Notes & Quotes: Boston College 77, Michigan 64

N O T E S

Michigan played its seventh game in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge series. With the 77-64 loss to Boston College, U-M is now 3-4 in Challenge games and 2-2 in games played at Crisler Arena

Michigan is now 2-1 in Ann Arbor this season.

For the seventh consecutive game, the Wolverines featured the starting lineup of Ron Coleman, DeShawn Sims, Zack Gibson, Kelvin Grady and Manny Harris.

With today's start against Boston College, Ron Coleman has extended his consecutive games played streak to 106. Coleman has not missed a game during his career as a Wolverine. Ekpe Udoh played in 42nd straight game for the Wolverines and has not missed a game for U-M in his young career.

With 19 points against BC, Manny Harris extended his streak of double figure scoring games to seven. He has hit for double digits in every game this season and for his career. He leads the team with 17.1 points per game.

Manny Harris tied a career-best with four steals against Boston College. He also had four steals in the season opener against Radford. He also set a career-best with his seven field goals and 17 field goal attempts passing his prior bests of six and 14, which he both had twice on two other occasions.

With his 16 points against BC, DeShawn Sims has now scored in double figures in five of the seven games this season. He now has eight double-figure scoring games in his career.

Ekpe Udoh posted three blocks against Boston College. Udoh has posted at least one block in every game this season and in his last nine games overall. Udoh has 28 career multi-block games and sits at 89 for his career -- just four away from cracking U-M's all-time top 10.

Zack Gibson had a career-best-tying six rebounds against Boston College. He also had six boards against Brown in the second game of the season.

Kelvin Grady tied a career-best with four assists against Boston College, equaling the four he had in the season opener against Radford. He had 20 total on the season, with just eight turnovers.

C.J. Lee drained a career-best two three-point field goals against Boston College. In his last four games Lee is 4-for-6 from long range.

Q U O T E S

U-M Head Coach John Beilein
"The Boston College really has a very good team. You put the combination of Tyrese Rice and the big bodies, like in particular, Spears, and it's a tough thing for us to guard. You've got young guards trying to stay in front of rice, and then Spears gets those rebounds on a lot of people just not us. And he did a great job of giving them second chances. If we shoot a little better, make our fouls shots. Maybe it will come down to a last second game but those are great things that we're going to learn about how physical we have to be and simple things like boxing out; post defense, little things like that. But they almost need that to happen to them. When we're doing it with our scout team it's not the same as when you're guarding someone like Blair or you're trying to stand in front of Tyrese.

On a 12 nothing run... "We had two or three real mental breakdowns of just almost 'I've got to fix it all now.' Right, we're up by four and all of a sudden they're up by two, and now I've got to do it and the next guy says, now I've got to do it. And all of a sudden we get this quick turnaround and we're taking chances on steals, taking a quick shot when we're really guarded. I think its just guys really wanting to win, but they're not staying solid during that time; need to get your composure.

On a young team making baby steps... "We'll learn an awful lot from it, there's no question about it. Some things are going to take more time. Some young players really pick this up, a guy like Rice will learn from Dudley, Craig smith. He's learned how to win games and he knows how to stay solid in games. Now, he's teaching guys like Spears, and obviously Terrell Blair has been a great addition from them -- a transfer from Loyola -- and he really made a big difference, when we take the ball to a basket he really makes a big difference with his blocked shots. I see he only had four, but it seems like he had 14."

On playing tougher and taller and conveying that to the team... "I always wait to see the tape, I wait to see it then. The most glaring thing would be the three times they missed foul shots and Spears got the rebound on the opposite side of the glass. We still have these little lapses; it's a focus thing the guys. Shooting a foul, we shouldn't watch it, instead of getting a leg over him. There were great teaching points tonight for the future, there's a lot of things going on out there for our young players, and focusing on them is hard.

On missed opportunities being frustrating... "It is. You know, it is our fourth game in eight days. I don't know if that had a bearing on it at all, but we seemed to have 3 or 4 open balls that turned out to be air balls. Yet, we still shoot over 33%. We just have to give them confidence and I have to continue to give them confidence. Its frustrating knowing that we could've controlled some of those things tonight. I like the way we fought all the way to the end. We still had more open shots in the end; it could've been 5 and we had another open shot, and we had an illegal screen for a 3 that would've been nice, but that was a good call. Were closer than they may think in times, but until we address some of these issues, and make them better and make these things habitual, they're not things I have to think about, they just happen every time."

U-M Senior Wing Ron Coleman
On the difference between the first and second half ... "In the first half we play hard and fought. We didn't shoot the ball very well. They did and good job of getting on the glass and executing their stuff well."

On what the team needs to improve on... "A lot of small things. We need to work on our focus and mental toughness. That's what we need to work on."

U-M Freshman Guard Kelvin Grady

On what the team needs to do to get back on track ... "We need to continue to stay focused and continue to get better and correct our mistakes."