Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Sports Tuesday- January 21, 1992
Articl
tarnishes
Howard'sns
trip" hometi,
Mixed results for gymnasts
Women eke out victory in invitational
CHAMPAIGN - An article
that appeared in the Friday edition
of the Chicago Tribune was the
first item on Steve Fisher's agenda
following Michigan's 68-61 vic-
tory at Illinois.
His concerns stemmed from
comments in the article made by
Illini coach Lou Henson about
Wolverine frosh Juwan Howard.
"I talked with Lou about it to-
day," Fisher said before fielding
questions at the postgame press
conference. "I consider Lou a good
friend. But I asked him about the
statement he made about Juwan -
that had he been in Champaign he'd
be playing 35 minutes a game, and
at Michigan he's not starting and
he's not playing very much. It kind
of hurt me because it's not true."
Fisher went on to point out that
Howard, who scored 13 points and
grabbed five rebounds in 29 min-
utes, is not spending nearly as much
time on the bench as Henson had
implied.
"Howard is third on the team in
minutes played and shots at-
tempted and he started more games
than he hasn't," Fisher said. "He's
a great young man who chose
Michigan for a lot of reasons."
Howard agreed when asked
about the article after the game.
"That's a confidence booster for
me," Howard said. "At Michigan,
by Andy Stabile
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team experienced the good, the
bad, and the ugly Saturday, defeating
both Pitt and West Virginia at the
first annual Blue and Goldinvita-
tional in Pittsburgh.
The team's solid performance
(185.95) , and narrow victory over
West Virginia helped provide "the
good" aspects of the Wolverine's
performance. The Wolverines edged
West Virginia by four-tenths of a
point and outdistanced Pitt, who
scored 176.
"West Virginia was supposed to
be a really tough team," sophomore
Nicole Simpson said. "So we were
all really excited about winning. We
were able to keep within ourselves
and just concentrate on our individ-
ual events. Even if the other teams
The "bad" came near the conclu-
sion of the meet, when co-Big Ten
champion Wendy Wilkinson sus-
tained a knee injury dismounting
from the beam, her last routine.
Wilkinson will know her prognosis
after she has arthroscopic surgery
Wednesday.
"It looks like I might need recon-
structive (surgery)," Wilkinson said.
"The best is that I might be out for
three months, but it looks like I
might be out for the year."
Injury-plagued-
at Windy City
by Todd Schoenhaus
KENNETH SMOLLER/Daity
Michigan rookies Juwan Howard and Chris Webber defend Illini forward
Deon Thomas in Saturday's 68-61 Wolverine victory.
I am surrounded by a lot of talent.
That's one of the reasons why I
came here."
Howard's point was accentu-
ated by Saturday's final score. Four
Wolverines scored in double fig-
ures, and Michigan never trailed as
they dominated the boards and ha-
rassed the Illinois shooters all af-
ternoon.
Howard played a big part in
that defensive effort. The former
standout at Chicago Vocational re-
newed an old rivalry with Illinois
star Deon Thomas, who starred at
Chicago Simeon. Howard and Chris
Webber double teamed Thomas,
holding him to only one field goal
and six points in the first half.
"I felt good about coming back
and playing at home," Howard
said. "I watched a lot of films (of
Thomas). All I wanted to do was
to come out and play hard and deny
him the ball."
Offensively, the 6'9" Howard
was a force as well. He had strug-
gled at times earlier in the season
and entered the Illinois contest
shooting only 38 percent from the
field. But Saturday, in front of
many friends and relatives, he
knocked down 4-5 in the first half
and finished the day 6-9, despite
getting in early foul trouble.
Michigan utilized an improved
passing game while Webber and
Howard found room to moveon
the inside. Webber, who finished
with 16 points and 16 rebounds,
was happy to see Howard enjoy his
homecoming.
"I wanted to make sure he
shined the most individually out of
our team, because this is his home,"
Webber said. "We really wanted to
make him look good."
'We were able to
concentrate and do
really well.'
- Nicole Simpson
Michigan gymnast
did wonderfully, we didn't see it..
We were able to concentrate on our-
selves and really do well, and that, I
think, is what won it for us."
Another highlight of the Wolver-
ine's victory was the performance of
rookie gymnast Beth Wymer. In-
juries kept the rest of the rookie
class out of the competition, but
Wymer picked up the slack winning
the individual all-around competition
at the meet with a school-record
score of 38.6. Junior Ali Winski also
placed highly for Michigan, finish-
ing third with a score of 37.3.
The Michigan men's gymnastics
team went to the Windy City Invi-
tational hoping for team consis-
tency and an overall score in the mid
270s. It left after falling short in
both respects.
The Wolverines finished eighth
in a 10-team field, ahead of only
Iowa State and Western Michigan.
Their 261.65 score was far surpassed
by champion Minnesota (279.2) and
runner-up Ohio St. (278.95).
Several of the team's 36 individ-
ual routines were worthy of respect.
However, the team collectively per-
formed much below expectations.
"We were battling inconsistent
performances and did not put to-
gether a good six-man effort,"
Michigan coach Bob Darden said.
Sophomore Ben Verall received
the highest individual score for
Michigan with a 9.60 on the floor
exercise. Senior Rubin Ceballos
placed 21st in the floor exercise
with a 9.30. Senior Glenn Hill led
the way on the pommel horse (9.10)
and sophomore Seth Rubin paced
Questionable scoring by the
meet's judges provided the "ugly"
aspects of the meet. "We had the
most incredible meet, but the scores
just didn't reflect it at all." Wilkin-
son said.
Team co-captain Laura Lundbeck
was pleased with the team's first
performance. "There's nothing you
can do about that (the scoring),"
Lundbeck said. "But we started off
eight points better than we did at our
first meet last year."
men strugg66le
rI vitational
Michigan on the high bar (9.0).
Frosh Brian Winkler led the
Wolverines in the other three
events. He received a 9.00 on rings,
9.05 on parallel bars, and a 9.40 on
the vault. This last mark earned the
rookie a sixth-place tie out of all
participants on the rotation.
Darden intends to alter the focus
of practices, hoping his gymnasts
will perform up to their potential
in tournaments. Instead of general
training, refinement on the actual
routines used in competition will be
stressed.
"We had a real good effort in
Sunday's practice and are looking
for that to continue all week,"
Darden said.
Despite the disappointing out-
come, there was one bright spot
from the trip to Illinois. Michi-
gan's injury-prone squad did not
suffer further injuries except what
Darden referred to as a bunch of
"bruised egos." Jim Round and
Royce Toni will continue to sit out
while Rich Dopp is expected back
this weekend.
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