Yes, Michigan's freshmen need to peel the cold steak off of their first Big Ten black eye, toughen up and get better. But it doesn't start there, cautioned the young man who runs the show.

Trey Burke finger pointed after the Ohio State game. The sophomore directed an index finger directly towards his own No. 3.

He knows, despite its wealth of talent and diversity of scoring, the Michigan roster depends on him. He didn't like his own shot selection, or tempo, in the first half at Ohio State.

"I took a couple of tough shots in the first half," he said. "I missed a couple of guys, too, coming off the pick-and-roll. That had a lot to do with the way they bracketed the screen, and trapped me coming off the screen. Just from watching myself, I think I could have been a better decision maker. In the second half, I made plays for the team."

Even then, Burke cautioned, once Michigan rallied from 21 down to tie the game, he played a role in the Wolverines not finishing the comeback.

"I took some tough shots down the stretch, where I could have brought it out and ran a play and gotten a better shot," he said.

Those poor decisions did not include a late, step-back three in front of OSU's Aaron Craft, that would have given Michigan the lead with seconds remaining, at least in the sophomore's mind. Burke acknowledged he could have tried to drive and draw a foul, but he wasn't second-guessing pulling the trigger when and where he did.

"The last three, it looked good," he said. "I wasn't upset with it. At the time, I had forgotten, but we were in the bonus and I could have drove and possibly gotten fouled. But the shot could have gone in. It looked like it was going in."

Early on, he admitted he was out of sync.

"I was out there playing a little too fast, not as poised as I usually am," he said. "In the second half, I was playing poised, made a couple of nice passes and got the bigs going early on.

"A lot of the team feeds off my attitude, feeds off the way I'm playing out there. That kind of messed us up in the first half. I was sped up somewhat. It was our first real away test. Once I settled down in the second half, ran some sets, that's how we were able to score, get defensive stops and get out in transition."

Michigan head coach John Beilein noted practices after a loss are always different, and that remained the case after the Wolverines' first blemish of the season. Beilein liked how his team looked in yesterday's workout, and expects more the same going forward.

Burke also appreciated the response, following the first-half disaster in Columbus.

"The level of intensity we had in practice yesterday was very high," he said. "We know, just from watching film, that we have a lot to learn, a lot to get better on and a lot of adjustments to make. Just watching the game, seeing how each possession was, this team understands what we need to do in late-game situations like that.

"The level of intensity is higher when we lose. At this point last year, we had around six losses. After every loss, we would come into practice after watching film and coach would get on us, and we'd come in with a better mindset.

"A loss humbles teams and allows them to make adjustments and get better. Our practice yesterday was similar to that."

The key now involves not getting into big comeback situations on the road, Burke noted. He's looking to instill the ferocity on the defensive end and greater care on the offensive end before the Wolverines are trying to climb out of a canyon.

"I tried to tell the team, we've got to come out with that same intensity," Burke stressed. "Come out like we're down 20, especially when we're on the road and the fans are against you and sometimes you don't get the calls you want.

"It's just coming out with high, high intensity. Coming out and giving them our best shot for the first 10 minutes, coming out trying to be the hammer not the nail from the get-go. That's the most important thing for this team."


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