Spring Break
Too close for comfort
Michigan, Douglass take UConn down to the wire
Kevin Duffy
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Sports
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A smaller, less-athletic Michigan team just found ways to hang around with No. 1 UConn early in the first half, just like Providence did last Sunday before the wheels came off in a 94-61 blowout.
Michigan was bound to unravel as well. Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien were going to wear down the Wolverines inside. The Huskies' depth and speed in the backcourt were eventually going to take over the game - it was inevitable.
But, with 4:01 remaining in the first half, Michigan's Anthony Wright hit a 3-pointer in transition that put the Wolverines up 29-21 and forced UConn coach Jim Calhoun to call a timeout.
"There was a time, when even the veteran guys, even A.J. [Price], our fifth-year senior, had that deer in headlights look," Calhoun said.
Sometimes, the Wolverines were in a 1-3-1 zone. Other times they were in a 2-3. Other times they were in man-to-man. There was just one common denominator: UConn was flustered by all of it. The Huskies couldn't get the ball inside, they weren't getting open looks and, if that wasn't frustrating enough, they had to bear down for the full 35-second shot clock on nearly every defensive possession.
"Coming home from Louisville, I said 'What did you do?'" Calhoun said. "You know it's going to be torture. You know [Michigan] is going to put you through a root canal. And, sure in heck they did. And we didn't react, early, well to it."
During that timeout, Calhoun game planned with the coaching staff out on the court while the team sat on the bench in a complete state of confusion. Before Calhoun returned to offer words of wisdom, Price did some coaching of his own.
"I told everyone to worry about defense, not offense," Price said. "The shots will come, but we really had to pick up our defensive intensity. From the last two minutes of the first half through the rest of the game, I felt we did a good job with that."
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