The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN
From Page lB
"Why? They've been doing the
same shell drills for two, three,
four years. They really work at
this and they are really good at
it"
Michigan's swagger slowly
evaporated - shots that were
usually taken from deep weren't
taken, passes into the lane were
timid and drives to the basket led
to turnovers more often than not.
It all came down to turnovers:
the Buckeyes capitalized by forc-
ing 13 of them against a team that
averages 9.3 a game. Michigan
had nine in the first half alone,
and ten minutes into the game,
the Wolverines had more turn-
overs, seven, than points scored,
*six.,
xn five different games this
year, the Wolverines have com-
nitted less than seven turnovers.
?n Sunday, they had seven less
tlhan 11 minutes into the game.
"They came out and beat us up
a bit," saud junior forward Tim
Hardaway Jr. "We have to know
how to control the pressure and
play better."
Michigan looked lost offen-
STREAK
From Page 1B
"The thing about Jenny is that
she is so smart that she knows
(when) nobody else is scoring,
(and) nobody else is looking to
score (she) knows (she) needs to
step up and needs to make plays,"
Barnes Arico said. "Tonight
she knew that. we needed her to
score, and she did what she had
to do to help us find a way to win.
She was incredible tonight.
"We have a group of seniors
that really dedicated themselves.
They (were) here all summer
really working on tryingto create
something special. They deserve
all the credit and I kind of want
them to enjoy the moment but
not get caught up in it."
The success of the seniors has
been the story for this team all
sively in the first half, unsure of
what to do against the contact
and pressure of the home team. It
scored just 22 points in the first
half - a season low - and even
that was after a 14-5 run to close
the half.
All in all, starting the second
half down 12 was pretty reason-
able considering how poorly the
game had started for the Wolver-
ines.
Slowly, Michigan started to
chip away in the second half.
Cutting down on the turnovers
helped - it committed just four.
in the second half - but it also
started to crash the boards with
a little more ferocity and to take
some of those shots it was pass-
ing up earlier.
"In the second half, I think we
came out the way we should have
came out in the first half," Burke
said. "It was too late. It was two
or three possessions too late."
Going into the game, the big
matchup was between Burke and
Ohio State point guard Aaron
Craft, who is regarded as one of
the best defenders in the country.
Burke played fine, ending with
a team-high fifteen points, but
he also had four turnovers to go
along with just four assists. He
season. When Michigan starts
out slow, its seniors pick up the
pieces. .
Responsible for 80 percent
of the Wolverines' offense, the
five seniors have led this team
all season. In the first half, 18
of Michigan's 19 points came
from the seniors - the lone
point belonged to sophomore
guard Brenae Harris. Overall the
seniors accounted for 44 of the
54 points scored on Sunday.
Through the first 15 games of
the season, Michigan ranks sev-
enth in the nation in field-goal
percentage at 47 percent and
third nationally in 3-point field-
goal percentage at 41-percent.
The Badgers were able to con-
tain Michigan's red-hot offense
by forcing the Wolverines to
use most of the shot clock dur-
ing their possessions. In the
first half, Michigan hit just one
3-pointer on seven attempts and
wasn't able to drive as well as
usual, and Craft was in his face
all night.
"Craft is as good as there is, as
good as I've ever seen," Beilein
said. "He's tremendous."
Added Craft: "Any time you get
to play against a great guy like.
(Burke), you have some incentive
to go out and see what you can do.
Our defense did what it needed to
do today, and that really helped."
Still, Michigan found other
ways to score. Burke's backup,
freshman Spike Albrecht, con-
tributed seven first-half points,
and Hardaway contributed 12.
But Hardaway needed 15 shots
to score those 12 points. Burke
needed 13 shots to score his 15
points.
Freshman forward Nik Staus-
kas, who averages almost 14
points a game, didn't score.
As a team, the Wolverines
made less than 40 percent of
their shots, in a season where
they average more than the 50
percent from the floor.
"We had five freshman play.
almost double-digit minutes,
and they did not have a freshman
see the floor," Beilein said. "It's
adversity. At this time of the year,
we are seeing our first top-level
ended the game with a season
low two 3-pointers on 13.3-per-
cent shooting.
Senior forward Kate Thomp-
son, who normally leads the.
way on the offensive side of the
court, was held scoreless in the
first half. She ended the game
with just six points on the day on
20-percent shooting, well below
her season average of 16 points
per game, on 48-percent shoot-
ing. Thompson did not hit her
first field goal until nine minutes
into the second half.
The slow offenses of both
teams made way for the defenses
to steal the show. As they have
been all season, the Wolverines
were plagued by turnovers, com-
mitting seven in the first 10 min-
utes of play and 14 overall. Ryan
committed six. Michigan was
able to compensate for missed
shots and turnovers with its
quickness to get back on defense.
teams on the road."
It was close at the end. Michi-
gan got to within one point with
more than six minutes left in the
game. Then, a fast break, one-
handed alley-oop by Ohio State
forward Sam Thomson lit the
crowd on fire. Robinson, calmly,
sank a three at the other end to
tie the game.
But Buckeye forward Deshaun
Thomas, who led all scorers with
20 points, responded with a dunk
of his own at the other end toput
Ohio State back in the lead, and
that was the closest Michigan
got.
Even to the bitter end, Michi-
gan never stopped clawing. Burke
had the ball with a chance to win
the game, down two with 20 sec-
onds left. He shot a deep three
- again, with Craft in his face
- as the shot clock was winding
down and eight seconds left in
the game. The shot went halfway
in, but spun and rattled out. Ohio
State made its free throws down
the stretch to seal the game.
Burke and the Wolverines had
a chance at the end, in a game
that looked out of hand from the
beginning, but couldn't finish in
their quest for the nation's top
spot.
"As much as we talk about
Wisconsin's defense, our defense
really kept us in the game
because we weren't scoring so we
had to get stops the other way,"
Barnes Arico said. "(But when)
we weren't scoring at least they
weren't scoring. So I felt a little
bit better about that."
Added Ryan: "Luckily our
conditioning kind of came
through, and we were able to get
up and down the court a little bit
more. We just settled in. The first
half we just couldn't really find a
rhythm, none of our shots were
going in. I think at halftime we
talked about making a new day,
and that's what we did."
The rebounding battle and
the overall defensive stand kept
Michigan alive when it was
unable to find the basket. The
Wolverines out rebounded the
Badgers 20-15 in the first half
and 35-27 overall.
ALBRECHT
From Page 1B
And without a care in the
world, Albrecht started to run
the show, playing like he was the
most experienced member of
the Wolverines. He drew a quick
foul on Ohio State guard Aaron
Craft. On the next possession,
he took the ball to the hole and
earned Michigan's first free-
throw attempts of the contest.
The momentum started
to slowly shift. Two minutes
later, two more free throws by
,Albrecht, and the deficit was cut
to 16 points.
"It was great to see him out
there getting his teammates
involved, playing good defense
and having fun," said junior
swingman Hardaway Jr.
And with the sparsely used
reserve in command of the team,
Michigan found new life. A dunk
from redshirt junior center Jor-.
dan Morgan followed by two
more Albrecht free throws.
Afewmomnentslater,Albrecht
confidently stepped into a three-
pointer at the top of the key to
cut Michigan's deficit to 14.
With the 5-foot-11, freshman
on the floor, the Wolverines fin-
ished the stanza on a 14-5 run.
With all the big names on this
roster, and all the highly-touted
freshmanthathave made aname
for themselves in the early going
of this season, it was Albrecht
who was conducting the resur-
gence in the mosthostile of envi-
ronments, leadingthe team with
a career-high of seven points as
it entered the locker room.
"He definitely gave us a spark
Monday, January 14, 2013 -3B
out there," Hardaway Jr said.
"We're happy that he came out
here and just tried to play his
game and play in the flow of the
offense, and that's what we need
from him continuing on."
It was that spark that caused
Beilein to substitute Albrecht
into the game with less than
four minutes gone by in the sec-
ond half. With the Wolverines
facing a 13-point deficit, the
reserve stuck to his role. Play-
ing alongside Burke, he moved
the ball around on offense and
created havoc on defense, even
intercepting a pass that led to a
layup from freshman forward
Mitch McGary, which narrowed
the deficit to eight points.
"He was terrific in there,"
Beilein said. "He was very
steady when he was in there and
when we played the two little
guys in there together, that was
even better."
Though Albrecht's statistical
contribution in the second half
was miniscule'- he only had a
rebound and a steal in four min-
utes - his handprints were all
over the ignition of Michigan's
attempted comeback, which
got as close as two points in the
waning seconds of the contest.
The coaches rewarded him with
his most playing time since the
second week of the season.
And even when he appeared
to play outside of himself, the
coaching staff took it as an
encouraging sign
"He took a step-back three in
transition, which probably isn't
(what he does best), but you've
got to applaud that - he's not
wilting, he wants to make it hap-
pen," Beilein said.
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