The Michigan Daily | michigandailycom | February 17, 2014

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Wisconsin tops
Michigan, 75-62

Frank's red hot:
Kaminsky rolls

Wolverines start
cold, comeback
falls short as teams
split season series
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
The way Jon Horford
described it, there are days
when the effort and energy sag,
and to combat the lethargy, you
have to dig deep to bring it out.
The Michigan men's
basketball team couldn't do
that in the first half Sunday
night, and an 18-point deficit
was too much to make up in
the Wolverines' 75-62 loss to
Wisconsin in Crisler Center on
Sunday afternoon.
"You have to look within
yourself, and you have to bring
that energy out," said the
redshirt junior center. "You
have to force it. I hate to use the

word 'force,' but it is something
that you have to get done if you
want to have success."
in an anemic first half,
the 15th-ranked Wolverines
recorded no assists and seven
turnovers to complement
32-percent shooting as the
Badgers raced out to a 34-19
halftime lead.
Though Michigan turned
a switch in the second half to
whittle the 15-point deficit
down to three, its luck ran out as
the Badgers stormed right back
in the final minutes.
"It was too big of a hole that
we dug ourselves in the first
half, and we couldn't really get
out of it," said sophomore guard
Caris LeVert.
The game looked like a mirror
image of the teams' last contest
a month ago in Madison.
The home team came out
sluggishly, and the amped-up
visitors drove the lead into the
teens. Then the home team
charged back, and, like the Jan.

18 game, the comeback attempt
fell short.
"They're really good, and
we weren't so good today," said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
"We fought back, and I really
thought we were going to come
all the way back."
Badger forward Frank
Kaminsky teed off on the
Michigan frontcourt, making 11
of his 16 shots for 25 points with
11 rebounds. The Badgers' 32
points in the paint exposed the
Wolverine big men, who hadn't
faced such a stiff test.
In a handful of Michigan
losses this season, LeVert has
carried the scoring with much
of the rest of the offense gone
silent, and Sunday was no
different.
The sophomore guard scored
a career-high 25 points on 5-for-
6 shooting from deep. That
threat from behind the arc,
combined with his quick first
step and ability to get to the
See BASKETBALL, Page 3B

By DANIEL FELDMAN have to tip our hat to him."
Daily Sports Writer Though Levert recorded a
career-high 25 points, matching
The Michigan men's basketball him basket for basket was the
team has had its fair share of Badger big man. Recording 25
second-half comebacks this points on 11-for-16 shooting, to
season, and Sunday it appeared go along with a team-high 11
another one was underway. rebounds, there wasn't much
After cutting an 18-point deficit Michigan could do against
to three thanks to the heroics of Kaminsky in its 75-62 loss.
sophomore guard Caris LeVert, "I just thought Frank was very
the momentum that had brought opportunistic," said Wisconsin
the Wolverines to aone-possession coach Bo Ryan. "He used his ball
game fakes well (and)
suddenly countered when
faded. And he was in tight
simply put, it Frank was very corners - body-
was because * . to-body. He got
of Wisconsin Opportunistic. edges to the
forward rim, and more
Frank importantly, he
Kaminsky. finished."
"He was everywhere today," Forcing his way inside to the
said sophomore guard Nik basket, Kaminsky enabled the
Stauskas. "He was hitting 21st-ranked Badgers (7-5 Big
jumpers. He was getting to the Ten, 20-5 overall) to control
basket. He was posting up. He the first half. At one point in the
was doing everything for them. first stanza, Kaminsky's seven
He played a great game and we rebounds equaled the amount

Michigan had as ateam. Using his
body to first create a gap to drive
to the basket and then finesse to
make space at the hoop, Kaminski
was the leading reason Michigan
(10-3,18-7)wasoutscored 32-14 in
the paint.
"We were able to get it to him,
and I mean he had to come out off
of the block a lot and they were
playing him tough," Ryan said.
"And once he got it 12 feet away -
12 to maybe 15 - that's when he
made his moves and actuallyused
his body as well as I've seen him
on a consistent basis."
As the game winded down in
the typical fashion Michigan-
Wisconsin battles go - like this
year's 77-70 Wolverine win in
Madison and last year's 65-62
overtime loss - it was Kaminsky
playing the role of hero this time.
Scoring three straight baskets,
including the last being an and-1,
the lead went back to eight.
Michigan nearly brought
itself back from the dead, when
See BADGERS, Page 3B


A CURE FOR A LOSS
Michigan can easily forget Sunday's
defeat by finishing a sweep of Michigan
State. SportsMonday Column, page 2B

WEEKEND WOES
* The Golden Gophers swept the
Michigan hockey team as the Wolverines
lost their cool in Minneapolis. Page 4B

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