fielder Sierra Lawrence
verines ----- - stepped to the plate and sent a
drove in UMASS 2 triple down the left-field line to
13 runs in MICHIGAN 13 clear the bases. This started a
one inning scoring frenzy that included fel-
against MICHIGAN 4 low freshman Kelsey Susalla's
Massachu- FAU 2 first collegiate home run to put
setts on Michigan up 6-0.
Sunday, but they didn't score in "It was really cool seeing
any other inning of the game. them at home cheering for me,"
"It's better than not scor- Susalla said.
ing," said Michigan coach Carol Susalla also had a two-run
Hutchins. "But I'd like to see us double later in the inning. She
consistently have good at-bats finished with four RBI. Dri-
and focus on one pitch at a time." esenga went on to pick up her
The 14th-ranked Wolverines fifth win on the mound behind
were in Florida for the FAU Kick- the 13-run lead and Fitzpatrick
off Classic and won all but one came in to close the game.
game in their four-game stretch, Driesenga would pick up
beating Maryland, Massachu- another win in the second game
setts and Florida Atlantic, taking against Florida Atlantic, 4-2.
them to 6-2 on the season. Their She pitched a complete game
sole loss came to LIU Brooklyn. and allowed just six hits while
They started their weekend having four strikeouts. When
with a 10-2, five-inning win over Driesenga was up to bat in the
Maryland. Sophomore Sara Dri- fifth, the Wolverines were down
esenga pitched all five innings one with the bases loaded. She
and allowed just three hits and hita grand slam totake the lead,
two runs, while posting five RBI which she protected with her
on the other side of the plate. lights-outpitching.
Michigan was powered by "We played from behind
back-to-back home runs by Dri- almost the entire game,"
esenga and senior second base- Hutchins said. "So we battled,
man Ashley Lane in the second and we had runners in scoring
inning, with Driesenga's coming position three or four innings
on a full count. in a row, and we just had to keep
In the second game of the coming at them until something
doubleheader, Michigan fell to broke open for us (while staying)
LIU Brooklyn (2-7), 2-1, when it in the game defensively, which
was unable to get things going we did."
offensively. Freshman Alice With two wins on Sunday, the
Fitzpatrick got her first start main focus was that all the runs
but gave up four hits in two-plus came from two innings -13 in
innings and took the loss. the first against Massachusetts
The Wolverines fell behind and four in the fifth againstFlor-
2-0 in the third inning and ida Atlantic.
couldn't come back. They threat- "We have a really explosive
ened in the fourth and fifth, but offense and we can really pro-
couldn't drive a run home until duce runs," Knapp said. "We just
the seventh, when junior center need to be consistent with that
fielder Lyndsay Doyle hit into and come out every game and
left-center to bring home senior attack. That's our motto for the
third baseman Amy Knapp. year: attack."

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