The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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talk that two of his best players cost Michigan a championship. "It's not blown on the free throws," Beilein insisted. "It's not. When you lose a game like that, you lost it back, possession by possession, earlier in the game. We've got two guys at the foul line that have won so many games at the foul line for us. That did not cause the loss. I would never put it on those two guys, for sure. "We did other things in that game we've got to be better at. That falls on the coach." Questions Demanding Answers The need-to-get-better theme only grew in the days to come. The Wolverines fell behind No. 12 seed Penn State in an opening round of the Big Ten Tournament, 14-3, before buckling down for an as-expected 83-66 win. The following day, Michigan figured to avenge their loss in the Kohl Center to Bo Ryan's Badgers. Wisconsin needed a near-halfcourt shot by Ben Brust to take the Wolverines to overtime and eventually win in Madison. When the Badgers couldn't toss the ball into Lake Michigan from the Navy Pier in the first half (17.2 percent shooting) of the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal, the Wolverines looked on track for a long weekend in Chicago. U-M's second-half defensive breakdown turned Ryan's bricklayers into sharpshooters, with a 60-percent effort from the field and a 67-percent performance from three-point range. Beilein's frustrations with his team's defensive deficiencies became an in- creasing topic of conversation, the freshmen having logged more than 30 college games. Following the secondhalf meltdown against the Badgers, the talk turned to defense and mental toughness. "It all starts with defense," redshirt sophomore center Jon Horford said. "We've got to get better defensively. We've got to limit post touches. We've got to be in the gaps. We've got to contest shots better." "With this team we have, the players we have, as smart as we are, we can turn things around really quick," Robinson assured. "I know we're going to do that. From now on, it's win or go home. "We've got to have that attitude — 'We're going to get this stop. We've got to have this rebound.' We'll have that. I know we will." Meanwhile, the Wolverines to a man rejected the notion they lack the toughness — both mental and physical — to survive and advance against a Wisconsin-nasty type of NCAA foe. "People call us soft, but down low we're starting to get a lot more rebounds and put some bodies on people, box people out," McGary said. "On offense, we go to the rack and get some fouls." "I don't think that's true," Morgan said of the stereotype. "We've won some games where we had to get physical against some physical teams. It's a very physical conference. I think we'll be okay." Even the younger players joined the stiff-arming of any suggestion that they can't hold their own in a beefier battle.