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. 0 S 1 O R D E R + C A R D Please charge my copy of the 1992 Michiganensian to my student account. I understand that it will be available for pick-up in mid-April and that no refunds will be given. The $29 debit appearing on my tuition bill will be a confirmation of my order. r I I N' S ' - aiSA LE 215 S. State Ann Arbor 995-DEAD (upstairs) - u-I I I I I I I I I Q NAME: STUDENT ID#: SIGNATURE: I Incense Imagine the AROMA $1.00OFF A PAK with this Ad Good thru 2/5/92 I I I I I I I MASS MEETING Tue. Jan.21 @ 7pm NORTHERN LIGHTS is a committee of the University Activities Center. NORTHERN LIGHTS develops programming and events for the Noith Campus Community. 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