Thursday Quick Hits: Illinois Tops Michigan 66-51

By Sean · Thursday, January 15, 2009 · 10:23 AM |  Share | 1 Comment 

• Michigan went dead cold in the second half of last night’s game, resulting in a 66-51 loss to Illinois. The Wolverines actually led 31-30 at the half, but they managed to make only 6 of 29 shots in the second half. Everybody but Manny Harris flat out stunk in the second half for the most part, and even Harris seemed to struggle his way to 20 points. Then again, when one player makes all but one of his team’s field goals in a half like Harris did, it’s hard to criticize him too much. This loss was on the team, as they didn’t show up as a whole in the final twenty minutes.
• Probably the biggest reason for the offensive breakdown was the disappearance of DeShawn Sims. He had his worst game of the season last night, only scoring 7 points and going 3-14 from the field. Usually when either Harris or Sims struggles the team is in trouble, and that was exactly the case against Illinois.
• With the loss, Michigan still hasn’t won a game at Illinois’ Assembly Hall since 1995. The same drought existed for Indiana’s Assembly Hall until last week when Michigan overcame a 20-point deficit to beat the Hoosiers on the road.
• Here are highlights of the Illinois game:

  UPDATE: Apparently the Big Ten Network has prevented the video from being embedded now.

• Michigan will look to rebound against Ohio State on Saturday. The 1989 team will be in attendance for what is shaping up to be a very important game. Michigan can’t afford to get on any losing streaks in the Big Ten, and winning at home especially becomes important with a tough schedule ahead. The game tips off at 8 p.m. ET and will be shown on the Big Ten Network.
• Mark Mitera skated on Friday and may be able to return by the end of the season. This was the first time Mitera had been on the ice in skates since he suffered an ACL injury in the first game of the season.
• Rich Rodriguez is holding another open tryout on Friday.
• Both Rivals and Scout released new football rankings and some Michigan commits’ star ratings changed. Most notably, Anthony LaLota was switched to defensive end on Scout and became a 4-star (he previously was a 5-star OT), and Justin Turner was moved up to #3 in the cornerback rankings on both sites. Turner is now the 35th best player in the nation on Scout, which is good enough for 5 stars.
• Class of 2010 defensive back Lo Wood was offered by Michigan on Wednesday. Wood is from the same high school in Florida as 2009 commit Jeremy Gallon.
• Ohio State receiver Brian Hartline is going to enter the NFL Draft, as is Pittsburgh’s LeSean McCoy.